Distraction - Bruce Sterling [99]
“Yeah. That’s right. Her.”
Sosik rubbed his chin. “I forgot how hard up a young guy can get.… Can it possibly be that good?”
“No, it’s not that good,” Oscar told him. “It’s no good at all, it’s bad. It’s real bad. It’s worse than you could imagine, it’s terrible. If we’re ever caught, we get outed. She’s a fanatic workaholic—science is the only thing in the world that doesn’t bore her to death. Huey adores her and wants to recruit her for some kind of mad-genius brain lab he’s building in a salt mine.… She drinks too much. She has allergies. She’s eight years older than me.… And oh, she’s also Jewish. Though for some reason the Jewish thing hasn’t come up much.”
Sosik sighed, his breath steaming in the air. “So that’s your situation, huh?”
“That’s almost it. Except for one more thing. She’s truly a genius. She’s a unique, brilliant, wonderful thing.”
Kevin Hamilton was visiting Oscar’s house for a neighborly chat. Kevin, a man of deeply irregular schedules, had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a bag of dried banana chips.
“Politics are irrelevant now,” Kevin informed him airily.
“I’m not asking you to become a political activist, Kevin. I’m just asking you to join my krewe and run my security.”
Kevin munched a handful of banana chips and had a swig of chocolate milk. “Well, you being the guy you are, I guess you’ve got the money for that sort of thing.…”
Oscar adjusted his laptop on the conference table. “There’s not a lot of time for idle chitchat here, so let’s put our cards on the table. I know you’re a rather special guy, but you’re not the only guy in the world who can do net research. So can I. You’ve got a civil disobedience record as long as my arm. You spent ten years with no visible means of support. Your dad is a convicted computer criminal on electronic parole. You’re a police informant and a surveillance freak. I really think I need a guy like you in my outfit.”
“Nice of you not to mention my dicey ethnic background,” Kevin said. He set his sandwich aside and produced his own laptop from a battered valise. The ancient machine was pasted together with tension straps and travel decals.
“I never, ever mention that sort of thing,” Oscar said.
“Not that you would. You’re not an ‘ethnic’ guy.” Kevin consulted his own screen. “As far as I can figure out, you’re some kind of lab product.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“My dad went bad after his business crashed—but your dad was a genuine gangster. Good thing for you that the feds don’t like to bust movie stars.”
“Yeah, and his films were criminal acts, too.”
“You must be really hard up, man. I don’t do bodyguard work. I’ve got it together to run a successful neighborhood watch. It’s a good gig for a guy who was a big-time nomad—I get to sit still now, and I’ve got a roof over my head. But you’re a dodgy politician with some major-league enemies. I could get killed working for a guy like you.”
“The plan here is that I don’t get killed, and you get paid for that.”
“I dunno why I’m even listening to you, man. But you know—I gotta admit that I kinda like your proposal. I like a guy who knows what he wants and just goes right after it. There’s something about you that … I dunno … it just inspires confidence.”
Time to play the next card. “Look, I understand about your father, Kevin. A lot of decent people suffered when intellectual property crashed. Friends of mine in the Senator’s office could talk to the Governor about a grant of clemency. I believe I could do something for you here.”
“Now, that would be great. You know, my dad really got a raw deal. He was never your typical racist white-power bomber. The feds just brought up that terror-and-conspiracy indictment, so he would plead out on the embezzlement and wiretapping charges.”
“He must have had a good lawyer.”
“Sorta … his lawyer had the good sense to defect to Europe when the real heat came down.” Kevin sighed. “I almost