Thanks to Julie Barrett for some incredible plotting sessions. Special cyber-wave to Thomas A. Ross, a jeweler I found online. I was a little wary of asking him questions about encoding diamonds with secrets that assassins might kill for. Imagine my surprise, and incredible luck, when Tom happened to also be a writer and a former Special Forces officer. He answered my questions without a single cyber-smirk, and I am grateful to him for that. (Of course, any mistakes made or liberties taken with the ion-beam process and the scientific references are entirely my own.) And a click of my spike heels goes to my fellow It Girls— Erica Orloff, Nancy Bartholomew, Sylvie Kurtz, Natalie Dunbar and Vicki Hinze.