And that was the big question, wasn't it? Sly thought. Destroying the encrypted file and all the information it contained—that was obviously the best choice on the global scale. But on the personal level it was no answer at all. She'd know she’d destroyed the file, but how would the corps know? I could tell them, and of course they’d believe me, yeah, right. No, with a prize this important, even the slightest chance—no matter how remote—that she hadn’t destroyed the file, that she’d kept a copy, and the corps would stay on her trail. Eventually they'd grab her and torture her to death to confirm to their own satisfaction she was telling the truth. And even if they did believe she’d destroyed it, they’d still keep after her for much the same reason. When suitably "motivated," maybe she could remember some details from the file that might let them steal a march on their competitors.