Crisscross

by F. Paul Wilson

  “But, Russ, the idea is to make it unreadable without the owner knowing it’s been tampered with.”

  “Oh, well, that’s a different story.” He sipped his beer. “I’m assuming we’re dealing with a CD-R here and that’s a good thing, because they’re more easily ruined than the commercial kind.”

  “I thought a CD was a CD.”

  “In a way, yes. They both use a laser beam to read ones and zeroes from the disk, but—”

  “What about music?”

  “Same thing: ones and zeroes. Binary code, my friend.”

  ‘Wait a minute. You mean when I’m listening to, say, Jack Bruce doing his bass runs on ‘Crossroads.’ it’s just a series of ones and zeroes?”

  “Exactly. The music was translated into binary code that’s inscribed on the disk, and the player translates it back.”

  Jack shook his head in wonder. “I always thought…”

  And then he realized he hadn’t really thought about it. He put the CD in the slot and hit play. He hadn’t needed to know anything more. Until now.

  “Let me give you a quick course in CDs and CD-Rs. They both have a single, uninterrupted spiral track, half a micron wide, running from the inside toward time periphery.”

  “The opposite of a vinyl record.”

  “Exactly. On a full CD, that track is three-and-a-half miles long. A commercial CD codes its ones and zeroes with bumps and lands: The bumps are ones and the lands—the flat parts—make up the zeroes. The laser reflects off the bumps onto an optical reader that sends them straight to your computer if they’re data or to a digital-analog converter if music. All this at 450 rpms.”

  “Yow. Complicated.”

  “The tracking makes it even more complicated, but we won’t go there.”

  “Thank you.”

  Russ smiled. “That’s the commercial CD. The homemade CD-Rs use a slightly different technology. Instead of bumps and lands, they take a stronger laser and heat up a series of spots on a dye layer in the plastic. The heat changes the spots’ reflectivity, creating virtual bumps.”

  “So where does that leave me?”

  “Well, since you don’t want anyone the wiser, that leaves out scratching or marking with a pen or dipping in acid. So I can see only two options. The first is to take some sort of X-Acto knife and use it to enlarge the central spindle hole—just a little. Won’t take much. Just a small change in the diameter will cause a wobble in the disk as it’s doing its 450 rpms, and that wobble will cause the tracking system to mess up, which will mean the laser’s reading bumps and lands off multiple tracks—they’re only a micron and a half apart—which will completely confuse the optical reader. The result will make Jabberwocky read like Dick and Jane.”

  He made a dramatic flourish with his free hand while he drained his beer bottle.

  “But the data’s still there, right?” Jack said. “So if someone could fix the spindle hole, they could get their data back.”

  “If they knew the hole had been tampered with, and if they could make a perfect restoration. Both highly—highly—unlikely.”

  “But not impossible.”

  Russ sighed. “No, not impossible.”

  “What’s the other option?”

  “Bring along a hot plate and heat up the disk just enough to give it the slightest warp. A sixteenth of an inch, even less, will do it. The laser beam will reflect all over the place, hitting the optical pickup only by chance.”

  “But what about—?”

  “Fixing the warp? Never happen.”

  He popped the top from another Sam and offered it to Jack who waved it off.

  “You’re sure?”

  Russ gave a vigorous nod. “Once warped, that plastic will never be perfectly flat again, the tracks in the dye layer will never line up just right again.”

  Jack liked it. Just his thing: simple and low tech.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have a hot plate sitting around, would you?”

  12

  Maggie moaned with relief in the dark kitchen as she removed the red hot crucifix from her thigh. She’d thought the pain might become easier to take with successive burns, but this had been the worst. And the day-long anticipation of the coming agony had been almost as bad as the pain itself.

  Five now. Only two more to go. Another on Friday, and then the final—fittingly—on Sunday, the Lord’s Day.

  A different kind of pain pushed a sob past her throat. She looked down at her blistered thighs and prayed.

