Echo (The Remote Traveler Series Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  “I have seen that message in one of the computer magazines. That is the Chernobyl virus. Actually it’s more of a cancer than a virus because your computer just eats itself up and I mean the hardware not just the software.” Steve sounded really panicked, “the article said that the virus seems to follow the person too.” Lloyd got out of the backseat climbing into the front seat of the suburban.

  “If they think they can screw with me, they have another think coming,” Lloyd said jamming the key into the ignition as Steve tried to stop him.

  “Don’t Lloyd…,” Steve exclaimed.

  “Candy ass, get some balls.” The second that Lloyd turned the key all the power in the suburban went dead. “Fuck…!” Steve moved to the driver’s door coaxing Lloyd out of the car and removing the key from the ignition. He took the car key out of his pocket and inserted it into the ignition being completely relieved when the car started. He rolled down the window holding his hands together in desperation.

  “Lloyd, just get in the car and we will get the hell out of here.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that all of that shit is from that virus,” Lloyd asked in total disbelief.

  “The car is running, so just shut up until we get somewhere near civilization.” Steve threw the car in gear driving off quickly.

  2.

  FOOLISHNESS

  Cherry had both her arms wrapped tightly around Boris to keep him from falling out of his chair laughing. Everybody in the control room was completely out of breath from the hysterical laughter. Cherry kissed Boris on the bald spot on top of his head stroking him warmly as she looked at Mary Lee.

  “That’s my Boris,” Cherry said weakly having problems forming the words due to her lack of breath. “What are you going to do about Steve?”

  “Steve said he was going to keep his promise, and if he does nothing will happen. I do believe that I will continue to screw with Lloyd, since I have been looking for a source of entertainment.” Cherry bent over biting Boris firmly on the neck.

  “So, Rhonda and I have been boring you.”

  “No darling,” Boris said with a playful whine, “I was merely referring to computer games. I have been looking for something to inspire me and screwing with the people who mess with my family makes me extend my efforts. I think that this person Lloyd is foolish enough to try something stupid just like that idiot Felix Owens. He will provide me with that extra little push of inspiration that will expand my legend.”

  “Boris I hate to interrupt you, but Rhonda is on the phone. Can you take the call,” Eden asked? Boris took the phone answering expansively.

  “What can I do for you this afternoon my precious?”

  “I have wonderful news for you today,” Rhonda purred seductively. “The director has signed agreements for backup and security services effective immediately. He said that you would have all the gateways and all you need to do is activate them, so have your teams start hacking the NSA.”

  “Marvelous, I have had our people working this for the past six months to keep up their level of expertise. We already have about two hundred hours of programming ready to roll.” Boris pulled up a command on his laptop and transmitted it to Nikki in the computer center. “The NSA should be receiving his recommendations as we speak, but I will have to enter the commands for backup from my secure terminal in the mainframe room. The only access to the two NSA mainframes is in the computer room and cannot be remotely accessed.” Boris was relieved to hear that he could finally start accessing the full talents of his international crew. They were getting bored and he needed something to keep them from misbehaving. Boris was well aware of what could happen when a restless mind wandered.

  “Rhonda, are you okay with firing up Mary Lee’s financial plan,” Boris asked speaking barely above a whisper into the mouthpiece of the telephone.

  “Yes, I have called for Senators Belight and Ransom telling them that they may do their oversight inspection tomorrow morning,” Rhonda said confidently. “I am pulling out all the stops for VIP treatment, so I am sending out the helicopter and we will be rolling out the red carpet at ten AM tomorrow morning.” Boris slipped his right arm around Cherry’s waist and his left arm around Mary Lee’s waist.

  “Ladies we will be having an ‘Oversight Inspection’ by two senators tomorrow morning I hope you are prepared.” Boris said with a smile.

  “Are we really going to do this,” Mary Lee asked with a tone of concern in her voice.

  “Absolutely, we have been doing two years of outlay and now we need to start collecting profits,” Boris said confidently. “This little job should generate about seven million in profits.”

  “Please find something for Nikki to do,” Mary Lee pleaded. “He’s been creating as triple X video games for the last two years and I believe it’s really starting to warp him. The profits have been through the roof, but he has developed a real twisted side of his personality.”

