"Fatal Error" - читать интересную книгу автора (Стоун Г. Х.)

4 Bad Timins

His heart pounding, Jupiter dove from the path of the microwave cart. It thundered past so close that it took his breath away.

Just as the cart crashed into the living room wall, a pair of white high-top shoes pounded past Jupe. A guy wearing a green jacket whipped open the front door and raced out across the porch. By the time Jupe was back on his feet, the figure had disappeared down the walkway.

“Jupe!” Bob appeared in the doorway. “Are you okay?”

“Where’d he go? Did you see him?”

“Only his back,” Bob admitted. “I was looking for you around the side. What took you so long?”

Jupe flung out an arm, gesturing at the trashed apartment. “Searching through this mess.”

“Geez, Jupe.” Bob stared. “Did you have to destroy the place?”

“I didn’t do it, dope. It must’ve been the guy who tried to mash me with that cart.” Jupe told Bob about the attack and his narrow escape. “I remember when Rome came to talk to us, I thought he was kind of weird and arrogant, but he sure knew his computer stuff. Wonder why anyone would want to search his place… unless it had to do with the virus.”

“Come on,” Bob said, eying the open door. “Let’s split before someone else shows up.”

The Investigators quickly locked the apartment and trotted down the winding walkway.

“Did you see the guy’s green jacket and white high-tops?” Bob asked. “It had to be one of the guys who asked the manager about Rome.”

Puffing, Jupiter nodded agreement. “Too bad he saw me before I saw him!”

“Jupe! Bob!” At the sound of Pete’s voice, the guys turned. Pete loped easily toward them.

“Boy, I sure could’ve used you five minutes ago!” Jupiter told his athletic friend.

“Sorry. It was a bummer trying to find a parking place. What happened?”

Jupiter and Bob filled Pete in as they walked the two blocks to his car. “But why’d he go after you, Jupe?” Pete said at last. “I mean, did you find something?”

“Nope.” Jupe climbed into the back seat. “Must’ve been a diversionary tactic. You know, distract me so he could split. Sure makes me wonder whether Rome took off to dodge so many visitors.”

“His visitors seem to play rough,” Bob said as he sat down in the passenger seat next to Pete. “It’s a good thing you looked up in time, Jupe. You could’ve been mildly squashed. That was a pretty big cart.”

They drove back to the junkyard silently, each wondering what the intruder had been after… and why.

It was nearing dusk when the Investigators parked in The Jones Salvage Yard.

“Hey! Look at the door!” Pete said, pointing across the yard to their headquarters trailer.

The guys jumped out of the car. Pete and Bob ran ahead to investigate while Jupiter trailed. He’d had enough fast moves for one day.

“It’s notes!” Bob realized as they drew closer. Small papers were taped to the door, fluttering in the breeze.

“Kelly!” Pete guessed. “I’m dead!”

“Oh, no!” Bob smacked his forehead. “I forgot Elizabeth!”

Behind them Jupiter guffawed. “Boy, are you two in trouble!”

“Hey, you wanna talk about somethin’ real,” called the familiar voice of Ty Cassey, Jupiter’s second cousin. “Talk cars.”

Lean and wiry, Ty was a master mechanic. His backpack was at his feet, and he was leaning over the engine of Pete’s Ford delivery van, tinkering. Whenever he passed through Rocky Beach, Ty joined Pete in restoring cars for resale.

“You’re back, Ty!” yelled Pete.

“Obviously. Man, you know you got engine pingin’?”

“No!” Pete made a beeline for the grease pit. Then he spotted Jupe’s laughing face. “Kelly!” he reminded himself, and turned back to the trailer. Inside he flicked on the lights and dialed her number. The guys heard him say, “Kelly, baby!” Then he slammed the door.

Bob picked notes off the door. “ ‘No one plays tennis in the dark, dummy!’ ” he read, “ ‘Investigators should investigate something important — like why they can’t tell time!’… ‘All guys are the worst!’ ”

The trailer door opened and Pete walked out, whistling. He looked very pleased with himself.

