Mike stopped, looking embarrassed. “Oh get on with it,” said Carolyn, shortly, “We’re both grown ups.”
Mike seemed slightly reassured although still nervous but continued.
“I said, Look. I’m a married man - you’re very attractive but I don’t want to take any chances on my marriage. It would really hurt my wife if she found out. I’m an author and all I really want to do is get on and finish my book. It’s my chance of a lifetime. And an affair would get in the way.”
“The palm of her open hand cracked across my face - I reeled back. It was not a hard slap but a statement of frustration that shocked me, made our relationship more physical.”
“You don’t seem to understand you stupid man. The deal is for me to give you a good time - if I don’t, it’s the worse for all of us for me and also you and your wife. Look I’ll make it good for you. Relax have a little drink”.
“She produced a bottle of liqueur, unscrewing the top with a quick twist. She lifted the liqueur to my mouth. The syrupy flavour stung the back of my throat but warmed me.”
“She removed the bottle from my mouth and standing on tiptoe kissed me full on the lips. Her lips tasted fresh and clean. Her hands had returned to my belt.”
“We will use protection, if you want, your wife will never know - it will be safe - I will make it good for you, she crooned.”
“She kicked off her shoes and as she pushed me back into the couch divested herself of her jeans. Her legs were long and lightly tanned leading up to a pair of bright yellow bikini pants. She started to work on my shirt.”
“Come on, get your clothes off and we’ll do it - you will enjoy, I promise you - you want me to kiss you somewhere special?”
“Well, I must admit, that all my life I had wanted that - and unsuccessfully. And here was I saying no when it was handed to me on a plate. My reservation further evaporated when the hand that had encouraged me more than any other for years was replaced by the promised lips and my head cannoned back against the cushions as the sensations overwhelmed me.”
“She waited some minutes and then gently let me go and walked over to the window where the video camera light was still blinking and switched it off.”
“I felt uncertain what to say. I asked her whether I should say thank you?”
“No just get dressed please and go!”
Just like that? Maybe I could help you?”
“You saw the picture of what they can do! It could happen to you, your wife or me. The only safety is to do exactly as you are instructed. Now go.”
“Can I see you again?” I spluttered as she showed me out of the front door - it seemed so banal.
“That’s not part of the deal at the moment but perhaps another time. Life can be good for you if you do what they want.”
“I looked at her slender waif like figure leaning against the green doorframe. I knew I shouldn’t but my pulse quickened at the thought of seeing her again.”
“I tried to kiss her goodbye and give her a hug. She brushed me off and closed the door. Her large brown eyes brimming.”
“I took the parcel to the address in the suburbs of West London as instructed and deposited the contents, 1,000 exactly. I wondered what it represented. Who had paid it and why? Who lived in the small scruffy house?”
“Dismissing these thoughts from my mind, I focussed on the important issue which was to get free of this thing. In the tube train again, the rattles and shudders almost seemed reassuring. They were real, tangible. But so was what I had done with the raven headed woman in Fulham and it had been recorded on video tape.”
“I didnt think there was much purpose in removing the influence of the virus from my machine or my daughters. When I was contacted again, the tape would be the blackmail. And, if I told my wife what would be achieved? I didnt know who was behind it all. What could I tell the police? I had looked through the computer system and couldn’t find the source of the images that came on the screen. Changing computers would merely put me out of touch and put my family into danger. It seemed I was hooked, at their mercy.”
“The next day, breakfast for me was a tense thing.”
“I’d got to bed much later than Denise as I was mugging up throughout the evening on early English history. Dinner had been a sandwich grabbed in between chapters.”
“Now I had to face her and my feelings of guilt. I was used to secrets. The ten years of married life had passed in an open atmosphere. It felt strange and the memory of the woman in Fulham was strong and preoccupying.”
“Denise had her office look on. An Assistant Bank Manager, her salary wasnt quite enough to keep the family but it was certainly a great help and enabled me to write full time.”
“I only needed to generate a bit of income and things would tick over. The possibility of a lot of income seemed too much of a dream. Denise was very practical. We were probably lucky to be getting anything from the writing at all and we never discussed my dreams of success. To her, dreams were dreams and she inhabited the real world.”
