Net Force - Tom Clancy [100]
Call me sometime, she said. Well do something
Oh, man!
His feet must have been on the ground as he walked toward the Trans station, but Tyrone could hardly tell.
So this what it was like to be in love.
Sunday, October 3rd, 10:01 p.m. Washington, D.C.
In her apartment, Toni looked at the black plastic tape box Rusty handed her. Where did you get this?
I found it on the webpage for a bookstore in Alabama a couple of days ago. It just got here this morning. I dont have a VHS player, so I havent had a chance to see it yet.
Toni looked at the box. The pictures on the back of the box showed a short-haired man in a light shirt and tan slacks doing a block and sapu against a large, ponytailed man in jeans and a dark jacket. The box had apparently gotten wet at some point, because most of the rest of the back was so water-stained and faded it couldnt be made out. She could see that it was a production of Paladin Press, copyright 1999. She knew about them. They produced offbeat books and vids, everything from a dozen ways to kill somebody with common items in your kitchen cabinet, to hardcore gun and sword texts. They were out in Colorado somewhere, if she recalled right.
On the front of the box, part of the faded illustration had been torn off, but the title, Pukulan Pentjak Silat: The Devastating Fighting Art of Bukti Negara-Serak, Volume Three, was still readable. She felt a quick rush of excitement. She hadnt known anybody had made tapes of her art. And this was the third in a series. Well, lets see if my player still works, I havent used it in a while.
She moved to the multimedia player, and pushed the tape into the VHS slot. The machine lit. She clicked on the television, and went back to sit on the couch next to Rusty.
The tape opened with a credit sequence, followed by the guy in tan slacks walking into an alley. A man in the alley was moving something, asked for help, and all of a sudden, three more attackers jumped out from behind Dumpsters or doorways. One of the muggers had a knife, another a baseball bat. All four went for Tan Slacks. What was his name? She had missed it in the credits. Never mind, shed get it later.
In five seconds, all four of the attackers were on the ground, having gotten there with considerable impact. Toni watched carefully. She would want to see this again in slo-mo, the guy moved so fast. Silat wasnt pretty, there werent any fancy stances artfully held, but it certainly worked.
The scene changed, and the guru stood on a mat against the background of a pastel blue wall. He wore a black T-shirt with cut-off sleeves and a classical sarong. The shirt had the Bukti emblem on it: a garuda bird with the tiger face on its chest, over a pair of tjabang tridents. The guru looked fit, fairly muscular, and very confident. She wondered what hed be like now, more than ten years later.
Toni turned to Rusty. This is great. Im glad you let me see it.
I bought it for you, he said. I figured youd appreciate it more than I would.
She smiled. Thank you. That was nice of you. She put her hand on his arm.
The moment stretched. The gesture was a simple touch, nothing more, and it meant nothing more than a slight emphasis to her thanks.
Unless she left her hand there.
The moment continued.
Toni decided.
She did not pull her hand away.
31
Monday, October 4th, 5:05 a.m. Quantico
Suddenly aware of how stiff and tired he felt, Jay Gridley looked at the clock.
Wow. Hed been up all night.
He had scanned enough material to fill a tanker, but now he had a better sense of the programmer theyd chased. Before, they hadnt had diddly, but now that theyd gotten a closer look, a picture was starting to resolve. The guy had the earmarks of somebody trained in the CIS, and Gridley was betting he was a Russian. Not a firm ID, but it sure narrowed things down considerably.
He tapped at the keyboard, using RW mode instead of VR. This was slogwork, basic