percent, within twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The rest we’ll have more news on within a few days.”
“Can you tell us anything about the involvement of the FBI and local law enforcement in discovering the source of these attacks on your system?” shouted another voice.
“We won’t be commenting on investigations that are under way,” Dev said.
“There have been rumors in the blogosphere that rival game companies may have been involved in the attacks,” said another voice. “Would you care to comment?”
There was a pause. Phil looked down at the PDA. “On rumors? Hardly,” Dev said. But his glance swept directly across every gathered pool camera. “I will say this, though. There are always people who’re much more willing to believe gossip, especially nasty gossip, than are willing to wait for the truth to unfold itself.”
The clamor of voices started again. Phil let out an annoyed breath, turned off the PDA and shoved it into his pocket. That was meant for me, he thought. Pretending to hold out the olive branch even though he knows damn well what’s going on. Damn him, I’m tired of the self-actualized act! Why won’t he just get up and punch back when he’s been punched? Why won’t he call me and just tell me off to my face? That at least would be a jumping-off point. We could finally get straight with each other, we could start to—
His phone rang. Phil swore, pulled it out, glanced at the name that came up on the screen, punched the talk button. “Yes?”
“Where is our payment?” said the disguised voice on the other end.
“Pending,” said Phil, “while I find out how much I actually got of the service I paid you for.”
A long silence followed. “You knew how the operation was going to be carried out,” said the voice. “If when we first came to our arrangement you had any second thoughts about what results it might produce, or how the markets might or might not move as a result, you should have made them known. You got exactly what you paid for.”
“I did not,” Phil shouted, “because I paid for those servers to be wiped clean! And what do I get? Nothing but four measly hours of downtime and more positive publicity for the guy who’s supposed to be drowning in negatives and losing his shirt right now!”
“If their system was more robust than you gave us to understand,” said the voice, “that’s your error, not ours. We expect payment within the agreed time window.”
“Or what?” Phil said. “You’ll report me to the Better Business Bureau?”
“Or we’ll find out if your game’s servers are as robust as Omnitopia’s,” said the voice and the receiver clicked loudly in Phil’s ear.
He stared, unbelieving and furious, at the phone, then hung it up and shoved it into the other pocket.
His damn luck again, Phil thought, looking out at the darkening sea. This is just not fair. Not fair at all.
Where can I go from here? What do I have to do to win?
He turned his back on the sea and headed back for the beach house to consider his options. Dev being Dev, he would mistake the present outcome for a triumph. Give him a few weeks, Phil thought, let him think everything’s settling down—and then see what else we might hit him with. This expansion of his is too much too soon. Some weak spot will reveal itself.
It’s not over yet. . . .
The check-in lines at the international airport in Atlanta were never exactly enjoyable, but it seemed to Danny that they were moving more slowly than he’d ever seen them do. The place was thick with people even on a midweek midafternoon, the time that Danny had been advised to fly to avoid delays or unwanted attention.
Ahead of him, the people in the line inched forward toward the uniformed woman up at the counter. Danny sighed and inched forward with them. As advised, he’d packed nothing but a carry-on. He’d be able to dip into his new bank account to buy what he needed when he got where he was going. He was already carrying a healthy wad stuffed into his wallet, what would have been almost a year’s salary for him. It had been difficult for him, when he’d looked into the bank account yesterday morning, to leave the remainder of the money there—an amount that was more like a lottery win than anything else.
The other people, those who’d set this deal up for him, had already