“After checking her dark curls in the mirror by the front door she left me to a quiet house and (in theory) my writing.”
“The truth was that I was intrigued. I would write a few lines and then save them. I would then fiddle in the computer examining the contents of folders, always looking for the source of the wolf virus.”
“It annoyed me that I couldn’t find anything, especially as Information Technology had been my subject before I left full time work as a systems analyst to write. Being an employee for a multinational company had given me a living but not a life. They wanted all of me and left nothing. They would have wanted my soul if they believed in souls and could put a value on them.
As far as the virus was concerned, I didn’t believe it was out of my computer. It was hiding and waiting its moment.
By 11 am, I was looking for inspiration. By midday, it was still elusive. By 1 p.m. had decided to enlist some help.
It took the form of a very jovial round faced friend of mine called Bill who lived two streets away. We frequented the same bar called the Harrier’s Haven, which was half way between our houses. He had an Internet software sales business.
I took the computer round in my car and put it on his office table. Unlike me, he had a purpose built extension to his house for his home business and loads of room. We stared at the machine as it fired up.”
“Has it been Y2Ked for the Millennium, he enquired. Bill never missed the chance to make a sale. I ignored his question. More important things were on my mind.”
“It talks to me, I said.”
“Bill looked at me dubiously and adjusted his round rimmed glasses higher up his oval face.”
“Makes a change from talking to yourself, he said jauntily. Why don’t you talk to that attractive wife of yours instead?”
“I thought he had little to offer to woman with his baggy jeans and off-white shirt but he had a confidence that women found attractive. Often at parties, I’ve found him surrounded by a fascinated crowd of woman. At one very memorable one I’d seen him with his tongue down a good-looking ladies throat and his hand up her blouse. Soon after, his wife left him, so she must have got wind of his activities. He didn’t seem to mind and said that there were advantages to being single. He just seems to have the knack. I even wondered if Denise found him attractive.”
“It gets images on the screen that talk to me and tell me to do things, I continued.”
“Bill looked even more dubious.”
“These images wouldn’t be pink elephants would they?”
“Of course not, I’m being serious.”
“If you were seeing pink elephants, it would be serious. He thought this was a very funny and laughed like a drain. After a while, he loaded up some software which he said would check the system out.”
“Er these things that it tells you to do, what sort of things are these”.
“I swore him to secrecy then told him, just the bare facts, no embellishment. He looked impressed.”
“Could be something in this, maybe I can get a copy of this program for myself”.
“Believe me, you wouldn’t say that if you’d seen the picture then Fulham woman showed me”.
“It could have been mocked up - let’s face it, you’ve got no first hand evidence they can make good their threats. Aha! What have we got here?”
“Up on the screen came a directory that I had not been able to find. Bill selected the files in turn and then tried to read them with another bit of software. All to no avail except that, close to the top of one of the encrypted files was an address.”
“I looked at the address doubtfully. It wasnt far away and it was very up market. Add to that the house had a name with ‘Estate’ after it reinforcing the picture of a large private house that was likely to be minding its business and not the easiest place to check out.
“Could be that house might provide some answers”, mused Bill. “Its a nice neck of the woods for an early evening drink by the Thames. We could have a snoop this afternoon and hit the local hostelries after - just as a cover story of course.”
“What about your business?”
“It’s all pretty automatic and will continue taking the orders off the Internet whether I’m here or not - so how about it - do you want to see what we can find?”
“The house was in extensive grounds. Bill’s face broke into a smile when he saw a plaque bearing the name of the company that owned the premises. It was the ’software’ bit of it that drew his attention. Confidently, he grabbed a tie from then back seat, threw me one to put on and swung into and up the long drive.”
“It had the appearance in every way of being a private family house - a large one. However, the door was open and a receptionist stood guard over the palatial hall. She was cute and smart with her single piece black dress and silver necklace. She looked enquiringly at Bill as he entered in the lead.”
“Ferret Software Enterprises m’dear announced Bill expansively. We were in the neighbourhood and wondered whether there was any way we could offer our services or partake of yours to mutual benefit of course.”
