Gaspar Latke panicked, feeling the incredible pull of the fist wrapped around the fiberoptic cable spinning out of his chest. “No!”
“Yes.” Mark Gridley stepped from the e-mail link. Gaspar pulled back, hoping to snap the fiberoptic cable in his chest. The pain when he hit the end of the cable was incredible, almost enough to automatically log him off. He’d extended his pain threshold for Heavener’s operations past all usual settings.
“Go ahead and fight,” Mark told him. “You’re hooked like a fish on a line. Maybe I can’t keep you prisoner here, but if you try to log off, the virus I’ve overlaid into your proxy programming is going to leave a signature I can follow anywhere.” He grinned and took one long step across the Net that brought him up to Gaspar hanging above Madeline Green’s house.
Gaspar ran a quick systems diagnostic on his proxy and found the embedded virus coding. None of the normal firewalls and detectors he kept as part of the proxy’s shielding had even phased it. The kid was good.
“You’ve got to let me go,” Gaspar pleaded. Instinctively he pulled at the fiberoptic cable. “Without following me.”
“No, I don’t,” Mark replied.
“They’ll kill me if you trace me.”
An uneasy look settled across the young boy’s face.
“You didn’t think about that, did you?” Gaspar demanded, knowing he had a slight edge. “About them killing me, I mean.”
“Who are they?”
Gaspar shook his head. “If I tell you that, they’ll kill me.”
“What if I don’t believe you?” Mark challenged.
“Then you might as well put the pistol to my head and pull the trigger yourself.” Despite the overwhelming fight-or-flight reflex filling him, Gaspar made himself relax somewhat. “Have you ever seen anyone die while they were online?”
Even in 2025, with all the safeguards put on the Net, it still happened. A heart patient or terminally ill patient logged on at the time of a massive cardiac arrest was a prime candidate. And no one had found a certain way to predict when a brain aneurysm was going to occur or explode, taking someone’s life with it. Gaspar had seen it happen, had seen proxies unravel on the Net. And some nights the dreams still haunted him.
“I don’t have much time,” Gaspar said quietly. “If they come back and find me online, I won’t be given a chance to explain.”
Hesitation furrowed Mark’s brow. “Who are you?”
“I can’t tell you that. I can’t tell you anything that will lead directly to me. Or to them.”
“What were you doing here?” Mark demanded.
“Leaving your friend a message.” Gaspar closed his hand, then opened it, revealing an icon that was a crude parchment with a ribbon tied around it. “This message.”
“About what?”
“You’re welcome to read it, but I’ve got to go.” Gaspar felt frantic.
“Give me something,” Mark said.
“I’m giving you that note,” Gaspar replied. “And I shouldn’t even be doing that.” He pulled at the fiberoptic cable, drawing back. The pain started again, sending crashing pain throbbing between his temples. “Track me back and they’ll know and I’ll be dead. I slipped through a bolt hole I left in the programming, but there’s no way I can get back through it with a trace on me.”
“Go.” Mark turned the fiberoptic cable loose.
Automatically Gaspar ran a systems check on the proxy and found it clean. He logged off and opened his eyes back in the dark room. Heavener was still gone, but he couldn’t quite summon up a true feeling of relief. The clock was already ticking on what was left of his life.
“—and then he was gone.”
Maj sat in her hotel room with her friends. Mark Gridley’s holo stood at center stage, holding all their attention with his story.
Andy shook his head. He sat on the floor against the wall. “You should have left the trace on.”
“If they’d found it, they would have killed him.”
Andy spread his hands. “Excuse me for being the cynic here, but you only had his word about that.”
Mark looked at them a little uncertainly. “I believed him.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Matt advised. “You did the right thing. The guys who invaded Maj’s room last night sure didn’t have any problems pulling the trigger.”
“Sure, the guy thought he was nailed,” Andy persisted. “He was going to tell you any story you’d buy into.”
“Sometimes people tell the truth,” Megan pointed out.
“A body shows up,” Andy said, “you can trace a body.”
“That’s awfully cold,” Catie said.
“I’m just saying.”
“And bodies don’t always turn up,” Leif said. “You’d be surprised how many hostile takeovers among corporations actually turn out
Maj hardened her voice. Andy was a friend, but his cynical streak was definitely a pain sometimes. “How about it, Andy? Think you’d have called it any other way?” She met Andy’s gaze fully.
Andy blew his breath out. “No. No, you did the right thing, Squirt. I’m just itching to be doing something instead of sitting around here.”
“Something like pulling surveillance in the game room?” Leif suggested. He munched on a banana from the huge fruit bowl he’d had sent up. There was also a selection of cheeses and crackers and bottled water.
Andy’s face brightened. “Now there’s an idea. If they hadn’t shut the game room down, I’d be in heaven.” The game room had been sealed by the LAPD while a forensics team scoured the area and processed witnesses. Some off-site gaming centers had been set up that were accessible through the Net, but the experience just wasn’t the same.
Maj studied the printout from the letter the mystery guy had left.
“Are you sure it was the same guy you met last night?” Maj asked.
“He had the same proxy,” Mark answered. “The same kind of feel to him. I’d say so.”
“You know,” Matt said, “this could be a setup.”
“That crossed my mind,” Maj admitted.
“Or it could be contact so they can make the ransom demand,” Megan said.
“
“For a messenger,” Leif said. “Maybe it’s because of your Net Force connections. They’ve studied your background by now. They’ll know who you are.”
“They could contact Peter’s publishers,” Maj said. “That would make more sense.”
“Unless you figure maybe they were the geeks who kidnapped Peter in the first place,” Andy said. “Or that Peter wanted them to contact you because he helped kidnap himself.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
Andy snorted. “And you got that from the thumbnail history they’ve got on HoloNet, right?”
“Back off,” Maj said angrily.
“No,” Andy said. “Stop and think for a minute, Maj. Somehow Peter Griffen invaded your veeyar here at the hotel while you were showing your sim off to Matt. Guys later invaded your room. Maybe you were supposed to scream ‘Police!’ last night and get some extra attention. Instead, Detective Holmes and Captain Winters squashed the story.”
“You didn’t see his face,” Maj said. “He was just as surprised to see us there as we were to see him.”
“That’s right,” Matt put in. “And the team who was here last night came prepared to kill anyone who got in
