Freedom TM

no service at all.
    “It’s rude to make phone calls at a funeral.”
    Philips looked up to see a twentysomething man dressed in a dark suit, overcoat, and black gloves. An FBI badge hung from his breast pocket, giving him the appearance of an overeager rookie. She recognized him instantly. He was a Daemon operative. With short-cropped hair he was indistinguishable from a dozen other young FBI agents in the crowd, but unlike the other Daemon operatives he wore no glasses. Instead his pupils shone with the iridescence of mother-of-pearl—apparently contact lenses.
    He was the one who had destroyed Daemon Task Force headquarters and slain all her people. This was Roy Merritt’s killer. The highest-level Daemon operative known.
    “Loki.”
    He approached her calmly, surveying the crowd. “I hear Roy didn’t have much in the way of family. Who the hell
are
all these people?”
    “You made a mistake coming here.”
    “Look. Actual tears on people’s faces. I don’t think you or I willdraw a crowd like this, Doctor. What is it about Roy Merritt that inspires everyone so much?”
    Philips glared. “It has to do with serving others—something you’d know nothing about.”
    He stood silently for a beat. “I serve a greater good.”
    “You’re a mass murderer who worships at the feet of a dead lunatic.”
    “Is that right?” He noticed her still punching keys on her phone. “Don’t bother. It’s being jammed.”
    Philips lowered it. “Why would you bring your people here?”
    “They’re not my people. They came on their own. There’s a video simulcast of the funeral beaming out to the darknet. Hundreds of thousands are watching this event worldwide.”
    “Why, so they can gloat over their victory?”
    He gave her a sideways glance. “Don’t be a bitch, Doctor. This was no victory. Roy Merritt is the famous Burning Man to them. A worthy adversary who’s gone viral. There’s no predicting these things in a network. The factions came to pay their last respects— and to find his killer.”
    She thought he was being glib, but he looked serious. “If that’s true, how do you think they’ll react when they find out
you
killed Roy?”
    He smiled grimly. “They all know what happened. You’re the only one without a clue.” He stared at her intently.
    Loki pointed to Philips’s tinted glasses. “How are your eyes, Doctor? Corneal damage? You must have been close.”
    Anger rose within her at his mention of the attack at Building Twenty-Nine. “There are hundreds of police officers around us. You won’t escape this time.”
    “Did you expect me to go into hiding? Is that it? Well, I’ve grown beyond hiding, Doctor. Besides, it would be a shame to sully the memory of Roy Merritt by turning his funeral into a massacre.”
    She studied his face and decided he wasn’t bluffing. “We will stop you.”
    “You can’t even stop tweens from stealing music. How are you going to stop
me?
Feds: always overreaching. And what if you could stop me?” He gestured to the Daemon operatives still moving through the crowd. “It wouldn’t stop them.”
    “We’ll find the Daemon’s weak spot sooner or later, and we’ll destroy it. If you help me, I’ll see that you’re treated with leniency.”
    “You really have no idea what’s going on, do you? You’re like Merritt was. A true believer. You should have listened to Jon Ross: never trust a government.”
    He noticed the momentary look of shock on her face. “You did
know
The Major was spying on you, right? Tapping into his surveillance system was what gave me access to everything on your task force. Including your private conversations with the illustrious Mr. Ross.”
    Philips felt doubly defeated and stood grasping for something to say.
    “I have video from every camera at Building Twenty-Nine before it was destroyed.” He paused. “By the way, you and Jon Ross should just have fucked and gotten it over with.”
    Philips couldn’t help a pang of loss at the mention of Ross’s name. Not an hour passed when she didn’t think about him—and how he’d saved her life. She recalled their last moment together. Then she purposely met Loki’s gaze. “Get to the point.”
    “Have I upset you? I didn’t think you’d go for the criminal type, Doctor.”
    “Jon Ross is dead.”
    “So I hear.” Loki slipped a hand into his jacket. “You might find some of my surveillance video interesting.” He withdrew a metallic scroll and offered it to