Introduction
I. File #1: The Desert Haven Institute
The Middle of Nowhere Is Someone’s Somewhere
Rennie, Observed
The Dutiful Daughter
Rennie in Love, More or Less
She Was Lonely Until Emine Arrived
Enter the Serpent
How the Other Half Lives
Dinner for Three
A Poison Can Be a Medicine
When You Milk a Snake
Informational Pathways
Mountain People
Señorita Cascabel
Brainjacking
A Traumatized Child
Maria Castillo Was Never a Hostage
Rennie
II. File #2: Every Landscape Is a Crime Scene
A Deal with the Devil
Gifts from Monsanto
Next Step, Memorial Day Weekend, 2001
A Fairy Nice Boy
Good Fathers
Hypotheticals
The Chosen
III. File #3:Some People Still Write Letters (correspondence removed from DHI by the FBI)
December 20, 2000
December 20, 2001
[undated]
March 2, 2002
April 3, 2003
2003. in the Merry Month of May
IV. File #4: Borderlines
Rennie, Questioned
A Special Meaning
The Man with the Bear
Dislocation
It Seemed Perfectly Sane to Him
The Two People
Still Her Husband
Just a Saint
He Who Governs the Border
A Dual Nature
Hello, My Friend, Hello
In His Solitude
Sky Burial
V. File #5: After the Towers
If I May Recommend, Sir
To Wear the Kusti
Maria Knew It First
The Stone Age
It Was a Normal Reaction
White Wings Behind a Black Spire
The Altruism of HIV
The Endless Loop
Stars and Stripes
Snakes and Psychos
The Crossing
Not the Turban Type
At the North End of the Refugee Camp
A Very Bad Idea
As Though Boundaries Don’t Exist
It’s All About the Dollars
VI. File #6: Outlaw Science
Simple Things Can Be Easily Misconstrued
Questions of Dual Use
An African Birthright
How Does It Feel to Be They?
Just a Friendly Interview
The First Visit to DHI
Motives, Motivations, Reasons
Not Yet a Suspect
They Had the Linguist on the Secure Line
Life-Forms Other Than Human
Chen Liked the Desert
The Cafeteria Was the Crime Scene
There Was Another file
A Long and Winding Road
VII. File #7: Evasions
The first time they asked for EE-mine
Once More She Gave Them the Slip
Emine Albaz, En Route to the Navajo Nation
Where She Went
Yampolsky Let Them Have the Conference Room
VIII. File #8: Business Plans
Red Tape, Red Flags
Like Bobby De Niro
A Woman Who Wanted Kyle
Night Yard
It Was Yoli’s Idea
IX. File #9: Your Contract Will Not Be Renewed
He Used to Have Great Ideas
Where Vultures Roost
It’s Against the Law to Keep a Vulture as a Pet
For Maria, The Day Gets Worse
Not Even in the Name of Science
What They Stand for
A Charity from Mojave Came for her Furniture
No One There
If It Were Up to Gladys Tesfaye
Gladys Used to Undress Behind a Closed Door in the Dark
Pennies from Heaven
X. File #10: Packing It In
Dr. Tang Looked Like He Hadn’t Slept
You Must Plan for Future
No one Gave Rennie Credit
Patriot Days
Rescue Mission
Most Small Businesses
Rennie Has a Plan
Maria Needed a Visa for Somewhere Else
Rennie Had No Idea
At Rennie’s Condo
Rorion Calls Back
Mothers Day
Just Another Gringo Party
Complicated People
Secrets
Engaged in the Struggle
Part of the Picture
Benny from la Eme
Before Dawit Moved North
XI. File #11: To Five Rivers
Restless Winds
The Lights Were Off at the Institute
She Couldn’t Keep Wandering
May 28, 2003
Alula Had Been Dropping Things
Nothing’s Been Decided
Dawit wasn’t a Muslim
The Trees Breathe Water
Something Planted in the Brain
To the Best of My Knowledge
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Diane Lefer