Bob chuckled.
“We’ll go see her when you get out of here,” I said.
Bob nodded. “How long until I get released, Dr. Bryant?”
“A few days I should think. Then you’ll have a week to ten days of therapy, plus training on how to use your implants.”
Bob nodded, then seemed to think of something. “I think my motel bill is past due. I hope they took care of my stuff.”
“I went by there. Some asshole took it, all of it,” I said.
Bob closed his eyes and grimaced. “Damn.”
“I’ve got all of it in my office,” I said.
“Oh, so you’re the asshole.”
“An awful lot of people think so. It’s there when you want it.”
“Thanks, Rick.”
“Sure thing,” I said as I rose from the chair. “You get some rest. I’ll see you.”
“The next time someone tries to assassinate me I hope you’re there, Rick,” he said with a grin.
I glared at him. “Thanks a lot.”
Dr. Bryant walked out with me. “No gunfights or fisticuffs today?” he asked,
“Not a one, doc. I visited a retirement home, went to a charity luncheon, and babysat some kids. That’s it.”
“Is that a normal day in the life of a High Town private detective?”
“Pretty much.”
The doc laughed. “Well good. A week without being on the receiving end of some form of physical abuse will do you wonders.”
I traveled back to the Red Light and went to Lacey’s. She was busy talking to a group of her employees so I went and sat at the bar.
Teddy was in early, normally he worked the busy evening hours. He knew his business, a real pro. I would have suggested to Pete that he hire the guy, but Lacey would likely have killed us both.
“Rick Johnson, knight in shining... well, dull black suit,” he said with a grin. “At least tell me your blaster is shiny silver.”
“Nope. Slug-thrower, .45 caliber, single action. Black, same as the suit, just not as dull. Sorry to disappoint.”
“Not a disappointment at all. Gangsters run out of town so says the word on the street, and we are rid of Detective Bartram for good. Express route down to the ground floor. We’re glad you got the unstable son of a bitch out of here before he decided to off himself.”
That was the official version of the bastard’s demise.
“You gave him directions,” I said.
He laughed. “True enough. Glad to help. What’ll you have?”
“Ice water.”
“You got it.”
I noticed Miss Nostalgia’s fan was sitting at the bar. She wasn’t onstage, but I was ready to bet he was willing to wait.
A few seconds later Teddy was back. Coaster, then glass. “Lime, lemon?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Why are you in so early?”
“Lacey wants me to ride herd on the bartenders. The afternoon guys are a little lax.”
“You head bartender now?”
“If I can whip these lazy bastards into shape Lacey says I will be.”
“Incentive program,” I said with a grin.
He winked, then pointed out toward the interior of the club. “Lacey’s free.”
Like I said, a pro.
Lacey had some new hires among the on stage talent. She was watching them like a hawk. This wasn’t auditions, the new girls were on the clock and she expected them to act like pros.
She was leaning against a railing behind the seating area around the stage and runway when I walked up. A pair of the new girls were at work.
“What do you think?” she asked without taking her eyes off the girls. She put her hand on mine.
“I try not to. It usually gets me in trouble.”
She laughed and glanced at me. “The new hires, what do you think?”
“Why ask me? You know this business a hell of a lot better than I do. It’s like the manager of a baseball team asking me to evaluate a new shortstop.”
She gave me that friendly glare. “I want the opinion of a fan. Do you think they can handle the position?”
“I watch baseball. I’ve never patronized a strip club. Been in a lot of them on the job, but never as a customer. They look pretty talented to me and I don’t see any customers who look bored, none of them are walking away. I will say the new girls are not as good as you were. And for the record, talking about strippers with my girl is kind of weirding me out.”
“You’re serious? Never been in one of those seats, scrip in hand,” she said pointing to the paying customers.
“Nope. And yeah, that means you’ve been lunching with a square, doll.”
She laughed. “I think it’s sweet, tough guy.” She put her head on my shoulder as she kept her eyes on the dancers.
I wasn’t going to complain, but I still thought there must be something wrong with her.
~~~:{o}:~~~
Chapter 12
on the QT News Service - Local, High Town
Local Cop’s Miraculous Recovery after Assassination Attempt
High Town Police Detective Robert Blanc is reported to be conscious and lucid just days after being grievously wounded in an assassination attempt rumored to have been instigated at the behest of recently deceased and disgraced detective Henry Bartram.
Bartram reportedly tried to kill Blanc on three occasions. Perhaps this string of disappointments is what led Bartram to take his own life.
on the QT - Local, city-state, regional, worldwide, and if we ever travel in space again, galactic.
---o---
Fell stopped by the next morning with maps and images of the BluCorp computer center and its surrounding areas.
He already had some ideas about how to get into the compound. I’d guessed as much, but a map isn’t the real deal. We’d need to go and actually look the place over as best we could.
“That’s risky, Johnson.”
