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Excerpt 1
I took a table at the edge of the lounge, the same one I had occupied
earlier. The waitress seemed deeply disappointed when I ordered only a
soft drink. I set my computer up and was just putting on the glasses when
she returned.
"It isn't that bright in here," she said. She had mistaken them for
sunglasses.
"No," I said. "It's not."
She wore a short apron that was longer than her black shorts and her
stark white shirt was topped with a black bow tie. Her jogging shoes ruined
whatever effect the management had been trying to achieve.
She glanced at the computer. "You a magician?"
"A what?"
"You know," she said. "One of those computer wizards."
"No," I said as I tapped into the hotel's computer, "just a businessman."
"I just thought since you're working at weird hours."
"I see." I accessed the room records and brought mine up.
The waitress did not leave. "I dated one once," she went on. "Insisted
I call him Mephisto. Can you believe that? The guy would never even tell
me his real last name."
I cleared out the records. As far as the computer was concerned, Hamilton
and Deco had never checked in. The room had been unoccupied for days.
The waitress was still talking. "He said anyone who knew his true name
would have power over him. Is that crazy, or what?"
For the first time, I actually looked at her. Freckles stretched across
the bridge of her nose like constellations. Crystals, perhaps rose quartz,
dangled from her earlobes. Her badge declared her name as Cynthia. I typed
as I talked, watching her through the words floating before me as I located
the personnel files.
"I don't know," I said. "It makes a certain kind of sense." Amazing.
Five hundred employees and only one Cynthia: Cynthia Andersen.
"Don't you think it's kind of creepy?" she said.
"No, Miss Andersen, I don't."
The look on her face was priceless. I had to stifle a laugh. "Do I know
you?" Suspicion colored her voice.
"Not at all," I said. "Oh, by the way, happy belated birthday."
Her jaw fell. "It was yesterday."
"I know," I said. I snagged her social security number and dialed out,
leaping into the vast electronic universe. I drifted with the currents,
flowing from system to system, looking. The currents combined and strengthened.
A torrent of data flowed into one vast pool. I swept my hands through
it and came up with a number.
"How'd you know that?" she said. "He used to do that kind of shit to
me too."
"Just a guess." I came to a gate I had breached many times before. It
swung wide and I looked around for a match. In the middle of a nasty little
mess, I found it. I continued the conversation as I swept it clean. "I'm
a good guesser."
"What's going on?" She almost stamped her foot. "Who are you?"
"Ask me about your birthday present."
An uncertain smile tried to lighten her features. She looked around
the room. "Who put you up to this? What present?"
I smiled. "The one from me, of course."
She looked at the table, then under it. "What?" she said.
"Your credit card is no longer past due," I said.
The suspicion was back. "My what?"
"You still owe the money," I explained, "but it's current, not sixty
days late."
"Who the hell are you?"
"I also bumped the credit line up so you're not over your limit, but
I advise you not to spend it." She watched me put my computer away and
stand up. I threw a couple of dollars on the table. "That's for the drink,"
I said.
I picked up my bag and started to leave. She was still staring at me
in disbelief. "Oh, yes," I added. "Your tip."
"What?" she said.
I looked at her carefully. "This is it: take the wizards seriously."
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