The blonde girl stared at Giuseppe Asakura, her face a mask of shock, horror, disbelief. She seemed to have trouble finding her voice. When she finally spoke, a world of numb bewilderment filled a single word. "Why?"

"Why?" Giuseppe repeated, as if he couldn't understand how she could ask such a stupid question. He hadn't thought she was this dense. "Because. It's over, that's all. What, did you expect me to leave my wife for you?"

"So you're saying you were just using me. That's it, isn't it? You were using me."

In fact, he had been. She was an up-and-comer in Internal Security-- what she didn't know about Galactor's internal spy network, no one knew. Giuseppe's own area of expertise was BC Island, administrative. He knew all about corruption and vice and drugs and prostitution and the subtle erosion of human values that he feared would claim his son-- that he suspected might have already irrevocably claimed him. He didn't know how he could escape the net Galactor had webbed around him, and so he had hunted diligently for an ace, someone who knew GIS, someone bribable. What he had found-- and it had taken a hell of a lot of pull to find out her true identity; she did her work disguised as a man-- was a young woman, obsessively loyal to her job and to Galactor. There was no way to bribe her with money or drugs, the usual fixes. After he'd learned her true sex and something of her background, however, he'd realized her weakness. The very skill with which she impersonated an asexual man, dedicated herself wholly to her work, revealed an ineptness at being female. Having suffered through rape and child prostitution, she had no experience of sex as something enjoyable to women, and so she'd avoided it. Getting her into bed had been hell's own game. After the first orgasm, though, she was candy.

So yes, he'd used her. And now he knew what measures GIS had implemented on the Island, who was spying on him, how they would track him, all that, and now he could beat the system. He was sure of it. Get his wife and son out of this, see George grow up away from the taint of Galactor... He had everything he needed, now. Only the girl could drag him down. Time to get rid of her.

But of course, he couldn't say anything like that, and wouldn't if he could. She was a Galactor-- she was supposed to know better. He hadn't expected a reaction like this. "What the hell do you mean, using you? I got good sex, you got good sex. What else were you expecting?" He glared at her. "Love? Eternal devotion? I've got a wife, you know. I love her. You were just for some kicks. I thought you knew that."

"You went to all that--" She was white and shaking with rage. "Tell me you know I'm a woman, call me at work, mail me flowers, demand dinner, chase me for two fucking months for kicks? I figured it had to be more than that."

He shrugged. "You were a challenge. Once I knew what was under your mask, I had to see for myself."

"Did Sosai send you? To teach me how to play a woman better, or some shit like that? Is that it?"

He stared at her, taken aback. "Sosai?" No wonder the girl had done well, if she had patronage like that. Giuseppe himself had never met the mysterious Overlord of Galactor, and planned not to. "You must have some serious delusions, girl. What makes you think Sosai would bother to see you get laid? Seemed to me you were doing your job fine without it."

She bit her lower lip, pulling its fullness almost completely into her mouth and clenching her teeth. She didn't speak.

"You had fun. So now you can go find yourself an unmarried boyfriend, or something. It's over."

"Is it your wife?" she spat. "Did she find out, or something? Did she refuse to fuck you if you didn't dump me?"

The way she said it made it sound as if he were unmanly, henpecked. It made him angry. "I just got tired of you!" he shouted. "You think you're the goddamn Venus de Milo? You got small tits, a boy's ass and a bony face! If you didn't have nice legs and a tight cunt I wouldn't've kept you around this long! My wife is twice the woman you are-- you were just a little bit of spice! You get me? If you think I used you that's too fucking bad-- you're a Galactor, you ought to have known it wasn't anything more than fun and games! And it was the best sex you ever had, so what're you complaining for? Just be glad you got some, and go out and get more! That's what Galactors do-- they don't fucking whine they didn't get love and hearts in the bargain! You're talking like a dumb-ass girlie, not a Galactor!"

"How dare--" She choked on the rest of the statement. For a moment he expected her to hit him-- her hand started to raise-- but then she dropped it back to her side. "You're going to be sorry for this. I'll be running this organization one day, and then you'll pay for this."

"I'm trembling. Watch me." He shook his head in disgust. Even if she did have Sosai as a patron, she had no chance-- her male disguise was a fairy male disguise. Galactor wouldn't follow a fag any more than a woman, and besides, he'd be long gone. The scientist from the UN had promised relocation, completely new identities, and a good school for George. Her threats were pathetic. "Just get out of here."

She gave him a murderous look, and then left. Good. She'd probably leave BC Island, and try her best to put him out of her head completely. When he left, heat might come down on her, and he was a bit sorry, but not much. Any Galactor as dedicated as she was didn't really deserve much consideration. The world would probably be a better place if GIS offed her for giving away its secrets.

Giuseppe set about finishing the day's work. In just a few days, he'd have a new life, and his son would be free of Galactor forever.

How stupid did he think she was?

There had been a point in the argument when she'd wanted to scream at him that she knew his secret, that she could betray him with a word. But then he'd have been forewarned. He might even have betrayed her first. And while being unmasked as a woman-- Giuseppe didn't know all of her secret, after all-- wouldn't hurt her at this point in her career, it would destroy her hope of achieving the pinnacle Sosai had created her for. So she had bit back the words, flung out empty threats. Better to have revenge than talk about it. And he'd know who was killing him when it happened, well enough.

She'd known all along what he was planning. Why would he ask what he'd asked, if he wasn't planning to run? Maybe it did take genius to see the signs, but she was one. And it would have been so easy for her to destroy Giuseppe Asakura's life with a few words. It had even been her job. She hadn't done it. Risked discovery, risked Sosai's displeasure, for him. And this was how he repaid her?

Besides Sosai, he'd been the first person to treat her as special in a good way. She'd been treated as special before, all right-- a special freak, or a special treat for men with money. He had pursued her doggedly, romantically, making her come to trust him. He was the first person who had seen her as an attractive woman and made her feel good about it. And no, she hadn't expected him to leave his wife for her. She had, however, expected him to confess his plan to her, and ask for her help. After all, she had trusted her body to him-- she who had been abused so many times by men-- why shouldn't he trust her?

Now she knew. Now she knew why he'd pursued her with such single-mindedness. Perhaps she wasn't a genius, after all, to have missed this. She had known his plans, and yet missed the obvious-- that her knowledge was necessary to them. He had probably targeted her before he knew she was a woman, as the youngest and probably most easily subverted member of GIS. She had trusted him with her body, with confidences, with feeling-- not love, but more than she felt for any other human being-- and he had been using her all along.

At the train station back to the mainland, she went to a rack of phone booths. A special number, to charge the call to her business account, and then she punched for her superior's desk, shifting muscles in her throat. When she spoke, it was in a high-pitched but unmistakably masculine voice.

"Sir? This is Berg Katse. I've got evidence that Giuseppe Asakura is planning to leave the Island, flee Galactor, and turn evidence... yes sir, I will. Might I suggest that this job be given to the women assassins? Yes... certainly. All the information you need to make the hit. I'll have it in your hands by nightfall."

She hung up and left, her eyes glittering as she headed for a train.