Are You Afraid Of The Dark

We don't have them all here, of course, but we'll get them from our warehouses. I'll take care of it personally.

Will that be cash or charge?"

"COD," Kelly said.

As the manager hurried away, Diane said, "I wish I had thought of that." Kelly gri

"I THOUGHT YOU would like to see these, Mr. Kingsley." Kathy Ordonez handed him several newspapers. The headlines told the story:

AUSTRALIA HAS FREAK TORNADO 

THE FIRST TORNADO TO EVER HIT AUSTRALIA HAS 

DESTROYED A DOZEN VILLAGES. DEATH TOLL IS UNKNOWN. 

METEOROLOGISTS ARE BAFFLED BY NEW

WORLD WEATHER PATTERNS. OZONE LAYER BLAMED.

Ta

Ta

He pressed a buzzer. "Andrew, get in here." Andrew was in his office, daydreaming about his accident, and remembering. He was in the wardrobe room to get his spacesuit that the army had sent. He started to take one from the rack, but Ta

Ta

"Andrew! Get in here!"

ANDREW HEARD THE command, got up, and slowly walked into Ta

"Sit down."

"Yes, Ta

"The bitches just hit our Web site in Berlin. Do you know what that means?" "Yes… I-no." Ta

The manager's face lit up when he saw Ta

"We're going to start by wiping out all their assets. We have their Social Security numbers." He kept typing as he talked. "Diane Stevens…," he mused as he used the back-door software KIG installed when they were hired to make Experian's systems Y2K-compliant. This back-door software gave Ta

"Look. Experian has all her bank account information, an IRA retirement account, her line of credit at the bank. See?" Andrew swallowed. "Yes, Ta

Listen to me when

I'm talking to you." The door flew open and Ta

"Did I fall down?" Ta

Kingsley." He shrugged modestly. "We all have to do what we can."

TEN MINUTES LATER, Ta

"Good news, Mr. Kingsley. This fax just came in from Senator Van Luven's office." "Let me see it." Ta

Dear Mr. Kingsley:

This is to inform you that the Senate Select Committee on the Environment has decided to appropriate funds to immediately increase our investigation of global warming and how to combat it.

Sincerely, Senator Van Luven

CHAPTER 33

YOU HAVE a passport?" Diane asked.

"I always carry it with me in a strange country." And Kelly added, "And lately this has become one hell of a strange country." Diane nodded. "My passport is in a bank vault. I'll get it. And we'll need some money."

WHEN THEY ENTERED the bank, Diane went downstairs to the vault and opened her safetydeposit box. She removed her passport, put it in her purse, and walked back upstairs to a teller's desk.

"I would like to close my account."

"Certainly. Your name, please?"

"Diane Stevens." The teller nodded. "Just a moment, please." He walked back to a row of filing cabinets, opened a drawer, and started riffling through the cards. He pulled one out, looked at it a moment, then walked back to Diane. "Your account has already been closed out, Mrs. Stevens." Diane shook her head. "No. There must be some mistake. I have-" The teller put the card in front of Diane. It read "Account closed. Reason:

Deceased." Diane stared at it unbelievingly, then looked up at the teller. "Do I look like I'm deceased?" "Of course not. I'm sorry. If you'd like me to call the manager, can"No!" She suddenly realized what had happened and felt a small shiver. "No, thanks." Diane hurried over to the entrance, where Kelly was waiting.