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step on your foot. By the way, have you met my friend, Ben? Ben s an FBI
agent. And he has a gun. Will you show them, Ben?
Ben obligingly pulled open his jacket and displayed his weapon, cased in its
shoulder holster, as Hilary closed the door and flipped the switch to make the
glass walls opaque.
Hey, Rachel, said Iggie, apparently too stressed to use anything but my real
name. Could we postpone our meeting? Some stuff has uh come up, and I really
need to spend some time with Alex and Caro.
This will only take a minute, I assured him. And Alex and Caro are welcome
to join in. In fact, we d prefer that they did.
With Hilary and Ben blocking the way out, they had little choice but to sit
down.
Ready? Peter asked, poised before his laptop.
Absolutely, I said.
Here goes, he said, and he pressed a few buttons. On the screen, the Web
browser loaded a new page in which a square of video played. It displayed an
empty seat in a room filled with technical equipment: computers, servers,
scanners and cables. In one corner of the room, a Great Dane could be seen,
dozing on a cushioned dogbed of plaid flannel.
What is this? asked Iggie. Rachel, are you sure we need to do this now?
Shh, I said, as a man walked into the frame and took a seat on the chair. He
leaned over, typed something into the keyboard on a table next to him, and
then he leaned back and looked up directly into the lens of the Webcam on his
end.
Hello, he said.
Iggie gasped. Leo?
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That s right, said Leo.
But how? asked Alex.
It turns out I m not dead. I know, man, it s a real shocker. But we can catch
up on old times later. Right now there s something I want you to watch.
We could see his hands moving in toward the camera, and then the images on the
screen blurred as he rotated the camera to face his own computer screen. This
is all live, by the way. Just in case you were wondering, Leo said over the
tapping of his fingertips on a keyboard. Now, I m pulling up a Web site I set
up myself. It s called www.leolovesyou.org. Catchy, don t you think?
What is this? asked Alex, his surprise giving way to impatience.
You ll see, said Leo. The image on the screen in front of us blurred again
as he adjusted his camera, and then it settled into focus, revealing a
snapshot of Scat alongside a short message:
Welcome to LeoLovesYou.
The security software available from this site is free to all users, but
contributions are welcome and will be used to support a range of worthy
causes, from eliminating poverty to eradicating disease.
This software is superior to anything on the market today, including Igobe s.
In fact, it was created by the same developer who developed their software.
But it s better. And unlike Igobe, it s absolutely free.
So download it and contribute what you can. And spread the word.
Peace out and power to the people.
29
W hat have you done? cried Alex, jumping up from his seat. He rushed to
stand before the screen, rereading the words in disbelief.
This can t be happening, moaned Iggie. I can t believe this is happening.
Leo ignored them. I ve put in a counter, right there, he said as his finger
swam onto the screen and pointed at a box in the corner. To track how many
people download the software. The word should be starting to get out I
announced the launch on my blog a few minutes ago. Let s watch, shall we?
Eleven, read the number in the box. But then it turned to twelve, and then to
thirteen. Then, right before our eyes, it jumped to eighteen, and from there
to thirty-five. A moment later, the count had passed two hundred, and a moment
after that it topped a thousand. The digits began moving so quickly they were
barely legible.
Make it stop, said Iggie. He d pulled his knees up to his chest and was
rocking back and forth in his chair. Somebody make it stop.
Have I mentioned this is live? Leo said with a chuckle. I bet we ll be at a
million before the day is over, and ten million in a week.
Are you insane? shouted Alex Cutler, at Leo presumably.
Leo considered this. No, I don t think so.
You ve ruined everything! Alex s future bank account was declining in direct
proportion to the rate at which the number in the box, and his heart rate,
increased.
Do you need me to explain it again? Leo asked, his voice calm. He moved his
finger, pointing to another box on the screen. Check this out. It looks like
people are making donations, too.
$25,412, read the number in this box, but only for a second. In a flash it was
closing in on $40,000, and this was just the beginning.
Alex let out a bellow of rage. That s my money, he yelled. You ve stolen my
money.
I wouldn t call it stealing, and it s all going to good causes, said Leo
reasonably.
Call him off, said Alex, his eyes darting around the room. Somebody call
him off. We ll do whatever he wants us to do. Just call him off.
Too late, I said with a shrug.
And too bad you can t Taser him from here, isn t it? added Hilary.
You said Alex. His hands clenched into fists, and he lunged for her.
She shoved an empty chair at him, and it hit him hard, right in the knee.
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Judging by his cry of anguish, it was the same knee she d kicked before.
That must have hurt, Hilary said with a delighted grin.
You said Alex again, bending over, his face twisted in a grimace of pain.
What are you going to do now? Leo asked him from the screen. Kill her?
I didn t know whether it was the lost fortune, the second blow to his knee or
the taunting that pushed Alex over the edge, but over the edge he went.
I was waiting for when I would have time to take the boat out far enough to
dump the body, he raged. I couldn t kill her before then. The body would
have started to smell. But I shouldn t have waited. I should have killed her.
And I should have killed you when I had the chance, Leo. Then you would have
been really dead. I should have known you d spoil everything if you could.
Was that a confession? asked Luisa.
It sounded like a confession to me, said Hilary.
It was definitely a confession, I said. Good thing we re recording this.
You got that, right Leo?
Got it, he confirmed, tilting the camera to show the screen of another
electronic device. We could see red letters displaying Recording before Leo
turned the camera back to his computer screen.
Iggie, meanwhile, continued to rock and moan, and the numbers on the screen
ticked higher.
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