CHAPTER 19

THE PARTY WAS A DUD. Cal employed his journalistic skills to learn that it was hosted by Jere Adams, a hacker-turned-computer corporation employee. A stark white room was lit with pale blue lamps. Techno music thumped the walls. Mildly attractive waitresses dressed in suggestive t-shirts with slogans like “Search my engine” on the front and the company’s logo on the back. Cal amused himself by wondering where the “escape” button was. This was an unmitigated disaster.

“I would have rather gone to a Dennis Rodman party than this flop,” Cal said to Kelly.

“What? I can’t hear you?” Kelly responded loudly.

“Kelly, there’s like 40 people here. It’s not that loud.”

Kelly smiled. Cal knew he was right but he also knew that she wasn’t going to let him spoil her fun, even if the party was a bomb. Then again maybe she wanted to stay since she was easily the most gorgeous woman in the building. The nerds began descending upon her like zombies looking for their next meal. Cal had to get something to drink.

He motioned for the bartender and ordered a scotch on the rocks.

Cal looked at the man next to him, staring intently at his drink. He fit the profile for a computer genius. Mid to late 40s. Still had all his hair. Looked smart. Zero social skills.

“Do you work for Mr. Adams?” Cal inquired.

“Yes.”

Oh, great. A talker. This is like talking to teenage student athletes.

“What do you do for him?”

“I’m in R&D.”

“Oh, a researcher. That must be fun.”

“Not really.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“Well, we never get to test the things we create.”

“That seems odd.”

“Well, that’s another division. They bring them back to me with field test results and I just have to fix them.”

“So, what are you working on now?”

“I can’t really talk about it. Sorry. Company policy.”

“Of course, I understand.”

“But I do have this one device I created on the side that I can tell you about.”

“Oh, really? What is it?”

“Well, do you have kids, Mr. …?”

“Murphy. Cal Murphy.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Murphy. I’m James Wishert. So, do you have kids?”

“No.”

“Married?”

“Hopefully one day.”

“Well, one day when you get married and have kids, you will learn just how devious kids these days are. Kids used to listen to their parents, but not any more. So, we have to keep an eye on them more closely than ever before.”

“You mean like spying on them?”

“Not exactly. But kind of.”

“Well, what do you mean then?”

“I have three teenage daughters and I’ve already caught two of them with boys in their rooms.”

“How did that happen?”

“Long story, but in short, you can’t expect a perimeter warning system to work that well when you’ve got the spawns of computer geniuses trying to hook up with your teenage daughters.”

“I see.” Cal began to wonder just how protective this guy was of his daughters. Apparently, protective enough to install some sort of security system around the house.

“Anyway, since I’m banned from going into their rooms, I created a device that works with an app I wrote. It can look through walls up to 50 yards away and determine how many people are in the room.”

“Why would you need that?”

“Don’t ask. I’ve only had the chance to test it from 10 yards away.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t I overhear you tell someone you were a reporter with The Times?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well, maybe you can write a story about it and help me get out of working for this slave driver, Mr. Adams. You do know we were all required to be here, right? As in, I had no choice. Some guy is probably in my daughter’s bedroom right now.”

James amused Cal. For the simple reason that this vigilant father wrote apps to spy on his daughter. Sure, it was a little over the top, but it was a nice diversion from the gigahertz and megabite talk floating around the room.

“Well, good luck with that app, James.”

“Would you mind trying it out for me? Maybe writing an article about it?” James pleaded.

“I don’t know, James. I’m a sports writer. I don’t really cover tech stuff.”

“OK, fine. Give it to your tech writer. Maybe he’ll want to try it out.”

“All right, I’ll give it to him when I get back next week.”

“Super. Here’s all you need to make this work.”

James placed in Cal’s hand a small, black square headphone plug that would insert into an iPhone. He also gave Cal a card with instructions on how to download the app.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Murphy. You have no idea how much this would mean to me.”

“You’re welcome, James.”

Cal ordered another drink and scanned the room for Kelly. He couldn’t see her, but he guessed she was somewhere in the middle of about twelve young men. They surrounded someone and it was either a tech superstar or Kelly. One of the men shifted to the side and Cal could see: it was Kelly.

Cal walked confidently across the room and broke up the conversation.

“You ready?” Cal asked.

“Yes, let’s get out of here,” she said.

Moans and groans served as the verbal protest from the Kelly fan club. But as much as she liked getting attention, Cal knew this was not her scene.

“See you later, boys,” Kelly said, blowing them all a kiss.

The rain was still coming down but there was a taxi waiting outside the building. Cal ran to the cab and found it available. He motioned for Kelly to join him.

Cal gave the driver the address and then turned his attention to Kelly.

“What was that all about?” he asked her.

“What was what all about?”

“Blowing kisses to those guys? You know that’s just wrong.”

“Oh, Cal. I was just having fun. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous.”

Cal said nothing. He looked straight ahead, watching the rhythmic wipes working hard to clear the windshield.

“You are jealous!” Kelly exclaimed. “I knew it. You didn’t like me talking to those guys.”

“Let’s just go home. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

Kelly smiled. She put her hand on Cal’s knee. Cal didn’t mind.

* * *

IT WAS 10:30 P.M. when Diaz’s cell phone rang.

“Any news?” said the voice on the other end.

“No, boss. They went to some party. I couldn’t get in, but it didn’t look like anything important. Just tech wizards and booze. I only saw three women go in the whole time I was watching.

“Ha! Some party. Just keep me posted, Diaz.”

“Sure, boss.”

* * *

KELLY TOLD CAL GOODNIGHT before kissing him on the cheek. She then got out of the cab and disappeared into the hotel. That was a first. She had never kissed him before. Cal’s emotions swirled. Maybe he had a chance with Kelly after all. Or maybe she was just being friendly. If she would blow a kiss to a bunch of personal space-invading nerds, how big of a deal was it that she gave him a peck on the cheek? It was probably nothing.

Cal checked his watch. He figured he could be back in his room by 11 p.m. and have a few minutes to re-read the files Anderson had sent him ahead of an early briefing at the FBI’s Houston field office in the morning.

Upon returning to his room, Cal began emptying his pockets and pulled out Mr. Wishert’s next big invention. He snickered. Then his curiosity got the best of him. He pulled out his iPhone and began typing in the address to download the app. Once he installed the app—one James called “X-Ray Vision”—Cal snapped the device into the headphone jack. After a couple of seconds, Cal’s iPhone became an infrared device. He decided to try it out by walking down the hall and seeing what was really happening on his floor.

A quick trip to the ice machine and back let Cal know there were only six rooms with people in them. Two of the rooms appeared to have a single person asleep in them. The other four contained people engaging in evening exercise.

This thing ought to be illegal. He removed the device from his phone and put it back in his pocket. Cal glanced at the time on his phone and realized he had lost 30 minutes playing with the device—but it was worth it. He got ready for bed and glanced through the files again before going to sleep.