At home, logon and find a message from Le to call the contractor who is building my shop near the airport in Carson City. He has recommendations to discuss. Call and make an appointment to meet him on site tomorrow at eleven and have lunch afterward.

A message from Louise says that she and Marion wanted to talk some more but I left so quickly that she did not have a chance to bring up some of Marion's issues. She asks that I call back. Delete the message.

That evening, Ume arrives to join Sara, Lloyd, Soji and me for dinner. Sara sits across the table from Ume who sits beside me so I notice that they make eye contact repeatedly. Watch them closely, but neither Ume nor Sara makes overt moves to show whether they're getting along.

Lloyd reports that the foundation is growing, with a two-person office in New York City. Aliversal also has one-person regional offices in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Mexico City and Tokyo. Since Lloyd's arrival, the foundation has written almost fifty viable loans in New Jersey and just over two hundred worldwide'most for a few thousand dollars each. Borrowers are women establishing small businesses out of their homes or neighborhood shops.

Casually, I ask Lloyd, "How are you getting along with Julie Meese, the CEO?" Ume and Sara also watch Lloyd's reaction closely.

Thinking for a moment, Lloyd carefully says, "Julie is positive. She represents Aliversal well."

Both Ume and Sara look away, which means they consider Julie's performance poor. Sara explains that Lloyd is the conscience of the group. This is code—don't discuss SIA rough stuff around Lloyd. When I comment that Ume and Sara need someone to be their conscience because neither has one, Lloyd disagrees. She says that Ume and Sara are two of the most moral women she has ever met. Smile, as do Sara and Ume.

Sara says that Mei is making progress preparing for the bank purchase and leveraging the huge loans associated with it. Turning my head, I ask Sara about issues close to my heart, "Security and audit?" Sara opens her mouth to speak.

"Tony is amazing," says Soji, interrupting her. "He showed me how to re-organize the dojo staff so that they train the staff more effectively. Other schools worldwide with which we have student exchange programs have begun asking for information."

"Another example," says Sara as she smiles at Soji then moves her eyes to mine, "This afternoon Tony delivered a price quotation to a German bank for intelligence operations worth more than US twelve million over five years. When we finished the teleconference, they offered us jobs. We're both on track to exceed our fourth quarter goals. So are Lloyd, Mei and Le."

Ask, "Oh, did Le hire someone?"

"Hired a Malaysian woman named Seri Sook Toong," says Ume. "Seri understands information systems and she is a fiend at sniffing out profit potential. Expensive though. We'll bump Le, Mei and Ume's husband, Marlon, to distance their base salaries beyond what Seri demanded."

Sara agrees with Lloyd, adding that in one week, Seri has already paid for her annual salary and first bonus. "Mei hired a Cantonese woman. Her name is Lu Chan and she will be a legend soon. Chan is setting up the investment group."

"Your executives are becoming wealthy," says Ume, "and your foundation is loaning money. What more could you want, Jill?"

Ask about personal security for executives. After a brief description of all that Tony has accomplished, Sara chuckles, "Tony has prepared your personal bodyguard. Wait until you see his scenario for introducing you to his prime candidate."

"When do I review the scenario and the candidate?"

"Tony will call you when the candidate is ready."

"How's Alice Hawkins?"

"Alice is administrative VP for SIA," says Sara. "She handles recruitment, training and compensation."

"I thought she was a director."

"Ume and I promoted her," says Sara. "Alice earned it." When I look at her, she adds, "Alice jokes that the most personally profitable thing she ever did was screw up the hit on you, Jill."

After dinner, Lloyd and Soji prepare the hot tub for us, then say good night and retire for the evening. Ume, Sara and I strip, wash one another and then climb into the tub for a soak. We sit quietly, waiting for Ume to speak. After all, this is a meeting of the board of directors and Ume is the chairperson of the board. Eventually, Ume says, "Let's get something out of the way. No one with a conscience belongs on this board."

Ask, "Are any of our CEOs a candidate for board membership?"

"Tony is qualified," says Sara without hesitation and then adds, "but that's never going to happen because he cannot learn about picode and knowledge of picode is a prerequisite for board membership."

Ume asks, "Why can't Tony learn about picode?"

"Too many ties to his previous employer," says Sara. "Besides, picode will not communicate with a male."

Blink at her and say, "You never mentioned that to me."

"Me neither," says Ume.

"I wanted to have real power—a seat on the board—before I told you," says Sara.

"You bitch," says Ume. "What if I want KMark to inherit my seat?"

"You don't," says Sara. "Besides, now that I have taken control from men, do you think I'm stupid enough to return it? The answer is no, never. I can't change picode anyway."

Ask, "Can't or won't?"

Shaking her head, Sara says, "Picode cannot change, at least not within the current context."

"Why not let picode talk to men?" asks Ume, maintaining eye contact with Sara. "You wrote it; you can change it."

"Let's be clear about this," says Sara, becoming visibly angry. "Picode will never communicate with men. As to why, you know men better than either of us, Ume, since you were once a slave and a whore."

Ume holds a straight face for two seconds before she chuckles. "All true," says Ume softly, "but let's return to why Tony could qualify for board membership if only he weren't male."

"Why, because SIA has executed people?" asks Sara, her eyes on Ume.

