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the corner of her right eye across her cheekbone. Plastic surgery had made it less visible, but each time she looked into a mirror she was reminded. I shouldn't care, she told herself sternly. She did care. Very much. When you were scarred, people looked at you and then looked away, especially men. |
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There was always the old, familiar way of assuaging her inner doubts. Pierre Grau wanted to be her next lover. Expected to be. But Anna had enough of zealots. |
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As a lawyer, Grau's mind worked like a microtome, cutting slices of virtual reality into ever thinner and more transparent slices until they became as clear, and as invisible, as sheets of crystal. He was an artist in argument. Jake would have said Pierre Grau was "a master of dialectic." It wasn't surprising. Pierre had spent two years as an exchange student at Moscow University. He spoke of that time in his life in glowing terms. |
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Certainly Jake would have admired the way Grau put his case to the Public Broadcasting producer whom they had come to see at KQED. He was forceful, articulate, and impressive, even if he was preaching to the choir. Anna waited now for Pierre to return from his absolutely must do visit to the Canadian Consul General's office to arrange financing from the CBC for a joint venture with PBS. |
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She knew that she was being used by the CCND, and she was sorry for it. But she was using them as well. She hadn't the funds and resources to carry on her quest for the truth. She needed their money. She would have preferred to carry on independently, but she could not. Jake had always spent their fees as quickly as they came in. So there was an end to it. One made hard choices. |
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A cable car stopped at the corner of California and Powell streets. Anna saw Pierre step from the running board to the pavement. He waited on the steep street while the car, clanging its insouciant bell, climbed on toward the Pacific Union Club at the top of the hill. |
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Pierre was a tall, thin man who looked older than his forty years despite his efforts to mimic the younger members of his |
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