The client called himself Mr. Smith - obviously an alias, but Alex did not pry. In his line of work, anonymity was expected. What mattered was whether the client could pay, and Mr. Smith could pay very well indeed.

"I want you to acquire a memory for me," Mr. Smith said. His voice was calm, measured, professional. He could have been ordering a meal or discussing a contract. "It belongs to a woman named Elena Vasquez. She was a witness to an event twenty years ago. I need what she saw."

"Acquire?" Alex asked. "You mean extract without consent?"

"I mean acquire by whatever means necessary. I am prepared to pay ten times your usual rate. Plus expenses. Plus a bonus if the memory is intact and usable."

Alex should have said no. Non-consensual memory extraction was illegal, punishable by years in prison. More than that, it was a violation - a kind of mental rape that left victims traumatized and incomplete. Alex had seen the damage it caused. He had sworn never to participate in it.

But ten times his usual rate was more money than he had made in the past year. And Mr. Smith seemed like the kind of client who could make trouble for those who refused him.

"What is so important about this memory?" Alex asked.

"That is not your concern. Your concern is acquiring it. Can you do it?"

Alex thought about his debts, his obligations, the life he wanted to build. He thought about the ethics of his profession, the oath he had taken, the people he had promised to help. He thought about Elena Vasquez, whoever she was, and what it would mean to steal part of her mind.

"I will need more information," Alex said finally. "Who is Elena Vasquez? Where can I find her? What precautions does she have?"

Mr. Smith smiled. He had expected this. He handed Alex a folder containing everything he needed: photographs, addresses, schedules, security details. The client had done his homework.

"Can you do it?" Mr. Smith asked again.

Alex looked at the folder, at the money on the table, at the face of the woman whose memory was about to become a commodity.

"Yes," he said. "I can do it."

He would regret those words for the rest of his life.