He took several deep breaths and looked at the obstacle course. He had his stopwatch, an old mechanical sweep- hand job he’d picked up from a Russian surplus place. Like that shotgun he’d given the commander, the Russians still did a lot of stuff the old-fashioned way. Not necessarily because of any desire for quality, but because they didn’t have the technology to do it on the cheap. You could get a windup pocket- or stopwatch with an eighteen- jeweled movement for less than fifty bucks; a shotgun that was sturdy and well-made for maybe three, four hundred. Try that in the U.S. If you could even find such things, they’d cost an awful lot more.
He decided to skip the stopwatch and just run the course. He didn’t really want to know how much he’d slowed down. He’d be happy just to get through without breaking something.
He set himself, and got ready to go. He was a religious man, he believed in God, and he’d been right with Jesus for a long time. He believed he would be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven if he led a righteous life and he
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at it. But like the old joke his father used to tell, sn’t ready to go now. He had a teenaged son and a wife, and he wanted to stick around long enough le at his grandchildren. Retiring had been part of but he realized as he gathered himself to hit the that sitting back in a rocker on the porch and liing the world go by might not be the solution. You 1 get hit by a runaway bus sitting on the porch-that [.happened to some guy in D.C. only a couple months k-instead of being shot by some psycho while you : leading a Net Force military team. God had His plan, : Howard’s number was gonna be up on a certain day, i a certain hour, no matter where he was or what he was I. He’d thought that he’d been tempting fate, but after bus had left the road and squashed a guy younger he was who’d been sitting in a porch swing, he’d iized that death could come from anywhere at any time. , John, and worry about the meaning of life later- won’t get you through the obstacle course, all this
ing.
He grinned. That was true. There was a time to think a time to move. Right now, moving was the order of moment. He took a final deep breath and began his sprint.
chaels looked up from his desk to see Toni, dressed in
siness clothes, standing in front of him.
“Hey, babe.”
“Commander,” she said with a short nod.
“Uh…”
She smiled. “If I’m going to be working here, even
ararily, we need to keep it businesslike.” “What, I can’t grope you in the hall?” “Not unless you want a sexual harassment suit” They both smiled. “Okay,” he said. “So, what’s the situation?” “Better than we’d hoped. Jay and the gang managed to
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find the problem with the server pretty quick. They had help from InfraGuard and the NIPC out of the CWG.”
“And how are the National InfraGuard Protection Center and Crime Working Group?”
“Same as always. If they could make a wish, you and I and all of Net Force would disappear in a reeking puff of sulfur and red smoke.”
Toni chuckled.
“Anyway, give them credit, they pitched in and helped Jay.”
“How’d the terrorists get in?”
“Passwords. They had them up to the highest level.”
“Social engineering,” she said. “They bribed somebody.”
He shook his head. “Maybe not. The VP in charge of Blue Whale’s security was killed a few days ago, along with a couple of ex-FBI bodyguards. At the time, it looked like a simple traffic accident-car ran off a cliff, no signs of anything hinky. That seems awfully coincidental.”
“Yes.” She started to say something, then noticed the shotgun in its case, propped in the corner. “What’s that?”
“A shotgun,” he said. “John Howard got it for me.”
“For what?”
He took a breath. ‘To keep at home.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what he expected, but with her being a new mother and all, he was halfway thinking she’d be against the idea. Instead, she said, “Good idea. We need a gun in the house.”
His expression must have shown his surprise. She said, “What, you thought because I like knives I have something against guns?”
“Well…”
“Silat teaches you to use the proper tool for the job. There are times when a gun is necessary.”
He nodded. “How is Guru?”
“She’s fine. Looks great, no slurring of her speech, seems to move like usual.”
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“You aren’t worried that the baby will be too much for