After Richard left the mall, he looked up one of his many female acquaintances in London and spent the rest of the evening passing the time with her. To his surprise, sleeping with Susanne didn’t feel right. He and she had spent many hours among damp and tangled sheets. Why should it be any different now? The only explanation Richard could conjure up in his mind was Donna. One night with her and other women could no longer hold his interests.
Richard couldn’t understand. For nearly twenty years, he and Donna hadn’t been together, yet he felt as drawn to her now as he had as a teenager. What was the reason behind this? Was it possible for a fourteen year-old boy to fall that deep for a nine year old girl? Maybe, what he felt for her back then was protective obligation. After all, they were best friends. Maybe what he felt for her now was the result of seeing her growing up and blossoming as a young woman, but why did he feel as if she belonged to him? Even though he’d said it hadn’t, why did it bother him that she’d been with Jared, and was now with Sam?
He’d vowed that it would never happen again, yet without even trying to, he let Donna under his skin. Why, when he could have any woman he wanted did he want her more than any of them? Was it really love, or something else? She didn’t want him. She’d made that clear. Richard was beginning to think maybe Donna was more trouble than she was worth.
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Richard crawled in the back of a black cab. “The Savoy,” he groaned and sank back in his seat, somewhat lightheaded from the several tumblers of scotch he’d consumed before he left Susanne’s apartment. He sat, staring at an image on his cell phone. “Why do I need to settle down?” he muttered.
“Sir?” the cabbie prompted.
“Marriage – it’s a waste of time,” Richard sighed.
The cabbie nodded. “Ah – you’re right there, Mate. Total waste of time.”
“It’s just legal formalities – right?”
“That it is, Mate. I say, get it when you can and if she starts talking about rings, hit the road running.”
“It’s a dying institution! Why bother? It’s going to fall through in the end, anyway.”
“Absolutely. Just another way to keep the bloody aristocrat’s and priests happy and later fill the lawyer’s coffers.” The light changed, and the cabbie concentrated on the London traffic.
“Family tradition and the continuation of the bloodline is what it is,” Richard mused. “That’s all it is.”
Winning Donna had nothing to do with love. It was all about duty. It always overshadowed love. The need to produce the next generation, procured by status and power. Heartless threats passed down from the highest levels, like all the elite bloodlines. The possibility of losing everything. There were many more eligible women waiting in Richard’s queue. Why Donna? Why did it have to be her? True, she was beautiful, and she was talented, but her bloodline was about as pure as the Mississippi ran clear.
“We’re here, Sir,” the cabbie announced, pulling Richard from his internal turmoil.
Richard paid the fare, gave the driver a hefty tip and approached the entrance. He tipped the doorman, as well and went inside. As he stepped into the lift, an overly friendly woman gave him the eye and a come-on smile. Richard cleared his throat and smiled back but made no advance. “Sorry Love,” he said and stepped out onto his floor.
“Give John your cell phone,” Sir Richard commanded.
Richard arched his eyebrows. “Excuse me?” he asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Someone has been using Donna’s cell phone to spy on her and Sam. Gary believes when Donna was at Forrest’s penthouse, they somehow nicked his virus program, re-programed it and turned it into a BSV. Please, tell me he’s right and you’re not the one behind this?”
“No, Dad. I’ve used a BSV before, but I wouldn’t have a clue about how to create or alter one, especially using Gary’s virus program as a base. I don’t’ think Forrest would either. He must have a professional computer tech working with him. One thing’s for certain, it’s not the whacks at D’Netics. They’re about as thick as two short planks. If Donna’s phone has a BSV on it, then we all do. They would have planted the seed on her phone and fed it from a source computer that could connect to an infinite number of computers around the globe. There’s no telling how big the web could be now.”
Sir Richard furrowed his brow. “Since when did you learn so much about this stuff?”
Richard chuckled. “Since I started hanging around with Gary, is the answer to that.”
Sir Richard looked incredulous. “You always rolled your eyes at Gary’s key fingering antics.”
“Just because I roll my eyes at something, does not mean I won’t use it for my own means. You taught me that, Dad. Use what’s available and improvise.” He handed John his cell phone.
Sir Richard locked his eyes on John’s. “I tried to tell you,” John shrugged. “Ricky pays more attention than you think he does. If he put his mind to it, there’s probably nothing he couldn’t do.” John pressed speaker phone, dialed an outside number and waited. “Alan, it’s John. Could you please ask Gary to come to the phone?”
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“Hi John. I assume this is about the BSV?”
“Yes Gary. I have Ricky’s cell phone. What do you want me to do?”
“Do the same thing to it that you did to yours and Sir Richard’s. Tell me when you’ve got it turned back on.”
“OK. I’ve reset everything and left the SIM and microSD cards out.”
Gary glanced at Sam and Donna. “OK, let’s see what happens. Turn your cell phone on,” he said to Donna. “When hers is on, turn yours on, then I’ll turn mine on. Let’s see if this thing is following a direct path or jumping all over the place.”
Donna turned her cell phone on and immediately her Bluetooth and Wi-Fi lights lit. When she took the battery out of her cell phone, Sam’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi lights came on. Then the same thing happened with Gary’s. “So far so good. OK, John, I’m turning my cell phone off now. Tell me whose phone it hits next.”
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“It’s mine,” Richard spoke up. “The bloody bastard. I’m laying odds, when I take my battery out; Dad’s wireless will light up like a Christmas tree. Here goes.”
Sir Richard waited, but nothing happened. John tested his, and nothing happened. Gary groaned. “This is not good. Unless we can find out whose cell phone is the next link, we can’t follow this path back to the source computer.”
“So what do we do now?” Sir Richard asked. “How can we find out who the next link is?”
