|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Leo shrugged again. The software I created was to keep big brother from
looking over people s shoulders, not to invite him in. I don t trust the
police now and I didn t then. I didn t want to be a billionaire, either, but I
also didn t want people trying to kill me. I just wanted to live my life. Do
my work and play my music and hang out with my dog. That was all I wanted.
So you staged your own death? said Hilary.
Better to have people think I was dead than to have them coming after me. It
wasn t such a sacrifice. I was sick of the entire scene. But then it turned
out I was sick of more than the scene. I had cancer, too. Hodgkin s.
Is that why you look so ? Abigail started to ask, but then she stopped
herself, worried he would take offense, or perhaps remembering that her
appearance had also undergone considerable change.
Leo laughed. Bald, you mean? Don t worry, it doesn t bother me. My hair never
grew back after the chemo, and I lost a lot of weight that never came back,
either.
But how could you get medical treatment if people already thought you were
dead? asked Peter.
It s easy to make up an identity for yourself if you can access the right
computers, and it s just as easy to set yourself up with a health plan. Living
off the grid isn t a problem when you know how the grid works, and I got a
kick out sticking it to big insurance.
Here s what I don t get, I said. If you were so willing to walk away from
your old life, what are you trying to do now? Why do you care about Igobe and
its IPO enough to stop it?
Leo reached over to scratch behind Scat s ears. Well, that s the irony of it.
I thought I didn t care, but there s nothing like thinking you really are
going to die to make you realize what you care about. The technology I
developed can do a lot of good, and the money to be made off it can be used to
do more good.
And that s why you were leaving the clues for the other bankers and me? I
asked. You wanted us to help you figure out how to divert the money from
Iggie and his investors to do good?
Exactly. I got all the information about the people Iggie was scheduled to
meet from his own network at Igobe, and I left clues for them all. But you re
the only person who made it this far. You d have to have a decent grounding in
social justice to put the clues together. Power to the people, right? Leo
clinked his glass of orange juice against the lemonade I d ordered, which had
turned out to be a bad choice since the citrus made my cut lip sting.
Did it occur to you to just call us, instead? I asked, trying not to sound
impatient. I knew he d been through a lot, but he d also made my weekend far
more complicated than I would have liked.
What would be the fun in that? And this way I could make it a test, you know?
You were the hardest to track down, since you weren t staying at a hotel. I
Page 93
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
had to hack into your office s systems, too, to find out where you d be this
weekend, but that only took a couple of extra minutes. So. Can you help me?
I was sure my colleagues at Winslow, Brown would be less than thrilled to
learn how easy it was to breach our corporate firewalls, but right now I had
to answer Leo s question. I wish I could, but that s not what investment
bankers do. It s not like we re all morally bereft or anything, but you don t
make partner by playing Robin Hood. Legally, the company and any money to be
made off it belong to its shareholders.
Well, I used to be a shareholder in the first company, before Iggy
reincorporated it as Igobe. But it would probably be a real production to
stake any claim now everyone thinks I m dead, and by the time I prove that I m
not dead and get everything straightened out, it will be too late, won t it?
Probably, I admitted. You d need to get a lot of lawyers involved, and
you d be looking at a pretty lengthy legal battle. Especially since we still
have no way of proving that Alex tried to kill you, or that Iggie was involved
in any way it s not as if we can charge them with anything criminal that would
throw a wrench into the IPO process.
Then I guess I ll just have to go to Plan B.
What s Plan B? What are you going to do? asked Luisa.
Are you going to hack Igobe s technology? asked Peter.
If you hack it, there won t be any money to be made for anyone or for any
cause, however good, I pointed out. Security software is worthless if it s
not secure.
No worries, said Leo. I ve got it all figured out.
Will you tell me about it? said Hilary. So I can put it in my article?
Sure. But you might want to think about publishing your article online, and
you might want to do it quick. Because twenty-four hours from now it will be
old news.
28
T uesday morning dawned cool and cloudy, except for my skin, which dawned
fluorescent with sunburn. My lip hadn t been the only casualty of yesterday s
tennis game. My face and arms were now a startling shade of magenta, as were
my legs from where the tennis dress I d been wearing had ended down to where
the tennis socks began. I was almost tempted to put on my new pink outfit
rather than introduce a color outside of the cranberry family into the day s
look.
We d spent the better part of the previous night with Leo, watching as he
prepared to put Plan B into motion and helping out as best we could.
Fortunately, Peter s parents hadn t been expecting us for dinner, nor had they
been waiting up when we d returned home a little after three in the morning,
too tired to do anything but fall directly into bed. This was also fortunate
because while we hadn t discussed my suspicions of Caro any further, and while
Peter slept wrapped around me in his usual way, I still felt as if the tension
between us was almost palpable.
Our flight home was scheduled for early that afternoon, and we packed quickly
upon waking. I spent a few extra minutes in front of the bathroom mirror,
experimenting with powder and concealer as Peter carried our bags downstairs,
but the cosmetics just made everything worse, so I rinsed my face clean again
before joining him in the kitchen.
He must have warned his parents about my appearance, because they showed only
concern rather than shock, and Susan pressed a tube of aloe vera cream on me.
We ll have to make sure you re more careful the next time you re here, she
said, apparently unaware that the odds of there being a next time were slim.
They both had early appointments at their respective offices, so the goodbyes
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plmew.pev.pl
|