Hidden Agendas

us the finger. Big deal. No harm, no foul.'

Alex shook his head. 'You're wrong, Jay. This is a major hit.'

Jay frowned, but Toni saw from her face that Joanna understood.

Toni said, 'Net Force is supposed to be the guardian for the nation's computer systems. If this group can get into our supposedly secure setup, how does that make us look? What kind of confidence is this going to inspire in our clients, when it comes to protecting their systems?'

'But it doesn't matter that they got in,' Jay said. 'They couldn't do anything! Our automatics nailed the program within a couple of seconds. It opened a picture we already had in our files. All the picture did was just sit there and shine. It couldn't have done anything else no matter what. We were back on-line before most people even noticed it. It was a glitch, no damage, zip city.'

'We're not talking programs here,' Alex said. 'We're talking politics. It doesn't matter that the terrorists didn't do any damage, what matters is that they got in. Even if you and I know better, people who don't understand computers are going to be afraid. Sure, they'll say, the Net Force bleebs say no big deal, but so, if it's no big deal, how come they didn't keep them out in the first place?'

Jay shook his head. 'But — but—'

'Toni, see what you can do for damage control,' Alex said to her. To Jay and Joanna, he said, 'Try and backwalk this, see if you can get us any leads. I have a feeling this is going to get real ugly on us if we don't short- circuit it pretty quick. Go.'

After Jay and Joanna were gone, Toni sat alone with Alex.

'You okay?' she asked.

'Yes, of course, I'm fine. It's just all this.' He waved one hand to encompass Net Force and all its problems

But he wasn't fine, she could see that. He had been tighter than a violin's E-string since he'd come back after Christmas. At first she'd thought it was because of his little adventure in the desert that he didn't want to talk to her about. But that wasn't the kind of thing to bother him, at least not as much as he seemed to be bothered. He'd come out a winner, captured a bad guy, no loss of face there. If anything, he came off kind of heroic. Men admired that kind of thing in other men.

She hadn't asked about his visit with his daughter and ex-wife, he hadn't volunteered, and Toni suspected that maybe the visit hadn't gone well. Even divorced, that woman seemed to run Alex's life long-distance, and Toni hated her for it. And the woman had to be stupid; otherwise how could she have ever let Alex get away from her?

But it wasn't Toni's place to ask, not given their strictly professional relationship. All she could do was offer opportunities for him to talk. If he didn't want to do that, she couldn't make him.

'Okay,' she said. 'You know where to find me. I'll see if I can bury this where nobody will stumble across it.'

She stood, started to leave.

'Toni?'

'Mm?'

'I'm going to look at a new car tomorrow — assuming the sky doesn't fall before then. Well, it's an old car, one I'm considering buying, assuming this whole place hasn't totally gone to hell by then. Car's a little Miata, it's in a garage in Fredericksburg, that's on 1-95 a few miles south of here.'

'Uh-huh?'

'Well, given how much you know about cars and all, I was, uh, wondering, that is, I mean… would you like to go along and help me check it out?'

Toni was stunned. Where had that come from?! Out of nowhere, that's where! Her brain stalled, as if somebody had slapped it silly. For a moment, she couldn't think, couldn't talk, couldn't even breathe. Then her little warning voice kicked in, and what it said was:

Oh, baby! He's asking you out! Slow, go slow, don't scare him off!

She managed a breath. 'Yeah, I'd like that. A Miata, huh? One of my brothers had one of those once.'

'Yeah,' he said quickly, 'I remember you told me that, so, uh, your advice would really be helpful. You know.'

She wanted to grin, but she held her face to polite interest. He was like a fourteen-year-old kid asking a girl out on his first date — she could see it in his expression, hear it in his voice. He was nervous. Afraid she would turn him down.

As if that was remotely possible.

It made him all the more adorable, that he was rattled.

'I, uh, want to get an early start,' he said, 'so why don't I pick you up about seven?'

'Seven would be good.'

'Uh, where do you, uh, live? I've never been to your place.'

She gave him her address and directions, still full of wonder about this.

Don't go jumping to conclusions, girl. He just asked you to go look at an old car, not for a weekend in Paris.

Shut up, she told her inner voice.

'Probably you should wear some some old clothes,' he said. 'It might get a little greasy poking around in an old garage. I'm going to take some tools and stuff. I might be able to get the thing running. If you don't mind hanging around while I try.'

'No problem,' she said.

For a long moment — a couple of millennia anyhow — she stood there staring at him, feeling so bubbly she wanted to jump up and down and scream. Finally she pulled herself away. 'Okay,' she said. 'I'll go work on the hack.'

Once she was out of the conference room, her back to Alex, she could not stop the grin. Yes! Yes!

* * *

When he'd been thirteen, Alex Michaels had ridden the Tyler Texas Tornado — at the time, the world's largest roller coaster. He'd never forgotten that weightless, pit-of-the-stomach rush as the car fell over the first drop and gravity let go of him. If it hadn't been for the safety bar, he would have floated right out of the ride.

He felt like that now, as if he had just gone over the first drop of the 111. His stomach was fluttery, his heart was thumping along at least twice its normal speed, his mouth was dry, and he was breathing fast.

Jesus H. Christ. What did you just do? Did you just ask Toni Fiorella, your assistant, out on a date?

No, no, not a date! Just to go check out the car. She knows about cars — remember when she came to the house and saw the Prowler? She knew all about motors and hydraulics and like that! She had a house full of brothers who were into cars!

Uh-huh. Sure. Who do you think you're fooling here, pal? I was there, I remember you looking at her butt while you were on the phone talking to your daughter. And I remember silat class, too, buddy. When you and she are all entwined in one of those grappling moves. How she feels pressed against you, just before she throws your stupid butt on the ground.

He knew. He knew this was not a smart thing to be doing. Toni worked for him, and yeah, he'd gotten vibes from her that she didn't exactly find him hideous or anything, but this was dangerous territory. Toni was bright, adept, good-looking, and, oh, yes, it would be a lot of fun to get closer than they did in silat. There was nothing wrong with his imagination — he just hadn't let it play much since he and Megan had split up. But that last visit to the old house, that whole scene with Megan and her new boyfriend, that had pretty much put the final nail in the coffin, hadn't it? The marriage was dead, they weren't going to get back together, and when he'd calmed down later and thought about it, he realized he didn't want to get back together with a woman who could do to him what she had done. Megan had a nasty streak, and while it didn't come out that often, it was very mean-spirited when it did. He didn't want to be with somebody who could go postal on him at any time. That was no way to live, sleeping with one eye