Her heart pounded. Oh, no. It was time to make Daddy proud again. GAIA COULD SEE THE FEAR CLEARLY ETCHED on Mary's face. It was right there: right in her creased forehead and downcast eyes. They had been speeding downtown on the local number-six train for nearly fifteen minutes, and Mary hadn't spoken once. She was more worried about this drug dealer than she'd admitted. Probably thanks to Ed. Fear Gaia knew all about fear. She'd seen it enough on people's faces to know the signs. And she'd also studied it. Scientifically. She'd read that the best way to overcome it was to confront it directly, head-on ... to embrace it. It was a lesson from the Go Rin No Sho--the "Book of Five Rings"--a Japanese guide to martial arts. Her father used to make her read it all the time. Most of the books were about as thrilling as the yellow pages and about as heavy, too--like Leviathan and The Iliad. Her dad was a stickler for the classics. But the Go Rin No Sho was different. Gaia had loved it from the time she was a little girl.
