Stephanie Doyle: Calculated Risk

Quinlan focused on her. “They contacted you first. This was a setup. And I was the patsy,” he finished, his voice tight.

She shrugged. There was no point in stating what he’d already figured out. And at the end of the day, the idea that she had one up on him was sort of appealing. “They used you because they knew you wouldn’t stop until he was dead. And now he is. You did good, Q. Don’t lose sight of that.”

Quinlan emitted a low bark. “They didn’t send me because of Kahsan. They sent me because…”

He didn’t finish his statement and it made her curious. But then the agents were removing Kahsan’s body and Krueger was standing in front of them demanding their attention. His head nodded toward Kevin who was still fussing over his minicomputer.

“Who is this?”

“Kevin, come here and meet Assistant Director Krueger. AD Krueger, meet Kevin Pollard, aka the mighty and legendary Sal Ploxm.”

“Yeah, not anymore,” Kevin mumbled. “You broke my computer. You know how hard it’s going to be to get parts for this?”

Fascinating, Sabrina thought. Gone was the terrified kid with the gun down his pants. In his place was all the ego and the arrogance of Sal Ploxm she’d been expecting. In a way, it was a relief. She didn’t see an ego like his suffering from any long-term effects of Kahsan’s terror.

But she wasn’t going to coddle the boy. “Kid, do you understand how much trouble you’re in?”

His eyes widened at that. “What did I do? He kidnapped me from my house. He made me bring my stuff. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Not for this. For the hacking,” she reminded him. “For the viruses. I know a bartender who lost some love e-mails who would like to nail your skinny little hide to a wall. Trust me, if he’d been here instead of me, your ‘pecker’ would already be gone and he’d have moved on to kneecap number two.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. If I was you, I would stop complaining and start sucking up big-time. If I decide I like you, I might put in a good word for you with some people I know. You see, there is this program…I think it might be right for you. You came pretty close with the rotating passwords. Speaking of which…”

Sabrina walked over to the keyboard and carefully hit the backspace key over the keys she’d typed in an attempt to purposefully blow the machine.

Krueger and Quinlan came up behind her. “How many attempts did the kid make?”

“Two.”

“Only one more,” Quinlan stated. “His hands. I remember he told me that he’d been forced to go to the standard three attempt approach to protect against his shaky fingers.”

“It’s okay. I only need one,” she told them.

She felt Kevin peek around the two taller men. “If you want to wait,” he offered. “I think I can get this working again. You can use it to…”

She sent him a baleful glance that shut him up. “Thanks, but I got it covered.”

“Quick, what’s the significance of the number three?”

“It’s between two and four.”

“Excellent. Always start with the obvious. You’ll do, Girl Genius. You’ll do fine.”

The conversation played back in her head and caused a feeling of warm nostalgia. Arnold was a good man for all of his idiosyncrasies. He truly was.

“He contacted me,” she explained. “I didn’t lie about that, Q.”

“Just about everything else,” he replied.

“Uh…well…yes. But not about that. He found me. He wanted me to come home. He would have left the back door open.”

Sabrina typed the keys slowly and watched as the asterisks appeared on the screen to make up one long word.

G.I.R.L.G.E.N.I.U.S.

“Always start with the obvious. That’s what he would have told me to do. But just in case…you guys might want to back up.”

The three didn’t need any further encouragement. They all took several steps away from the workstation and held their collective breaths as she hit the enter key.

The screen went black and then the speakers blazed out a trumpet sound. A computer-modulated voice spoke as the words “Access Granted” flashed on the screen.

Hello, Sabrina. Welcome home. I made this first part easy for you, but the next stage is up to you. Your brain against mine. I only wish I was there to know what the outcome will be. I would say good luck. But truly, I hope you fail.

“Old crank,” Krueger cursed. “He doesn’t even care what this is possibly costing the United States.”

Sabrina shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. He just wants to play. Einstein better watch out.”

“What?” Krueger prodded.

“Never mind. But hey, don’t rule me out. I got the bad guy, didn’t I?”

“I got the bad guy,” Quinlan corrected her.

“Semantics,” she dismissed. “I’m going to need a chair.”

Kevin was the one to push up a desk chair that had been left in the corner of the room. He wheeled it over the uneven floor of the cabin and offered it to her as courteously as a sixteen-year-old kid knew how to do. Then he stood at her shoulder as she opened the folders of data she would need in an attempt to decipher his encryption code.

A screen full of symbols that would have looked like garbage to anyone else appeared on the monitor.

“Whoa,” he muttered. “Check it out. That’s not PGP encryption.”

“I told you, he didn’t like to use other people’s software,” Sabrina explained. She watched the signs, letters and numbers scroll across the screen. Stream after stream of running data hid behind a pattern that Arnold was pretty confident no computer and certainly no human would ever be able to read.

“Your brain against mine, Arnold,” she whispered to the monitor. “I think I’m going to be here for a while.”

“How long?” Krueger wanted to know.

Sabrina shook her head. “No idea. You should take Q to the hospital. He’s bleeding through the towels and I don’t need the distraction of him fainting on me.”

“I’m fine. I’ll stay.”

Her chair swiveled and it brought a smile to her lips. Arnold loved to swivel. “Seriously, this could take days. Even weeks. If I ever break it. You should go and take care of yourself. That’s a nasty-looking wound I gave you.”

“The other agents will stay with her,” Krueger added. “She’s right. You need to have it stitched. And we have to get the boy back to his parents.”

“They’re going to be so completely peeved when they find out,” Kevin lamented. “My dad’s office was, like, the first network I hit.”

Krueger took the kid by one arm and pushed him toward the door even as the kid cradled his precious machine in his other hand. “So, Kevin. Have you ever considered using your talents for the greater good…?”

Sabrina smiled as she watched them leave and then stood so she could focus her attention on Quinlan. He was planted in the center of the cabin.

It was an odd moment. For the first time since they had been reunited, there was no pretense between them. No hidden agendas or suspicions. She wasn’t sure what to say. Apparently, he didn’t know what to say, either, because he only stared at her. His expression was blank.

A sad thought occurred to her. What if it was too late? What if he hated her now? Forgiveness wasn’t a word either of them liked to use. Somehow she’d managed it. She was really hoping he would, too.

“You should go,” she said finally, when the not speaking got to her. “I have work.”

He glanced at the monitor over her shoulder, then looked back at her. All he said was, “Do good.”

“I’ll try.”

With that, he turned and left the cabin, careful to shut the door on his way out.

“See you, Q.” She said it only because she didn’t know if it was the last time she ever would.