“I could try sending a harmless ping tracker back through the line. Provided the next link is still active, it should bounce from Richard’s cell phone to it and then send back the equivalent of an electrical ping.”
“And what if the next link isn’t active?” John asked.
“Then we have a fifty-fifty chance of finding the path back to the source computer. The line would eventually make it back, but it could take a long time. See, the BSV has the ability to latch on to any available connection, and when it can’t follow its direct target path it looks for the nearest link to send the information back to the source computer. The part that I’m concerned about is it could have a link back through VICi. If it does, we all know how many different directions it could go from there. It could take some doing to clean her up if that should be the case.”
Richard looked sick. He motioned for John to take the phone off speaker. “Hang on a second Gary,” John said. “We’ll be right back. What is it Ricky?”
Richard frowned. “If there is a link back to VICi… then it’s probably my fault.”
Sir Richard groaned. “Why would it be your fault?”
“I needed to know what I was up against, so I linked in with VICi and used her to search for information on Jared and the band.”
Sir Richard narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Richard snorted. “Don’t act so surprised, Dad,” he grinned. “What did you expect? You didn’t think I would go to America empty handed, did you?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Ricky,” Sir Richard frowned. “I guess I thought since you knew how Donna felt about Jared that you would have been a little more honourable.”
“Jared Thundercloud was competition.”
“Is, Ricky,” Sir Richard stressed, holding up an imperious hand.
“OK, is - was – whatever!” he groaned. “Until I saw Donna on stage, I didn’t even like country music!”
John closed his eyes, grinned slightly and shook his head. “Same old Ricky,” he chuckled.
Sir Richard inhaled deeply and forced the air out of his lungs. He shook his finger in Richard’s face. “I want this sorted. I also want you to start thinking a little more before you do something impulsive like this again. Pressure is building, Ricky. This entire project could blow up in our faces. I don’t know how much longer I can keep the lid on this. You, and Gary, and whoever else - get your heads together and get something done. I do not want to walk in that meeting tomorrow, with a blunder like this hanging over my head. Put us back on speaker, John.”
“Gary, we’re back,” John said.
“Gary…” Sir Richard interjected. “If I’m on speaker, take me off now.”
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Gary swallowed hard and shared a troubled look with Sam and Donna. “I’m here Sir.”
“Collect everybody’s cell phones and lock them in the safe in my office. Issue everyone one of our new cell phones from the complex. They can keep their microSD and memory cards, but I want the SIMs replaced with ours – no exceptions.”
Gary glanced at Donna and stepped out of earshot. “Sir, what about the information stored on our SIM cards. I’m sure Donna has some things she’d rather not lose if you know what I mean.”
“I know Gary, but unless you can give me your word that nothing on those SIM cards can be used like this again, she’ll just have to be satisfied with her memories of Jared and Beth. Can you do that?”
Gary swallowed hard again and pressed his lips into a thin line. “No, Sir. I can’t,” he said resolutely. “Until I can find out more about what they’ve done to ‘Acid Rain’ I can’t give you my word.”
“Then I’m sorry,” Sir Richard ended the call.
Gary slowly exhaled and turned off the handset. He turned and walked back to where Sam and Donna were talking. “Sam… D… take your microSD cards out of your cell phones and give them to me.”
Without hesitation, Sam took his card out and gave his cell phone to Gary. Donna stepped back. Her eyes widened. “Why do you need my SIM card, Gary? You already said it hadn’t been affected.”
“Sir Richard isn’t taking chances. Everyone is getting one of our new cell phones.”
Donna studied Gary’s eyes. “Will you at least give me a chance to transfer my MP3s and photos?”
Gary sighed deeply and shook his head. “I can’t D.”
Donna swallowed the lump in her throat. “Gary… please,” she whispered.
Gary shook his head again. “I’m sorry, D.”
Donna started struggling with the cover.
Sam frowned and studied her eyes. “I’ll take it out for you,” he offered.
“Thank you.” Donna’s hand shook as she placed her cell phone in his hand. “I’m going to step outside for some air.”
“I’ll join you,” Sam said.
Gary waited until Donna was out of earshot. “Sam, I need to go to the complex and pick up some of our cell phones.”
“Sir Richard wants us to start using them now? I thought they were for when we moved.”
“They were supposed to be, but this BSV has him nervous. He knows if we’re using our satellite phones, the only way anyone could get at them would be to have a direct link to VICi’s transmitter. Anyway, can you keep an eye on things here until I get back?”
“Why not take me, and Donna with you and we can give her a quick tour while we’re there?”
“I would, but I think Sir Richard wants Donna to know a little bit more about the project before we show her the complex. She doesn’t know the level of advanced technology we have available there.”
“Has he said anything about when we’ll be moving?”
Gary studied Sam’s eyes. “No, but I know it will be soon. I assume you’ll be keeping Joyce on as your nurse.”
“I had planned to.”
“Have you told her anything about the move?”
“We’ve talked. She knows it’s permanent, but I haven’t explained how remote the complex is.”
“She’s not achluophobic, is she?”
“As far as I know she’s not.”
“Gary got in his car and put the key in the ignition. “I guess we’ll know soon enough,” he chuckled. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, communicate with me through this,” he said, handing Sam a handheld radio.
Sam arched an eyebrow. “Isn’t a walkie-talkie a little clumsy? Anyone tuned into the right frequency would be able to listen in.”
Gary grinned. “If it were ordinary that would be true. The signal sent out from this radio is on a scrambled frequency, and the signal itself is scrambled. By the time they figure that out and decode the message, I won’t be anywhere near. I’ll be fine, Sam, but thanks for the concern.” Gary closed the door and pulled out of the garage.