Blind Ambition - Just.Us.Friendz (free ebooks for android .txt) 📗

sites and other mischief mostly for fun. Black hats are the truly bad dudes who are using computers to steal, crash systems and other nasty stuff.

"And Auggie tells me you call yourselves hackers, crackers and trackers. What about those?

"Well, hacker is the broad general term. Basically someone who is deeply knowledgeable about computers, someone who loves to experiment, find solutions, open up new possibilities. Cracker is not a racial slur as we use it, but someone who is proficient at breaking software protection like key codes, firewalls and the like. In our case, they would work in computer security, testing and reinforcing systems. A tracker is a programmer who monitors something – follows it through all its stages. It can also refer to tracks in music."

Annie shook her head and looked up with wide, curious eyes. "Talk about total ignorance. I am completely out of my depth here. Auggie must think I'm an absolute dunce."

Shane cracked a wide and mischievous smile. "Auggie thinks the earth of you, Miss Annie, and so do we. You make him happy and that's more than enough."

Annie looked up to see Auggie moving from one computer station to the next. He stopped to talk with each occupant, answer questions and suggest approaches. While he clearly knew the area well, she noticed that he did use his cane. She realized why when she saw its sweep contact a carelessly dropped backpack. Auggie stepped around it and walked on.

"You're fond of Auggie, then?" Annie said to the group around her.

Everyone started to answer, but Evie won out. "He's the absolute greatest guy on earth," she said with considerable exaggeration, but welcome enthusiasm. "He's done a major save for pretty much everybody here. Some of us he grabbed by the collar and yanked back from the edge of a pit. He's taught us so much, and not just computers either."

Donny Carlone had wandered over and now spoke up. "You got that right. He sez we gotta wash, and always talk nice and play fair. I'd ended up in Juvie if my truant officer hadn'ta sent me to him."

Mark Henry entered the conversation. "I'm not exactly a 'major save', but one of the top surgeons at Bethesda did ask Auggie to take me in and teach me as much as he could about computers. It's been a real education. I think Colonel Harrison was or is one of Auggie's doctors."

"What's he do?" Evie demanded.

"Doctor Harrison? He's a neurosurgeon," Mark told her.

"Is he going to fix Auggie's eyes, make him see again?" Evie's voice was low with intensity.

Annie thought it best to put those speculations to rest at once. She didn't want Auggie to have to deal with it. "I'm afraid that's not possible, Evie," Annie said. "The optic nerves are dead; there's no hope of a recovery."

"So he'll never see anything?" Evie sounded so sad.

"Well, his implant does let him in a sense see the bounce off a laser…." Annie trailed to a stop, suddenly aware that she was sharing Agency information. "Er… it's highly experimental, just something he's testing for a friend. Tell me about what you want to do, Evie?"

The conversation veered away from the dangerous subject, and soon the caterers arrived with dinner. A spare table was set up and chairs dragged over from the computer stations. The spread of New Orleans delicacies was fully as delicious as Auggie had promised, and Annie soon found herself stuffed almost to discomfort.

The meal lasted more than an hour, and between them, Annie and Auggie got everyone to talk a little bit about themselves and their plans, their hopes and even their dreams. It became clear that at least three of the kids were dirt poor, but with ambition and what they were learning in the club, a brighter future was possible. Annie would later learn that Auggie was helping two of them with their college tuition.

"Well, what did you think?" Auggie asked when the evening was over and they were in the car headed home. "Did you have any fun or was it something you never want to repeat?"

'I enjoyed it far more than I expected," Annie told him. "They are an amazing crew, and you are doing great things with them. You have hidden depths that I have yet to explore." She reached over and slid her hand from his knee up the line of his thigh to the warmth of a deep crease.

He clamped his hand down over hers. "Jeeze, Annie, if you don't quit that, you're going to have to stop the car, and we'll probably end up being arrested. I'm glad you had a good time, but it must be all those oysters you ate. Hang on until we get home."

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Arthur Campbell thought he had been very clever. They would be tracking Auggie at all times. Ben had been given strict guidelines. Auggie was to remain in the country and was not to be permanently injured in any way. As soon as they went to ground, a listening array would be secretly dropped into place. The type of questioning would soon reveal Mercer's intentions and confirm or destroy their trust in Anderson – two birds with one stone.

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Auggie wasn't afraid, but he wasn't a fool either. He didn't doubt the deep feeling that someone was watching him – probably Ben Mercer or someone acting for him. When Annie was away on a mission, as she had been for the last four days, he stuck close to home. He let the Agency provide a car and driver to take him to and from work and fixed simple meals for himself. But this was different. Annie had a birthday coming up, and he had ordered something very special for her. Precious Pearls had called to say it was ready.

He telephoned to be sure that Evelyn, the salesperson he knew, was in before he walked the three blocks from his apartment building to the shop. He knew the area and made good time. Evelyn was delighted to see him again. She had sold them the pink pearls he bought Annie on the day she moved in with him, and she had taken this special order some weeks ago. She exclaimed over how beautifully his design had been realized.

A large and gleaming white, teardrop pearl was centered between two slightly smaller, but perfectly round black pearls. They were strung on gold links with tiny white pearls spaced every half inch along its length. It would hang just between her breasts. Auggie couldn't see it, but he had visualized it, and the reality felt the way he thought it should. He thanked Evelyn for her assistance and paid. She packaged it beautifully for him, included the card he had brought and dropped it into a distinctive Precious Pearls bag.

Half a block from Precious Pearls, Auggie heard two sets of heavy footsteps closing on him. Ice ran up his spine, and the hair on the back of his neck stood erect. A hand clamped onto his left arm. "Allow me to assist you, mien Herr." The speaker had a heavy German accent. Auggie spun and brought a knee up into his attacker's balls and his fist into his face at the same instant. The man fell back with an agonized grunt. Auggie had hoped to break the man's nose, but felt his knuckles contact an eye instead.

The attacker on his right closed a massive hand around Auggie's upper arm. Auggie thrust his cane between the spread legs behind him and jerked up hard. The resulting screech told him the man's height. He released the cane and brought his shoulder up sharply under a solid chin. Momentarily free, he was about to sprint down the familiar street, when a voice he knew said, "Dammit, you fools! I told you he was dangerous." A powerful electric shock jolted him from behind. He had just time enough to think 'taser', before darkness descended.

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Publication Date: 11-19-2011

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