  “I don’t know if we can stop him but I have a whole bunch of work that will at least keep them occupied,” Boris promised. I am going to use him as the elite hacker on our NSA security test.”

  “Senator Belight has multiple weaknesses, but have you figured out how you’re going to convince Senator Winnifred Ransom to do our little trick,” Boris asked Cherry.

  “I don’t have anything rock solid,” Cherry said thoughtfully, “but I do have a few ideas. She hates lobbyists and she is one of the lesser senators on the wealth list. Winnie seems to be addicted to power. She is one of the first women to sit on the Intelligence Committee, so I have a few leads to work with.” Boris grabbed Cherry’s arm which was wrapped tightly around his chest giving it a playful bite.

  “I will leave that to you and Rhonda,” Boris said with the utmost confidence. Cherry jerked her arm away from Boris is playful bite hitting him lightly on the back of his head.

  “Rhonda darling, meet me up at the design center we need to talk to Queen Tamar,” Cherry spoke into the air knowing that her voice would carry to the telephone. She spun on her heel walking through the door without saying goodbye.

  The design center was located on the top floor of the computer center. Cherry’s operation took two thirds of the top floor. Five thousand square feet of the front corner occupied by a spa, behind that was her five thousand square foot design center and located in the center of the floor were six, seven hundred square-foot apartments which could be associated with any of the concerns. The offices for Boris’s security company relocated at the opposite and of the floor taking up four thousand square feet. Cherry walked into the design studio moving straight to the measuring room where Tamar was waiting for her in the control booth. Cherry pointed to the pedestal in the next room.

  “Is the pedestal ready to go,” Cherry knew that the answer would be yes, but wanted to be 100% sure. Tamar asked Boris to develop a computerized fitting platform for her design label which would measure the subject with lasers producing a computerized dress form. Nikki proved to be an enthusiastic helper when he realized that the pedestal would also generate models for the characters of his animations. The subject would stand on the pedestal with feet apart and arms outstretched as it rotated with lasers building an exact computer model of whomever or whatever was located on the pedestal.

  “Of course it is darling,” Tamar said soothingly. “We can run a test just strip off your clothes and hop up on the pedestal.” Cherry stripped naked assuming the measuring position on the pedestal as Tamar aligned and placed the markers. When everything was set Tamar activated the pedestal and it started to turn as green, red and blue lasers started to measure Cherry. Within three minutes the platform had made a complete three-hundred-sixty-degree rotation. Cherry hopped off of the platform without getting dressed assuming a position behind Tamar watching the 3-D model develop on the computer screen. When the model was developed Tamar arbitrarily selected a pair of jeans placing them on the computerized model, and pressing the ‘print pattern toggle’. The oversize printer in the back of the
room sprung to life printing the pattern for the jeans that would be exclusive to Cherry’s body.

  “When Nikki found out what this would do I had to fight him for time on the pedestal. Boris built another pedestal for animation on the computer side,” Tamar laughed. “Nobody else has a set up like this because they don’t have a son like Boris or a main frame computer. The programming alone is worth several million dollars, and like a good son Boris is assigning the patents to me, so we have a decided edge on the competition.” Tamar watched Cherry as she got dressed. Cherry’s short stature, muscular body, and huge breasts made her an almost impossible fit for anything off the rack. Tamar was always disturbed by the huge bruises that always decorated her daughter-in-law’s body. Cherry indulged in combat martial arts, and did a full speed work out with Eden and René from security which produced a healthy number of bruises on all three women. Cherry was a licensed body guard and actively participated in the minor day-to-day activities of the project. Rhonda directed all the major activities conducting all the high-level aspects, Colleen saw two the complex fiscal arrangements, Boris oversaw all the computer operations, and Tamar oversaw the spa in fashion labels, so it was easy for people to believe that Cherry was a minor player in the organization. Cherry actually owned over 50% of the project and had personally aligned all the finances.

  Lloyd pushed in the apartment ahead of Steve going immediately to his desktop computer. Lloyd managed to pull out the small SD chip from his camera just as it started to melt down. He was about to load the chip in the SD slot of his computer when Steve grabbed his arm holding it solidly.

