Clancy,Tom - Net Force - Cybernation.txt

by Cybernation(lit)

  He found a spot more or less in the shade of a building and pulled into the slot. When he came back, it would be

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  and roundabout method, to assure that he was

  ng was going to be in the middle of the mall, moving past left and right, in plain view, so the , of either side trying to steal from the other were Not completely impossible, a robbery, but he it unlikely.

  was a fair amount of cash. Hardly a fortune, to buy outright, say, a new and fairly well- bile. The cash he had in a cheap black nylon on the seat next to him, in nonsequential twenty- y-dollar bills. Amazing how much room it took. ; he was supposed to buy with those thousands of was a hundred coins, Maple Leafs, almost pure |And the reason he was meeting the seller in a mall the price of those coins was three-quarters : value.

  i meant, of course, that the deal was in some way Probably the coins were stolen, but there were i they could not be sold to a legitimate dealer: perhaps-one spouse trying to avoid splitting Or maybe someone's grandfather passed f and they were avoiding the inheritance penalty. Or dy who did not wish to pay income tax on

  ever. The reason did not matter to him, only the , If the coins were good, where they came from was it. They would join his others in the bank ; and eventually wind up back home. There were no

  i on coins.

  too good a deal to pass up, but because of that, was cautious. Thus he had brought the gun. He be alert before, during, and especially after the ". The gun was cocked and locked, and it would >:work of half, maybe three-quarters of a second to f the pistol out and firing.

  '. deal was some kind of sting, the seller would find too, had a stinger.

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  The place was huge. He saw signs for a Banana Republic, a Hard Rock Cafe, cinemas, Disney, Neiman Marcus, Calvin Klein, dozens and dozens of others. Such choices they had in the States.

  The mall was too cool, and the air itself smelled stale. These norte americanos did not know how to live with warmth. They hid from it, kept it at bay with air conditioners that cranked up when die temperature wasn't even hot enough to melt an ice cube on the sidewalk.

  He found the arranged spot in the mall, a place with skylights, benches, and potted tropical trees: thirty-foot- tall palms, small banana trees, like that. The floor looked to be wood, or some clever fake. He passed the place, strolled down the mall, looking for somebody who might be paying too much attention to that area.

  A loop in both directions came up clear. There were a lot of people milling about, in and out of the stores, and it was noisy. Parents put children on little choochoo trains, couples strolled along hand in hand, old people exercised in pairs, moving quickly in their thick-soled walking shoes. He saw nobody who seemed to be watching the appointed rendezvous. He did see a couple of uniformed security guards on patrol, and that was good.

  He found a small shop selling sporting gear from where he could watch the meeting place, and he stood there and pretended to look at fishing reels.

  A few minutes later, his coin seller arrived.

  The man was fifty, overweight, red-faced, wearing a Hawaiian shirt with blue blossoms against a black background, yellow Bermuda shorts, and leather sandals. He had a cell phone clipped to his belt He carried a briefcase. A hundred ounces of gold-that was only 2.8 kilograms, 6.25 pounds, not very heavy. The man looked around nervously, wiped his face with a handkerchief, then sat on one of the benches. He put the briefcase on his lap, both hands gripping it tightly, and looked from side to side, searching for Santos.

  Santos hoped the security guards didn't come back. The

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  i entirely too nervous. He looked guilty just sitting

  could be deceiving, of course, but this f yellow shorts did not look dangerous. He looked .and exhibited none of the coolness Santos would a professional thief. Amateurs were bad- deal with pros-but this Yellow Shorts here be no more than he appeared, scanned for backup. It took all of ten seconds I spotted a woman about the man's age, fifty feet to be window-shopping as she held a to one ear, but obviously watching Yellow wore a sundress and straw hat, and carried a handbag.

  maybe? But-no. On reflection, they had a ;> sameness about them.

  he decided.

  lid bet that Yellow Shorts had his cell phone so that the woman could listen to the convers Amateurs, to be sure.

  could have a gun in that bag, just as Yellow l could have one in the briefcase, but Santos did not .The coins, he decided, might be theirs, but they the money, and for some reason could not get it dealer. A dead relative, or one gone senile, pos-

  not intend to let his guard down, but he was

  than before.

  [waited until a couple of minutes before they were then strolled out into the mallway and toward Shorts. Mayberry?"

  Shorts looked at him as if Santos were a wild i escaped from the zoo. He thought for a minute the

  t jump up and run away. Mr. uh, uh, Ouro?" i your service." a're ... black."

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  "I am? Oh, dear."

  Mayberry gave him a tepid smile.

  "Let me sit next to you," Santos said. "I will show you mine, and you show me yours." '

  He sat, opened the top of the backpack, pretended to be searching for something within, and held it so that the man could see the bills. ;

  In response, Mayberry opened the lid of the briefcase and showed him the coins.

  No gun.

  The Maple Leafs were in pockets of clear plastic sheets, ten to a sheet in two rows of five, stacked ten deep. Santos could tell at a glance they were real. Faking such things was possible, but these were not fakes. To be sure, he said, "May I?"

