Net Force - Tom Clancy [73]
Lust reared its head in Tyrone. At the same time, fear dried his mouth to a consistency roughly that of a pile of bones left to bleach a hundred years in the Gobi Desert sunshine.
Thats our future, fool! Run, hide, change your name, leave town!
Ty-rone! Was that Bella you were talking to?
Tyrone stared at Jimmy Joe. All he could do was nod stupidly.
Man! Way to go, Ty-rone! Studly Dudley! Oh, and congratulations on getting your black belt, too.
Tyrone frowned at Jimmy Joe. What? What black belt?
The one youre gonna need when Bonebreaker finds out youre trying to complete a hot circuit with Bella. Either that, or a gun. Me, Id want the gun.
I wasnt trying to make a circuit! She just stopped to ask me something! To help her with her Basic Cee stuff!
Uh-huh.
No, really! She gave me her number, Im supposed to call her, were going to get together later, to-to uh
Somewhere private, like, say, oh, her place? Jimmy Joe prompted.
Oh, man. Oh, no.
Oh, yeah. Heres how I scenario it: Bonebreaker drops by, sees you leaning over Bellas tasty shoulder with your hand on her mouse, and its sayonara, Tyrone-san.
Ah!
Well, maybe not. You could, you know, get too busy to help her.
Right. And she gets pissed off and tells Bonebreaker I insulted her, and then he kills me.
Sounds like a no-win situation, all right.
Why are you smiling?! This is not funny, Jimmy Joe!
Depends on where youre sitting, dont it? Listen, if youre gonna die anyhow, you might as well enjoy yourself, right? Be a happy man when you discom.
I think I need to go to the bathroom, Tyrone said. Suddenly, he needed to do that real bad.
Jimmy Joes barely suppressed chuckles followed him down the hall.
Friday, October 1st, 9:45 p.m. Grozny
VR gear removed, Plekhanov sat in his chair, breathing hard. How had that American Net Force operative gotten so close so fast? Yes, he had stopped him, wrecked his program, but that had been too near a miss. It shouldnt have happened.
He blew out a sigh and calmed himself. Well. He was the best, but there had to be a second- or third- or tenth-best. The reason for the attacks on Net Forces Commander and its operations had been to keep their decent programmers busy elsewhere. Their best were not in his class, of course, but at the highest levels, skills were not galactic leaps apart. No, the top players were dangerous. If one of them happened to be in the right place at the right time, it could be a serious problem.
He rubbed at his eyes. Hed been spotted by the opposition. Of course, there hadnt been any real danger, hed had his escape route planned, and several ways to discourage pursuit had the first one failed, and it had not failed. The reason those safeguards had been put in place was for just such an unlikely happenstance. He had escaped, had he not? The boy, that naturalized-American Thai orphan-what was his name? Groly? Gridley?-was a hotshot, but however fast his hands, he did not have the experience. Put the two of them into a VR ring with gloves on, and the boy would have an edge, but the Marquis of Queensbury rules did not apply in this arena. When the guidelines did not hobble them, the old and treacherous beat the young and quick every time
Still, he would exercise even more caution. The perfect crime was not in getting away once youd been spotted; the perfect crime was one nobody ever knew had been committed. That had never been in the cards for this venture, but outrunning a pursuer was not nearly as good as staying out of his sight. He would have to work on that.
Meanwhile, the trips to Belarus and Kyrgyzstan were next on the agenda. He would continue to sow; soon, he would reap.
Friday, October 1st, 4:02 p.m. Quantico
Michaelss boss was on-line, and what he had to convey was not happy news.
The President is concerned, Alex. Its been more than three weeks.
I am aware of that, sir. He was also aware of how stiff his voice was.
Walt Carver had not risen to FBI Director by missing the nuances. He said, Dont get your back up. Im just