A Walk Among the Tombstones

Page 21

 

  "And if he decides to bail out?"

  "That doesnt seem likely. "

  "Unless, of course, he gets arrested going through customs wearing a vest full of powder. "

  "I guess something like that could happen," I said, "but that would just mean Id be out of pocket to the tune of a little under two grand, and I started out by taking ten thousand dollars from him a couple of weeks ago. Thats almost how long its been. Itll be two weeks Monday. "

  "Whats the matter?"

  "Well, I havent accomplished very much in that amount of time. It seems as though- well, the hell with it, Im doing what I can. Anyway, the point is that I can afford to take the chance that I wont get reimbursed. "

  "I suppose so. " She frowned. "How do you get two thousand dollars? Say one-fifty for a hotel room, and a thousand for the two Kongs. How much Coca-Cola can two kids drink?"

  "I drink Coke, too. And dont forget TJ. "

  "He drinks a lot of Coke?"

  "All he wants. And he gets five hundred dollars. "

  "For introducing you to the Kongs. I didnt even think of that. "

  "For introducing me to the Kongs, and for thinking of introducing me to the Kongs. Theyre the perfect way to spirit information out of the phone company, and I never would have thought of looking for someone like that. "

  "Well, you hear about computer hackers," she said, "but how would you find one? They dont list them in the Yellow Pages. Matt, how old is TJ?"

  "I dont know. "

  "You never asked him?"

  "I never got a straight answer. Id say fifteen or sixteen, and I dont think I could be off by more than a year either way. "

  "And he lives on the street? Where does he sleep?"

  "He says hes got a place. Hes never said where or with whom. One thing you learn on the street, you dont want to be too quick to tell your business to people. "

  "Or even your name. Does he know how much hes getting?"

  I shook my head. "We havent discussed it. "

  "He wont be expecting that much, will he?"

  "No, but why shouldnt he have it?"

  "Im not disagreeing with you. I just wonder what hes going to do with five hundred dollars. "

  "Whatever he wants. At a quarter a shot, he could call me up two thousand times. "

  "I guess," she said. "God, when I think of the different people we know. Danny Boy, Kali. Mick. TJ, the Kongs. Matt? Lets not ever leave New York, okay?"

  Chapter 11

  On Sundays Jim Faber and I usually have our weekly dinner at a Chinese restaurant, although we occasionally go somewhere else. I met him at six-thirty at our regular place, and a few minutes after seven he asked me if I had a train to catch. "Because thats the third time in the past fifteen minutes you looked at your watch. "

  "Im sorry," I said. "I didnt realize it. "

  "You anxious about something?"

  "Well, theres something I have to do later," I said, "but theres plenty of time. I dont have to be anywhere until eight-thirty. "

  "Ill be going to a meeting myself at eight-thirty, but I dont suppose thats what youve got scheduled. "

  "No. I went to one this afternoon because I knew I wouldnt be able to fit one in tonight. "

  "This appointment of yours," he said. "Youre not nervous because youre gonna be around booze, are you?"

  "God, no. There wont be anything stronger than Coca-Cola. Unless somebody picks up some Jolt. "

  "Is that a new drug I dont know about?"

  "Its a cola drink. Like Coke, but twice as much caffeine. "

  "I dont know if you can handle it. "

  "I dont know that Im going to try. You want to know where Im going after I leave here? Im going to check into a hotel under a phony name and then Im going to have three teenage boys up to my room. "

  "Dont tell me any more. "

  "I wont, because I wouldnt want you to have foreknowledge of a felony. "

  "Youre planning on committing a felony with these kids?"

  "Theyre the ones wholl be committing a felony. Im just going to watch. "

  "Have some more of the sea bass," he said. "Its especially good tonight. "

  BY nine oclock all four of us were assembled in a $160-a-night corner room in the Frontenac, a 1,200-room hotel built a few years ago with Japanese money and since sold to a Dutch conglomerate. The hotel was on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Fifty-third Street, and from our room on the twenty-eighth floor you could get a glimpse of the Hudson. Or you could have, if we hadnt drawn the shades.

  There was a spread of snack food laid out on the top of the dresser, including Cheez Doodles but not including Pringles. The little refrigerator held three varieties of cola, a six-pack of each. The telephone had been relocated from the bedside table to the desk, with something called an acoustic coupler attached to its earpiece and something else called a modem plugged into its rear. It shared the desk with the Kongs laptop computer.

  I had signed the register as John J. Gunderman and gave an address on Hillcrest Avenue, in Skokie, Illinois. I paid cash, along with the fifty-dollar deposit required of cash customers who wanted access to the telephone and mini-bar. I didnt care about the mini-bar, but we damn well needed the phone. That was why we were in the room.

