| Hybrid 15 Chapter 7 |
CHAPTER SEVEN Luke rushed into her apartment to see Les standing over Jeremy's shoulder as he punched at the computer keyboard. "I just got off the phone with Rick," he told her as he hurried across to see what they had managed to come up with on the monitor. "He's going to get everything he can from Pascal's files at the office and he'll meet us at the ballpark later." Luke grasped Jeremy by the shoulder to get his attention without distracting him from his work. "Rick also said to remind you about security blocks and precautions?" They had waited until Saturday morning before beginning their search because the institute was closed on the weekends. It was less likely that anyone would notice someone linking up with the computer there, but that didn't mean that security was off as well. Jeremy nodded absently as he punched several keys to change the screen, then scanned the information. "Already in place," he told him. "But I don't think that we will really need it. It's the classified stuff that has the major security lockouts and traces on them and we're just going for the personal files of this Lawrence guy." "How do you know about the classified stuff?" Les asked quickly, then cringed when she saw her little brother look up at her timidly. "Never mind. I don't want to know." As a computer wiz, Jeremy had started "hacking" into other computer terminals when he was only ten. It had caused quite an uproar in the Collins family at the time with outraged companies threatening to sue them at every turn, but apparently Jeremy had learned a few more tricks of the hackers and knew how to cover his tracks now. Les almost thought that it was a shame that Jeremy was more interested in baseball than he was in computers. Almost. He was a natural at both and there were considerably more opportunities in computers than there were in sports. But she also knew that her little brother was never satisfied with just what he could legally get. He was forever slipping into one system or another even though Les and her father had threatened to make the computer off limits to him completely. She felt a little pang of guilt at involving him in hacking once more, but she tried not to let this latest venture trouble her much. After all, it was for Luke. "What's all those?" Les asked when a series of numbers appeared on the screen. "Phone numbers," Jeremy replied casually as he reached over to switch on the printer after making a copy of the information on a 3.5 computer disk. "I'm going to start putting this on paper so you can look at it while I'm tapping into the other files." "Phone numbers?" Les looked over at Luke. "Do we want those?" Luke gave her a shrug. "I'm not really sure where we need to look so we might as well find out who Lawrence Pascal is talking to." Luke scanned the paper that was coming out of the printer. "Can you get the names to go along with these numbers?" he asked Jeremy. "I'll get those later from another source," he replied. "A guy that I know is better equipped to tell us that and I want to get in and out of the institute computer as fast as possible. The longer I take, the easier it is for them to find us. I'm pulling up the E-Mail stuff now." "Can you do that?" Les asked incredulously as the files appeared on the screen. "I can get at anything that's in a computer," Jeremy replied smugly. "You mean you can even tap into my computer when you're not here?" "As long as a terminal is hooked up and the information is stored on hard-drive, it's only a simple matter of breaking the codes, but most people don't even bother with those." He shrugged casually as he brought up a window on the screen and began copying the information once again. "But why would anyone want to tap into your system? It's just a bunch of baseball card stuff that you can find out by picking up a magazine." "Well, it's nice to know that I'm so unimportant," she replied sarcastically. "What is it I'm looking for anyway?" Jeremy finally asked as he waited for the disk to complete it's cycle. It had surprised him when his sister had asked him to get into the computer at Pascal Institute. At first he had thought that she was joking, or maybe even testing him to see if he still broke into other computers. But when she assured him that she was completely serious, he had rose to the challenge, what little of it there was. Lawrence Pascal didn't seem to know much about computers or computer security. Luke looked over at Les from the sheets of numbers that were now finishing up on the printer at Jeremy's question. He had been hoping that he could find what he wanted without telling Jeremy too much, but, since he didn't know what he was looking for, he thought that it would be best to give the boy something to work with. "I want to know about anything that has my name on it," he replied carefully, "or my father's name, Dr. Frederic Jenkins, or maybe even just the word hybrid." "Hybrid!" Jeremy whipped around to look at his coach. "You think that someone could be after Hy or Morse?" Luke gave him a relieved smile. He had to explain to Jeremy what a hybrid was when he had first shown him his pets and he was grateful that the young boy hadn't made the connection between the word hybrid and himself. Of course, there wasn’t any real reason for him to make that kind of leap. "It's a possibility," he told him in all seriousness. After all, it was possible that Lawrence Pascal was more interested in his father's work than in Luke specifically and that would include Hy and Morse. "But we won't know that until we find out what Pascal is up to." Jeremy turned back to the screen with determination. "Don't worry Coach. I'll find out what this guy eats for breakfast if you want me to. If you think that he's going to do anything to hurt Hy or Morse, we'll know what he's up to before he does it," he said confidently. <*> Les worked her way through the throng of people that milled about in front of the bleachers to get to the dugout. She had missed the first two innings of the final game between the two rival towns, but a baseball game was the least that was