“So?” Bob and Jupiter followed him to the grease pit.

“So, no big deal,” he said. “Tomorrow afternoon I’m taking her to see Cosmic Trek: The New World.”

“Brilliant idea!” Bob said, impressed that Pete had thought of it. “Every girl in the world wants to see Hack den Zorn’s new movie. That ought to get me out of the doghouse too.” He headed for the trailer phone.

“So the third movie’s out already?” Ty asked Pete as he climbed behind the van’s wheel. Everyone knew about the megahit science fiction trilogy. The first two films had made Hack and his costar Qute den Zorn hot box-office stars. Qute — pronounced “cute” — was also Hack’s twin sister.

“Me, I’d go just to see Qute,” Pete confided. “She is one be — yoo — tiful babe.”

“Don’t let Kelly hear you say that,” Jupe advised.

Jupe went into his electronics workshop, a shack on the other side of the trailer from the grease pit. He pulled out a stool and sat in the doorway. Closing his eyes, he turned over in his mind the meaning of the CHAO$ message. Someone was in danger, and it had to be someone with a computer.

The van’s motor roared to life, and Pete stuck his head under the hood. Ty stepped on the gas. Every time he did, the engine pinged. Ty sped around the van to join Pete under the hood.

Just then the trailer door opened, and Bob emerged with a triumphant smile on his handsome face.

“We’re going with you to the movie tomorrow!” he shouted to Pete. “Jupe, you’ve got to come too. Elizabeth has a cousin she wants to set you up with!”

Jupe opened his eyes and rolled them. “I’m busy!”

“Come on, Jupe,” Pete encouraged. “If you don’t bore her to death with the theory of relativity, you’ll have a great time.”

Despite his big brain, Jupiter found girls a huge mystery. “I’ve got to clean up the virus,” he insisted.

“Okay, chicken, but you tell her!” Bob said. “I’m outta here. Got to help Sax with a gig tonight!” Leaving the phone dangling in the trailer doorway, he trotted off toward the junkyard entrance.

Slowly Jupe walked over and picked up the phone. He cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Hello, Elizabeth.”

Pete watched, amused. How was Jupe going to get out of this one?

An idea glinted in Jupe’s eyes. “I’d love to go out with your cousin, but the only time I have open is dinner. She’s welcome to join me — for peanut butter and bananas.” Jupe paused, listening. He smiled. “Of course. I’m very sorry that she doesn’t do peanut butter. Maybe next time. Good-bye.”

Chuckling, Jupe hung up the telephone and returned to his stool to work on the CHAO$ question.

Pete laughed and shook his head. Now back to important things — like the van’s pinging. He asked Ty, “What’s the prob?”

“When fuel and air mix it up, you know, in the engine’s combustion chamber, they’re s’posed to burn smooth,” Ty explained. “But sometimes they don’t. Then you get little bursts or explosions. That’s what makes the pingin’.”

“Will it hurt anything?”

“You bet. Bad detonation can raise the combustion chamber temperatures so high that metals melt and kill the pistons and valves.”

“Oh, no!” Pete groaned.

“Relax, man.” Ty chuckled. “We’re in like Flynn. You were gonna do a tune-up on this baby anyway, right?”

“Yeah,” Pete said eagerly. “Do you mean a tune-up will take care of it?”

“Yup. Your ignition timin’s off, that’s all.” Jupe was getting nowhere fast with the CHAO$ problem. He headed into the trailer to work on cleaning up the Investigators’ PC. First he had to purge the system, then boot it back up using the original software. It could take days. After that he’d have to start reinventorying the junkyard. It looked as if they’d lost data on furniture, appliance parts, garden utensils…

Suddenly Bob bellowed across the yard. “Jupe! Pete!”

The guys turned. Bob was running toward them. He looked both surprised and alarmed.

“There’s a guy out there,” Bob panted. “He’s watching the salvage yard! He’s got on a green jacket and white high-tops!”