“The receptionist pointedly directed her eyes to the notice about representatives and prior appointments. She looked disapproving, as if this sort of approach was not normally the done thing in her circles.”
“Bill wasn’t to be deterred.”
“Came across your address in a hidden directory on one of my clients computers, actually - dunno how it got there but I was intrigued enough to follow it up”.
“The receptionist who I now identified as ‘Sally’ by her name badge started showing more interest.”
“Hidden files did you say - oh a hidden directory. I’ll get somebody from technical support to talk to you. Could you take a seat?”
“‘Sally’ punched buttons on the telephone system before her and returned to her computer screen - problem solved.
The waiting area she referred us to was a conservatory attachment from which we gained glimpses of a room piled high with computers and crawling with people looking serious and industrious.”
“Bill settled down to relax. I paced nervously.”
“We didn’t have to wait long. A dark suited, dark haired man sauntered into the room. His tie was the only thing about him that differentiated him from an undertaker. He wore a bright floral tie. He saw us staring at it.”
“A Christmas present from my daughter. It keeps her happy if I wear it. What can I do for you?”
“Bill explained about the software we had found on my computer and that we didn’t know why it was there or what it did and wondered where it came from. He made it sound as if we were merely intrigued. No mention of viruses, just that the address of this company was embedded in the code.”
“You must have been using a pretty powerful bit of software to be able to get that far into the code, mused the man.”
“It’s my business to sell the best, beamed Bill. Perhaps I can sell yours, what does it do?”
“I’m not at liberty to go into the precise purpose of that bit of software at the moment but suffice to say that its like an Email system that allows messages to be routed from computer to computer. The path of the messages can be over the Internet or via floppy disks or almost any other media means.”
“Sounds more like a virus than a communications system, said Bill innocently.”
“Certainly, it has a lot in common with a virus. It’s also not in general use. It was designed for military use where a country was in occupation and resistance communities needed to surreptitiously keep in touch with each other.”
“You admit you wrote it, Bill was trying to get down to specifics.”
“We wrote it but sold it on to a private buyer. What they did with it, we wouldn’t know. When we sold it, we gave up all rights. That was the end of the matter as far as we were concerned. Also, I don’t think we would be willing to divulge their name. The sale was a private matter between ourselves.”
“Bill looked satisfied with that. If he wasn’t wouldn’t have made much difference as the man very firmly then showed us the door. The receptionist looked up and stared at us until Bill gave her a cheeky smile and then returned stonily to her work.”
“The bench besides the pub we found was on the waters edge. In the distance was the sound of the local tennis club members hitting balls backwards and forwards. Gnats danced above the slow moving water and the occasional barge drifted by in the early evening sun.”
“Did you believe him? asked Bill jauntily.”
“Whether I believed him or not doesn’t help really, I observed. The trail is at a bit of a dead end if they won’t tell us who they sold it on to.”
“I turned and stared moodily into the foaming real ale in front of me on the wooden table.
“Bill just stared at me with an enigmatic smile.”
“Leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do, my old son.”
“When I got back the message on the computer was howling out at full blast. The image on the screen was back to the snarling, teeth-gnashing wolf. The howls and snarls conveyed a message that made my scalp crawl and my legs feel like jelly.”
“You were warned to do as you are told and only what you are told to do. You will now reap the consequences!”
“I then realised that my wife was very late back from work. To say that I panicked would be a complete understatement. I just didn’t know what to do. I rang Bill only to find out that he’d been involved in a car accident and had been taken to the local hospital. I rang my wife’s office and she had left hours ago. I didn’t dare call the police. Three hours later the message came through my PC to come and see you. You know the rest.”
“I have to confess, that it is a relief to be able to talk to somebody about it.”
So here we are,” said Carolyn, “I suppose it’s time we found out what they want from us and get this wretched show on the road.”
It took them ten minutes to go through the amazing requirements of the plan. It took a further few to interrogate the database and identify the first target. Then there was half an hour of arguing about who would be the first person to go into the field. In the end, they flipped a coin. Carolyn lost. The name of the person she had to date was Gerald.