  Jimmy Hong was seated at the desk, his fingers flashing on the computers keyboard, then punching numbers on the phone. David King had drawn up another chair but was standing, looking over Jimmys shoulder at the computer screen. Earlier he had tried to explain to me how the modem allowed the computer to hook into other computers through the telephone lines, but it was a little like trying to explain the fundamentals of non-Euclidean geometry to a field mouse. Even when I understood the words he used, I still didnt know what the hell he was talking about.

  The Kongs had worn suits and ties, but only to get through the hotel lobby; their ties and jackets were on the bed now, and they had their sleeves rolled up. TJ was in his usual costume, but they hadnt hassled him at the desk. Hed come lugging two sacks of groceries, disguised as a delivery boy.

  Jimmy said, "Were in. "

  "All right!"

  "Well, were into NYNEX but thats like being inside the hotel lobby when you need to be in a room on the fortieth floor. Okay, lets try something. "

  His fingers danced and combinations of numbers and letters popped up on the screen. After a while he said, "Bastards keep changing the password. You know the amount of effort they spend just trying to keep people like us out?"

  "As if they could. "

  "If they put the same energy into improving the system-"

  "Stupid. "

  More letters, more numbers. "Damn," Jimmy said, and reached for his can of Coke. "You know what?"

  "Time for our people-to-people program," David said.

  "Thats what I was thinking. You feel like refining your human-contact skills?"

  David nodded and took the phone. "Some people call this social engineering, " he told me. "Its hardest with NYNEX because they warn their people about us. Good thing for us that most of the people who work there are morons. " He dialed a telephone number, and after a moment he said, "Hi, this is Ralph Wilkes, Im trouble-shooting your line. Youve been having trouble getting into COSMOS, right?"

  "They always do," Jimmy Hong murmured. "So its a safe question. "

  "Yeah, right," David was saying. There was a lot of jargon I couldnt follow, and then he said, "Now how do you log in? Whats your access code? No, right, dont tell me, youre not supposed to tell me, its security. " He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, they give us grief about the same thing. Look, dont tell me the code, just punch it in on your keyboard. " Numbers and letters appeared on our screen and Jimmys fingers were quick to enter them on our keyboard. "Fine," David said. "Now can you do the same thing with your password for COSMOS? Dont tell me what it is, just enter it. Uh-huh. "

  "Beautiful," Jimmy said softly as the number came up on our screen. He punched it in.

  "That ou
ght to do it," David told whoever he was talking to. "I dont think you should have any problems from here on in. " He broke the connection and let out a huge sigh. "I dont think we should have any problems, either. Dont tell me the number, just enter it. Dont tell me, darling, just tell my computer. "

  "Hot damn," Jimmy said.

  "Were in?"

  "Were in. "

  "Yay!"

  "Matt, whats your phone number?"

  "Dont call me," I said. "Im not home. "

  "I dont want to call you. I want to check your line. Whats the number? Never mind, dont tell me, see if I care. Scudder, Matthew. West Fifty-seventh Street, right? That look familiar?"

  I looked at the screen. "Thats my phone number," I said.

  "Uh-huh. You happy with it? You want me to change it, give you something easier to remember?"

  "If you call the phone company to get your number changed," David said, "it takes them a week or so to run it through channels. But we can do it on the spot. "

  "I think Ill keep the number Ive got," I said.

  "Suit yourself. Uh-huh. Youve got pretty basic service, havent you? No Call Forwarding, no Call Waiting. Youre at a hotel, youve got the switchboard backing you up, so maybe you dont need Call Waiting, but you ought to have Call Forwarding anyhow. Suppose you stay over at somebodys house? You could get your calls routed there automatically. "

  "I dont know if Id use it enough to make it worthwhile. "

  "Doesnt cost anything. "

  "I thought there was a monthly charge for it. "

  He grinned and his fingers were busy on the keypad. "No charge for you," he said, "because you have influential friends. As of this moment youve got Call Forwarding, compliments of the Kongs. Were in COSMOS now, thats the particular system we invaded, so thats where Im entering changes in your account. The system that figures your billing wont know about the change, so it wont cost you anything. "

  "Whatever you say. "

  "I see you use AT&T for your long-distance calls. You didnt select Sprint or MCI. "

  "No, I didnt figure I would save that much. "

  "Well, Im giving you Sprint," he said. "Its going to save you a fortune. "

  "Really?"

  "Uh-huh, because NYNEX is going to route your long-distance calls to Sprint, but Sprints not going to know about it. "

  "So you wont get billed," David said.

  "I dont know," I said.

  "Trust me. "

  "Oh, I dont doubt what you said. I just dont know how I feel about it. Its theft of services. "

  Jimmy looked at me. "Were talking about the phone company," he said.

  "I realize that. "

  "You think theyre gonna miss it?"

  "No, but-"

  "Matt, when you make a call from a pay phone and the call goes through but the quarter comes back anyway, what do you do? Keep it or put it back in the slot?"