by Tom Clancy
The young genius shook his head. “I’m not going to give away our technological edge to prove we’re innocent. But if I let in a connection with Net Force, no matter how tenuous, that should help our credibility with the agency. I mean, people will have to give us a chance to prove we’re on the up-and-up.” Luddie suddenly grinned. “Even if it does mean taking on somebody a little too goody-goody for Nick’s taste.”
David laughed. ‘ ‘Well, anything that annoys Nicky da Weasel can’t be all bad.”
“So you’re taking the job?”
David thought the situation over—was he willing to go along with a public-relations gesture to work on the hottest computer technology to come along in years? This one seemed like a no-brainer. “Okay, you’ve hired yourself a goody-goody,” David said, “on the understanding that if I do find any problems, Net Force will hear about them.”
“You’re not going to find anything,” Luddie said confidently. “But I’ll be happy to put that in writing. You’ll have to sign some confidentiality stuff before coming on board— and I’ll make sure that the language allows you to report to Net Force if you feel the need. I’ll tell Sabotine you’re joining the team. She’ll get in touch with you.”
That’s right, David thought, Sabotine is in charge of programming.
Luddie MacPherson cut the connection, and for a long moment David just sat where he was, savoring the sweet taste of success. Then the system’s connection alarm bleated again.
David ordered the system to pick up—and found himself confronting the annoyed face of Nick D’Aliso.
“The pay isn’t that great,” the hacker sneered. “So was it the great god technology, or just the challenge in general that got you to accept the job?”
“What’s your problem with me, D’Aliso?” David asked. “You’ve been in my face—and, apparently, going behind my back—ever since I met you. Is my skin color an insult to your ethos? I thought that crap was over and done with.”
D’Aliso’s lips twitched in irritation. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“I know that having me around seems to blow your circuits,” David said. “And I don’t know why that would be— unless having me around worries you for some reason.”
Nick D’Aliso stared hard at David. “You really don’t get it, do you? Maybe you wouldn’t, considering where you’re coming from.”
“Being a Net Force Explorer? A goody-goody?” David shot back.
Nicky da Weasel’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah. It doesn’t matter how much computer smarts you’ve got. We’re talking business here.” He paused for a second. “Dirty business.”
“Have you got something to hide, Nicky?”
“The question is … do youT 9 D’Aliso was in full, stone-cold, Nicky-da-Weasel mode by now. “You’re walking into a company a lot of people want a piece of. That means they’ll all be looking at you, trying to find some kind of handle— some way to use you, to make you work for them.”
He took a deep breath, trying to unfreeze his face. “I know what I’m talking about, David. I’ve seen it, played that game, made it my business.” D’Aliso gave him a serious look. “And there are guys out there who could eat me for breakfast. It’s not too late, David. You can still back out.”
“And miss all the fun?” David asked.
Now D’Aliso got angry. “Look, jerk, I’m trying to do you a favor here—”
His voice broke off, and his body shifted so he was talking over his shoulder. “I’m jacked in to the Net, Sabotine. Give me a second.”
David was instantly reminded of Mark Gridley at the Explorers meeting, getting distracted between veeyar and the real world. He looked down at Nicky da Weasel’s shoulders. Yes, the hacker was wearing a Hardweare vest.
D’Aliso thrust his face forward, his expression mean. 44 You’ve been warned,” he said. Then he cut out.
David sank back against his chair, but he was by no means relaxed. He was relieved that no one else had been in the house to hear what D’Aliso had said. It would have scared his little brothers, upset his mom, and angered his cop father.
Luddie MacPherson might reconsider the publicity value of an employee who could precipitate an investigation of Hardweare by the D.C. police.
There was something else there. .. . David took a deep breath, trying to still his emotions long enough to catch an elusive thought. Nick D’Aliso hadn’t been talking to a cat when he got distracted. He’d been speaking to Sabotine MacPherson.
Well, that wasn y t surprising, David thought. He y s living in the same house with Luddie and Sabotine.
Then it finally hit him—the timing of Nicky da Weasel’s call. He knew that I’d accepted the job!
How?
David remembered Luddie’s parting words. “I’ll tell Sabotine you’re joining the team. She’ll get in touch with you.”
If Luddie had told Sabotine, Nick D’Aliso had sure found out what was going on from her pretty quickly. Either he was somehow bugging the girl’s computer—supposedly impossible with Hardweare computers—
Or Sabotine was somehow in league with him.
David suddenly felt as if he were lost in a pitch-dark room, not sure if his next step would find the floor or send him falling twenty stories.
Nicky da Weasel’s sign-off came back to him.
You’ve been warned.
Daniel Sanchez did a double-take. “You got the job?”
“Outrageous!” Caitlin Murray, generally known as Catie, enthused.
The virtual room was filled with his friends’ cheering.
Leif, however, was a little less enthusiastic. “Who offered you the job?”
“Luddie MacPherson himself,” David replied. “According to him, after all was said and done, my connection with Net I Force is what convinced him to hire me. His company faces i a lot of negative publicity—people are claiming that the leaks I can be traced to the Hardweare vests.”
