(1995) Trust Me by Jayne Ann Krentz

Author:Jayne Ann Krentz [Krentz, Jayne Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schusters
Published: 1995-06-22T05:00:00+00:00

Two hours later Desdemona watched uneasily as Stark tossed a handful of toothpicks down onto his desk. The little sticks bounced and skittered on the glass surface.

“It had to be one of your people, Desdemona. No one else here tonight would have had a reason to carry a bunch of toothpicks around in his or her pocket.”

Desdemona stared at the toothpicks. “I don’t understand.” She was baffled, not only by the toothpicks but by the change that had come over Stark.

The last of his guests had departed a few minutes earlier. As soon as the car’s taillights had disappeared down the drive, he had asked her to follow him upstairs. The icy cold emanating from him sent a frisson of alarm along all her nerve endings.

She realized that there had been only one other occasion when she had glimpsed him in this dark and dangerous mood. That had been the night Tony had greeted them at the door of her apartment dressed in the Exotica Erotica regalia.

Something was terribly wrong. Desdemona wiped her damp palms on her apron. Her stomach clenched.

“What don’t you understand?” Stark watched her with a grim patience that was frightening in its intensity.

“Let me get this straight.” She took a breath. “You think someone tried to steal your computer tonight?”

“Not the computer. That’s not worth more than a couple thousand at most on the secondary market, and there would have been no way to get it out of the house undetected.”

“Then what—?”

“The thief was after the hard disk inside. That’s where the valuable stuff is stored. Any idiot knows that.”

Desdemona swallowed. “You mean he was after your new project? The one you call ARCANE?”

“Yes, Desdemona. That’s exactly what I mean. Whoever it was knew that there was no other way to get it except by stealing the entire hard disk. I keep this computer completely isolated. No modem is ever used with it. It’s not linked to any network system. That means that no one can get into it through another computer.”

“But why would anyone want to steal your special project? You told me it was locked in code.”

“Given enough time, a very good hacker can break any code. Even one of mine.”

She frowned. “But what would he do with ARCANE once he’d figured out how to break the code?”

“Sell it.”

“To whom?”

“Any one of a number of foreign corporations or governments. It’s called industrial espionage, Desdemona. Don’t pretend you haven’t heard of it.”

“Well, of course I’ve heard of it, but it isn’t something I worry about on a day-to-day basis,” she retorted. “If someone really wants to steal my tapenade recipe, he’s welcome to it.”

“You may not worry about this kind of espionage, but I do.”

She winced. “Yes, I suppose you do. You’ve made a career out of it, haven’t you?”

“The theft of high-tech information is the new ball game. It’s replaced a lot of the old-fashioned political espionage. Several of the old players are involved.”

“What do you mean?”

“A lot of the pros who once stole and resold national security secrets have undergone career adjustments.

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