SIMS 09

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ

"Mr. Portero," Nowicki's voice said through Luca's office intercom, "I think you'd better take this call."

"Who is it?"

"Calls himself Benny Morales and says he knows you. Says he's got the pregnant sim."

"Sure. Him and half a million others."

Luca shook his head. How many times had he heard that since the fivemegabuck reward hit the news? People were crawling out of the woodwork with crazy stories, some wishful thinking, others outright lies. Meerm, or an equally pregnant sim, had been sighted in Chicago, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, London, Hong Kong. The world was suddenly full of pregnant sims.

"This Morales says he met you at the Newark crib when you came looking for the pregnant sim; says she's been hiding there right under his nose all along."

Luca remembered Morales now, a quick, jittery little ferret of a man. Remembered that damn crib too. After a weeklong fruitless vigil, he'd yanked surveillance from the place, figuring if the pregnant sim hadn't returned by then, she wasn't coming back at all.

But if she'd never left the building in the first place...

"Put him though."

Luca's hand darted toward the phone and hovered over the receiver. He let it ring twice before picking up.

A few minutes later, after listening to Morales's story, Luca hung up and jabbed the intercom button. "Nowicki. Get Grimes and Alessi. Meet me in the garage. We're rolling!"

This was it. Morales's story hung together too well to be anything but the real thing.

We've found her!

Luca felt as if a magnum of Dom Perignom had popped open inside his chest.