The Closers by Michael Connelly Page B

Proteus project. They would send a shock wave through the nanoworld. Pierce almost smiled at the thought of it. And Condon seemed to read his thoughts.
    "Did you look at the patents yet?" he asked.
    Pierce reached down into the kneehole beneath his desk and knocked his fist on the top of the steel safe bolted there to the floor. The patent drafts were in there. Pierce had to sign off on them before they were filed but it was very dry reading, and he'd been distracted by other things even before Lilly Quinlan came up.
    "Right here. I'm planning to get to them today or come back in tomorrow."
    It would be against company policy for Pierce to take the applications home to review.
    Condon nodded his approval.
    "Great. So, everything else okay? You doin' all right?"
    "You mean with Nicki and everything?"
    Charlie nodded.
    "Yeah, I'm cool. I'm trying to keep my mind on other things."
    "Like the lab, I hope."
    Pierce leaned back in his chair, spread his hands and smiled. He wondered how much Monica had told him when he had called the apartment.
    "I'm here."
    "Well, good."
    "By the way, Nicole left a new clip in the Bronson file on the Tagawa deal. It's hit the media."
    "Anything?"
    "Nothing we didn't know already. Elliot said something about biologicals. Very general, but you never know. Maybe he's gotten wind of Proteus."
    As he said it Pierce looked past Condon at the framed one-sheet poster on his office wall next to the door. It was the poster from the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage. It showed the white submarine Proteus descending through a multicolor sea of bodily fluids. It was an original poster. He had gotten it from Cody Zeller, who had obtained it through an online Hollywood memorabilia auction. "Elliot just likes to talk," Condon said. "I don't know how he could know anything about Proteus. But after the patent is granted he'll know about it. And he'll be shitting bricks. And Tagawa will know they backed the wrong horse."
    "Yeah, I hope so."
    They had flirted with Tagawa earlier in the year. But the Japanese company wanted too large a piece of the company for the money, and negotiations broke down early. Though Proteus was mentioned in the early meetings, the Tagawa representatives were never fully briefed and never got near the lab. Now Pierce had to concern himself with exactly how much about the project was mentioned, because it stood to reason that the information was passed on to Tagawa's new partner, Elliot Bronson.
    Let me know if you need anything and I'll get it done," Condon said.
    A7
    It brought Pierce out of his thoughts.
    "Thanks, Charlie. You going back home now?"
    "Probably. Melissa and I are going to Jar tonight for dinner. You want to go? I could call and make it for three."
    "Nah, that's okay. But thanks. I've got the furniture coming in today and I'll probably work on getting my place set up."
    Charlie nodded and then hesitated for a moment before asking the next question.
    "You going to change your phone number?"
    "Yeah, I think I have to. First thing Monday. Monica told you, huh?"
    "A little bit. She said you got some prostitute's old number and guys are calling all the time."
    "She's an escort, not a prostitute."
    "Oh, I didn't know there was a big difference."
    Pierce couldn't believe he had jumped to defend a woman he didn't even know. He felt his face getting red.
    "There probably isn't. Anyway, when I see you Monday I'll probably give you a new number, okay? I want to get done here so I can get in the lab and do something today."
    "Okay, man, I'll see you Monday."
    Condon left then, and after Pierce was sure he was down the hall he got up and closed his door. He wondered how much more Monica had told him, whether she was spreading alarm about his activities. He thought about calling her but decided to wait until later, to talk about it with her in person.
    He went back to Lilly's phone book, leafing through it once again. Almost to the end he came across a listing he hadn't noticed before. It simply