Mayberry nodded. It seemed to Santos that the man’s head would fall off, it bobbed so hard.
Santos removed one coin and felt it. It was real enough. He tucked it back into its pocket and closed the briefcase.
Pedestrians streamed by, unaware of the transaction taking place.
“It would probably not be a good idea to count here, but if you wish, you may take it into the bathroom over there and do so.” He handed Mayberry the backpack.
“I, uh …”
“It would be no problem. You could leave the coins with me for security, and your sister can watch to make sure I don’t run off.”
Mayberry gasped.
Santos glanced over at Sundress in time to see her jump as if stung by a bee.
He smiled.
“How could you know that?” Mayberry said.
Santos shrugged, a lazy gesture.
“I-there’s no need to count it. I’m sure it is all there.”
Indeed, it was, but the man was a fool to trust him. In fact, Santos knew he could take the coins, and the backpack, and walk away, and Mr. Mayberry-or whatever
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name was-would do nothing to stop him. He I hardly call the police if there was some taint to the and he could not physically stop him. But Santos pirn honest man. He was saving twenty-five percent on due of the Maple Leafs, a bargain. He was no thief, ifery well, then. Our transaction is concluded, no? En- phe day.” ifith that Santos stood and walked away with the brief-
his business should be so easy. But just to be safe, rould take his time getting back to his automobile, he would make sure he wasn’t followed. He had an- backpack in the car’s trunk, and he would transfer ;”oins to it-just in case. Perhaps Mr. Yellow Shorts not a terrified amateur at all, but some kind of won- J actor and criminal genius. Perhaps he might have a tracking device into the briefcase to allow some … violent confederates to follow along to relieve Sanll;bf his gold elsewhere?
which instance, the footpads would find themselves wing a delivery truck, or wondering why their target taken refuge in a garbage bin … le smiled at the thought. If pressed, he would bet all gold in the case against a dime that this imagining not so. Still, it paid to be cautious when carrying a ile of kilos of gold around, no? Men had been killed much, much less.
Ie went into a shop and found an exit in the back with across the door that said an emergency buzzer would id if the door was opened. He pushed the door open stepped out into the warm sunshine. A short ways was another entrance into the mall. He walked there went back into the building.
fe had heard that there were supposed to be a couple Brazilian restaurants in Fort Lauderdale. Perhaps ild get a real caipirinha, heavy on the lime and light the vodka, maybe some churrasco steak or chicken
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and even some torta de banana! He had not had good banana pie since he had been in the U.S.
He would ask the car’s computer where to find such a restaurant. With the money he had saved on the coins- at least ten thousand U.S., for sure-he certainly could afford to indulge himself in some real food for a change . . .
Ah. Life was good.
17
t Force HQ ifico, Virginia
Howard walked down the long hall to his office, Uy glad to be here. ^Tyrone was out of danger, and home, and Howard felt i if he could go back to work without worry. Julio had an adventure, breaking up an extortionist’s operation, I Gridley and crew had been working hard on the latest : assaults.
j Fortunately, he hadn’t missed much. He’d had a couple of long talks with his son. One of perks of having a teenager confined to bed and deling on you for everything he couldn’t reach was that > was forced to talk to you now and then, if for no other on save to ask for his laptop computer, more DVDs his video player, or another soft drink or glass of iced The boy drank like he was trying to set a record for liquid downed. Had three piss jars by his bed full st of the time. Tyrone had asked about work, and Howard had given
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him what was available for public consumption, plus a little more. After all, his son was a computer whiz who had once helped Jay Gridley track down one of their miscreants.
When they had gotten to Jay’s theory about CyberNation maybe being somehow responsible, and the prevailing attitude as to where CyberNation could go and what it could do to itself when it got there, Howard had gotten an earful.
“You’re wrong. These people are on the right track.”
“A bunch of thieves? Putting copyrighted or trademarked stuff out without paying for it?”
“It’s not theft, Dad. Knowledge should be free. If you’re some poor backwoods family in Kuala Lumpur or somewhere and there’s a way of growing rice that doubles your harvest, shouldn’t they know about it?”
Howard had shrugged. “I can see that, but-”
“That’s an easy one. Same thing for drugs”. Suppose you run a Third World country, and half your population has a deadly disease, and the formula for a drug that will cure it is available, shouldn’t you be able to get it, make the stuff, and cure your citizens? The big drug companies say no, you have to buy it from them.”
“There’s two sides to that argument, son. The big drug company maybe spent millions creating and developing that formula. Years of work and testing, getting government approval. So you’re saying that they should just give it away for free?”
“No. I’m saying that they are making huge profits, so why shouldn’t they be willing to cut some slack to sick people who will die because they can’t afford it? Doesn’t the end of saving lives justify the means here?”
Howard said, “But if you extend that logic, there might not be any profits. If they have to give away their stuff for free to everybody who can’t afford it, they go bust, and then no new cures are developed. Nobody gets a haircut if the barbershop is out of business.”
“You’re twisting what I’m saying.”
“No, I’m telling you that in our world, there ain’t no
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t thing as a free lunch. Somebody somewhere always for it, that’s how it works. Yes, maybe some rich ny could afford to make less profit to benefit others, lien you start drawing that line for them, you’re forcijpeople into communism. That’s a bad system.” one, sprawled on the bed and unable to escape, his arms over his chest. “You don’t understand.” i educate me.”
one scooted up a little. Like his mother, he had to hands to talk, so the tight body language went jr. He said, “All right. Look at CyberNation. They are ng international citizenship. You join up, pay them, cm get connected to the world. You can get a college e, find any information that’s available, and they’ll offer you a kind of social security. What’s wrong i that?”
Nothing, except that it’s a castle in the sky, son. You |’t live on-line. No matter how many hours of the day l^re plugged in, you still have to have a physical lo- i somewhere. You can roam the planet in virtual re- jp, but your butt will be in a chair in Washington or ; or Sierra Leone.” a?”
3, as a citizen of a geographic location-a country- i have to obey the rules and regulations of that place.” ^ut CyberNation is going to cover that-” H’They can’t. They gonna pay your taxes for you? Keep \ the roads and schools and national defense? Lookit, if CyberNation decides to issue driver’s licenses to ^’citizens.’ That mean you don’t have to get one from state?”
he U.S. recognizes licenses from other countries,” ne countered. “If you come here from France or ewhere, you can drive, as long as you have insurance : your license is valid at home. Jeez, Dad, every state out licenses, but you can drive in every other state it. It’s called reciprocity.” jpBut that’s temporary, son. If you are passing through
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Arizona and you’re licensed in Mississippi, that’s fine, but if you move to Arizona, you have thirty days to change your paperwork. That’s how it works most places.”
“Yes, but-”
“No ‘but’ about it. You live in a place, you have to toe whatever line that place calls for. But skip all the citizenship stuff for a minute. Let’s get into the ‘universal access to knowledge’ business. Let me ask you something. You see anything wrong with recording a movie you like to watch off the cable without buying the commercial DVD of it?”