“Minimally. Going inside using a map and pictures as the only source of information is a huge risk.”
“What did you have in mind?”
I pointed at a spot on the map, a four-story building that was situated across the street from BluCorp’s computer center. “We can make some observations from here and probably a few other places around the computer center. This building overlooks the place, so it’s a good place to start.”
“We won’t be able to see much. The building directly across from it is just one story lower. We won’t see anything from there but the roof.”
“It will show us more than we can see on a map.”
“You have the know-how to find out what we need to know?”
“Probably, except for how you’ll get into their computer.”
“I’m not going in. Hap and his band are. I thought you might accompany them.”
“Not a chance, Fell. You shouldn’t be relying on seventeen year old kids to do this. Security Forces doesn’t have computer hackers?”
“I can’t use SecFor assets on this. Legal issues. Our guys are knowledgeable at stopping hackers, not actually performing it anyway.”
“And what happens if those kids get caught?”
“They aren’t kids. Growing up in Sowtown made them grow up fast. They’ll do fine. Besides, you’ll be there to keep them out of trouble.”
I shook my head. He could find some other idiot for this shit. “There’s nothing that will get me to play commando inside—”
“The Savans are likely being held in there.”
Except maybe that. I guess he found his idiot. “How do you know this?” I asked.
“I can’t disclose how, but if they are there...”
If they were in there and I could confirm it and tell Weaver, I’d be sitting pretty unless I had to explain how I knew.
“How reliable is your information?”
“Reliable enough I would take it to the police if it wouldn’t compromise my investigation.”
“That place isn’t small. How the
hell am I supposed to locate them?”
“While the hackers are there they can look for the Savans via data or security cams if they can access them. I get the data Security Forces wants, the hackers will be clear of trouble, and you get what you want.”
“Why don’t you do more than just let the kids go. Help them out. Help them with a start or something.”
“That paternal instinct is why you’re perfect to go in with them.”
I noticed he didn’t say he would help.
“Let me know when you get something,” he said as he walked out.
One of the hackers left a paper on my desk with their mobile numbers written on it the day before. I called Hap and told him we had a recon to plan.
The hackers showed up less than an hour later. We poured over the items Fell had provided. The hackers were able to make educated guesses about where they might be able to tap into the computer center’s network, but they couldn’t be sure until we went and saw things for ourselves. It did give us an idea of where to look first.
We took an elevator down to the foundation level and took a commuter car on the monorail to the Spire.
Much like how the Midtown Megablock, Sky Riser, and Old Houston were divided up into districts, the Spire was divided into countless zones, sectors, areas, sections, partitions, subdivisions, regions, and yes, districts. They just had to be different I guess. Shopping zones, utility sectors, domicile subdivisions, hotel districts, things like that.
BluCorp’s computer center was in a utility sector on the west side of the Spire on one of the many platforms that protruded from and surrounded the central spike that was the source of the Spire’s name. The platforms and other structures that surrounded the spike were of varying heights with the highest located perhaps halfway up the massive structure. The BluCorp Computer Center was on one of these platforms about a third of the way up. Just to the east of the center was a residential area, which meant lots of people and places to blend into if necessary. To the west of the computer center was an office building, the place Fell and I discussed. That was where we went first.
I spoke with a couple of people in the building and learned the place was less than fifty percent occupied. The industrial park to the west was closing down, with most of the operations moving to a larger park near the Baytown Refinery Zone to the northwest. The industrial park was supposed to become an area for more offices once it was empty. Until then, the office building was shedding tenants as they relocated.
Many of the fourth floor offices were vacant, including three that faced the BluCorp compound. Fell was right about not being able to see much of the computer center, but it let us see enough that we gained some vital knowledge.
A street passed between the office building and the three-story structure set behind a three meter high wall in the BluCorp compound. There was space enough between the wall and the building to allow foot traffic to pass.
Once we were in the vacant offices we could see the door that allowed roof access. A large padlock secured access from the outside. On the wall near the door was a 125mm conduit.
“That’s communications,” Lob said.
“Will that give you access to the central computer?” I asked.
“Don’t know. We’d have to see what’s in there to say for sure, but a conduit that large... gotta be.”
“What if they aren’t using the conduit to capacity?” I asked.
“Then they’d use a smaller one. That’s maybe a meter and a half run. No need for that big a conduit unless they actually needed it. No, I’m sure it’s got a lot of cable.”
“You guys notice anything about the security cameras?” Lolly asked.
“There’s a shit load of them, that’s what I noticed,” Worm said.
“Yup, but look closely at the nearest cams. What do you see?”
“Cameras, Sis. What are we missing?” Lob said.
“The cables,” she said, “follow them.”
“Holy shit,” Hap said. “They run to external commo lines.”
“Shitheads!” Worm said with a grin.
“Does that mean you can tap into them?” I asked.
“Yup,” Lolly said. “We can probably control the cameras too.”
