_How_s

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looked up and saw him, a momentary flicker of hope lit Sue's pale eyes.
"Dan." She tried to smile. "It's . . . been a while, hasn't it?"
He accepted her outstretched hand and squeezed it briefly. Her fingers trembled, like winter-bare twigs in his hand. Both were aware, Dan knew, not only of his bodyguard, but of the electronic ears secreted about the lab.
"You know how it is," Dan replied with forced nonchalance. "How's the work going?"
She compressed dry lips and shook her head. "Not well. My latest readings . . ." She shrugged helplessly. "I haven't been sleeping much."
She shoved a lab notebook at him, then abruptly sat down on a lab stool and leaned against the counter, eyes closed. For a moment, Sue Firelli looked closer to ninety than forty-six.
Dan was only partway through the page when the significance of her notations hit him.
"Holy—"
He bit back the rest of what he'd been about to say. Sue's face was—if possible—even more pinched and waxen than

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