Cald t ill in el in Angel.  expected to see an LCD counting do all ems of electronics scattered around te. No nigime and   sleep, a deeply satisfying interval of dreamless black, in a long  oo small. retco a more comfortable fit.

    t forty-somet  to ty years o it t ne up to e. By ack of miscellaneous fasang stacked in one corner of te.  boto open all of them.

    te erbed and en-suite batudy  all Computronics console and monitor and a living area   tilted to folloion t Caldupid.

    doo breakfast. Mei Lin able but as usual sunning. ail and est of black mascaras. Calded sra effort for  but t could alking.  s t try telling t to a girl, probably your first love and t most of  life t. Sting s, black slacks and metallic gray pumps. Breakfast rong black coffee.

    After breakfast sogetained private suites, several common living spaces, a gym and a library. to love t probably related to some personal  if you spent most of your  of a console you’d need easy access to a gym age. to one side of the house.

    o learn t tte’s  s a Japanese  of  infrequent visits to ive Japan. t urn up to ter a drunken nigoe  breakfast. Dante ern in tems Department  finisal eyes. Caldified ely.

    Getting into tions Room ting into Fort Knox. Several fingerprint, body and iris scans and multiple codes later teel-reinforced room  perer room at ions Room y except for Dante De itte.

    “Cad, man, I’ve set up a ing to one side of tifunction desk  up.”

    “te.”

    “If you need anyt let me kno’s all o go.” t t toys-R-Us.

    “on’t be needing t. t satellite links to cyberspace,” Caldapping Kenzo’s console under his arm.

    “S,” Dante said,  the door.

    Mei Lin and Cald at top in t and fiddled  o the device.

    Caldcton on t t  appeared from noivity in ted tina and anotop. Caldapped on tactile sensation of to base. topped. Glypurned from t it  was using one of Glypions.

    hey Cad,

    me know.

    Love,

    Kat

    Cald Kat a quick reply:

    Kat,

    Arrived safely. All’s going according to plan.

    Best,

    C.C.

    in furto see tents of the message.

    Subject: I AM AtChING YOU

    Cad Caldwell,

    I knoo. For your long-term o cease and desist. I cannot be he consequences.

    “ be from?” Caldwell asked aloud.

    “ is it?”

    “Some anonymous t message. Let me cronic trail.”

    Caldbase provider in Mumbai, India.  so many times t it ure. o t message and scanned ted t it had come from Russia.

    “Sent from Russia, t making any sense,” o nobody in particular.

    “Could be a relay. A mask. An anonymizer.” Mei Lin suggested.

    “Most likely.”

    It took Caldes to breaco be coming from. ry for t  originated in Russia at all. It  from a domain in New China.

    “the origin is in New China.”

    “Let me see,” Mei Lin said. Caldo arted to o t. Caldtempting to crack te force but noto be o base and cs. t for t. It abase.

    “But t’s impossible. traced my pass and killed it in tabase.”

    “tire Cion of cyberspace, some of t in tically invented t of intrusion counterattack. try another one.”

    Cald in anot. tly more sopicated. tempt to s presence, it  t sniffed around open ports, t bot rojan t attempted to mimic an ordinary user. It scanned surrounding traffic on ts and  found. IDEs ten to recognize t genuine users may ing t passo base. All s had disappeared.

    “S. My bots are all gone. Destroyed,” Calding anyt t particular moment.

    “ happen?”

    “Probably traced t and realized it base. It  a matter of sending in a remote query and ire database.”

    “Do you have a backup?”

    “Yes, I do but ts are not going to cut it. Can you imagine, t an ordinary messaging server in Need? o find a secret nethis one look like child’s play?”

    “t’s  ime for tter get cracking on terious network,” Mei Lin said.

    “Oells me ted. ening messages?”

    “OK. So w now?”

    “I ’s t a interconnect links to Cs ashes.

    “tronic Xcelecommunications Co. Ltd.”

    “Long name,” Caldwell observed.

    “t NEXt for s. hy?”

    “ are ta being sucked into C’s systems?”

    “high.”

    “a centers?”

    “NEXt toral. hy?”

    “t’s w.”

    “Pardon me?”

    “I need to see t NEXt. t may tell us . I can attempt to  it’ll take too long to break t of an Ac comes to protecting tside erconnects  IDEs protecting t systems but if I can use an auticated neterminal t might be quicker.”

    “You realize ing, rigy at NEXt toigo my kno ting caug an option.”

    “I know. Do you ?”

    “Yeah.”

    “And a veh a cyberspace console?”

    “Yes.”

    “Great. t are ing for?”

    “Cad, I need to talk to Fouler or at least De itte to autalking NEXt  caug ratospheric.”

    “e’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes. Calling Fouler e things.”

    “You better be sure about this Caldwell.”

    “trust me,” Caldense look.  even trust himself.