Zero History

“Sleight,” said Milgrim.
“Yes,” agreed Bigend. “We’ll call him Foley, then. We have no idea what he goes by at
the moment. These people have access to quite a bit of documentation.”
“What people?” asked Milgrim.
“Foley,” said Bigend, “knows the man whose trousers you documented for us in South
Carolina.”
“Is Foley … a spy?” asked Milgrim.
“Only to the extent that he’s a clothing designer, or wants to be,” said Bigend. “Though
he’s probably a fantasist as well. When you slipped your phone into that Russian
woman’s pram, what was your intention?”
“I knew that Sleight was tracking it, telling Foley where I was. Foley would follow the
Russians instead. Out of town. They mentioned a suburb.”
Bigend nodded. “Just because a man wants to be a clothing designer,” Bigend said,
“and is a fantasist, doesn’t mean that he isn’t dangerous. If you should see Mr. Foley
again, you’ll want to stay well away from him.”
Milgrim nodded.
“I’ll need to know, immediately, if that happens.”
“What about Sleight?”
“Sleight,” said Bigend, “is behaving as though absolutely nothing has happened. He’s
still very much at the center of things, as far as Blue Ant goes.”
“I thought he was in Toronto.”
“He’s in a post-geographical position,” said Bigend. “Where did you get this laptop?”
“Hollis gave it to me.”
“Do you know where she got it?”
“She said she bought it, to write on.”
“We’ll have Voytek give it a once-over.”
“Who?”
“He predates Sleight. Someone I’ve kept out of the loop, in case something like this
should happen. My IT backup, you might say. Have you had breakfast?”
“A croissant. In Paris.”
“Fancy the full English? Fiona?”
“Could do. Saad’s looking at my carbs.”
They looked at Milgrim. He nodded. Then looked up at the silver penguin and the black
ray, floating against the bright white ceiling. He tried to imagine the black ray above a Left
Bank intersection. “What’s it like, flying those?”
“It’s like being one,” said Fiona, “when you get into it. The iPhone app’s made a huge
difference. The one in Paris hasn’t had the upgrade yet.”