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“I’m driving under the influence,” Baxter said.
“What? You’re drunk?”
“No. Under the influence of Charlie Snow, along with some really excellent weed. I don’t care, because I’m gonna get hurt. I’m pretty sure of that now.”
“You won’t get hurt,” Nowak said, without trying to sound convincing. “Tell me what you’ve done.”
They told her about meeting Able.
“They want to turn off the gas, like you said—but it had nothing to do with any northern cities,” Letty told her. “It had to do with shutting down SlapBack. A political thing. When we told them to forget about gas, to concentrate on the electric power, Able was happy enough to look at that. He even agreed it was probably a better plan. Your guys really gotta rethink the whole natural gas thing.”
Nowak said, “We were picking up rumors. It’s possible that there was some speculation attached, here on our side, that somebody looked at the obvious. Where would you shut off the gas in the middle of winter, for a ransomware attack? Wouldn’t be Miami or LA, it’d have to be in the north. So...”
“So it’s possible it’s all bullshit,” Baxter said. “Can we come home?”
“Not yet. It sounds like you’re close to meeting with the Ordinary People. Stay with it long enough to get some IDs. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Then we’re gonna need some help from you right now,” Baxter said. “We’re under a lot of time pressure—we could be screwed if the feds let Bob and Sue out of jail. We need to know how to get into Encino Power and turn off the substation that feeds the SlapBack servers.”
He gave her all the information that he’d gotten from Able and she made notes: “I’ll get this to the right people and they’ll work through it for you.”
“I need it in the morning and it can’t be wrong,” Baxter said.
When they’d hung up, Baxter said, “Yeah, they’re lying about something. They’re still lying about it. Seriously.”
“I know,” Letty said. “I don’t think they ever really gave a shit about natural gas computers and Minneapolis getting shut down. The question is, whatdothey give a shit about? Why are we out here?”
Nine
They’d been up all night. When they got to Pasadena, they stopped at a 7-Eleven and bought granola and milk for Letty and three Big Bites and two Red Bulls for Baxter.
Back in the truck, Letty said, “Did you get relish on the Big Bites? Onions?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I? And mustard,” Baxter said.
“They smell disgusting,” Letty said. “Give me a bite.”
“Hey,” Baxter sputtered, a hot dog in one hand. “This is mybreakfast.”
“I’m not asking for a whole one; just a bite.”
Theyweredisgusting; but she was still a little stoned. Baxter gave her half of a Big Bite and on the way to the motel, both of them chewing, Baxter muttered, “Cruising down Colorado Boulevard in my Tundra. Elbow out the window. Palm trees and starlight. Hot dog in one hand, hot chick riding shotgun. Livin’ the life, huh?”
“Remember it, ’cause it probably won’t happen again,” Letty said.
“That’s right. Pee on my shoes when I was starting to enjoy myself,” Baxter said.
They got six hoursin bed, Letty sleeping soundly, given the combination of marijuana and an increasing trust in Baxter. When Delores Nowak called at eleven o’clock, they both popped up, and Baxter took the call, putting the phone on speaker.
“We’re sending you the information you asked for, about access to Encino Power,” Nowak said. “We trust you’ll use it wisely, but if you don’t, we’ll deny everything. You should have it in the next half hour. I’m sure you’ll understand it.”
“I’m sure I will,” Baxter said. “If we get any money out of this thing, do we get to keep it?”
“I believe you could use it for expenses, but you’d have to turn in any excess... if there were any excess,” Nowak said.
“Got it,” Baxter said. He smiled a dishonest smile at Letty.
Letty chipped in. “We need a prescription for Adderall or Ritalin under our cover names, sent to a pharmacy close to the motel. We need it in the next half hour or so. Thirty tabs should be enough.”
