engaged in an animated conversation with his dinner companion, a man in
his early twenties dressed in an expensively tailored suit. The two
young men were sitting side by side, their eyes firmly set on one
another. They spoke in low tones, and Rowe’s hand briefly flickered on
top of his companion’s.
Sawyer arched an eyebrow at Hardy. “They make a nice couple.”
“Watch it. You’re starting to sound politically incorrect.”
“Hey, live and let live. That’s my motto. Guy can date whoever he
wants.”
Hardy continued to observe the pair. “Well, Quentin Rowe is worth about
three hundred million dollars, and the way things are going he’ll be a
billionaire well before he’s forty. I’d say that makes him a very
eligible bachelor.”
“I’m sure there’s an army of young ladies just kicking themselves over
that one.”
“You better believe it. But the guy’s flat-out brilliant. He deserves
the success.”
“Yeah, he gave me a little tour of the company. I didn’t understand
half of what he was talking about, but it was still interesting stuff.
Can’t say I like where all this technology crap is going, though.”
“Can’t stop progress, Lee.”
“I don’t want to stop it, Frank, I’d just like to choose how much I have
to participate in it. According to Rowe, it doesn’t look like I’m going
to get that opportunity.”
“It is a little scary. But it sure as hell is lucrative.”
Sawyer glanced again in Rowe’s direction. “Speaking of couples, Rowe
and Gamble sure make an odd one.”
“Really, what makes you say that?” Hardy grinned. “Seriously, they just
happened to run into each other at an opportune time. The rest is
history.”
“So I understand. Gamble had the money bags and Rowe brought along the
brains?”
Hardy shook his head. “Don’t sell Nathan Gamble short. It’s not easy
making the bucks he did on Wall Street. He is one bright guy and a hell
of a businessman.”
Sawyer wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Good thing, because the man
ain’t going to get by on his charm.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
It was eight o’clock when Sidney reached Jeff Fisher’s home, a restored
row house on the outskirts of Old Town Alexandria’s elite residential
area. Dressed in MIT sweats and battered tennis shoes, a Red Sox cap
perched on his nearly bald head, the short, pudgy Fisher welcomed her
and led her to a large room crammed top to bottom with computer
equipment of all descriptions, cables running all over the hardwood
floors, and multiple electrical outlets jammed to capacity.
Sidney thought the space looked as though it belonged more in the
Pentagon War Room than in this quiet suburban area.
Fisher proudly watched her obvious astonishment. “Actually, I’ve cut
back some. I thought I might be getting out of control a little bit.”
He grinned broadly.
Sidney pulled the disk out of her pocket. “Jeff, could you put this in
your computer and read what’s on it?”
Fisher took the disk, a disappointed look on his face. “Is that all you
need? Your computer at work can read this floppy, Sidney.”
“I know, but I was afraid I might screw it up somehow. It came in the
mail and it might be damaged. I’m not in your league when it comes to
computers, Jeff. I wanted to come to the best.”
Fisher beamed at this ego-stroking. “Okay. It’ll just take a second.”
He started to pop the disk into the computer.
Sidney put a hand over his, halting him. “Jeff, is that computer
on-line?”
He looked at the computer and then back at her. “Yeah. I’ve got three
different services I use, plus my own gateway onto the Inter-net I got
through using MIT as a host. Why?”
“Could you use a computer that isn’t on-line? I mean, can’t other
people get to things on your database if you’re on-line?”
“Yeah, it’s a two-way street. You send stuff out. Others can hack it.
That’s the trade-off. But it’s a big trade-off. Although you don’t
have to be on-line to get hacked.”
“What do you mean?” Sidney asked.
“Ever heard of Van Eck radiation?” Fisher asked. Sidney shook her head.
“It’s really electromagnetic eavesdropping.”
Sidney’s face held a blank look. “What’s that?”