Islands in the Net Read Online Free PDF

for a moment and she waited it out, pulling at a long strand of hair. “He took that photo he made of me, the black-and-white one in period dress, that I really liked. And that was two days ago and he doesn’t answer his goddamn phone.”
    She looked close to tears. “I don’t know, Laura. I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried men in the company, men outside, and it’s just no luck at all. I mean, either they want to own you and be the center of the universe, or they want to treat you like some bed-and-breakfast service and expose you to Christ knows what kind of disease. And it’s been worse since I’ve been on the Committee. Rizome men are a lost cause now. They tiptoe around me like I was a goddamn land mine.”
    She looked off-camera. “C’mon, kitty.” A Persian cat jumped onto the bed. “Maybe it’s me, Laura. Other women come to decent terms with men. You certainly did. Maybe I need outside help.” She hesitated. “Someone put an anonymous post on the trade division board. About a psychiatric drug. Marriage counselors are using it. Romance, they call it. You ever hear of it? I think it’s illegal or something.” She stroked her cat absently.
    She sighed. “Well, this is nothing new. Emily’s sob story, year thirty-two. I think it’s through between me and Arthur now. He’s an artistic type. A photographer. Not in business at all. I thought it might work out. But I was wrong as usual.” She shrugged. “I should look at the bright side, right? He didn’t ask me for money and he didn’t give me a retrovirus. And he wasn’t married. A real prince.”
    She leaned back against the mahogany headboard, looking tired and defenseless. “I shouldn’t tell you this, Laura, so be sure to erase it first thing. This Grenada Bank deal—that meeting you’re about to hold is part of it. Rizome’s sponsoring a meeting on data banking and data piracy. That doesn’t sound like anything new, but listen: it’s with actual live pirates. Sleazy offshore types from the data havens. Remember the fight we put through to get your Lodge equipped for major meetings?”
    Emily grimaced and spread her hands. “Well, the Europeans should be there already. They’re the tamest of the bunch—the closest to legit. But you can expect some Grenadians in tomorrow, with one of our security people. The Committee’s sent you the schedule already, but not the full details. As far as you know, they’re all legitimate bankers. Be nice to them, all right? They may be crooks to us, but what they do is completely legal in their little enclaves.”
    She frowned. The cat dropped to the floor with a thump off-camera. “They’ve been taking bites out of us for years, and we’ve got to talk some sense into them. It looks bad for Rizome to cozy up to pirates, so keep it quiet, all right? I’m being stupid here, because I wanted to give you a break. If it comes out that I leaked this, the Committee will slap me down hard. So you’d better be a lot more discreet than I am. Okay, end of message. Send me a tape of the baby, all right? Say hi to David.” The screen went blank.
    Well, now she had it all. She erased the tape. Thanks, Em. Pirate data bankers, no less. Creepy little hustlers from some offshore data haven—the kind of guys who chewed matchsticks and wore sharkskin suits. That explained the Europeans. Bankers my eye. They were all rip-off artists. Crooks.
    They were nervous, that was it. Jumpy. And no wonder. The general potential for embarrassment in this situation was vast. One phone call to the Galveston police and they could all be in muchissimo hot water.
    She was a little mad at the Committee for being cagy about it. But she could see their reasons. And the more she thought about it, the more she recognized it as a gesture of trust. Her Lodge was going to be right in