Elizabeth Stewart - Harm’s Way

“We’ll also install a new security program on the computer that will continuously update, looking for viruses, worms and Trojans and automatically send a signal to our central monitoring location if someone tries to break in again. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s definitely an improvement over what’s there right now.”

“How…how long do you think it will be before he…he comes back?” The uncertainty and fear in her voice seemed far removed from the tough, strong image she’d given him at first.

“Hard telling,” he replied carefully, “but probably not long. My guess is that he probably checks in at least once a day to keep tabs on you.”

She flinched a little and shut her eyes tightly. For some inexplicable reason, Harm felt a twinge in his chest.

“Until we catch whoever is doing this,” he continued, “you’ll have to make some adjustments.”

“Adjustments?” Elgin repeated, opening her eyes. “What sort of adjustments?”

“Well, for one thing, you’re going to have to change your schedule. One thing I’ve seen since surveillance started is that you’re very much a creature of habit.”

Something flashed in those dark eyes.

“I lead an ordered life if that’s what you mean,” she shot back coldly. “It’s one of the ways I maintain the discipline I need to write. My busy life makes scheduling imperative.”

“Yes, well, I understand that, Miss Collier,” Harm replied, feeling a little tense himself, “but predictability in this situation makes you vulnerable. Makes it possible for someone to make plans of his own. Plans that may not be as pleasant as yours.”

“I like my life the way it is,” she answered flatly.

“And hopefully, we can track this person, have the police apprehend him and you can have your ordered life back. But until that happens, your personal security is our primary objective. Right now, he knows a great deal about you and we know nothing about him. That gives him a tremendous and potentially catastrophic advantage. By denying him that advantage, we level the playing field.”

“I would think that any change in my routine would alert this person that he’s been discovered and send him into hiding. I’d think it would be far better for me to just keep going as if nothing’s wrong.”

“By now he knows that you’ve received his gifts and that you’re aware, however dimly, of his presence. The fact that he’s spooked you into altering your routine will probably delight him no end. Make him feel powerful and closer to you by exercising his control. It may even make him bolder and bring him out into the open. But he doesn’t know that we’re on to him so he won’t be looking over his shoulder.”

“But I thought you said you could track him from Elgin’s computer,” Sheila commented nervously.

“I said we could try . A lot’s going to depend on how computer savvy this guy is. Picking up a Trojan Horse from the net doesn’t take a lot of technical genius. Hiding your tracks in cyberspace does.”

“You still didn’t tell me what kind of ‘adjustments’ you meant.”

“First of all, you’re going off-line. Completely. Billy’s re-routing your computer to our main monitoring system now. “

“What?” Elgin shrieked, practically dumping her coffee in her lap. “I won’t have that! I mean it. The Internet is one of my most valuable marketing tools and e-mail is a vital link to my readership. I won’t do it. Absolutely not.”

“You don’t have any choice,” he responded coldly. “We’ve got to close the door on him and bolt it from the inside. Until we catch this guy, anyone who tries to contact you or log onto the system is going to get an error message telling them the system’s down. In reality, they’ll be coming right into our central monitoring system where they’ll be identified and if necessary, traced.”

“Now see here…” Elgin began but Harm shook his head.

“And you’ll have to change your schedule. Stop doing the same thing at the same time on the same days. Change the stores and the restaurants you frequent. Be more careful about who knows where you’re going to be and what you’re going to be doing. Except, of course, for Harm’s Way. We’ll have to have a daily schedule of your comings and goings. We’ll have people providing you security, but we’ll also want to be able to check out places where you’re going to be before you get there as well.”

“Well I won’t do it,” Elgin shot back, her voice tense and raised with anger. “I will not be bullied or intimidated by some stalker who may be more imaginary than anything else and I will most certainly not be bullied by you.”

“The stalker isn’t imaginary,” he replied, his own voice requiring an effort to keep under control, “he’s very real and he’s here, whether you like it or not. We were hired to find this guy, stop him and protect you and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“You’re fired, Mr. Harm. You and your geeky little technocrat and your rent-a-cops who’ve been following me are officially off the case. I want you out of my computer, my home and my life. Now.”

He glanced at Sheila and back to Elgin. “You’re not my client, Miss Collier, Miss Forbes is. I’m not fired until she says I am.”

“Well then tell him to go away, Sheila.”

“No Elgin, I won’t,” she replied quietly.

Elgin’s jaw dropped in surprise. “What do you mean, ‘you won’t?’” She could barely get the words out.

“Because he’s right and you’re just being pigheaded and stubborn. There is a stalker out there El, and God only knows what he’s got on his warped mind. You saw where he’s broken into you computer. He knows where you live, where you shop, where you get your hair done. He could be anywhere, anyone. Until this is over, you do what Mr. Harm tells you to.”

“I won’t,” Elgin told her defiantly.

“Oh yes you will.”

“And who’s going to make me?”

“If it comes to it, I will.”

“And how the hell do you propose to do that?” Elgin asked coldly.

“Well, as your oldest and dearest friend, I’d hoped to try and reason some sense into that thick Irish skull of yours. Since that didn’t work, I’ll put on my boss’s hat instead.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that if you’ll check the fine print in your contract, you’ll find there’s a clause that prohibits you from doing anything that would be harmful or detrimental to your health, well-being and your capacity to produce books for Fantasy Publishing. That includes such things as swimming nude with piranhas, drinking battery acid or playing chicken with a stalker.”

“Sheila…”

“Any of which constitutes a material breach of your contract. If you don’t behave yourself, I’ll have you tied up in court so long, your grandchildren will be testifying. And I’ll make sure that not only do you not publish again with Fantasy, but that no one else will touch you with a ten-foot lawyer either.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“You, of all people, El, should know I don’t kid about money and you’re screwing with my biggest business asset.”

“But…”

“No ‘buts’ Ellie.”

“Miss Collier,” Harm broke in again, “my motto is, when you’re in harm’s way, you do it Harm’s Way.

“Did you hear that ?” Elgin shrieked in Sheila’s face. “The nerve of that…that…”

Sheila sipped her coffee in patient silence. As soon as the door had swung shut behind Harm and the Boy Genius, Elgin had gone into her seething rant. From long experience, she knew the futility of talk until her friend had exhausted her rage.

“When you’re in harm’s way, you do it Harm’s Way,” she mocked acidly. “My God, he made it sound like one of the commandments.”