  Mayberry nodded. It seemed to Santos that the man's head would fall off, it bobbed so hard.

  Santos removed one coin and felt it. It was real enough. He tucked it back into its pocket and closed the briefcase.

  Pedestrians streamed by, unaware of the transaction taking place.

  "It would probably not be a good idea to count here, but if you wish, you may take it into the bathroom over there and do so." He handed Mayberry the backpack.

  "I, uh ..."

  "It would be no problem. You could leave the coins with me for security, and your sister can watch to make sure I don't run off."

  Mayberry gasped.

  Santos glanced over at Sundress in time to see her jump as if stung by a bee.

  He smiled.

  "How could you know that?" Mayberry said.

  Santos shrugged, a lazy gesture.

  "I-there's no need to count it. I'm sure it is all there."

  Indeed, it was, but the man was a fool to trust him. In fact, Santos knew he could take the coins, and the backpack, and walk away, and Mr. Mayberry-or whatever

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  name was-would do nothing to stop him. He I hardly call the police if there was some taint to the and he could not physically stop him. But Santos pirn honest man. He was saving twenty-five percent on due of the Maple Leafs, a bargain. He was no thief, ifery well, then. Our transaction is concluded, no? En- phe day." ifith that Santos stood and walked away with the brief-

  his business should be so easy. But just to be safe, rould take his time getting back to his automobile, he would make sure he wasn't followed. He had an- backpack in the car's trunk, and he would transfer ;"oins to it-just in case. Perhaps Mr. Yellow Shorts not a terrified amateur at all, but some kind of won- J actor and criminal genius. Perhaps he might have a tracking device into the briefcase to allow some ... violent confederates to follow along to relieve Sanll;bf his gold elsewhere?

  which instance, the footpads would find themselves wing a delivery truck, or wondering why their target taken refuge in a garbage bin ... le smiled at the thought. If pressed, he would bet all gold in the case against a dime that this imagining not so. Still, it paid to be cautious when carrying a ile of kilos of go
ld around, no? Men had been killed much, much less.

  Ie went into a shop and found an exit in the back with across the door that said an emergency buzzer would id if the door was opened. He pushed the door open stepped out into the warm sunshine. A short ways was another entrance into the mall. He walked there went back into the building.

  fe had heard that there were supposed to be a couple Brazilian restaurants in Fort Lauderdale. Perhaps ild get a real caipirinha, heavy on the lime and light the vodka, maybe some churrasco steak or chicken

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  and even some torta de banana! He had not had good banana pie since he had been in the U.S.

  He would ask the car's computer where to find such a restaurant. With the money he had saved on the coins- at least ten thousand U.S., for sure-he certainly could afford to indulge himself in some real food for a change . . .

  Ah. Life was good.

  17

  t Force HQ ifico, Virginia

  Howard walked down the long hall to his office, Uy glad to be here. ^Tyrone was out of danger, and home, and Howard felt i if he could go back to work without worry. Julio had an adventure, breaking up an extortionist's operation, I Gridley and crew had been working hard on the latest : assaults.

  j Fortunately, he hadn't missed much. He'd had a couple of long talks with his son. One of perks of having a teenager confined to bed and deling on you for everything he couldn't reach was that > was forced to talk to you now and then, if for no other on save to ask for his laptop computer, more DVDs his video player, or another soft drink or glass of iced The boy drank like he was trying to set a record for liquid downed. Had three piss jars by his bed full st of the time. Tyrone had asked about work, and Howard had given

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  him what was available for public consumption, plus a little more. After all, his son was a computer whiz who had once helped Jay Gridley track down one of their miscreants.

  When they had gotten to Jay's theory about CyberNation maybe being somehow responsible, and the prevailing attitude as to where CyberNation could go and what it could do to itself when it got there, Howard had gotten an earful.

  "You're wrong. These people are on the right track."

  "A bunch of thieves? Putting copyrighted or trademarked stuff out without paying for it?"

  "It's not theft, Dad. Knowledge should be free. If you're some poor backwoods family in Kuala Lumpur or somewhere and there's a way of growing rice that doubles your harvest, shouldn't they know about it?"

  Howard had shrugged. "I can see that, but-"

  "That's an easy one. Same thing for drugs". Suppose you run a Third World country, and half your population has a deadly disease, and the formula for a drug that will cure it is available, shouldn't you be able to get it, make the stuff, and cure your citizens? The big drug companies say no, you have to buy it from them."

  "There's two sides to that argument, son. The big drug company maybe spent millions creating and developing that formula. Years of work and testing, getting government approval. So you're saying that they should just give it away for free?"

  "No. I'm saying that they are making huge profits, so why shouldn't they be willing to cut some slack to sick people who will die because they can't afford it? Doesn't the end of saving lives justify the means here?"

