Net Force - Tom Clancy [64]
So, Jimmy Joe, you scan anything?
No mucho, spiderboy. Lotta strand-poppin on the FEN, though.
Tyrone nodded. Far East Net had been DFB-data flowin bad-the last few days. Hed seen that himself. The mad programmer was kicking serious ass there.
On the stage in front of a flashing light show and a driving bass beat, a tall blue-eyed brunette showed the audience that her hair color was natural. Boom, bop-a boom! He stared. She smiled at him, not knowing that his appearance was a fake. Of course, her appearance could be fake, too. She might be a sixty-year-old fat man.
If you were hunting for truth, VR wasnt the best place to look for it.
Im gonna hit the OHTs and see if theres any feedback, Jimmy Joe said. You just know some wirehead with a strainer program and no life is catching minnows. Maybe one of them can lead us to the big fish.
Scan and download that, Tyrone said. The brunette stripper had left the stage. A new one came out. Well, well, look at that: Belladonna Wright herself. This was Jimmy Joes doing, the override and image-craft such that the new woman wore Bellas face and body. No way would Tyrone risk that, even in VR. If Bonebreaker found out, that would be bad.
Im gonna ride, Tyrone said.
Jimmy Joe grinned real big. He made the sound of a chicken clucking: Buck-buck-buck-buuucckk!
You right about that. Im not ready to spend six weeks regenerating bone tissue, monkey-boy. Especially for an overlay that even isnt real.
Your loss, Jimmy Joe said. Who is gonna know?
Only takes two words in Bonebreakers ear and youre pretzel-boy.
Jimmy Joe shrugged. Better to burn it than bank it. He turned to watch the ersatz Bella shuck her costume.
Me, Im ridin, Tyrone said. But he sneaked a quick look as he headed for the door.
Maybe hed take a pass at CyberNation, see what was up there.
Thursday, September 30th, 8:20 a.m. Quantico
Parked in the Viper across the street, Jay Gridley watched Tyrone Howard leave the strip joint. The boy didnt see him. He smiled. The colonel had asked him to check up on his son from time to time, and Gridley didnt mind doing so, but he wouldnt mention this. Teenage boys were curious, and a VR stripper was a lot less dangerous than some of the stuff a kid could get himself involved with, on- or off-line. If a teenage boy wasnt interested in looking at a naked woman, that would be the time for his father to get worried.
No harm, no foul.
Tyrone mounted his Harley and roared away. Gridley watched him leave before he started the Vipers motor. He had plenty of other stuff to worry about.
Thursday, September 30th, 11:55 a.m. Quantico
Toni Fiorella stretched in the gym, warming up her knees. She looked up and saw Rusty enter. He waved at her. He was already dressed to work out.
He was a pretty good student. Very flexible, if a bit too much addicted to speed and power, neither of which were necessary in bukti negara. If he got to the serak, he could use that, but that was years away, if he stuck to it. So far, at least, he had shown up for every practice, and his moves indicated hed been practicing on his own. He was still a little leery of working close, he kept wanting to distance himself too much for the proper working of the techniques, but that would level out with time.
Hey, Guru.
Rusty. Lets get started.
He nodded. He stood with his feet apart, his hands by his side, palms forward, fingers pointed at the ground.
Unlike some of the traditional Japanese styles, there were only a handful of Indonesian terms you had to know to practice her version of silat; one was the word for on guard. Jagah, she said.
She mirrored Rustys pose. Her guru was right. Teaching helped sharpen your own skills. You had to think about things, get them right in your own head, before you passed them along. The ceremonial bow, something she had been doing for years, was a good example. For her, it was automatic,