Free Tiger Threat by Sigmund Brouwer Page B

cheese and sausages. Louise and William. They were middle-aged. She had bleached blond hair and a deep tan. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt. They worked hard at looking young and cool. In a way, this made them as geeky as Abe. Parents that age should have dressed the way Abe did, and Abe should have dressed the way they did.
    â€œHey, Ray,” William said, giving me a salute that he probably thought was cool too. “Thanks for setting up this party tonight, even if it was on short notice. Abe is pretty happy to be the center of attention for a change.”
    I nodded. I think what he really meant was that they were happy to be the center of attention. Abe liked the quiet of his computer room. I’d had to beg him to allow people to come over.
    Vlad followed me into the living room.
    Some of the kids there waved at us. Most didn’t. The music was loud. Talking wasn’t talking. It was shouting.
    Two guys stood in the corner. One tall, like Vlad. One my size. I walked over.
    â€œThanks, Jimmy!” I yelled. “Thanks, Sam!”
    Jimmy and Sam were the two guys who had gone to Amanda’s house, going through the alley and backyard to her back door so that the Russian mafia guy couldn’t see them. Vlad and I had given them our jackets and hats. Jimmy and Sam had gone out the front and driven my Jeep TJ here so that the Russianmafia guy would follow them. I’d made some other calls to friends on their cell phones to tell them to come here for a party. I’d figured that with enough music and lights in the house, Mr. Russian Mafia wouldn’t come inside and try anything.
    â€œYou ever going to tell us what this is about?” Sam yelled back. He was the tall one, Vlad’s height.
    â€œNo!” I yelled. “I’ll just owe you both a favor, all right?”
    They nodded.
    â€œHey,” I said. “We need our jackets and hats back.”
    Too soon, Vlad and I would be going outside again. To the Jeep. Knowing that the Russian mafia monster would follow us to a place where he thought we wouldn’t be safe.

chapter twenty - three
    As I’d predicted, Abe was in his computer room. He was wearing headphones. His back was toward us. He was facing his computer screen.
    I walked into the room. Vlad was behind me. I locked the door. Abe didn’t move.
    I tapped Abe on the shoulder.
    He jumped halfway out of his chair. He landed. He took off his headphones.
    â€œWhat were you listening to?” I asked.
    â€œSilence,” Abe said. He gave his head a shake. “Too much noise in the house. I mean, do people actually enjoy parties?”
    â€œYour parents,” I said.
    He snorted. “Yeah.”
    I pointed at the screen. “Do you think you have it set up?”
    â€œI’m afraid to say it,” he said, “but yes. I’m using an IP address that I’m running through a server that I’ve hacked into that belongs to a college in England. Through there, I’ve found a way behind a firewall of a newspaper computer in Alabama, using a Trojan horse that is impossible to detect. From that computer, I’m relaying through a mainframe in Argentina and—”
    â€œAbe,” I said, “I just need to know there’s no way in the world to track us to this computer in this house.”
    â€œUm, basically.”
    â€œBasically?” I said. “We need a hundred percent guarantee here. Basically isn’t good enough.”
    â€œHow’s this?” he answered. “If we stay online for less than ten minutes, there’s not asecurity expert in the world who could follow the trail back here.”
    â€œThat’s what I wanted to hear,” I said.
    â€œThen we’re ready.”
    â€œTo go where?”
    â€œKuwait,” I answered.
    â€œKuwait,” he repeated.
    â€œMore specifically, a bank in Kuwait,” I said. “Trust me.”
    Abe glanced at Vlad, then back at me.
    â€œHow do