“And nobody can really take them apart to come up with i a definite answer.” Matt Hunter caught on to the problem quickly.
“I’m surprised you’d let these people use you as a—a kind : of shill,” P. J. said.
“I’m going to be working on program coding,” David • spoke quickly. “With the understanding that if I see anything ‘ that’s not kosher, I’m free to bring Net Force in.”
“You’d be better off out of it,” Leif said abruptly. “I s haven’t met Luddie MacPherson, but I’ve had a run-in with his father. That was enough to put me off the rest of the family forever.”
“Sounds to me like you’re going to extremes there, Leif,” Megan said.
Leif glared. “I had this antitechnology nutcase try to fry my brains, messing with my implanted circuits. The guy’s son has a rep for getting his own way—and making inconvenient i facts disappear. I’ve had a firsthand taste of that, too. Everybody’s told him he’s a genius. Luddie may have hired David thinking he can keep him fooled.”
Spreading his hands, Leif turned to his friend. “I think this job could turn into more trouble than anyone would want.”
A younger voice piped up. “David, if you decide to pass, on the job, could you recommend me?”
All eyes in the room went to Mark Gridley.
“Have you even been listening to what we’ve been saying, Squirt?” Andy demanded.
Mark shrugged. “This MacPherson guy may think he’s a genius, but I’ll bet you I’m smarter.”
“No takers there,” David said. “Besides, Hardweare has enough young geniuses running around.”
David then went on to tell his friends about Nick D’Aliso and his warning.
Megan gave David a look. “Well? You told Luddie Whoozis you’d call in Net Force if you came across anything that seemed fishy. What are you waiting for?”
“And what am I going to tell Captain Winters?” David burst out. ” ‘I need Net Force help! A notorious hacker was mean to me!’ “
Megan definitely did not agree. “What about this Weasel guy finding
out so quickly that you’d been hired? Obviously, he’s intercepting Sabotine’s computer messages.”
“I don’t have any proof of that,” David objected. “Sabo-tine could have passed along the information personally to Nicky da Weasel. And before you try to make that into a big conspiracy, passing that information could be as innocent as office gossip or corporate need-to-know. We don’t know what his full job description at the company is. For all we know, he has a full right be in the loop on my hiring.”
“Maybe,” Leif said. “But D’Aliso’s warning is right on. Battlin’ Bob MacPherson told me that several corporate big boys are going to end up fighting over Hardweare. And MacPherson might be a nut, but he’s the sort of nut who’s right on target, too. Now Nicky da Weasel is saying the same thing.” He shook his head. “David, I’d bail from that company if I were you.”
“But you’re not me.” David tried to keep the dismay off his face as he turned to the rest of his Explorer friends. “What do you guys think?”
“Bail,” Mark Gridley promptly said.
“You rat,” Andy Moore accused. “You’re just saying that because you’re hoping to scoop up the job.” Glancing at David, he said, “I’d say stick with it.” He grinned. “But then, I happen to like trouble.”
“I think you should stay, too,” Matt Hunter was more serious as he cast his vote. “Unlike Andy, I don’t think it will be fun. But I think someone should be keeping an eye on what happens at Hardweare, and you’ve got the perfect in.”
“Git out of there, pal,” P.J. Farris advised. “There’s toot many wild cards in this hand. You don’t know which way this’ will go, but I’m betting it will get ugly. There are easier ways ; of earning college money.”
“Spoken like a true politician’s son,” snorted Megan with a toss of her hair. “You’ve got to hang in there, David. Hardweare is taking computer technology in a whole new direction.! If people intend to mess with it, Net Force has to know—the 1 sooner, the better.”
“That family sounds messed up—and I ought to know. My! family is messed up enough.” Daniel frowned as he spoke. >, “Get involved in their quarrels, and you’re just asking for trouble. I don’t care what kind of opportunity it is—I’d get! out.”
“It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity,” Caitlin argued. “Years from now you’d kick yourself if you bailed—and you know it, Gray.”
David felt his lips quirk in a half-smile. “Four votes to stay,: four to go. Looks like I end up with the tie-breaker.” He took, a deep breath. “I’m not going to quit. I’ve got a chance to do some interesting coding and fatten up my college fund at the: same time. There’s definitely some weird stuff swirling around Hardweare, but there’s no way of telling if it’s a case for Net Force.”
He spread his hands. “I’ll tell you one thing, though. No. way am I going into this blind. I’m going to get in touch with Captain Winters. Maybe he can help me pin down some of these rumors about Hardweare.”
When his friends finally disconnected, it was nearly time for supper. David heard knocking on the door.
“Are you done yet?” his younger brother James wanted to know. “I still have some homework to finish.”
“Just a couple more minutes,” David said. He returned to the computer-link couch, went through the static snap-crackle-pop of tuning in, entered the Net, and gave Captain Winters’s. Net address.
He found himself in a virtual duplicate of the captain’s office—with a virtual version of the captain sitting behind the desk.
“David!” Winters said. “What can I do for you?”
David felt unexpectedly tongue-tied. “I—uh—didn’t think you’d be working so late,” he said a little lamely.
“Time and tide—and paperwork—wait for no man,” the captain replied with a grin. ‘ ‘These may be virtual files, but it still looks like paperwork to me.”
