Elizabeth Stewart - Harm’s Way

Elgin exhaled a long, resigned sigh. “Do I have any choice?”

Sheila grinned again. “None. Now get yourself together ‘cause he’s in the living room.”

“I hate this,” Elgin pouted. “And I hate him. And you.”

“I know you do,” Sheila agreed lightly, “and I certainly don’t expect you to be bosom buddies. In fact, I’d settle for you just not clawing his eyes out at this first meeting.”

“No promises,” she sulked, rising from the chair and starting across the room.

They looked, she thought sourly, like Mutt and Jeff as she and Sheila came through the office door and the two men rose from the sofa.

Well, perhaps not two men exactly , she corrected herself silently. More like one tall, fairly nice looking man and a gawky, be-speckled young boy who looked to be about twelve; the only thing missing from his total geek look was a pocket protector.

“Mr. Harm,” Sheila began by way of introduction, “this is Elgin Collier. Ellie, this is C.A. Harm of Harm’s Way Security.”

“Miss Collier,” he said noncommittally, giving her hand a perfunctory shake.

“Mr. Harm,” she replied with an equal lack of emotion.

Oh, Jeez, she grumbled to herself, an alpha male. Strong, assertive type. Like I don’t have enough problems already.

“This is Billy Wendell,” he announced, turning slightly to the young man beside him. “He’s our in-house electronics and technical wizard. He’ll be checking your computer.”

Elgin noted it wasn’t a request, just a statement of fact.

“Checking for what?”

Harm’s mouth turned down ever so slightly, obviously not used to having his word questioned.

But instead of answering, he glanced down at Billy, apparently giving him approval to speak.

Grinning, Billy pushed his thick black glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.

“If you’ve got a stalker,” he explained cheerfully, “he probably came in through your computer. Hacker with…”

“Mr. Harm, Mr. Wendell,” Elgin sliced in sharply, “I’m not a complete technical moron. I’m very familiar with computer bugs and hackers. As a writer, I’m acutely aware of the vulnerability of the Internet and the need to keep prying eyes out of my affairs. I have a very complete security program including anti-virus and firewalls. If there is someone…well, I’m sure he didn’t break into my life through my computer.”

The boyish grin remained unfazed. “I’m sure you’ve probably got good programs,” he agreed, “but hackers are always one step ahead. Not to mention that new worms and Trojan Horses are coming out on the net all the time. A program can’t detect what it doesn’t recognize as harmful. If nothing else, it won’t take very long for me to check you out and if there’s no problem, it’ll be good to know that too.”

“I have a lot of very confidential information on my computer,” Elgin insisted.

“That’s all right,” Billy practically giggled. “I’ve been everywhere. Even the Pentagon computers. Hell, I could tell you what color the Joint Chiefs’ shorts are.”

“What he means,” Harm finished flatly, “is that despite his youthful appearance, Mr. Wendell has a security clearance of the highest level. You can be assured that your confidentiality won’t be breached.”

There was no way around it. She would just have to stand aside and let this techno-geek teen run amok in her personal life.

Bending down, he retrieved a black laptop computer bag.

“If you could show me where your system is?”

Reluctantly, Elgin turned and the four of them moved to her office, Billy plopping down in her chair and critically examining her CPU as he pulled his own laptop from its case and set it on the desk next to her monitor.

“Nice setup,” he commented. “Cable’s way better than DSL.” He plugged a connector wire between his machine and hers and began typing rapidly on his keyboard.

“You’ll need my password,” Elgin told him.

“No I won’t,” he responded gleefully. A few more keystrokes and his computer screen suddenly filled with her e-mail.

“Hey,” she shrieked, “how did you do that?”

“Not hard,” he answered, his eyes never leaving the screen or his fingers the keyboard.

“I demand to know…” she began but stopped when a flashing red highlight suddenly appeared over one of her e-mails.

“There it is,” Billy crowed triumphantly.

“What is that?” Sheila asked, leaning over the boy’s shoulder a little.

“Trojan Horse,” he told her. “This is my own program. It’s designed to ferret out unwanted e-mail hitchhikers. Blue is a virus, yellow a worm and red is a Trojan Horse. Once it activated, whoever planted it had open access to your system.”

“But…but that’s impossible,” Elgin cried even as the screen blinked red. “Look, it’s in the ‘delete’ file. I never even opened it.”

“Didn’t need to,” the young man continued. “Once it was here, it launched by itself.”

“Nine weeks ago,” Harm said almost to himself as he read the e-mail’s date.

“Yep. Just about when you figured. Want me to see how bad it is?”

Harm nodded once and the kid’s fingers flew over the keys again. For several minutes, they watched silently as Billy went methodically through Elgin’s computer. Finally, he looked up.

“Total breach,” he told Harm, his voice now serious. “E-mail, incoming and outgoing, schedule, To-do list, shopping, surfing the net, everything. Even the writing. He’s been sitting right here, keystroke by keystroke.”

Elgin felt suddenly lightheaded and nauseous. As if her home had been broken into. As if she’d been personally violated. Sheila grabbed her arm and got her to a chair just as her knees gave out.

But the two men seem oblivious to everything but the computer monitor.

“Here’s where he got the flower and candy,” Billy remarked as they went through her list of favorite websites.

“And there’s the bra and panty sizes,” Harm noted as a mail order lingerie shop rolled by.

“All her schedules and appointments. He knew everything about her practically before she did.”

“Can you track him?”

Billy frowned. “I can put a trace on the computer but we’ll have to wait until he logs on again.”

“Okay, get everything set up.”

Harm turned, surprised to see Elgin so pale and shaken.

“Billy’s going to be running a few more tests,” he said quietly. “Perhaps we should go back in the living room.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Sheila agreed quickly. “I’ll have Martha get us some fresh coffee. You all right, El?”

Elgin nodded and stood up. Instantly, the room listed to port and she put out her hand to steady herself. Without thinking, Harm’s hand flew out and caught her, feeling her limp weight against him for a moment, a ripple of mini-firecrackers exploding through his body. She shifted herself slightly and leaned on Sheila, sliding out of his grasp but leaving a distinct tingle on his skin.

“So Mr. Harm,” Sheila asked quietly, “what now?”

He took another sip of coffee. Good, he thought idly. Unless his taste buds deceived him, a rich, hearty Colombian served in a mug big enough for a man to get his hand around. He despised weak, watery, flavored coffees served in tiny, fragile China cups.

After they’d settled on the sofa and coffee had been served, there’d been a few minutes to let the shock wear off and the reality set in. Now they had to pick up the pieces.

“Well,” he answered slowly, “Billy’s putting a tap on the computer as we speak. It’ll alert us the next time our friend logs on. With any luck, we should be able to follow the electronic breadcrumbs right back to his lair. Once we’ve pinpointed him, you can swear out a complaint and wherever he is, the local police can handle it.