Chapter 34

This was the part I'd thought would be the most difficult. I was pretty sure that, at least for now, Richard would expose Spook if given half a chance. So hooking them up by phone or for on-line chats seemed out; there'd be no way of knowing who might be listening or looking over his shoulder. And he lived several hundred miles away, repeated visits to my shielded study were equally out of the question.

In the end, though, that problem had proved simplest of all to solve.

"Remember the phone tip you got when I was in jail?" I asked. He gave me an irritated look.

"Yes, I set it up," I said with a smile. "But it was Spook who made it, using my voice. Well, the voice you've been hearing from me; he's been altering it just enough to screw up your voice-prints, as I expect you found out. But it sure sounded like me, didn't it?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, and the voice-prints match, too, Spook's good with voices," I continued. "So that's how. You'll still get calls, but you won't know if it's Spook or me on the other end. Or even both of us, one talking and the other monitoring. You with me so far?"

He let out a breath. "I see," he said.

"There'll have to be some rules," I told him. "One is that you address whoever's on the phone as Jack. If you try getting cute by calling us Spook or something like that you won't get a response, and you won't get any more calls from either of us; you're out of the loop. Understand?"

"I've got it."

"Rule number two, no more clever 'tests' about your middle name or anything else. Do it again, whoever's calling breaks the connection and, again, that's the last call. And the same for anything else that smells like some sort of trap."

"You're not going to let me use this to prove Spook's existence, are you?" he said in a sour tone.

"No," I said. "And please, don't stay up nights thinking of ways to outsmart us. You haven't been able to trick me into telling you anything meaningful in five years, and Spook's a computer, he's a lot smarter than both you and me put together. He got 'Jeremiah, ' didn't he?"

He grunted affirmative. "You've got all the bases covered, don't you? OK, what other 'rules' are you prescribing for me?"

"That's it," I told him. "Just play straight with us. Of course, you can expect some longer phone calls than you and I have been having. Really long sometimes, discussions of all sorts of stuff—"

He held up his hand to stop me. "How long?" he asked.

"Long enough that it's not going to sit well with your bosses," I said. "I remember you telling me they thought you were getting too chummy with me. They won't be happy about extended philosophical discussions, especially on agency time. So we probably shouldn't have them over your dedicated line, which I'm sure is automatically tapped, right?"

He shrugged acknowledgment.

"Call us back, at your convenience," I said. "Any line, just dial my old cell number. It's not listed any more, as I'm sure you know, but Spook's quarantined it so it can't be reassigned. The only calls on it other than you will be misdials. We'll pick up but say nothing until you identify yourself. Suits?"

"I suppose so," he said in a grudging tone.

"Or initiate a call on your own, if you want," I added. "Day or night; Spook doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat meals, he doesn't take evenings out or weekends or holidays or vacations, and the line will never be busy. And it's also impervious to tapping, if that's a concern."

"How about the other end?" he asked.

I frowned. "I hadn't thought about that," I said. "Your bosses trust you as little as that?"

He shrugged and looked a little abashed. "We sign waivers. Any phone, any time. National security, you know? They take it pretty seriously. And then there's the other side ... you never know."

"Huh," I grunted. "Well, it can be handled, that's how I set up Lisa's getaway—"

"Shit!" he exclaimed. "The school library, right? So we couldn't see her on the phone?"

Even if he'd refreshed it recently, his memory was impressive. "You got it," I told him, smiling. Then I lost the smile. "Spook can block any taps two-way, but they'll still know what number you dialed," I mused.

"If you will allow, Jack," came Spook's voice over the speaker.

"Go ahead," I said.

"This cannot be resolved without revealing greater control of telephone system than I wish for others to know," he said. "Such control could only be exercised by computer system, which could compromise me if Richard were to display my ability."