Read Online The Trade by JT Kalnay - Free Book Online Page A

front desk man was
sweating and huffing with the effort of lifting the boxes. Jay
fished around in his pockets and stealthily pulled a ten dollar
bill out. The two men pushed to cart to the service elevator. Jay
noted the key the doorman used to open the door.
    "One of those might come in handy for when I
go running,” he said.
    "Sorry,” the doorman answered. The two men
looked at each other for a minute. The little power that the guard
had was wielded effectively and ruthlessly. Residents always wanted
the service elevator key, he never gave it.
    "I'll take it from here okay,” Jay offered,
the ten dollar bill in his outstretched hand.
    "Sure,” the older man said, pocketing the
bill.
    "Just leave the elevator door open on your
floor and bring the cart back when you're done.”
    "No problem,” Jay said. He worked the
elevator and moved the boxes to his apartment and returned the cart
then returned to his apartment. A flurry of boxes and plastic and
Styrofoam packing material and bubble wrap flew through the air as
Jay unwrapped and organized. He immediately began to set things up.
Hours later, when he had his new machine set up and had a graphics
demonstration program running, the phone rang.
    "Hey. Where the hell are you?" Bill Beck
shouted over the bar noise.
    "I got the machine. It's great. I was just
setting it up,” Jay answered.
    "Shoulda known. Well quit playing and get the
hell over here,” Bill ordered. Jay looked at his watch. It was
eight thirty. He'd been working with the computer for four hours.
It was like that with him. When he focused on a problem, minutes
and hours and sometimes months would slip away without his being
aware of the passing of time. There was just him and the problem
and whatever was necessary to keep him working. Food and sleep
became ritual annoyances only to be tolerated long enough to keep
the machine running. Human company became mostly unnecessary.
    Jay pulled himself away from the new
computer.
    "I'll be there in half an hour,” Jay
said.
    As Jay was getting up, he heard his computer
make the distinctive "EMAIL ARRIVED" sound. Jay sat back down to
see who had found him on the Internet already.
    "Well I'll be damned,” Jay said. He saw that
his student, C. Daniel Kinchon, from Peowee Valley Kentucky, had
found him and sent him an email message. Jay typed up a quick
'thanks, keep in touch, no time to talk now' message and sent it
back. Jay clicked off the computer before he could get distracted
again.

    “ I didn’t see what was on
his screen. Did you?”
    “ No. Once we know he’s at
the bar, let’s have a look. We’re supposed to see what’s on his
screen on our screen.”

Chapter
     
    "Jay, over here,” Bill Beck called out as he
waved to Jay Calloway. Jay worked his way through the crowded room
to where Bill was seated at the head of several tables that had
been pushed together. Jay noted the large number of empty beer
pitchers and remnants of chicken wings from an entire flock of
birds.
    Jay settled in after the introductions were
made all around. The talk was the regular after work bar talk.
Work, sports, tits, and ass. Jay downed a beer and mixed with the
new crowd. One of the guys, Ted Spencer, regaled the group with a
story about his latest conquest. As the clock ticked later the
married guys drifted off and the crowd thinned a bit and some of
the tables were reclaimed by other drinkers, other groups. A
threesome of well-dressed young women drinking daiquiris moved in
next to Jay and the remaining guys from work. Before he knew it,
they were all mixed in together, talking in the way and about the
things young men and women always do.
    Ted Spencer paired off with a hot looking
blonde girl. Jay found himself next to a small, darkly tanned
woman. She said her name was ‘Maria’ and that she was a salesperson
in a small gallery in Soho.
    "So do you live around here?" Maria
asked.
    "Yeah, just down and over a few blocks,” he
answered. “In Battery Park.”
    "Do