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As Griswald, she logged into VileSpawn, moved to his private account area.
Then she used an old text editor to plant a message:
This is TerMight. Tell me where you are-, why you disappeared- Tell me what's
happening.
She snooped into his files. Something weird here. Genetics programming of some
kind.
She downloaded the genetics programming code to her netpad. Then she changed
all file ownerships from Fire to Water, and created a low-level and empty
directory called TerMight.
She erased all entries in the CIA network files, anything that showed her
presence. Then all entries in
VileSpawn that showed the presence of Griswald.
Satisfied that she was finally en route to becoming a free woman in charge of
her own life again, she logged off as Bill Jones from Los Banos.
"Did you sleep well?" Bren set Judy's breakfast on the coffee table. Gouda
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again, and toast with jam.
The sleeping bag had been soft enough at least, after Judy had cleared the
cables, screws, pliers, and strippers from beneath it. The Faceless Man had
rolled through her dreams all night, rewind-play rewind-play, interspersed
with images of Bren and Carl on the living room floor.
She lied. "Very comfortable."
From the bedroom came the clatter of the keyboard. Carl was already hard at
work, coding a corporate
Web site for a customer he'd never met.
The morning sun flicked its way through the pine trees and glowed softly
through the front window. It was like fairy dust on Bren's face. "1 didn't
sleep much," Bren said. "As you might have noticed, Carl's a hardworking man."
A secret joke cast between two girls? What did Bren mean? That Carl worked
hard at coding Web sites? Or that Carl worked hard at...
Car wheels crunched into the lot by the side of the cabin. A door slammed, and
then someone cursed.
"Dan's here," Bren said. She moved to the window, glanced outside. "Yes, right
on time, it's Mr.
Nikonchik in all his gory flesh." Her hair, tangled from God knew what she did
last night, was a golden halo shot with white and reddish sparks.
Bren opened the front door before Dan Nikonchik could knock. He blustered into
the room, Next to
Bren, with her peaceful, I-am-in-heaven face, next to those violet-speckled
eyes and that smooth white skin, Dan Nikonchik looked like a gargoyle, The
upper half of his body seemed elongated, because his legs, while muscular,
were too short to be in
proportion with the rest of him. His face was rough, his nose a bit too broad.
His hair and eyebrows were blond not the golden impressionist blond of
Bren's hair, but rather, flat blond, maybe from a bottle, Small black eyes
darted around the room, as if he expected a chainsaw-wielding lunatic to pop
from behind the furniture.
This was Griswald's brother?
What on earth did
Griswald look like?
Maybe it was a good thing Griswald thought TerMight was a guy.
"I came. What's the big deal, Bren? And who that?"
is
Even bis voice was harsh, Sandpaper.
He slurped coffee from a car mug that proclaimed, Dan's Disk-World: For the
Hard-Driving Man.
Bren gestured at the blue sofa across the room from Judy. "Sit over there,
Dan."
He sat, still slurping, his eyes still darting.
Judy pushed her plate of Gouda and toast farther back on the coffee table. She
had lost her appetite. She crossed her legs, folded her arms across her chest.
"May I present Judy Carmody. TerMight in the flesh." Bren seemed to be
enjoying herself, proud to have
TerMight in the house, amused to be toying with Dan Nikonchik. She plopped
onto the sofa next to
Judy, and as the left cushion sank under Bren's weight, the one beneath Judy
popped up, tossing Judy slightly to the side.
Judy suppressed a laugh. Bren made her feel like a little girl. She bounced on
her own cushion, just once, making Bren pop up.
Dan Nikonchik didn't smile. Rather, he glared at them. Especially at Judy. "So
this is the great TerMight, is it? Judy Carmody, killer at large. Bank robber,
too."
Rude.
Bren's face hardened. "Judy's no killer. And no thief."
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"Right. Sony." He didn't mean it.
"Bren " Judy started. She wanted this guy to go away.
But Bren cut her off. "I asked you to come here, Dan, because Judy can help
you find your brother. She hasn't killed anyone. She hasn't stolen a dime. And
she thinks Cal's in danger."
"TerMight knows about Gal?" Dan put his coffee mug on the floor, hitched his
blue slacks up his thighs, leaned forward, and placed his hands on his knees.
"How much does she know?"
Judy pretended Dan was Hector Rodriguez, shut her eyes. "TerMight knows Gal
Nikonchik as Gnswald.
I've known your brother for the past two years. On-line. We trade " She opened
her eyes. " technical secrets."
"Holy shit, Bren!" Dan rose, his face turning red with emotion, his fists
clenched.
"Relax," Bren said. Sweetly.
"Relax? Are you crazy? This this person trades technical secrets with my
little brother. She knows!
And on top of that, she's wanted for murder, It's no wonder Cal's disappeared.
He somehow got mixed up with this this older woman, this killer "
Nobody'd ever called Judy an older woman. And all this ranting about her being
a killer...
Bren clasped Judy's arm, then released it and stood, pointing a finger at Dan.
Her face no longer looked so calm and peaceful. She was plenty ticked off.
"Shut up, Dan, and sit down. And get off mat high horse. You're no choirboy
yourself. Your little brother did all your dirty Work for you. And I bet you
paid him peanuts. How about if you tell us, right here and now, what you paid
poor Griswald to fancy up your accounting files, huh?"
Judy blinked. Accounting files? Had Gal juggled his brother's accounts?
"Listen," Dan said, moving to the window, his back to Judy and Bren, his voice
going low, "I pay Cal's rent. I give him a weekly allowance. He eats at my
restaurant, for free, all the time. J
take care of Cal.
In return, he helps with Dan's DiskWorld. So what if he designed some of my
business software. So what?
He's my brother."
"Maybe you should have given him one more thing," Bren said.
"What's that?" Dan said.
"His freedom."
Dan shook his head. "Cal's a dreamer. He gets lost in cyberspace all the time.
Besides, he's just a kid, He needs me to watch out for him. That's why I have
to Bud him."
Judy had to keep the conversation focused. Somehow, with Bren on her side,
with Bren acting as if Judy was the normal one and Dan was the weirdo, Judy
found the courage. "Do you have any idea why Cal left?" she asked. "Did he
leave any indication when he'd be back?"
"Nothing," Dan said. "It's not like him to head off without at least calling
me first. He knows I worry."
He was responding; he was talking to Judy as if she was a normal person. She
was actually controlling the conversation. "Maybe there's something on his
computer, mentioning what he was planning. Did you check his files? Look at
his E-mail for the past week?"
"Me?" Dan said, staring at Judy. "Do I look like some sort of computer geek?
Cal does all the programming in the family."
"Well, how about if you let me take a look, then?" she said. ''You might be
getting all upset over nothing."
"Search Cal's computer files?" Dan said. He shook his head. "Not in a million
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