The Gigolo Murder

don’t be an idiot

don’t you recognize what’s on your screen?

I finally got it. The numbers he’d sent, which I thought was just an ordinary float, were in fact the database of the system I had set out to destroy.

what do you think you’re doing?

get out of my line

I was cross when I wrote that. Enough was enough. Despite having gone online at a cafe, he’d still managed to track me down. We were going to have to fight it out once for and all.

it’s my contract

YOU SHOULD GET OUT, NOT ME

And he closed the connection.

I called him on his private cell phone number.

“You’re starting to get on my nerves!” I hissed.

“What do you think you’re doing? This is my contract. What gives you the right to steal my work? It’s mine. I respect you… but get lost!”

“We landed this contract,” I told him. “Don’t try to pinch it. Stop tracking me. The market’s big enough for both of us. You’re always on my tail! I’ve had it. We both lose if we undercut each other.”

“What do you mean your contract? I closed the deal a week ago and was waiting for an appointment with them. They give me a day and time, and who appears? You!”

“They gave us an appointment. We’re supposed to finish this in two hours.”

“Wait a sec,” he said. “Who’s your client?”

“It’s confidential. Who’s yours?”

“It’s confidential.”

Then an outrageous thought occurred to me: Two top-notch hackers employed to do the same job!

“What exactly did they ask you to do?” I asked. “They wanted me to crash their entire system, with all its data. What did they want you to do? Shield their system?”

“No, nothing like that,” said Cihad2000. “All they wanted me to do was to create an intermediary link connecting their system to another system at a specified time. Theirs was too unwieldy.”

“Look,” I said, “I think they’re using us both. Your computer is acting as a sort of intermediary portal, opening up their system to the outside. They’ve assigned you the task of bypassing security. Then I’m supposed to enter through the channel you’ve opened and obliterate the database. Don’t you see? They’re using us both, so we’re both mixed up in this. Neither of us is fully responsible; both of us are kept in the dark. Speaking of which, this whole business is a lot shadier than I’d realized.”

“You must be serious,” he said. “You haven’t said ayol even once.”

I had to laugh at that.

“Technically, what you say is possible,” he continued. “But why would they do it? Why should they pay us both?”

“I’ve got no idea. But take a look at the connection code they gave you…”

When I read out the code, it was his turn to be stunned.

“That’s a virtual code I created just for my computer, so they could link to me from abroad.”

“They told me to use a switching route from overseas, but when I found an analog line I decided not to bother.”

“So that’s how I found you,” he teased. “You’re not up to snuff these days. You’ve fallen in my eyes.”

So be it. If I fell in his eyes, maybe he’d get off my back and leave me alone. But it wasn’t just my skill as a hacker that drew him to me.

“So are you going to store that data for me?” I asked. “Have you got enough space?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s such an old-fashioned database, too clumsy and unwieldy. And the codes are poorly devised. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

“Don’t you have any idea what it is?”

“I didn’t really have a good look,” he said. “I was at a video cam site. Two guys were doing the most unspeakable things to each other. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Maybe we can try it sometime.”

“Don’t even think about it!” I said.

Cihad2000 is into things like S &M and rubber. That sort of stuff not only fails to turn me on, I don’t even find it interesting.

I glanced at the clock. I’d been connected to the system for about an hour, Cihad2000 for even longer. If someone was monitoring us, and had even the slightest experience, he would have noticed by now. But there had been no indication that anyone had.

“I came across a name among the data. I don’t know why, but it caught my eye,” I said. “I’d like to do some further research before I crash the system. If you help me, you may find me a bit more… accommodating.”

“But that’s blackmail!” he sputtered.

“So what?” I said. “You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

There was a moment of silence.

“You’re pushing me,” he said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this whole thing. The system I was linked to is an outside one. It’s not theirs. And here we both are, doing their bidding… Not even knowing who ‘they’ are. I find all these extra security measures a bit alarming. If I were you, I’d finish the job, take my money, and shut up.”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“We’re getting into hot water here… But how can I say no to you? Okay, but I can’t copy the whole thing. Give me that one name.”

I gave him Faruk’s full name.

“And,” I added, “Haluk Pekerdem.”

I couldn’t resist. And if Faruk Hanoglu was listed, there was every chance Haluk would be too.

“At your service, your royal highness. Start when the flowers arrive! I’m signing out.”

The flowers he mentioned appeared on my screen about twenty-five minutes later: a huge bouquet composed of brightly colored characters!

It was time to get to work. By ten I had sent Ali the agreed-upon text message: “I’m not hungry.” I’d even left the pimply waiter a big tip.

Chapter 15

Ponpon was waiting for me at home, in full war paint, ready for battle.

“I’ve been worried sick,” she said the moment I stepped through the door. “You’ve got a phone. But it’s switched off! I call, no answer. Then I phone Hasan, and he knows nothing. So I try the office… Money-counter won’t tell me a thing. I don’t know, he says, and hangs up. I was sure something had happened to you. You’ll drive me crazy yet. It’s not as though you’re in perfect mental health yourself. The least you could do is leave me sane.”

“Thanks,” I said. “That was great for morale.”

“Oh, I see,” she said. “So now it’s all my fault! We’ve been friends for decades, so I drop everything and leave my home to come here to yours. I’ve been cleaning and straightening for days-that is, when I haven’t been slaving away in the kitchen. Why? To help you. And what do you do? Disappear, as irresponsible as can be. And until the middle of the night. Do you have any idea what time it is? I even considered phoning that police chief friend of yours. Enough. I’m going. I simply won’t put up with this kind of abuse.”

“Come on, Ponpon,” I said. “It was an important job…”

Ponpon melts if she’s hugged. And that’s what she did. Actually, her leaving was a good idea, but I couldn’t deny that thanks to her I’d been living in comfort and feasting like a queen.

“See, I’m fine,” I went on. “And it’s all thanks to you. Go if you want to, of course. I know I’ve been a real bore. I’ve worn you out.”

“Don’t think you can soften me up like that! And I was so busy answering your phone calls, I burned dinner. We’ve got nothing to eat!”

That was the worst possible disaster scenario for Ponpon.

“We’ll eat out,” I said. “My treat!”

“It’s too late… I’ll barely make my show as it is. I’ve got to leave now.”

“We’ll meet up later,” I said.

“You mean you’re not coming with me?”

“It’s high time I stopped by my own club. To see if the place is still standing.”

What I’d just said was perfectly reasonable, but it didn’t stop Ponpon from scrutinizing me from head to toe before glancing at her watch in a panic and darting out the door with:

“I suppose you know best.”

I raced to the bathroom to get ready to go out. I had two choices: to knock them out as my usual glamorous self or resort to tragedy, winning their sympathy as a piteous creature who’d only just crawled out of her deathbed.