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Thurston. Everything will be airtight. We’ll be ready when we’re needed. I will stake my reputation on it.”
    â€œVery well, then. If you need me for any reason, give Mrs. Barth a call. In the interim, keep up the good work. I believe your patience will soon be rewarded.” Thurston dismissed Cartwright by switching his attention to a pile of papers on his desk.
    If Dr. Cartwright was surprised by the abrupt ending of the meeting, he shouldn’t have been. It was the way Thurston had ended every meeting they had had together. It bothered him, though. He was not an equal, that much he knew, but as a professional with a Ph.D he was accustomed to a higher level of respect than he ever received from Peter Thurston. It was this part of corporate life that he neither understood nor appreciated.
    â€œThanks for your time, Mister Thurston,” he said meekly as he exited the office.

CHAPTER 10
    Tuesday morning, Mark’s breakfast was interrupted by his cell phone.
    â€œMark, good morning. Is this a good time?”
    Sue had called him during a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast.
    â€œSusan, I was wondering when I’d hear from you. I was just about to dig into some eggs, sausages and bacon. You know where. What’s up?”
    â€œI’m ready to go forward with your project. I did some test runs late last night and I have a pretty good idea how to get the data we’re after. The problem I have is that my office operates around-the-clock, so that there are only a few time slots where I can use the system with complete privacy.” Susan’s private office was off-limits to Mark for security reasons. “I never know when we’ll get a sudden call from a client for some maintenance work requiring me to stand down on the system. Timing is another thing. The records I want to piggyback with ‘LEECH’ can be sent only once a day by the Service Bureau, and that’s the time when I have at least four operators on duty. In short, I just can’t guarantee the privacy or availability we will need.”
    She hesitated for a few minutes to let the obvious sink in. “We need to operate in a safe and secure environment without any time constraints. Is there any chance that I could come down there and we could use your office computer system?”
    â€œWell sure.” he said, while his mind raced ahead to consider the ramifications. “But what about the data trails?”
    â€œNot to worry, the data tags we’ll use will bounce around cyberspace like a pinball. I guarantee there will be no way to trace anything back to your computer. The way my program works, the output will end up in either Europe or Asia. When the file is eventually addressed to your computer, the record of the transaction will be erased automatically. There is absolutely nothing for you to be concerned about. You have my word on that.”
    â€œI don’t have any idea how you do that stuff, but I’ll take your word for it. When did you want to do it?”
    â€œTomorrow morning at nine is when the Service Bureau does its next processing with the NRBA. I’ll need about a half-hour to load all my software and to set up the data relays. I’ll be going into their system in the guise of the local Service Bureau in Mansfield I told you about. I’ll be piggybacking an actual data run. First, I need to make one quick pass at the Association’s system to pick up their current internal password. They change them every hour, which means I need to get in between eight and eight-forty to pick it up. It will only take me about three minutes. Just to be safe, sometime around eight-ten would work well for what I have to do. Nine o’clock will be the actual ‘zero’ hour. I can meet you at your office a little before eight.”
    â€œIf it’s going to be that early, why don’t you come down here tonight so you’ll be fresh in the morning. I have a spare