ez smiled. “I remember you talked about that,” ssaid. “But is that legal?” ^Not in the strictest sense,” Jay said. l^ln what sense is it legal?”
|#Well, okay, not in any sense,” Jay admitted. “But let’s y, for instance, that I know somebody who knows some- who knows somebody who has access to the files, [ can trade him something for the information. That n’t cost us anything.”
: to put too fine a point on it, but isn’t that exactly kind of thing we are here to stop? Doesn’t sneaking somebody’s computer system and stealing informa- i constitute a crime?” ‘Technically, yes.”
Fernandez gave him a wry grin. “Uh-huh.” : “But look, we’re not talking about some honest citizen house we’re breaking into to steal his TV. I’m sure these are the guys who cost nations around the id millions and millions of dollars. People died as a of the net going down in places. These guys wear i patches and carry cutlasses. They’re crooks.”
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“Slippery slope there, Jay. Blows right past the Fourth Amendment. Fruit of the poisoned vine and all like that.”
“Since when did you become a constitutional scholar, Lieutenant?”
“I’m sworn to uphold and protect it. You are, too, given Net Force’s charter. Once you start breaking the rules to get to the really bad guys, how long before you bend ’em to get to the plain old bad guys? And then the ones who are maybe not so bad, but that you don’t like?”
Jay sighed. “Yeah, well, you have a point. There is probably another way to get to the information without doing anything illegal. Be harder though. And what if while I’m doing that, they hit again, shut down a hospital and kill off a bunch of patients or something?”
“That would suck. But still.”
“You obey all the traffic laws, Julio, all the time?”
“Nope. And if I get caught, I don’t kick, either, I pay the fine. But running a red light in the middle of nowhere at midnight when nobody is around is not the same thing, is it?
“Suppose you get the stuff you need and we use the information to nail these guys. No harm, no foul, right? But then one of their lawyers finds out what we did? The bad guys, who are guilty, get off, and you wind up looking for work, or maybe spending quality time in a cell in some country club federate, doing the warden’s taxes for five years. It’s the Rule of Law, Jay. It’s what separates the good guys from the bad guys. We toss that out, we’re no different than they are.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. It was just a thought.”
“Can’t hang you for thinking. Not yet, anyway.”
Toni took a coffee break, but she sat at her desk, fiddling with the computer. It had been a while since she had done any serious scrimshaw work-if any of what she had done while she was housebound during her pregnancy could be called serious-and she decided to check in on Bob Her- gert, whose on-line class had taught her what she knew
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: the art of scratching lines on ivory and then filling
i with black paint.
b’s method ran heavily to stippling, of putting a lot ny dots on the smooth surface, using very sharp nee, some of which he made himself, since ordinary nee- i were too dull for the microscrimshanding he liked to Bob could put a realistic portrait on a piece of ivory than a dime, so detailed that you could only see thing properly under a big magnifying glass or even
: were folks who didn’t consider that art, but Toni I’t among them.
t Orford, Oregon
had redone his on-line shop in the past year, adding material. Virtually everything he had produced for s last fifteen years was available for view, since he kept
of it all.
foni strolled down the wide aisles-floor space was in VR-and looked at the various pieces set out inspection. She had a more specific reason for drop; by than just checking. John Howard’s wife, Nadine, bought her husband a set of faux-ivory grips for his iver for his upcoming birthday. The newer versions F that looked so much like elephant ivory it would fool st everybody, but cost a lot less, and didn’t require Jumbo die for your sins. Nadine had asked Toni if might be interested in doing some artwork on them, ai had done a gun butt once, for one of Julio Fernan- t’s buddies. The friend, an ex-green hat, had a cowboy r, and Julio had asked her to do something on panel. She had done a simple design, with a beret a thin scroll, with the words, “De Oppresso Liber” the scroll. ‘To Free the Oppressed.” The design and > were right out of the Special Forces T-shirt catalog,
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so it hadn’t been that hard. She wasn’t pleased with the way it had turned out, the lettering wasn’t perfect, and the shading was not quite right, though the recipient had seemed happy enough with it. Nadine Howard had something a little more complex in mind, and if Toni was going to do it, she needed some help.
The store had been sorted according to her needs when she logged in, so it was easy to find the pistol grips. There were quite a few of them. There was a nice set given to a retiring sheriff by his friends, his badge and name on them. Some that had fancy lettering and geometric designs. Some with a portrait of a grandchild.
The ones that caught her attention were a set showing the front and back of a nude black woman, who was crouched down hi an outdoor courtyard, over what looked like a tile floor, surrounded by Middle Easternlike structures. The detail work was intricate-the columns supporting the arched roof were carved, the balusters, rails, parapets of the building, all were exquisite. A domed roof showed in the distance in the back view. You could see the reflection of the woman’s foot on the tile floor. And the nude herself was gorgeous. She had short hair, almost a crew cut, a nose that looked as if it had been broken, and with five-power magnification, you could see that her eyes were light-colored.
She looked familiar.
Bob drifted over. “Hey, Toni,” he said. “How’s it going?”
“Hey, Bob. I might have some gun grips to do, and I thought I’d come and get some inspiration. This is beautiful work.”
“Thanks. That’s Dirisha. Look close at the back of her hand, right there.”
Toni did. There was what looked like a small square with a tube sticking out of one side, extending out like a finger. She dialed up the magnification to get a better look.
“That’s a spetsdod” he said. “A dart gun. She’s a char
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from a science fiction novel; I did this for the r.”
it’s incredible work, Bob.” Blanks.” . should live long enough to get this good.”
it takes is practice, kiddo. If I can do it, anybody
feah, right.”
/ell, okay, a little talent helps. But mostly it’s hard Oops, gotta run, customer. See you around, Toni. line know if I can help you.”
Bob.”
bent to marvel at the gun grips again. Bob did his : under a stereomicroscope, and Alex, bless him, had rised her with one. Which, as it turned out, was in- in solving a case he’d been working on, so it I been a pretty good investment for that alone. But if was going to do work like this, it would take a lot than a good stereoscope. Whatever Bob had to say : it, it took a lot of talent and patience to produce a of art so detailed that under twenty-power magni- an, you could count every hair on the woman’s eye- vs, and not a one was out of place.
kthe Bon Chance
line Chance looked at the numbers. New member- were up, way up, but not nearly at the levels that rNation wanted. It had been a good campaign, the bination pushes, but it had pretty much peaked, leaned back in the chair and sighed. Well, she’d 1 it to come to this. None of the governments they lobbied were ready to step on board: There hadn’t t enough of a public clamor, and that was what it was to take. Politicians did not venture far from their
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power bases, everybody knew that, and the way to get legislation passed was to get enough static from the voters so the elected officials knew which way to go. Politicians were, by their natures, followers, not leaders. They reflected public opinion more than they shaped it. That made for more longevity in their jobs, and getting reelected was more important than any single piece of law they might sponsor.
So, it was time to step up things enough so that an outraged public would demand that those people who did their elected bidding got off the stick and fixed things.