  “Are you out of your mind,” Steve asked not trying to hide the panic in his voice. “Everything that was on your camera is loaded on that chip and there is an outstanding chance that the information that caused it to destruct is on there too. The odds are good that if you load that chip into your computer it will also fry.”

  “Nobody is that good,” Lloyd said with disdain.

  “Your entire inventory is on that computer do you want to bet it all?” Steve said desperately digging his fingers into the burnt spot on Lloyd’s right hand causing him to wince.

  “Just what are you suggesting that I do?”

  “I have a brother in law that is familiar with computers give him a call and have him check out the chip.” Steve was relieved when Boris placed the chip on the table. After thirty minutes of playing phone tag Steve finally contacted his friend Rudy agreeing to meet at a local diner. Lloyd and Steve jumped in the suburban and drove over to the diner for the meet with Rudy. Lloyd tried to bring the computer into the restaurant with them, but was stopped when he had only gone ten feet past the door. The manager of the restaurant had no intention of inflicting the smell of burnt electronics on his customers, so Lloyd took the computer back to the car while Steve got a cup of coffee to go. Rudy finally showed up about a half hour later. He was dressed in a suit and tie looking extremely professional.

  “I thought you said that he was a geek,” Lloyd said. Rudy answered before Steve could open his mouth.

  “I am a geek, but I am an FBI geek.” Rudy enjoyed the shocked look on Lloyd’s face. “Steve I see you didn’t tell him that I’m an FBI agent.”

  “If I told him he wouldn’t be here,” Steve said while putting a firm grip on Lloyd’s arm. “We really have a problem here. We were taking some pictures and pissed off the wrong people. They cast some kind of evil magic on the computer.”

  “Evil magic,” Rudy chuckled, “what kind of evil magic did they pull?”

  “They ‘rat fucked’ my computer,” Lloyd said indignantly. Lloyd held up his laptop so that the screen was within view. Burned into the screen was a negative image of two rats fucking. He started to laugh which only pissed off Lloyd. “Just what in the hell is so damn funny?”

  “You pissed off Boris Baronov,” Rudy said managing to hold his voice steady. “Those two rats are his signature. Have you had any other problems with electronics?”

  “Yes, when we went to leave the suburban wouldn’t start until Steve got behind the wheel.”

  “And just how do you think that he knew that Steve was behind the wheel,” He asked patiently.

  “We don’t know,” Lloyd had to admit, “We’re still trying to figure out that little trick.”

  “Boris is that good,” Rudy said not trying to hide the admiration in his voice. “Have you tried to use your cell phone yet?” Lloyd pulled the cell phone out of his pocket turning it on. He held the phone in his hand while it searched for a cell tower. As the screen came to life the cell phone became unbearably hot causing Lloyd to drop it.

  “How in the hell did he do that,” Lloyd exclaimed in anger.

  “Boris is that good, and you are that fucked,” Rudy said finding that he enjoyed pissing Lloyd off. “The last person that pissed him off could not use anything electronic for three months, and that’s because he begged for a truce.”

  “Boris, you mean Boris Baronov as in Rocky and Bullwinkle,” Lloyd said with the sound of disgust in his voice. “Are you suggesting that I knuckle under to some cartoon character?”

  “Boris Baronov is a real person,” Rudy said sounding as serious as he could. I am not suggesting that you knuckle under to him. I am suggesting that you flat out kiss his ass. The only thing that I can do to help you would be to arrange a meeting.” Rudy turned to Steve.

  “Steve you are my brother-in-law and I would hate to see you have any serious problems. I can only offer you this one piece of advice,” He said in a serious tone. “Do not get in the middle of this. Lloyd is pretty much fucked but it appears that you are still not a target. Now tell me what you did to piss Boris off.” Steve related how he and Lloyd broke in to the computer center and were caught trying to take pictures of Mary Lee for the $35,000 bounty.

  “You mean this whole thing is because we took a few pictures of some bimbo,” Lloyd said indignantly. “What about all my equipment?”