  Howard said, "But if you extend that logic, there might not be any profits. If they have to give away their stuff for free to everybody who can't afford it, they go bust, and then no new cures are developed. Nobody gets a haircut if the barbershop is out of business."

  "You're twisting what I'm saying."

  "No, I'm telling you that in our world, there ain't no

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  t thing as a free lunch. Somebody somewhere always for it, that's how it works. Yes, maybe some rich ny could afford to make less profit to benefit others, lien you start drawing that line for them, you're forcijpeople into communism. That's a bad system." one, sprawled on the bed and unable to escape, his arms over his chest. "You don't understand." i educate me."

  one scooted up a little. Like his mother, he had to hands to talk, so the tight body language went jr. He said, "All right. Look at CyberNation. They are ng international citizenship. You join up, pay them, cm get connected to the world. You can get a college e, find any information that's available, and they'll offer you a kind of social security. What's wrong i that?"

  Nothing, except that it's a castle in the sky, son. You |'t live on-line. No matter how many hours of the day l^re plugged in, you still have to have a physical lo- i somewhere. You can roam the planet in virtual re- jp, but your butt will be in a chair in Washington or ; or Sierra Leone." a?"

  3, as a citizen of a geographic location-a country- i have to obey the rules and regulations of that place." ^ut CyberNation is going to cover that-" H'They can't. They gonna pay your taxes for you? Keep the roads and schools and national defense? Lookit, if CyberNation decides to issue driver's licenses to ^'citizens.' That mean you don't have to get one from state?"

  he U.S. recognizes licenses from other countries," ne countered. "If you come here from France or ewhere, you can drive, as long as you have insurance : your license is valid at home. Jeez, Dad, every state out licenses, but you can drive in every other state it. It's called reciprocity." jpBut that's temporary, son. If you are passing through

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  Arizona and you're licensed in Mississippi, that's fine, but if you move to Arizona, you have thirty days to change your paperwork. That's how it works most places."

  "Yes, but-"

  "No 'but' about it. You live in a place, you have to toe whatever line that place calls for. But skip all the citizenship stuff for a minute. Let's get into the 'universal access to knowledge' business. Let me ask you something. You see anything wrong with recording a movie you like to watch off the cable without buying the commercial DVD of it?"

  "No, I don't see anything wrong with that. You do it all the time."

  "Right. But I'm paying for it. I pay the cable bill, and if I set up the HD to record a program I want to watch later, or because I won't be there when it comes on, there's nothing wrong with that. But if I take that pay- per-view program, run off a copy, and sell it to somebody else, is that right?"

  "Why not? You buy a book, a knife, a frying pan, it's yours, you can do anything you want with it. You can sell it to somebody. That's legal."

  "One that I paid for, yes. But let's say I run off fifty copies of a novel, or a DVD movie, and sell them at a discount, then what I'm doing is depriving the cable or satellite company of potential revenue. Fifty people who might have paid for it won't. Not to mention I'm getting a profit off of something I had no hand in creating."

  "But what if you give them away? You aren't making any profit."

  "Same difference. I'm not earning money, but I'm in essence stealing from the people who paid to produce it, because those fifty copies come out of the company's profit."

  "But what if the people you sell them to wouldn't have bought it at full price?"

  "You're saying it's okay to shoplift if you don't have the cash to buy something?"

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  , I'm not saying that. But listen. Here's an example:

  8 this piece of music I got from the web. It's a

  thing. Somebody took the words to a hot rock

  I put them to the music of a TV sitcom. It's really Jut the rock stars didn't think so, so they sued fou can't buy the song anywhere. So if I download

  II hurt? Nobody makes any money on it, it isn't commercially."

  nodded. "I can see that. Parody is a valid ar: and protected under our laws. But the rock stars ue that the words are their property so it available without their approval. They own ey can sell the song or let it sit on a shelf until it i dust."

  it's not right. What if somebody bought a famous art, a Picasso, or the Mona Lisa or s
omething, took it out into the yard and slashed it up, set e? Could they do that?"

  [ly, yes. It would be theirs, they could do that > I wouldn't want to be them on Judgment Day in front of God trying to explain why they'd one of the world's treasures." it's my point, Dad. Something can be legal but not Didn't Jesus say if you had two shirts and your

  didn't have any, you should give him one?" : exactly, but close enough. The thing is, while we | Jesus's teachings, not everybody does. Laws have I on moral and ethical principles, but they have all the people. And at the heart of western civi- is the concept of private property. And that in- intellectual property, too. You take a man's living you steal his songs or books or secret formulas. |Jaws are moral by society's standards."

  laws that allowed ... slavery?" ward stared at him. "You gonna throw that up into e? You're not any darker than I am, son."

  But slavery was legal for a long time. That 'make it right."

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  "No, it didn't. And those laws were changed."

  "And it took them, what, two hundred and fifty years to get around to it? We've got laws now that will be changed, too. This is the information age, Dad. Old concepts will have to make way for the new ones. The cat is out of the bag, and it isn't gonna go back in."