"That's part of it, Sara," says Ume. After several seconds, she adds, "Tony is perfectly capable of arranging murder and even wholesale slaughter, if necessary, at the hands of SIA operatives."

Sara's eyes lose focus for a few moments. Looking at Ume, she says, "Tony and I have discussed this. Neither of us will hesitate to visit violence and even death upon our enemies." After another moment's hesitation, Sara adds, "We will try to keep our SIA agents safe but we will not hesitate to send them into danger."

Moving deliberately in the painfully hot water, Ume presses against Sara. With their lips almost touching, Ume asks, "You will send our agents into danger to slaughter our enemies?"

"I will send our SIA agents into danger to slaughter our enemies," says Sara.

"You are sure," says Ume.

"Yes," whispers Sara.

"Who is our deadliest, most effective and most willing agent?" asks Ume.

"I . . . I do not know all of our SIA agents yet," says Sara.

Ume whispers, "You know this one." Watch their eyes but neither woman looks my way. As Ume closes her eyes and begins kissing Sara, suddenly, Sara pulls back with a gasp. Glancing at me briefly, she stares at Ume and breathes, "Jill, an active SIA agent?"

Sitting still, I say, "Just feed me kills now and then, Sara."

"Why?" asks Sara, closing her eyes and opening her mouth slightly as Ume nuzzles her.

"Jill kills to unwind, Sara," murmurs Ume. "Tony arranges the details with our approval."

Leaning her head back, Sara whispers, "Now I know why you work at that dinky Reno casino instead of Pere, Jill. You want to be close enough to strike when threats or attacks come."

Later, we stretch out in front of the fire. Sara leans back against Ume as I face them and Sara rubs my feet. Ume runs her fingers through Sara's hair, massaging her scalp. Looking at me with lidded eyes, Sara murmurs, "I work for a fucking vampire."

"She's always quick," says Ume, "so no one suffers."

Snorting softly, Sara says, "Any other requisites of my board membership?"

"No," says Ume.

"Back to my question about succession planning," I say. "I want two more young women on this board. These women must possess business acumen, knowledge of picode and ruthlessness."

"At the moment, we don't have anyone with those qualifications, Jill," sighs Ume, "However, now that Sara is running things, I have time to work on it."

Inhaling deeply, I say with a sigh. "I've been nurturing an idea for recruiting. Your picode and this new phenomenon, the Internet, make it possible."

"Establishing your idea will take decades," says Sara.

"We have all the time in the world," says Ume. We are quiet for several minutes. "Hired the last software engineer," murmurs Sara, her eyes closed as Ume massages her scalp. "The subroutine project is shuffling forward erratically."

Ume says, "Sara and I have assigned one programming team just to build automated queries that exploit the subroutines, Jill. That will improve the data harvest from picode, which is already far beyond our expectations."

Sighing, Sara tells me that she has taken responsibility for my portfolio. "Your private wealth is at forty seven million, mostly due to Mei's work in stocks. Your Pere and Midori stock will grow by fifty percent to over three hundred million next year."

Ume asks, "Do you realize that within a couple years, Jill, all of your executives will be wealthier than you?"

"Hope so," I mumble. "Do Chan and Seri know about me?"

"Of course," says Ume. "They access the general ledger and they know who owns the stock."

We sit quietly, thinking private thoughts. Sara asks, "How is it going at Doc's?"

"Petty, frustrating and stupid."

"So you enjoy it?"

"Mm." After a while, I ask Sara to tell Margaret to set up a Thanksgiving get-together with my family.

"What does your family think you do here in Reno, Jill?"

"Work at Doc's Place, fix up cars, ski all winter and chase pussy."

Ume and I put Sara to bed. We shower together, towel off and wrap our bodies in a huge comforter with our bare feet sticking out. As we sit watching the fire, I ask, "Are you going to tell me how you intend to spring the trap for Sara?"

"You will know when it happens," says Ume softly.

"How did you find her?"

She waits for a while before finally saying, "Last year, Donny called to tell me about a young woman who had interviewed with him for a slot in the graduate business program. She said more to hide her considerable intelligence, ability and accomplishments than she said to reveal them. I put two SIA field agents full time on her. Once I began receiving information, I fed it to two analyst teams, working separately."

"What did you find out?"

"Sara was interviewing all over the country with graduate business schools that have CSNET hosts. All she wanted was a few minutes' private access to a terminal at each school." Ume sits quietly for a minute or so and then continues, "Sara began working for Donny's accounting firm, so I waited for a problem at Pere that would require an audit. Le and Mei gave us that."

"Were the feds watching her?"

"No, but SIA is expunging records of her interviews. When they do begin watching her, it will be too late."

Ume lay down facing the fire and I spoon in next to her. As we begin to doze, I hear her murmur, "You have much more to learn about both Sara and her picode, Jill. In ten years, when computer networks cover the world, the information harvest will make us rich. In twenty years, we'll be the most powerful people on earth."

"In twenty years, I'll be fifty-five and you'll be fifty, Ume. Sara will be forty-four," I tell her. "We need succession planning."

"Working on it," mumbles Ume.

"I adore you, little one," I whisper.

Chuckling, Ume whispers, "You need me, Jill."

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