Simple Simon Read Online Free Page B

have this?”
    “We have this so I can give it to you,” Lomax answered, setting the file back on the desk. “High priority, and keep that under lock and key. Assign it out to check on Vince’s connections when he was here. The CIA is trying to rule in or out anything that could have compromised him. Maybe he had an old acquaintance here and said something he shouldn’t have. You know the routine.”
    Somehow the term ‘routine’ sounded distasteful when it pertained to someone you once worked closely with, Art thought. “I’ll have it taken care of.” He took the folder and locked it in his desk’s file drawer. “Do we know why Kimura was put onto Vince?”
    “The new round of trade talks is coming up. Vince was probably trying to get some inside intel on their strategies. Someone on the opposing team probably thought he was privy to ours. The new gold standard, Art. Economic espionage.” Lomax thought quietly, then went on. “One more thing. Somewhat related, in fact. Monday the new code gear will be up and running. NSA put it in this morning. Big damn thing. The Director wants us off the MAYFLY system in two weeks.”
    “That’s a damn short time to get everybody checked out,” Art said.
    “That’s why you’re in charge of it. Monday I want you checked out with the Com clerk so you can set up a schedule to get everybody up to speed. Two weeks.”
    Art nodded. Lomax was very serious. “How does this relate to Vince getting killed?”
    “CIA thinks MAYFLY might be compromised. Everyone’s been using it for five years now—us, State, CIA, Defense. If it is leaky it could put a lot of people in jeopardy. All our office to office Secret and Top Secret stuff gets transmitted using MAYFLY. And worse things can happen to one of our UC’s than happened to Vince if they’re blown.”
    Worse? Art wasn’t certain about that. But dead was dead, and an undercover agent losing his or her cover could easily end up that way. “All right. What’s the new system?”
    “It’s called KIWI. Supposed to be the system. Unbreakable and tamper-proof.”
    “Hmm,” Art grunted, nodding. “I heard the same thing in L.A. when MAYFLY went in.”
    Lomax crossed his fingers and stood. “You wanna grab a beer?”
    Art came around his desk and lifted his coat from the brass tree near the door. “I think my wife has plans for me tonight.”
    Bob Lomax raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Get lucky, number two.”
    Art walked Lomax back to his office and caught the elevator alone. He pressed the button for the basement garage and leaned back against the waist-high hand rail. He closed his eyes and thought of Anne.
    But from another part of his consciousness Vince Chappell stared at him with bloody voids where his eyes should be. Art opened his eyes and looked straight ahead at the elevator door until it slid open. He stepped off quickly and turned right toward his car.
    *  *  *
    The school bus pulled to the curb on Vincent Street two houses past the intersection with Milford Avenue and stopped before number 2564, a two story craftsman style home with a fading blue exterior and pretty curtains in every window. “Sweetie, we’re here,” the bus driver, a pudgy redhead, called out to her last passenger. All her ‘kids’ were ‘sweetie’.
    Simon Lynch knew that the bus had stopped, so as he did at each stop no matter who was getting off, he pulled his cards through his collar and flipped to the card that said YELLOW BUS on top. Below that he had written, with his mother prompting him: IF TH BUS STOPS AT A BLU HOUS AND TH NUMBR ON TH BLU HOUS IS 2564 GT OUT OF TH BUS AND GO INTO TH BLU HOUS MOMMY WIL B INSID TH BLU HOUS WITH HOT CHOKOLIT FOR SIMON   Simon nodded to himself and returned the cards to their place, got up with Dr. Chas’s magazine still under his arm, and walked to the front of the bus. “My mother says to get off here.”
    The driver winked and smiled at him. “Sure enough, sweetie. We’ll see you Monday.