"I heard," Jacobs said. "It sounded clean."

"Very pro. Won"t be a problem."

Scott saw the galley for the afternoon paper. The headline, in 3 inch letters shocked him:

RICKFIELD RESIGNS

He immediately called Senator Nancy Deere.

"I was going to call you," she said. "I guess you"ve heard."

"Yes, what happened?" He shouted excitedly over the rumble of the high speed train.

"I guess I should take the blame," Nancy said. "When I confront- ed the Senator this morning, he just stared at me. Never said a word. I begged him for an explanation, but he sat there, expres- sionless. He finally got up and left."

"That"s it? What happens now?"

"I see the President," she said.

"May I ask why?"

"Off the record," she insisted.

"Sure." Scott agreed. What"s one more source I can"t name.

"I heard about the resignation from the White House. Phil Mus- grave. He said the President was very concerned and wanted a briefing from my perspective. He"s beginning to feel some heat on the computer crimes and doesn"t have a clue. I figure they need to get up to speed real fast."

"It"s about time," Scott said out loud. "They"ve been ignoring this forever."

"And," Senator Deere added, "they want you there, too. Tomorrow, 9A.M."

The hair on Scott"s neck stood on end. A command performance from the White House?

"Why, why me?

"You seem to know more than they do. They think you"re wired into the hackers and h.o.m.osoto."

"I"ll be there," Scott managed to get out. "What do I do . . .?"

"Call Musgrave"s office at the White House."

"I bet the paper"s going nuts. I didn"t tell them I had left or where I was going," Scott laughed.

Scott called Doug who had half of the paper looking high and low for him. "You made the big time, huh kid?" Doug said feigning sn.o.bbery. "What world shattering events precipitated this mag- nanimous call?" In fact he was proud. Very proud of Scott.

Scott explained to Doug that he would call after the White House meeting, and he wasn"t quite sure why he was going, and that Nancy was taking over the hearings and he would stay in DC for a few days. And no, he wouldn"t tell more than was in print, not without calling Doug or Higgins - at any hour.

Doug sounded relieved when Scott volunteered that there would be no hotel bills. Phew. Forever the cheap skate. The story of the year and he"s counting pennies. G.o.d, Doug was a good editor.

Scott"s stories on computer crime and specifically the dGraph situation aroused national attention. Time, Newsweek and dozens of periodicals began following the story, but Scott, at Doug"s suggestion, had wisely held back enough information that would guarantee the privacy and quality of his sources.

He was right in the middle of it, perhaps making news as much as reporting it, but with Doug"s and the Times" guidance, Scott and the paper were receiving accolades on their fair yet direct treatment of the issues.

Doug thought that Scott was perhaps working on the story of the year, or maybe the decade, but he never told him so. However, Scott was warned that as the story became major national news, the exclusivity that he and the Times had enjoyed would be in jeopardy. Get it while the getting is hot.

No problem.

It just so happened Scott knew Miles Foster personally.

"Sonja? I"m coming down. Tonight. Can you recommend a good hotel?" He jibed at her while packing away his laptop computer for the trip to Washington. He called her and was going to leave a message, but instead he was rewarded with her answering the phone.

"Chez Lindstrom is nice, but the rates are kind of high."

"King or twin beds? Room with a view? Room service?"

"E, all of the above," she laughed. "Want me to pick you up at National?"

"Naw, I"ll take the train from work. I may need to buy a few things when I get there, like a suitcase and a wardrobe. It"s kind of last minute."

"I gather I wasn"t the prime reason for your sudden trip," Sonja said in fun.

"No, it was, I wanted to come, but I had to do some . . .and then I found out about . . .well I have to be there tomorrow, but I am leaving a day early." He pleaded for understanding, not realiz- ing she was kidding him. He couldn"t tell her why he was being so circ.u.mspect. Nothing about the meeting.

"Well," she said dejectedly, "I guess it"s O.K. If."

"If what?" Scott brightened.

"If we can have a couple of friends over for dinner. There"s someone I"d like you to meet."

"Holy s.h.i.t," Scott said as Sonja opened her apartment door and admitted Miles and the stunning Stephanie.

Miles stopped in his tracks and stared at Scott. Then at Stepha- nie. "What"s the deal?" he said accusingly.

"This is Sonja Lindstrom and her friend Scott Mason," Stephanie said. "What"s wrong, hon?" She still had her arm wrapped around Miles" arm.

"It"s just that, well, we"ve met, and I was just kind of sur- prised, that"s all." He extended a hand at Scott. "Good to see you again." Scott warmly reciprocated. This was going to be an interesting evening.

"Yeah, ditto," Scott said, confused. "What happened to you? I thought you were coming back?" He was speaking of Amsterdam.

"Well, I was a little occupied, if you recall," Miles said refer- ring to the triplets in Amsterdam. "And business forced me to depart earlier than I had antic.i.p.ated."

"Where? To j.a.pan?" Scott awaited a reaction by Miles, but was disappointed when there was none.