  I’m doing this penance, Lord, not just for myself, but for Fina and others like her. I can make a difference in their lives, Lord. So please guide Jack. Let him destroy those pictures so that I can remain in Your service, and in service to Your children.

  That’s all I ask, Lord: To sin no more and be allowed to go on giving in Your name.

  13

  Jack leaned against the brick divider between an Italian restaurant and a bodega. He pretended to watch the uptown crawl of the rush-hour traffic on Broadway, but his real interest was the subway exit to his left on the other side of Eighty-sixth Street.

  He’d adopted his John Robertson identity and called Jamie Grant to arrange a meeting. He had some questions. When she said people were watching her, he figured she wasn’t being paranoid. The last thing he needed was someone from the Dormentalist temple to see them together. He told her to hop any of the Broadway line trains to Eighty-sixth Street, and gave her some tips on how to lose a tail in the subway.

  And here she came, dressed in a loose jacket and matching blue slacks, with her cell phone in her hand.

  She hit the sidewalk and walked east as planned. Jack stayed where he was, watching the rest of the Morlocks climbing to the surface. Three of them—a lone woman and two men—followed Grant east. Jack trailed them through the twilight.

  The woman stopped at a Chinese take-out place and the two men turned uptown on Amsterdam.

  The plan had been for Jack to call her if he spotted a tail. He stuffed his phone into his jeans pocket and came up behind her.

  “Looks like you lost them,” he said.

  She jumped and turned. “Oh, shit, Robertson! It’s you!”

  “You think I was a PS or something?”

  “PS?”

  “That’s what we Dormentalists call a purse snatcher.”

  She smiled. “Cute. Where’d you come from?”

  “Been following you. But I’m the only one.”

  “At the moment maybe, but not earlier. There were two of them. They were on me from the minute I stepped out of The Light.”

  Jack gripped her arm and turned her west. “We want to go this way.”

  “It’s the oddest thing. They don’t hide what they’re up to. Almost as if they want me to know I’m being followed.”

  “They do. Serves two purposes: They find out where you go and who you meet, and they put you on edge, keep you looking over your shoulder. Surveillance and harassment, all in one neat little package.”

  “But that move you told me—you know, stand by the doors and pop through just as they’re closing? Worked like a charm. And so simple.”

  “The simpler, the better. Fewer things that can go wrong.”

  She grinned in the fading light. “After I ducked out I stood there on the platform and gave them the SD salute through the windows.”

  “Single digit?”

  “You got it. They deserved no less. You should have seen their faces.” She looked around. “Where’s this bar you told me about. I need a GDD.”

  “A gin and…?”

  “A goddamned drink.”

  14

  A couple of blocks and a couple of turns later they were stepping into a place called Julio’s.

  It reminded Jamie a little of the Parthenon—not in looks but in ambiance. The same laughter, the chatter, the air of camaraderie. She liked the FREE BEER TOMORROW…sign over the bar, and the dead, desiccated plants hanging in the front window were a unique touch. Robertson was obviously a re
gular here. Half the people in the place waved, nodded, or called hello as he entered.

  “So you’re ‘Jack’ to your friends?”

  He nodded. “You can call me that if you want.”

  “Maybe, if we become friends.”

  He smiled and pointed toward a rear table. “We can talk over there.”

  She noticed that he seemed more relaxed here than he’d been in her office. Almost a different person. He’d gone from somewhat uptight to loose and friendly. Maybe it was the clothes situation. He’d been wearing a shirt and tie and jacket before. Now he was more casual. And not bad looking. She liked the way his jeans and burgundy golf shirt fit, liked the way the sleek muscles of his forearms moved as he absently drummed his fingers on the table.

  Soon after they were seated—he with his back against the wall, she with her back to the room—a muscular little Hispanic with a pencil-line mustache came over. Robertson introduced him as the eponymous proprietor. He left with an order for a pint of Rolling Rock and a Dewar’s and soda.