on her mind. When Luke saw her approaching, he could tell from the expression on her face that the news wasn't good and gestured for her to meet him at the other end of the dugout, away from the boys on the team. Les had waited at home for one of Jeremy's computer buddies to come on line all morning and she had finally been contacted, though she wasn't thrilled with the results. "I've just heard back from Box Bytes," she told him, using the "handle" of the computer hacker, "and you were right about that number being an overseas company." "Was he able to find out who it was for?" Luke asked as a scowl creased his forehead. "No. Only that it was somewhere in Germany and he seems to think that it's a bogus company." When he gave her a startled look, she shook her head. "Don't ask me what he said. It's too complicated, but it sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I've got the printout in the car of our entire conversation and you can have a look at it after the game." She glanced around at the crowd behind her. "Hasn't Rick shown up yet?" Luke turned his attention to scanning the people as well. Rick was suppose to meet them at the game with some information that he thought too important to discuss over the phone, but he hadn't appeared and Luke was starting to become concerned. It wasn't anything that Rick had said, just the sound of his voice when they had spoken. "Not yet. Keep an eye out for him. It sounds like he may have something pretty big." With that, he leaned over to give her a quick kiss, then turned back to the game. Even though Les was distracted, she still managed to cheer along with the crowd as the Crammer Cutters finished the game with a twelve to nine win. It was the first time that a Crammer team had been able to beat their rival Clark Junction since the two towns had started playing championship games nearly ten years ago. The victory was sweet for everyone in Crammer, with the exception of the coach of the team. Luke had joined in on congratulating the boys for their hard won victory, but the win had lost much of its importance to him in light of everything that was happening in his life. But, even though his enthusiasm was slightly forced, no one seemed to notice. He was even less enthused about the traditional picnic that the winning town hosted as a celebration for both teams after the last game was played. Usually it was given the week following the game, but this year, since the series had been taken to its final game, the picnic was already set up in the adjoining park and everyone present wandered over to the feast. Luke was aggravated that he had to remain at the celebration as host of the event. At the moment he was more interested in searching out Rick, but he accepted the congratulations from everyone with a smile and responded in kind to the gentle ribbing from the Clark Junction coach. Yet, he was there only in body. His eyes, as well as his thoughts, continually scanned the people around them in the hopes of finding his overdue friend. He was actually grateful when the heavy clouds of, what promised to be, another summer storm brought an early end to the festivities. He had more than his fill of the assortment of culinary specialties that the women of Crammer continually pushed at him and the smirk on Leslie's face wasn't helping to relieve his aching stomach. "You know what they say," she had told him at one point when a flirtatious blond had pushed a healthy slice of cherry pie into his hands. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." "I don't see how making a man sick is suppose to win his undying devotion. Besides, my heart's already spoken for," he returned and gave her a sloppy cherry kiss. Les was still wiping the tangy juices off of her mouth when her brother ran up to them. "Dad's ready to go," he told them a little urgently, "but I want to stay here and help you with that Lawrence guy." Les looked at her father who had arrived in town only that morning to see Jeremy's team play and to take his son with him as he went on to the next convention in northern Indiana. He was moving toward them, but still several yards away so she lowered her voice to speak to Jeremy. "You didn't tell Dad about any of the things that we've been doing, have you?" "No way," he answered immediately, rolling his one good eye at her for even suggesting that he would. "I know that Dad would kill me if he found out, but I still want to help." "You've already been a lot of help," Luke told him. "But I don't think that we'll be needing the assistance of a computer expert anymore. All that's left to do is some dull, boring reading, but you're more than welcome to stick around and help with that if you want to?" he offered cagily. "No thanks," Jeremy quickly refused. "I'd rather haul boxes for Dad." Les gave Luke an appreciative smile. She hadn't been sure how she was going to make working with their father for the rest of the summer seem more appealing to Jeremy than the bits of intrigue that he had been involved in that morning, but Luke had easily solved that problem for her. "I'm going to have to head home with them," she told Luke apologetically. "Jeremy hasn't even started packing his things and I know that Dad will want to get back on the road as soon as possible. Should I just meet you over at your house later?" Luke nodded and gave her another quick kiss in farewell. "I'll call you if I should hear from Rick before then." <*> When Les arrived at Luke's house several hours later, dripping wet from the short dash from her car to his front door in the pouring rain, he still hadn't heard from Rick. "Maybe he decided that the information that he got wasn't so important after all," Les suggested, drying her hair with the towel that Luke had given her. "I don't think so," he replied as he moved the blinds in the window slightly with a touch of his finger so that he could look out into the damp night. "Rick would have called if it was anything like that. No, something's wrong." "What do you mean?" She stared up at him from the couch. "You don't think that something has happened to him, do