“It can’t bethatbad,” Yumi said.
Aida reassured her that the technology had greatly improvedin recent years. “But trust me, there’s a charming rite of passage in getting lost here. Even the best GPS can’t unveil all the secrets of Rome.”
“Well, you’ll be in London for a couple of days, so you won’t even know if I do.” She stuck her tongue out at Aida before suddenly sobering. “Guess who I saw at the airport.”
The hint of distaste in Yumi’s voice was a giveaway. “Graham,” Aida said, a slight unease settling in her stomach.
“He was there with Erin. They were at the gate to the Bahamas. I wish they would have looked over at me. I would have flipped them off on your behalf.”
Aida felt a twinge of discomfort, a remnant of what once would have been a sharp pang of jealousy or anger. She hadn’t thought much about Graham lately. For the first few months after the breakup, she had slept terribly, unable to get him out of her mind. As the summer passed, she found that Rome, her writing, and her work gave her the distraction she needed for her heart to heal. And of course meeting Luciano. The news that Graham and Erin were still together didn’t affect her as profoundly as it might have months ago.
“She can have him.”
Felix snorted. “What a silly time to go to the Bahamas. Isn’t it hurricane season?”
“Sadly, I think that might be nearly over,” Yumi said.
Aida didn’t want to spend more emotional energy on Graham than necessary. “Forget about him. I’m more excited about us finally being in the same city together.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Yumi. “So, tell me, what’s the 404 like?”
Aida pulled out her MODA phone to double-check it was turned off. “All clear. But I shouldn’t leave it off for long.” Trista had tried to reach her a few days ago when Aida had turned it off to call Yumi and hadn’t been happy when she didn’t answer. Aida tried to pass it off as signal issues, but she wasn’t sure if Trista believed her.
“I feel bad rushing off to London right after you arrive.”
Yumi shrugged. “Don’t worry. I’m here for a few weeks, remember? I wish I could go with you though.” She threw one of her bags onto the bed and unzipped it. “Okay, so after you told me about the disappearing places, I went ahead and looked into the list of people who’ve stayed at the hotel at the same time you were there.”
Aida normally didn’t want to know about Yumi’s hacking forays, but this time she was grateful. “What did you find?”
“There are about fifteen people who are almost always there at the same time. They arrive quarterly and stay for a day or maybe a couple of days, but never for long.”
“That’s interesting,” Felix said.
“Where are they from?” Aida asked.
“All over—mostly European and Asian countries. But when I dug deeper, I noticed that the hotel hosts different groups from other countries every month, always the same people arriving on a quarterly schedule.”
“So maybe there are many Collectors? And we all have to give quarterly reports?” Aida asked, trying to grasp what this information meant.
“Maybe there is a Collector for every country,” Felix posited. “And there are one hundred and ninety-five countries, if my memory serves me right.”
“That’s a lot...” Aida sat on the edge of the bed, which sported a red duvet—the only pop of color in the otherwise white room.
“There are exceptions for larger countries. The US has three Collectors—one each for the East and West Coasts, and one for the middle. MODA seems to rotate their quarterly check-ins to avoid overlap,” Yumi continued. “It looks like MODA sets aside a week every month for reporting, and each group reports on a different quarterly rotation.”
“I don’t get it,” Felix said. “Wouldn’t the Collectors start to recognize each other? It seems like MODA wouldn’t want that.I mean, they haven’t indicated there are other people like you, have they?”
“No, they haven’t. But we travel alone, and my bet is that most of us aren’t spending much time in the hotel common areas. With strict rules about discussing the company, they probably assume we’d never put two and two together.”
Yumi opened another bag and began hanging her clothes in the mirrored wardrobe. “I went through five years of this, and the same pattern holds. Some people come and go, but it’s been remarkably consistent.”
“Wait, you have names and contact information for all of these people, don’t you?” Aida pushed the idea of Yumi’s illegal methods of obtaining such data to the back of her mind.
Yumi turned away from the wardrobe, a wide grin spreading across her lips. “Why yes, yes I do.”
“Are any US Collectors there at the same time as me?”
She shook her head. “No, the US Collectors are on different rotations. But I can’t be sure where everyone’s really from—MODA seems to assign people to work in countries other than their own.”
