Are You Afraid of the Dark?

* * *

THE EASY ACCESS Internet Cafe was a vast computer hall containing more than a dozen rows of cubicles equipped with four hundred personal computers, nearly all of them in use. It was part of a chain that was springing up all over the world.

When they walked in, Diane went to the card vending machine, to purchase an hour of Internet access.

When she came back, Kelly said, "Where do we start?" "Let’s ask the computer." They found an empty cubicle and sat down.

Kelly watched as Diane logged on to the Internet. "What happens now?" "First we do a Google search to find the names of the other victims who were employees of KIG." Diane typed "www.google.com" and then typed in her search criteria: "obituary" and "KIG." A long list of search hits appeared. Diane looked specifically for items in newspapers that were available online and found several. She clicked on those links, which led her to a series of recent obituaries and other articles. One article led her to KIG Berlin, and she accessed its Web site.

"This is interesting?Franz Verbrugge."

"Who’s he?" "The question is, where is he? He seems to have disappeared. He worked for KIG in Berlin, and his wife, Sonja, died mysteriously." Diane clicked onto another link. She hesitated and looked up at Kelly. "In France-Mark Harris." Kelly took a deep breath and nodded. "Go on." Diane pressed more keys. "Denver, Gary Reynolds, and in Manhattan"-Diane’s voice broke-"Richard." Diane stood up.

"That’s it."

Kelly said, "What now?" "We’re going to figure out how to put all this together. Let’s go."

* * *

HALFWAY DOWN THE block, Kelly and Diane passed a computer store.

"Just a minute," Kelly said.

Diane followed as Kelly walked into the store and approached the manager.

"Excuse me. My name is Kelly Harris. I’m Tanner Kingsley’s assistant. We need three dozen of your very best and most expensive computers by this afternoon. Is that possible?" The manager beamed. "Why-why certainly, Mrs. Harris. For Mr. Kingsley, anything.

We don’t have them all here, of course, but we’ll get them from our warehouses. I’ll take care of it personally.

Will that be cash or charge?"

"COD," Kelly said.

As the manager hurried away, Diane said, "I wish I had thought of that." Kelly grinned. "You will."

* * *

"I THOUGHT YOU would like to see these, Mr. Kingsley." Kathy Ordonez handed him several newspapers. The headlines told the story:

AUSTRALIA HAS FREAK TORNADO?

THE FIRST TORNADO TO EVER HIT AUSTRALIA HAS?

DESTROYED A DOZEN VILLAGES. DEATH TOLL IS燯NKNOWN.?

METEOROLOGISTS ARE BAFFLED BY NEW

WORLD WEATHER PATTERNS. OZONE LAYER燘LAMED.

Tanner said, "Send these to Senator Van Luven with a note: ‘Dear Senator Van Luven, I think time is running out. Best wishes, Tanner Kingsley." "Yes, sir." Tanner looked up at a computer screen when he heard the sound telling him he had received an alert from the security division of his Information Technology department.

Tanner had arranged for his IT department to have "spiders" installed-high-tech software that constantly combed the Internet, searching for information. Tanner had privately set the spiders to look for people searching for sensitive information relating to the deaths of Richard Stevens and Mark Harris, and he now stared with interest at the alert on the computer monitor.

He pressed a buzzer. "Andrew, get in here." Andrew was in his office, daydreaming about his accident, and remembering. He was in the wardrobe room to get his spacesuit that the army had sent. He started to take one from the rack, but Tanner was there, and Tanner handed him a suit and gas mask. Wear this one. It will bring you luck.

Tanner was-

"Andrew! Get in here!"

* * *

ANDREW HEARD THE command, got up, and slowly walked into Tanner’s office.

"Sit down."

"Yes, Tanner." He took a seat.

"The bitches just hit our Web site in Berlin. Do you know what that means?" "Yes?I-no." Tanner’s secretary buzzed. "The computers are here, Mr. Kingsley." "What computers?" "The ones you ordered." Puzzled, Tanner rose and walked out the door into the reception room. Three dozen computers were piled up on dollies. The store manager and three men in overalls were standing next to them.

The manager’s face lit up when he saw Tanner approaching. "I have just what you asked for, Mr. Kingsley. State of the art. And we’ll be happy to help you with any more-" Tanner was staring at the pile of computers. "Who ordered these?" "Your assistant, Kelly Harris. She said you needed them right away, so-" "Take them back," Tanner said softly. "Where she’s going, they won’t be needed." He turned and walked back into his office. "Andrew, do you have any idea why they accessed our Web site? Well, I’ll tell you. They’re going to try to track down the victims and look for the motives behind their deaths." Tanner sat down. "To do that, they would have to go to Europe. Only they’re not going to get there." Andrew said sleepily, "No? "How are we going to stop them, Andrew?" Andrew nodded. "Stop them? Tanner looked at his brother and said contemptuously, "I wish there was someone with a brain that I could talk to." Andrew watched as Tanner walked over to a computer and sat at the keyboard.

"We’re going to start by wiping out all their assets. We have their Social Security numbers." He kept typing as he talked. "Diane Stevens?" he mused as he used the back-door software KIG installed when they were hired to make Experian’s systems Y2K-compliant. This back-door software gave Tanner access that not even the highest of Experian management could have.