“No, we can hack them through normal commo channels,” Lob said. “No need to tap them.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Hap said.
“That’s great,” I said. “How do we get in there and get you connected to the central computer?”
The four of them shrugged or shook their heads.
“I don’t know RR, but it’d be nice to do it on a rooftop,” Hap said.
Lob nodded. “Yeah. If they have patrols, going down low won’t work.”
I took my binoculars out of my bag and scanned all of the rooftops that were visible inside the compound.
“What are you looking for, RR?” Lolly asked.
“Just looking. Every kind of roof access I can see is padlocked on the outside.”
“So? They don’t want anyone sneaking in that way,” Hap said.
“True, but I don’t see a single building that has external roof access. No ladders, stairs, nothing. If the map and images are right there are a couple on the east side that look like they have maintenance walkways, but that’s it.”
“What are you getting at?” Worm asked.
“If we can get on a roof, and you can control the cameras, you can tap into their cables without needing to worry about security personnel. They can’t get on the roofs,” I said.
“Then how do we do that? If they can’t get on the roof, how do we?” Hap asked.
“Simple. A ladder,” Lob said.
“You got a ladder that can get us up three stories?” Hap said.
“Why do we have to go up three stories?” Lob asked.
“The higher the better. The cables are right there too,” Hap said pointing at the conduit. “That’s the place, I’m telling you.”
“How do we get over there then?” Lolly asked.
“Rope,” I said. “The problem will be getting the first guy across. If I was twenty years younger I could climb across, but unless one of you knows—”
“Worm. He can do it,” Lob said.
“Yeah, I could, but whose going to get a rope over there?”
“I can manage that part,” I said.
“Then we have a plan,” Hap said.
“Maybe,” I said. “We might have the start of a plan. Let’s poke around and see what else we can find.”
“That’s probably a good idea, but I’m telling you, that’s the place,” Hap said pointing emphatically at the roof access structure.
We spent the rest of the day looking at the computer center from every side, every angle we could find while avoiding the few cameras in the compound that covered the outside. When most of the workplaces around the area began to end their days, we joined the joined the migration of people.
Many of them walked through the residential area east to a shopping zone, with us tagging along. At the edge was an area with a cabstand, parking area for skycars, elevators, conveyors to go to other areas of the Spire, and the entrance to the shopping zone. We took the elevator down to ground level and returned to my office.
Worm and Lolly went to Bolt 2 the Head for sandwiches and when they returned we reviewed what we’d observed. We had seen an impressive array of cameras throughout the center. Trying to monitor all of them would require a large staff. If BluCorp only used a small crew to monitor them then there was no way they could see everything that was going on despite the camera coverage.
There were multiple patrols walking the area at all times, but if we had access to the cameras, we would know where they were at any given time and by keeping track of them all we would need to do was not be heard. From what we could see, the guards walked the same route repeatedly. We didn’t know if that held true for the night, but we didn’t want to risk getting caught observing them. The cameras would have to suffice.
/> Roof access from inside the buildings was not possible without someone using a cherry picker to put a person on the rooftop that could unlock the various doors, hatches, and scuttles that provided a means of passage. We saw a maintenance crew do that on one of the buildings, escorted by security personnel the entire time.
Access in and out of the compound was limited to three gated openings: the guarded main gate in the southeast corner, a small gate in the northeast corner, and a large gate in the northwest corner that we thought was for cargo trucks and other large vehicles.
“I still say that three story building on the west side of the center is our best bet,” Hap said.
The other hackers voiced their agreement.
“I think so too,” I said. “It’s the tallest building in there, so we don’t have to worry about anyone seeing us, if the cameras can be taken care of that is.”
“You’re sure there won’t be guards peeking up there?” Lolly asked.
“They rely on the cameras to observe the roofs.”
“Okay. I can handle the cameras, but if we can’t use radio or phones to communicate how can I talk to you inside the compound?”
“What if we ran a cable out of there?” Hap asked.
“The guards might notice,” I said. “We have to assume they are competent. They’ll notice anything out of place.”
“Then how?” Worm asked.
“A beamed data carrier,” I said.
“You have one?” Lob asked.
“No. But Fell ought to be able to get one for us.”
“How does that work?” Worm asked.
“It’s a beam that acts as a carrier for data,” Lob said. “It’s like a cable, but you have to send the beam to a receiver and you have to have line-of-sight.”
“But if those guards could see a cable, won’t they see a beam?” Worm said.
“Not unless they have a sensor. It’s not visible to the eye.”
“Worm, are you sure you can make it across fifteen meters of rope?” I asked. “You’ve done something similar in the past”
Lob answered for him. “He went across a hundred meter guy wire on a communications antenna in Sowtown for us. Wormed his way across, spliced some wires, and crossed back. He can do it. That’s how he got his handle.”
The Lowdown in High Town: An R.R. Johnson Novel Page 21