18. Names of the Dead

At dawn, Alain calls Marly to demand a large cash payoff for information. She secures the funds and notes his address, hiding her disgust. Andrea returns and, over dinner, shares an academic’s view that Josef Virek resembles corporate anachronisms like Tessier-Ashpool and Hughes and may be forced into an evolutionary “jump.”

Walking Paris, Marly wrestles with the unreality suggested by simstim and her growing suspicion that Paco’s charm is part of Virek’s manipulation. The next morning, she tells Paco she will deliver the money without his company, acknowledging he and others will still shadow her.

Marly travels alone to a grim northern suburb. At the building, the elevator door opens onto an empty shaft; she narrowly avoids stepping into the void and climbs the stairs, shaken. In Alain’s flat, she finds him dead, a fine rigid wire protruding from his ear, and grieves before anger drives her to search for the promised lead.

Methodically combing the rooms, Marly discovers no agenda but finally finds a phone number hidden inside an empty Gauloise packet on a closet shelf. Paco knocks and enters; Marly conceals the number and tells him Alain is dead, keeping control of the one clue she has salvaged.