Stone Ranger

by Bob Blanton

  “They download government databases all the time. They think there should be free access to all government information. It’s their only way to fight ‘big brother’.”

  “Well, get after it,” Alex said.

  “I am.” Matthew had about twelve windows opened on his computer as he searched for information on their quarry. “It seems that Sayid doesn’t own anything,” Matthew said. “Everything seems to be owned by one company or another.”

  “Doesn’t he own the company?” Alex asked.

  “Not actually,” Matthew said. “It seems he’s just a director. The company ownership is sealed in the Bahamas.”

  “Our guy is a real mystery man,” Emily said.

  “Come on, Matthew, can’t you find anything else?”

  “Let’s see, there seems to be another company, how novel, a travel agency.”

  “Well, what does that tell us?” Alex asked.

  “It seems our guy has access to a Gulfstream Jet, another Mercedes and a couple of race horses,” Matthew said. “I love this hacker site; they’ve got just about everything you could want. The only problem is, you’ve got to do your own database searches.”

  “Why don’t they provide the search engines for the databases?” Emily asked.

  “They don’t consider that fair. If you’re not going to break into the government site, they think you should at least have to figure out how to search the database.”

  “Whatever,” Alex said. “Anything else?”

  “Nope, that’s all I can find for now,” Matthew said. “Do you want to keep looking?”

  “No, this should be a good start. Do you have the license number of the other Mercedes?”

  “Sure, and the registration number for the jet,” Matthew said. “Do you want info on the race horses?”

  “No.”

  Matthew spent a few minutes collecting the additional information into a word document for Alex; then he printed it out. “Here you go, I guess that’s all for now,” Matthew said.

  “Okay, I’m going home then. I’ll see you tomorrow, Emily. Are you coming, Matt?”

  “Sure,” Matthew said as he gathered up his stuff.

  “Wait, Matt, I was hoping you could stay for awhile and we could talk about studying for the SAT test. I’ll give you a ride home later.”

  “Why not? I’ve only got a little homework tonight.”

  “We can do that together since we’ve got all the same classes,” Emily said.

  “You guys are sick,” Alex said. “I’m out of here; don’t hurt your brains studying.”

  “Bye, Alex, see you tomorrow.”

  “Bye,” Alex said, as she went downstairs to let herself out. A few minutes later they heard her zoom down the driveway in her Jaguar.

  “I was thinking is we could set up a regular study schedule, like Mondays and Thursdays,” Emily said. “That way it won’t interfere with any weekend plans, and if we start now, we can cover the material without having to pull too many big weekend cram sessions.”

  “That sounds good; do you think Jason and Alex would want to join us?”

  “We should ask, but I’ll bet they’d rather wait till a few weeks before the test, then cram through some tutored weekends. You saw how quick Alex was to exit when I mentioned studying.”

  “Why aren’t they motivated?”

  “They’re doing fine, but they don’t need to have perfect scores. Jason’s planning to go to Princeton, because his father is an alumni, and Alex’s dad is in the British Diplomatic Corp, so with the kind of recommendations she can garner, she’ll be able to get into a top school.”

  “Where does she want to go?”

  “Brown, Yale and Oxford are her top three, last I checked.”

  “I’m hoping to get into Brown or Yale,” Matthew said. “My grandmother lives in New Haven so I might be able to live with her part of the time to save money.”

  “Brown is like my third or fourth choice. I’m going to apply since you never know what’ll happen,” Emily said. “I’m sure having a family member close will be good; someone you can spend the weekend with and such.”

  “It will, and since I’ll still be a minor the first year and a half, my mom won’t let me go anywhere that doesn’t have a relative close by.”

  “That sure limits your choices.”

  “It’s not too bad. Dad’s brother lives in Boston, so Harvard, MIT and BC are good choices, and Mom’s sister lives in Seattle, so UW is another option. If that doesn’t work out, then I’ll probably have to go to UCSD, which isn’t so bad.”

  “Why do you want to go to Brown or Yale?”

  “I am thinking of double majoring in neuroscience and computer science. They’re two of the top programs and they focus on it from the cognitive and bio side of the equation. MIT’s the other top program, but they’re very engineering focused so I’m not so excited about their program.”

  “That sounds neat. I want to be a neurosurgeon, so we’ll have a lot of common things we’ll be studying. And it sounds like we’re going to both be going to school a long time.”

  Alex the Spy

  Tuesday morning while he was getting ready for school, the phone rang. His mother answered.

  “Matthew, it’s for you. It’s Jennifer.”

  Matthew picked up the phone, “Hi, Jen, what’s up?”

  “You told me you’d get back to me yesterday about our deal.”

  “Oh yes! I’m sorry I got so busy yesterday that I forgot to call you last night.”

  “Well, I’m glad to know you didn’t completely forget.”

  “Here’s my idea. We’ve got a martial arts tournament in two weeks. I could offer to pair with him on one of the two man forms, probably the staff. That way we’d need to practice together. You need a lot of room for the staff set, so I could get him to come over here to practice. I’ve got two staffs, so he wouldn’t have to worry about bringing one.”