you?" "I'm just saying that Rick should have called by now," he said as he walked over to join her on the couch, keeping the worst of his suspicions from her. He should have known better than to try. Les knew him too well. She shook her head, easily reading the expression on his face. "That's not what you're saying," she countered. "You think that he's in some sort of trouble. Luke, what have we gotten ourselves involved in? You're acting like we're on some sort of...of spy mission or something." Luke wasn't given time to respond when a loud crash from the kitchen sent them springing to their feet and running into the next room. As they entered the kitchen, they saw Rick, soaking wet and covered with mud, pulling himself up off of the floor with the aid of a chair. He dropped down into the seat heavily as he held one of his feet aloft. "I think I sprained my ankle trying to climb over that damn privacy fence of yours," he complained as he raised his injured foot to the table, then leaned back in the chair with a sigh. "What in the hell were you doing climbing over my fence in the first place?" Luke asked angrily as he slammed the kitchen door closed and stood beside Rick while Les quickly removed his shoe and sock to check his foot. "I won't swear to it, but I think I'm being followed," Rick informed him unceremoniously. "I had to get in here without being seen." "Great! Now I have two amateur spies to deal with," Les cut in flippantly, then went to search under the sink for a dish towel to wipe the mud from around Rick's ankle. "I wouldn't be too worried about the amateur ones if I were you, sweetheart," Rick said, waiting for her eyes to shift to his again so that she could see the seriousness on his face. "You have the real thing following you around." Luke and Les exchanged a startled look, then Luke dropped down into the chair next to Rick's. "Tell me," he ordered. Rick winced when Les roughly wiped at his foot, then settled in to tell them what he had found. "It turns out that it's nothing more than a typical case of greed," he said with a cynical grin. "Lawrence Pascal has a taste for money and lots of it. He has been trying to work out a deal with some foreign buyers for years, but the information that he has been giving them has been less than satisfactory. He sent the information from your father's research to them a long time ago, but they weren't interested in that. Your dad did a fine job in covering up the details of your creation." Luke gave him a slight nod. That much he already knew and he was fairly certain that he understood his father's reasons, but that still didn't explain why Lawrence Pascal had any interest in him. "So, if the foreign buyers aren't interested in Dad's research, then what does any of this have to do with me?" "I'm getting to that." He glanced up at Les when she pronounced that he didn't have anything more serious than a twisted ankle, then judged for himself by moving his foot slightly. At his hissing intake of breath, Les turned to the refrigerator to pull out a tray of ice which she dumped into the dirty towel and held against his ankle. "Dad's research?" Luke prompted when his friend seemed to forget the reason why he was there. "As I was saying," he began again, "there wasn't enough of your father's research for the foreign buyers to be interested in, but evidently there was enough for these people to devised some sort of drug that is supposed to enhance the genetic mutations that your father had started. The buyers were wanting to test it out so they passed it along to Pascal, but these people weren't about to simply trust Pascal to come through for them. Apparently, Pascal has been royally screwing things up, so they've had some of their own people watching you for the last six months. Don't ask me how, but they have reports on you that detail every minute of every day. They know where you go, what you do and who you see. Hell, they probably even know what brand of toilet paper that you use." Luke bristled at the thought of someone watching his every move, but it explained the feelings that he had been having. It wasn't just his imagination that he was being followed, but he still didn't know why. "Get to the point, Rick," he said, agitated. "How were they suppose to get me to take this drug without me knowing?" "Oh, it's not for you," Rick corrected him. "It's for Les." "Me!" Les squeaked, jerking her hands away from Rick's foot as if burned and letting the ice cubes fall onto the table with a clatter. "What do you mean it's for me? What have I got to do with all of this?" "Relax!" Rick gestured absently for her to take a seat when she looked like she would fall down. "From what I've been able to find out, there aren't any serious side effects from the drug. You probably didn't even know that you were taking it." "But I haven't been taking anything!" she argued. "I'm afraid you have," Rick nodded solemnly. "In fact, your whole building has been taking it. You see, when Luke took an interest in you, Pascal was quick to move in. It was just what he had been waiting for and he had the drug added to the soft water tanks in your building. The foreign buyers weren't thrilled that there were several different people taking the drug, but they were willing to capitulate that one point to achieve their objective." "And what objective is that?" Luke asked. Rick looked at him blankly. He thought that he had already explained that, but he decided that he needed to lay it out more carefully. "Since they can't do anything with your genetic structure and the drug is suppose to have little or no effect on Les, there can only be one explanation as to why all of this is going on." He waited for Luke to draw the proper conclusions. Luke turned to Les quickly as Rick's shortened assessment of the situation finally became clear. "A baby," he whispered and saw the immediate reaction in Leslie's wide eyes. They had been together only once, but her reaction confirmed what he had suspected when she came down with the "stomach flu". She was pregnant. |
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