He hoped that a second crystal provided a pathway for meeting the expectations of both Fleet and the Kardish, and fretted that Victoria Wellstone would call and tell him that the Kardish now wanted both four-gens. He was deep in thought when an unfamiliar man appeared to his left, crowding him as if he were in line at a popular deli. Sheldon looked up and asked rhetorically, “May I help you?” At the moment he spoke, another man—he recognized him immediately as the pysch analyst who had paid a visit to the four-gen several days prior—sidled up on his right. Sheldon looked over at Sid with concern. Had Victoria Wellstone done something dumb, something he was now going to pay for? “Hey,” Sheldon said, thinking only of self-preservation, “I had nothing to do with it.” “Do with what?” Sid asked. While Sheldon was considering how to respond, the man on his left reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. Sheldon felt a sting and immediately became dazed. He found himself being supported by both men as they escorted him into a car that was trailing them.