  “That sounds interesting, but where do I come in?”

  “You could come over and watch Jessica while we practice on Saturday. That way, you two would just happen to both be at my house. Of course you could come to the tournament.”

  “I don’t know, that doesn’t sound too promising.”

  “Well, unless you want me to set you up with a date, I don’t know what else to do.”

  “I guess.”

  “Another thing, I could mention something about the Habitat for Humanity project the church is doing. That would give you a chance to invite him to go.”

  “That might work. We’re going down on December 14th to build the next set. Do you think he would be interested?”

  “I think that depends on how interested he is in you. I’ve seen him at our church.”

  “I guess it’s worth a try.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask him tonight at sparring. There’s no backing out after that. Mom won’t let me go to the school any more than I already do, so if I do this with him, we’ve got to practice here, and someone has to watch Jessica.”

  “Okay, I’m committed,” Jennifer said.

  “Bye then, I’ll call and let you know tonight.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  When Matthew got to school, Emily grabbed him before their French class.

  “Matt, can you believe Alex went to one of those spy stores and bought a set of night binoculars and a parabolic microphone.”

  “Are you kidding? What does she plan to do?”

  “She’s going to spy on our friend. She’s convinced that this Hasaam is here and working with him.”

  “She’s nuts. If she gets caught, there’s no telling what will happen to her.”

  “I’m really worried about her. Can you check in on her once in a while?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know. Use your little gift.”

  “I’m not sure I should.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well some people objected to me being able to see them unannounced,” Matthew gave Emily a s
mile. “I decided to follow my minister’s advice and avoid temptation.”

  “Oh. But couldn’t you do it just to make sure Alex doesn’t get into trouble?”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll try and keep tabs on where she goes at night.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  At 10:00 that evening, Matthew’s phone rang.

  Matthew answered, “Hello.”

  “Hi, Matt; it’s Emily. I was wondering if you’ve checked on Alex yet.”

  “Matt, who’s that on the phone?” his mother asked, knocking at his door. “It’s pretty late to be calling.”

  “It’s Emily,” Matthew said. “She’s calling to check on some homework.”

  “Okay, don’t talk long,” his mother said, as she went on down the hall to her room.

  “Sorry, Emily, my mom.”

  “Yeah, I know, it’s kind of late. But did you check on Alex?”

  “Sure, she cruised by the place on the side street. Stopped a couple of times and checked things out through her binocs. It looks to me like Sayid is out of town right now.”

  “That’s great, maybe Alex will forget about things before he gets back.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, she seems pretty serious,” Matthew said. “You’re going to have to try and talk some sense into her.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “Bye.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  That night, Matthew dreamt about Alex getting kidnapped by Sayid and thrown into a dark cellar. When he woke up Tuesday morning, he felt like he’d been up all night. He called Emily right away.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Emily, did you hear from Alex?”

  “Yeah, she called a minute ago to check in.”

  “That was nice of her.”

  “I made her promise to call me; but why are you worried? You could just check in on her.”

  “I could, but you never know what someone is doing this time of morning. I don’t want to learn more about Alex than she and Jason want me to.”

  “Smart; but you could keep your eyes closed.”

  “It doesn’t work with my eyes closed,” Matthew replied, “or does it?”

  “What?”

  “I can’t see anything without my eyes open, but I’ve never noticed if I could hear when they’re closed.”

  “Why wouldn’t you be able to hear?” Emily asked.

  “I don’t know; why can I see someone two hundred miles away as though they were standing in front of me?” Matthew replied sarcastically. “There’s not a book on how to use this thing.”

  “Sorry, I’m just trying to help.”

  “I know, and you have. I’ll have to run some more experiments. See you in class.”

  “Bye.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Just before French Class, Emily and Matthew had a chance to talk to Alex.

  “Alex, you’re nuts. What were you doing last night?”

  “I was checking up on our friend, but it looks like he’s out of town.”

  “Alex, do you think it’s safe to spy on this guy?” Matthew asked. “If he dealing in arms he won’t be happy to catch someone spying on him.”

  “Well, he won’t catch me.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m good at this kind of stuff.”

  “I know the British have a great spying tradition what with James Bond, Smiley, The Avengers, but this is serious stuff. This guy buys and sells guns and bombs.”

  “That’s why I’m spying on him. I think Hasaam is meeting with Sayid trying to set something up. I’ll bet he’s up to something really bad.”

  “I think if Hasaam or Sayid find out you’re spying on them, they might just shoot first and ask questions later. This isn’t like the movies where the bad guy ties you up while he thinks of some devious way to off you. This is real life, and a bullet in the head is the fastest way to off someone, and these guys really value their time.” Matthew was really agitated as he tried to talk some sense into Alex.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Besides, like I said, nobody’s home.”

  “Thank God for small favors.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  At 11:30, Matthew met Brianna in the parking lot. “Brea, are we still on for a ride with Jason?”

  “We’d better be, but I assume Jason and Alex will be a little tardy, like usual.”

  “Apparently not, here he comes.”

