Chapter 2

Of all the gadgets I have ever owned, my LX3500 laptop has been my favorite. I procured this baby from the CE labs about 8 months ago. Damn fast little thing, with all the peripherals that hackers dream of cased inside: fractal encryption, satellite linkup, and this baby plays a mean game of Quake. Not that I have time for that at all. Right about now, All I want is answers. FIXER supposedly sent me my contact info, No better place to start looking.

I love my laptop:

> Uplinking to FIXSAT1
> Connect: Dynamic ip shadowed
> Connect: Receiving data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>

Login: SAngel
Password: ********
Verification: ********
Alias Number: ********

The one thing I hate about FIXER. They ask for just about everything except for your shoe size. Security is fine, but logging remotely is a bitch. I need a retnal scanner on my baby.

Welcome SteelAngel.
Your current account status is: GREEN
Your current duty status is: YELLOW

You have New Mail

FIXSAT1~$>

Well, It was as I expected. They even took the time to hack FIXER's credit files. This whole situation was just a setup. And a very poor one at that. FIXER is going to hear from me about security.

FIXSAT1~$>Mail

1. ADMIN <[email protected]> - Security reboot (NEW)
2. Stein <[email protected]> - Services Requested (NEW)
3. æ^0$%±©}PôuØ - Encoded Transmission (NEW)

Hmm. Message 1 wasn't important, but I just got a job from Stein, Chief of Asian Operations. This might just be the break I'm looking for. I reached for the download all comand, when there was a knock on the door. I wheeled around, grabbing my pistol. The door was locked, but that wouldn't stop a double barreled slug. I inched toward the wall near the doorknob. If whoever was there had planned to shoot me, I would have heard the click. I turned the knob and swung open the door, gun at the ready.

Standing in the doorframe was a blonde woman, dressed in black.

"I have been looking everywhere for you, Angel. I'm Kristina Grace."