Part 80 (1/2)
Scott waited for a reaction fro that didn't come so he continued ”Don't you see, the van with the coto get a little out of hand It's all the sa rolled his head from side to side on his shoulder Rather than boredoic of it ”Aren't you acting the engineer instead of the reporter here? Miss the old line of work 'eh?”
”Give ot me into this mess in the first place” Scott kneould co had just given him ”That's exactly the point!” Scott leaped off the desk to his feet ”All we have are technical threads, pieces of a puzzle It's a classic engineering probleineer, he could argue the issues fluently
”Let ive you an example When I was in defense electronics, whenever so we had to docuation, coineers forever were releasing products that failed on the first pass” Doug stopped rolling his head and looked at Scott with a blank stare
”We had these terrifically advanced products meant to defend our country and they didn't work So, we had to tell the engineers rong so they could figure it out Our own engineers and I got involved more times than we liked because the response time from the contractors was for shi+t They didn't care any ned it, we only saw the pieces that were on the fritz, we had synose the failure so we could get the designers to come up with a fix The point is, we only had shreds of evidence, little bits of technical information from which to try to understand the co on here”
”So?” Doug said dead panned
”So,” Scott avoided getting incensed ”You're damn lucky you have me around I see a pattern, a trail, that leads I don't knohere, but I have to follow the trail That'swas softening
”Oops, thanks! I alot” Scott felt stupid for a second, but he ithout notes, he rationalized ”Kirk isto over ood stuff He says there's a conference of hackers in Aot er going down; soether and I need to find out how”
”That's it?” Scott looked disappointed at Doug's reaction
”No, that's not it! You know that the Expos has been publishi+ng bits and pieces of the sa?”
Scott didn't knohich of his argu certainly reacted to the competitive threat ”How much?”
”How much what?” Scott wasn't ready for the question
”For Europe? How much play money will you need You know I have to sell this upstairs and they”
”Airfare and a couple of nights plus food That's it If you want,” Scott readied the trump card he had never used at the Times ”I'll pay for it myself, and submit it all when I come back Then, you make the call I'll trust you”
”You really think it's that i said
”Absolutely No question So on that smells rotten, bad, and it includes the Government, but I have no idea how” Scott spoke as if he was on a soapbox He had shot his wad That was it Anything more was a rehash of the same stuff and it would have been worthless to sayhis better reporters anxious with anticipation
”Have a good trip,” Doug said nonchalantly He leaned forward to hunch over his desk, and ignoring Scott, he went back to redlining another writer's story
Tuesday, December 15 Scarsdale, New York
Kirk delivered on his word In his E-Mail repository at the Tie from Kirk It was short, but all Scott needed to hear Never mind how Kirk broke into the comput- ers
Tues 12/15 00:02:141 < freedom=”” bbs=””>>
Repo Man,
When you arrive, call 602-356 It's an Amsterdam number Jon Gruptood one I said you're working to preserve freedom of electronic information and you were sick and tired of the police and ive the other side of the story to the public
Jon is one of the best in Holland and anywhere
He agreed to meet and talk with you hiood trip Call me, oops, no can do
Oh, Yes Mona Lisa frowned I will call you