  “I like this place,” she said. “It’s got personality.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. But not too much. Julio’s gone to some lengths to keep it from becoming a yuppie hang.”

  Jamie glanced around at the crowd—mostly working-class types with a sprinkling of yups.

  “He hasn’t been entirely successful, I see.”

  “Well, he can’t bar them from wandering in, but he does nothing to attract them. Somehow he’s managed to maintain the place’s original flavor.”

  “What is it about places like this?” she wondered aloud. “You know, bars, taverns, pubs. Empires rise and fall, religions come and go, ideologies and political philosophies wax and wane, but the tavern remains a fixed star in the human social firmament. Even when pursed-lipped, tight-assed self-righteous ninnies try to eradicate them, taverns keep popping back up.”

  “Sort of like GB,” he said.

  “Hmmm?”

  “That’s how we Dormentalists refer to Gopher Bash.”

  That threw Jamie for a moment, then she remembered: that game where you take a mallet and keep hammering a plastic gopher back into its hole only to have it pop up out of another.

  She laughed. “Exactly like GB.”

  “Kind of appropriate then that it’s found in so many bars, don’t you think?”

  Jamie smiled and nodded. “I like you, Robertson.”

  “Call me Jack.”

  “Okay, Jack.”

  He was kind of on the young side for her, but who knew? Some guys dug older women. She wondered if he had any plans for the rest of the night.

  Julio brought their drinks then. They clinked glasses.

  Jack said, “Cheers.”

  “FOTD.”

  Jack paused, then smiled. “First of the day?”

  “Uh-huh.” She took a sip of her Scotch—ohhh, that tasted good—and looked at him.

  “So, I gather from your acronym mania that you’re officially into the Dementedist situation now.”

  “Officially I’m an RC. I suppose that makes me a member.” He drank some beer. “What do you know about Luther Brady?”

  “The APD and SO? I know he graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1971 with an accounting degree. I don’t know exactly how he got involved with Dementedism. At the time it was just another hedonistic California cult, although a fairly popular one. Before you know it, it’s incorporated and on its way to becoming the behemoth it is today.”

  Jack shook his head. “A Hoosier CPA getting cozy with a California cult. How does that happen?”

  “Beats me. But I doubt Dementedism would still exist or even be remembered if he hadn’t. The guy’s an organizational genius. Took the reins from Cooper Blascoe—left him titular head but without any power—and made all the decisions.”

  “But who is he?”

  Jamie shrugged. She knew what he was asking but couldn’t help much.

  “I tried to interview his folks but his father died in ’96 of a stroke and his mother’s in a nursing home with dementia. I tried to hunt down a few people who might have known him in college but you know what the class sizes are like in those state diploma mills. Found a couple of fellow accounting majors who remembered him but hadn’t been friends with him. I don’t think he had any friends. I get the feeling he still doesn’t have any. For more than thirty years now, this so-called church has been the focus of his life. Eats, drinks, and sleeps Dementedism. Christ, he even lives there.”

  “Really? Where? On the twenty-second floor?”

  “Yeah. I hear he’s got quite a setup there.”

  Jack nodded. “The view is amazing.”

  Jamie stared at him. “You were up there?”

  A smile. “Yep. Brady invited me up for a little chat this morning.”

  “You apply for membership on Monday and by Wednesday you’re having a tête-à-tête with the SO? Do you see a dunce cap on my head? Do you see a birth certificate with yesterday’s date on it? What kind of hayseed do you take me for?”

  “No kind. I worked it so he thinks I’m someone else—someone he wants to be chummy with.”

  “Like who? And how did—?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. Trade secret.”

  “If that’s true, then you are one amazing motherfucker.”

  He wagged his finger at her. “Now, now. No sweet talk.” Another quaff of beer, then, “By the way, how many RCs does Brady handle personally?”

