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source of the hacker trying to break into our tech.”
    “Impossible,” Greyson said flatly. “You’d have sensed that when
she was in New York, where you were supposedly watching over her.” He crossed
his arms over his chest. “And you wouldn’t have hired her to spruce up the
Stronghold website.”
    Bruno pursed his lips. “Fine, fine, whatever. I don’t know what you expect me to do about her, Greyson. She’s already there,
all moved in, according to you.” He glanced at his phone again. “And I have to
go.”
    Greyson growled under his breath. “Don’t call the President a
moron again. It makes him difficult to work with.”
    Bruno snorted. “If you want to come here and take the meeting for
me…” He trailed off.
    “No, no, good luck,” Greyson hurriedly said. He hated meetings. And cities. And the
President. Bruno was the only one of the four brothers who had even a
little bit of patience for stroking politicians’ delicate egos. “Good luck.”
    “Yeah, it’s going to be great fun telling him that we’ve had
access to the NSA’s systems all along. I’m really
looking forward to that,” Bruno said sardonically.
    Greyson grimaced. “I don’t know why we have to inform him at all.
We were better off in hiding. That worked for years.”
    “Don’t be so obtuse. You already know why,” Solomon said. “We need
cooperation, now that human tech is catching up to ours. Otherwise the mortals’
blundering could inadvertently attract the Spiders.”
    “We’re human, too, you know. All this ‘ours’ and ‘them’ stuff is
misleading.” Greyson didn’t want to admit his brothers were right.
    “We are mostly human, but the differences are significant,”
Solomon said.
    “It frightens them,” Greyson said. “That makes protecting them
more difficult.”
    “We’ve been over all of this before,” Bruno interrupted. “Is there
anything specific you want me to bring up with the President? Otherwise, I’ve
got to go.”
    Greyson tapped a finger on his viewer in thought. Should I
mention it, or let it go until after his meeting?
    Bruno lifted his hand, about to cut the transmission.
    “Wait,” Greyson said, making a split-second decision.
    Bruno tilted his head. “What?”
    Greyson took a deep breath. “I found a deactivated Spider in the
woods a little while ago.”
    “What? Are you serious?” Solomon asked, face going tight. “You
destroyed it, correct?”
    “Of course. I demolecularized it myself. You know what this means, though.” Greyson shook his head as the
cold feeling that had lodged in his gut for the last hour grew worse.
    “Infection,” Solomon replied.
    “One Spider does not imply a Swarm,” Bruno said.
    Greyson eyed his brother, recognizing the tension in his
shoulders. “No, it doesn’t. But we need to be wary. I wanted you to know before
you spoke with the President.”
    “You want me to tell him?”
    Greyson lifted a shoulder. “It’s your call. See how the meeting
goes. Let me know.”
    Bruno pinched the bridge of his nose. “You waited until five
minutes before I had to talk to him to tell me this?”
    “I just found the Spider a half hour ago,” Greyson replied.
    “This is a bad omen,” Solomon said.
    Greyson agreed. “Yes.”
    “Jesus. Okay, keep an eye on things. I’m not going to mention this
to the President unless I have to. No sense in getting him all worked up,”
Bruno said, rubbing his face.
    “I’ll have Isaac take a ship out to Alpha Centauri. Maybe he will
be able to gather more data to help us,” Solomon said.
    “Good idea,” Greyson said, thinking about their youngest brother. “Tell
him to be careful.”
    Solomon smiled. “He’s never careful. That’s why he’s the best
pilot of all of us.”
    Greyson shook his head. Solomon was right. No one would ever be
able to tame Isaac. Of all of them, he was the most emotional and impulsive. Solomon
was thoughtful and methodical. Bruno, suave and intelligent. His brothers thought