  Jason drove up to the curb, “Hop in and let’s go.”

  “Where’s Alex?”

  “She had to run an errand. Wouldn’t tell me what it was, very mysterious.

  “She’s probably got to pick up some delicates and didn’t want to embarrass you.”

  “Or maybe she’s got another guy on the side,” Brianna teased.

  “Shut up and get in.”

  Jason dropped Brianna off in front of the natural food store so she could go in and buy her lunch. He and Matthew parked the car. “I’ll see you guys back here in twenty minutes, okay.”

  “Sure thing,” Matthew grabbed his lunch and headed for the outside table.

  By the time he’d wiped the seat off and gotten situated, Brianna showed up with her lunch.

  “What are we having today? Looks like sushi.”

  “It is. They’ve got a new sushi department. Everything’s made up in the morning, so it’s fresh and fast.”

  “Good, raw fish for lunch, yummy.”

  “Don’t knock it till you try it.”

  “Eat whatever you like. Me, I’ve got my PB&B and a pint of milk.”

  “No wait, before you ruin your pallet with that stuff, try this.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Come on, don’t be a baby. This is ahi, it’s the best for sushi, real mild.”

  “What’s that green sauce you dipped it in?”

  “Just some soy sauce and wasabi, that’s Japanese horseradish and mustard, gives it a bite.”

  “Okay, I’ll try some, but if I hurl, it’s your fault.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

  “Do I look like Mikey?”

  “Just eat this one piece.”

  Matthew let Brianna put the piece of sushi into his mouth, “Not bad.”

  “See, I told you you’d like it.”

  “I think ‘like’ might be too strong a term. But maybe I could learn to.”

  “That’s great, because we’re throwing a sushi party this weekend, and you’re invited.”

  “Why is there always a part deux with you?”

  “There isn’t always, I just like to have one thing lead to another.”

  “As long as you’re doing the leading,” Matthew gave Brianna a smile and then took a big bite out of his sandwich. “Umm Umm, this is real food,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

  They had just finished their lunch when Jason beeped at them from the car. “Ready?” he hollered.

  “Sure,” Matthew hollered back. “I’ll throw our trash away; you go ahead and get into the car.”

  “Thanks,” Brianna said picking up her purse and heading for the car.

  Matthew gathered up the trash and carried it over to the trashcan. He took a moment to peer in on Alex. She was cruising down from Rancho Santa Fe, about halfway to the school. “Safe,” Matthew whispered to himself as he ran to the car.

  Brianna tilted her seat forward so Matthew could crawl into the back seat. “Matt, do you want to come over tomorrow night and watch a movie or something?”

  “I can’t. I promised Emily I’d start studying for the SAT with her, Mondays and Thursdays, but I can come over tonight.”

  “Two days a week?”

  “I’ve got to get ready for the test. I really want to get a scholarship to college and I need to do well on the SATs; but like I said I can come over tonight.”

  “I’m supposed to go out with Jen tonight, but I’ll call and reschedule for tomorrow. But Mondays and Thursdays, and I�
�ve got late tennis practice on Tuesdays.”

  “That means you only have Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to be with Matt, how will you stand the separation?” Jason injected.

  Matthew hit Jason on the back of the head, “I don’t need any help here.”

  “Sorry. When Alex told me that Emily asked you to study with her, I thought it might get you in trouble with Brea.”

  “He’s not in trouble,” Brianna said with a pout, “I was just surprised. So you’ll come over tonight?”

  “Sure, but I’ve got homework, so either I bring it and do it at your house, or I have to come over later.”

  “I’ve got homework too, so you can bring yours over. We can help each other.”

  “More like Matt can help you,” Jason chipped in.

  Brianna stuck her tongue out at her brother, but only Matthew could see.

  “The important thing is we’ll be together,” Matthew said.

  “Right! I’ve got tennis practice from 2:00 to 4:00 so you can come over at 4:30, that’ll give us two hours to study before dinner with time for a movie after.”

  “Sounds like a plan, I’ll have to get an okay from my mom, but I’m sure she’ll let me.”

  “Matt, you should call Mom and schedule a tennis lesson while Brea’s at practice,” Jason yelled back. She’s been asking when you’re going to start your lessons again.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, call her.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  After school, Matthew had a PC client to take care of. He made extra money on the side as a PC technician for neighbors and friends -- it was good money. This one was a fairly simple problem. They had installed some software that conflicted with another piece of software. Matthew had seen the problem before and knew that the company had a patch on the web. He just downloaded and installed it, twenty minutes, $75, like shooting fish in a barrel.

  Then he went home and changed for his tennis lesson with Mrs. Winthrop, Brianna & Jason’s mother. He took a set of sweats to change into afterwards. Then he rode his bike over to the Winthrops’ home.

  “Hi, Cara,” he said as Mrs. Winthrop came to the door to greet him.

  “Hi, Matt; you should have gotten Jason to give you a ride over.”

  “I had a quick job to do after school, so it wouldn’t have worked out. Besides, I don’t mind riding my bike; it makes for a good warm-up.”