  Jamie’s turn to laugh. “Luther Brady? Doing the Reveille Tech thing?” She shook her head. “I’d have to say none. If you met him, you should know that.”

  Jack shrugged. “He’s offered to take me through the Reveille process himself. Starting tomorrow.”

  Jamie felt a flare of anger. “That does it. You almost had me with the bit about meeting Luther Brady. You should have quit while you were ahead.” She snorted. “Hardly anyone under Overseer rank—except maybe for the GP—even sees him with any sort of regularity. So the idea of him acting as your RT is…”

  The words ran out as Jamie saw the matter-of-fact look on Jack’s face. He didn’t care if she believed him.

  Could it be true?

  John “Jack” Robertson was either the best undercover operator she’d ever met, or the biggest liar.

  He cleared his throat. “What’s with that big sphere hidden away in his office?”

  “The globe?” she said, feeling her skin tighten. “How close are you two?”

  “Well, I’m not number one on his speed dialer, but I get the feeling he’d like to be number one on mine.”

  “But he showed you the globe?”

  “No. I caught just a glimpse of it as I walked into his office—before the sliding doors closed it off. So it’s a globe?”

  “That’s what I’ve been told. I interviewed a DD—that’s a Detached Dementedist—who used to work on the temple’s cleaning crew. She got a good look at it once when Brady forgot to close the doors. Told me it’s about eight feet high with all the seas and continents in relief, but dotted with all these red-and-white lightbulbs and crisscrossed with lines that aren’t latitude and longitude. She figured Brady wanted it cleaned—why else would he leave the doors open?—so she started dusting it. Brady came in and threw a screaming fit. He pressed some button in his desk that closed the doors, then threw her out.”

  “Really.” Jack’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve got to figure the lights are temple locations. But they’re no secret. Why would he throw a fit because she saw them?”

  “Obviously it’s more than just a map of the earth. And Brady did more than throw a fit. He had this poor girl declared a lapser and had her brought before FPRB. She was so upset she quit, which means an automatic DD situation.”

  She watched Jack as they sat and sipped in silence. He seemed to recede.

  “You’re figuring how you can get a look at that globe, aren’t you.”

  He nodded. “My curiosity is, as they say, piqued.”


  “But you’re there to find a missing member, right?”

  “Yeah, but unanswered questions tend to nag me.”

  “Any luck finding him?”

  Jack nodded. “Spotted him yesterday, but couldn’t speak to him—he was in lapser mode.”

  Jamie laughed. “I wonder if he got caught looking at the globe too.”

  “Could be.”

  “At least you know where he is. He could have been one of the unaccounted for. There’s a certain number of Dementedists who simply vanish every year.”

  “Missionaries, right?”

  “So we’re told. But nobody hears from them again. Ever.”

  “Ever is a long time. They could resurface in a few years.”

  “Yeah. So could the Titanic.”

  But someone had resurfaced—at least Jamie thought he might have. She was still trying to confirm his identity.

  She rattled the ice in her glass. “I could use another DS. Another RR? I’m buying.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got an errand to run.”

  “At this hour?”

  “It’s the only hour for this particular errand. A hot date with a hot plate.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Just kidding.” He rose. “I’ll get you a cab.”

  Jamie hid her disappointment. She was pretty good at it. Plenty of practice.

  “That’s all right. I think I’ll hang in here awhile.” She didn’t feel like heading down to the Parthenon. Her Dementedist shadows would be waiting. “I kind of like this place.”

  “Great.”

  As he slipped past her she gripped his arm. “You figure out what’s going on with that globe situation, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”

  “Sure. Least I can do for all the backgrounding you’ve given me.”

  She watched him go, and thought about the fellow she thought—hoped—she’d discovered. She was going to need help nailing down his identity. Maybe Jack…

  No. She had to keep this to herself. Besides, she didn’t know yet how far she could trust John “Jack” Robertson. For all she knew he might be a Dementedist plant, trying to lure her into a bad situation.