  “You can go to court. Just explain to the judge that your equipment was sabotaged because you were trespassing to invade somebody’s privacy, and that you made a deal to fake some candid photos in order to collect the bounty.” Rudy shook his head not believing the amount of stupidity that Lloyd was showing.

  “Steve, as a personal favor to you I will arrange for Lloyd to meet with Boris. Hopefully your friend will be able to arrange a truce.” Rudy pulled Steve to him by the back of his neck whispering in his ear, “do not put yourself in the middle of this or things will turn out badly.” Rudy got out of the suburban slamming the door leaving as quickly as possible.

  “Well that was a whole bunch of bullshit for nothing. Your brother-in-law was a big damn help. If he arranges a meeting with this Boris, I would like it face-to-face.”

  Senators Marvin Belight and Winnifred Ransom stood inside the glass shack watching the Bell jet Ranger helicopter touched down on the helicopter pad. Winnifred thought that it was ridiculous to take a helicopter somewhere that she could drive in about forty minutes, but to Marvin this was a show of importance and he did not care whether the helicopter ride was going to be five minutes or fifty minutes. While the rotors were still turning, the pilot hopped out of the helicopter running to the door of the glass shack to greet the two senators.

  “Good morning my name is Cherry I will be your bodyguard and pilot today. This will be a short flight. We will come in by helicopter giving you an overall view of the entire property, and now if you are ready I believe that we should go.” The helicopter took off heading North across the Potomac and was only in the air a few more minutes before it started to come down.

  “René darling drop the asparagus I have the two senators on board please notify Rhonda and Boris.”

  “Asparagus coming down Cherry, Rhonda and Boris are standing by for the big tour,” Renée said as she pushed the call button for Rhonda. Cherry did a slow rotation of the property before moving in for a landing. Most of the buildings had been dug into the hillside, and the trees were
situated so it was difficult to grasp the full size of any building. Cherry swung the Bell Jet Ranger gently on to the pad shutting the helicopter down. Rhonda and Boris drove the electric cart out to the helicopter assisting both senators out of the helicopter. Rhonda extended her hand shaking both of their hands.

  “Senator Belight and Senator Ransom welcome to our little corner of Maryland. My name is Rhonda, and I am the managing director for the Amazon Two which has been renamed the ‘Echo Project’, and this is Boris the head of our computer security. I hope you were able to get a good view of the property. We wanted to start out by giving you an overall view.”

  “The property is expansive, but I did not see much that would impress us. We saw a few houses at the bottom of the hill, that large building with a swimming pool, and some kind of a large house at the top of the hill,” Senator Ransom said sounding unimpressed.

  “Perfect we were afraid that you might see something that really impressed you,” Rhonda said surprising both Senators. “Just about everything that you can see is a cover for our primary operation. We have contracted with the NSA to back up key elements of their computer system, and the best security is not to show our true purpose. Get in the cart and we will give you a tour starting with our cover operation first.” Rhonda assisted the two senators on to the cart turning to Cherry. “Cherry darling the cart only holds four people we will meet you at the top of the hill when our little tour is finished.” Cherry smiled and nodded her acceptance calling to René in the security center.

  “René, the rotors of stop turning please raise the ‘asparagus’.” The brush that seemed to be surrounding the helicopter pad started to rise up on hydraulic poles, and by the time they were erect the polls were within the arc of the rotor blades. The two senators seem surprised by the change.

  “From the air they look like trees,” Rhonda said, “and the foliage at the top prevents anybody from repelling down on this location. Come, we will start at the bottom of the hill and we will work her way up. From the ground Senator Ransom was very much impressed with the ten-acre horse estates, and was completely astounded by the 20,000 square-foot recreation center with its competition pool. Rhonda was careful to use all of the above ground trails in transit to the computer center not wanting to give away any knowledge of the tunnel system. The older established trees blocked any clue as to the size of the computer center from the ground. She drove to the top of the hill parking in front of the mansion. It was surrounded by a large garden with a wide patio surrounding it. This is actually part of the steel super structure of the building below. We use it for VIP accommodations and parties. The structure makes the large building below us look like a knoll. She drove back down the rise pulling up in front of a set of double glass doors.