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shifting too fast to trace.’
    ‘Just like the posts of the five city murders,’ Roadrunner said.
    Grace shrugged. ‘That doesn’t make this one real. The fetish and porn sites get better at hiding every day. Some of those networks are so sophisticated they make the military’s system look bad.’
    Annie passed the photo to Grace as if it were a poison mushroom. ‘Real or not, this is sick. Somebody has to stop this.’
    Grace nodded. ‘That would be us.’

When the doorbell rang at 9:05 a.m., Harley Davidson was out of his chair like an ICBM, cruising fast to intercept the Federal bogeyman at his front door.
    ‘For God’s sake, Harley, settle down,’ Annie sniped behind him. ‘You’re as jittery as a long-tailed cat under a rocking chair. He’s going to think you’re on meth.’
    Harley shot her a nasty look over his shoulder. ‘Don’t mention drugs,’ he whispered.
    ‘You have unequivocally lost your mind. There isn’t even a bottle of aspirin in your medicine cabinet, you idiot, and, last time I checked, possessing multivitamins wasn’t a felony.’
    Harley made a face, then pulled open the big double doors. John Smith was wearing the standard-issue blue suit and an all-business countenance. He had a craggy face that hadn’t aged well, making him look a little scary and a lot older than the mandatory retirement age of fifty-seven. ‘Good morning, Mr. Davidson.’ His eyes drifted down to the empty beer bottle in Harley’s hand, but he didn’t comment. Harley hated that about cops and Feds – their eyes were always too damn busy.
    Harley jerked his thumb down the broad hall. ‘We’re in the breakfast room, looking at some of the crap we pulled off those red-flagged sites you turned us on to.’

    The two women nodded from their chairs, but the man in the body stocking jumped up, smiled, and actually shook Smith’s hand. It was like stepping into a circle of reserved adults who just happened to own a cocker spaniel puppy. ‘Just Roadrunner,’ he said, grinning. ‘
Mr. Roadrunner
. Jeez, that’s funny. You want some coffee?’
    ‘Thank you, no, I’ve had breakfast. Once again, on behalf of the Bureau, I’d like to thank you for your generous offer of help.’
    Grace had to concentrate to keep from rolling her eyes. Everything Feds said sounded like it came off a script. She nodded an acknowledgment. ‘Shall we go up to the office and get started?’
    ‘There are a few ground rules to cover before we do that …’
    ‘You got that right,’ Harley interrupted. ‘So let’s get it all on the table. We break more laws in one day than any hacker at that seminar breaks in a year. Developing the software you want is no problem; but if we’re going to try to trace these guys, we’re going to have to break a ton more just to get started, and I’m not about to do that with you looking over our shoulders so somewhere down the road you can testify against us.’
    Smith nodded. ‘Understood.’
    ‘I don’t think you get how fast we could rack up a few hundred years on our sentences for – ’ Harley stopped and blinked. ‘What do you mean,
understood
?’

    ‘We work strange hours, Agent Smith,’ Grace said. ‘Sometimes around the clock.’
    ‘I’m prepared to be on duty twenty-four hours a day, if necessary. I will be as unobtrusive as possible, but I will be present.’
    Annie smiled at him sweetly. ‘How computer savvy are you?’
    ‘Fairly.’
    ‘Well, then you know that any one of us could copy these files right under your nose.’
    He nodded. ‘I know that. I’m asking you not to. Those files contain detailed records of the tracking formulas we’ve developed over the last several months …’
    ‘Did any of them work?’ Grace asked.
    ‘Uh … no …’
    ‘Then why on earth would we want to download them?’
    A muscle in Smith’s jaw tightened. ‘For one thing, to give you a template of things that have already been tried so you don’t waste time. More importantly,