The thought of a fighting man like the captain shuffling files just about floored David. “Somehow, I don’t think of you doing that,” he said. “It doesn’t seem right.”
“Oh, it’s been worse. When I was still in the Marines, for example. There were requisition forms for everything from rations to ammunition, about a bazillion reports to file—” Winters’s good humor failed him for a second. “And the less pleasant items, like writing to the next of kin for each casualty.” He lightened up. “I haven’t had to do that for any Net Force Explorers. You guys keep your noses clean, and I shouldn’t ever have to write one of those letters again. That’s a nice feeling.”
“I didn’t expect you to be in the office, sir,” David said. “If you’ve got things to do, I won’t bother you. You can shift me to the message facility, and I’ll record—”
“David, a big part of my job is to act as liaison with the Net Force Explorers. Let’s liaise.” Winters scowled for a moment. ‘ ‘Is that a word? In any event, it beats being a glorified file clerk. What’s on your mind?”
David explained about his job offer from Hardweare and, more haltingly, about the weird stuff he and Leif had encountered in connection with the company and the MacPhersons.
“I don’t know about any laws being broken,” David finished. “But before I take the job, I thought I should find out more about Hardweare.”
“I can tell you a little, right off the top,” Winters replied. “Luddie MacPherson is an almost prototypical young genius. Net Force has received complaints about killbots deleting media files on MacPherson’s private life. But by the time we check into the complaints, Luddie seems to have paid the complainers off—at any rate, nobody has ever pressed charges. That’s not a fact we like to advertise—no sense giving other people the same bright idea. With the kind of lawyers MacPherson has been able to hire, no one is likely to succeed in making any charges stick, even if they want to.”
Winters leaned back in his virtual swivel chair. ‘ ‘Regarding Hardweare, well, we’re interested in the company for obvious reasons.”
David nodded. “I know the Gridleys are evaluating one of the vests.”
“I’ve seen an initial report,” Winters said. “MacPherson has incorporated some remarkable innovations into that little package. And he’s managed to keep a proprietary hold over a lot of those innovations, in a business where open architecture is the norm.”
“I guess it helps that there’s a circuit to fry the whole vest if you try to see what makes it tick,” David said.
Winters looked sour. “Another example of the paranoia of a young genius at work.”
“Luddie picked me personally because of my connection with Net Force,” David said. “He feels that hiring me will help give the company credibility, maybe shut up some of the people blaming Hardweare for some connection with the business leaks.”
This news didn’t brighten Winters’s outlook very much. “The young genius takes on public relations. Are you worried about being used as a smokescreen?”
“Right now I’m more interested in the accusations about the vests being linked to the escaping secrets,” David admitted. “Has anyone made a formal complaint?”
“Not with Hardweare’s lawyers ready to leap into action,” Winters said. “But Net Force has reasonable cause for suspicion—off the record. The executives in the companies that have been burned all regularly wore Hardweare vests.”
“But executives all over wear the stupid things,” David pointed out. “It’s one of those corporate status things. I bet they all wore Rolex watches and carried Mont Blanc pens, too.”
Winters shrugged. “But a Rolex or a Mont Blanc won’t hold quite as much data, and won’t blow up if you try to open the case. Most big corporations like to believe they’ve got reasonably airtight security. Some of them even have it. And there is the fact that the leaks have become a hemorrhage since the vests got popular.”
“Who’s making the accusations … off the record?” David asked. “You told us about leaks hurting a soda company, a fast-food chain, and an investment bank. I’m interested in the bank.
Could someone be trying to soften Hardweare up for a takeover attempt?”
“It’s a possibility.” Winters thought for a second. “There’s a media conglomerate who was embarrassed over details of their Hollywood accounting being made public. They also have a big stake in the software business. The security people at the investment bank were pretty bitter over the vests’ privacy features. They’ve gotten burned by maverick executives before.”
He glanced at David. “One thing that strikes me is the company that hasn’t complained about anything.”
David leaned in. “And what company is that?”
“The Forward Group.”
David sat up a little straighter. “Those are supposed to be some pretty bad guys.”
“The new superpower, if you believe the news magazines. An international conglomerate that conducts its own foreign policy, bringing down governments that don’t please them and installing more convenient rulers.”
David nodded. “They supposedly helped to bankroll the junta that took over Corteguay—although that deal didn’t turn out the way they expected. The new government threw out all foreign companies.” He frowned. “The Forward Group started as a high-tech company—”
“I actually knew Jeffrey Forward, the guy who founded the operation,” Winters said. “He was a real visionary. But when he died, the sharks took over the company.”
“They do have a predatory reputation,” David said slowly. “But it’s all rumor and innuendo—like what’s being done to Hardweare.”
Winters looked grim. “It’s not all rumor. Top executives of companies that got in Forward’s way have suffered convenient … accidents.”
David tried to read the captain’s face. “But you haven’t heard anything about Hardweare being targeted.”
“Hey, we might not hear anything, considering what the Forward Group spends on security. Countries could run their whole intelligence agencies on that budget.” He paused. “Or, for that matter, their armies.”
