“You sure you want to do that?” David Gray’s expression was serious as he looked down at the Squirt.
The younger boy merely nodded. “Yeah, I know. Spying on the head of Net Force. It’s probably fairly high on the ‘not a bright idea’ list.” Mark’s round, tanned face suddenly tightened. “But even if I get caught, what’s Dad going to do to me? Especially when I tell him why I did it. I’m pretty sure it’ll be all right, as long as we don’t try anything nasty.”
Megan looked around at the others, strong emotion momentarily robbing her of her voice. She cleared her throat. “That’s not going to be enough,” she finally said. “None of it is. I’ve been doing some research on Hangman Hank. He used to be with the FBI until he was brought into Net Force about a year ago. Apparently, one of the higher-ups in the FBI thought at the time that Net Force’s internal affairs needed tightening up. You know how it is. Computer types never look buttoned down enough to government bigwigs. Or, more likely, maybe the FBI just wanted to get rid of the guy. Jay Gridley’s tried to get him moved somewhere else, but the man’s got good connections. He’s a political appointee, the kind that’s tough to get shed of. Anyway, this guy’s never been a field agent, even in the FBI. He’s always specialized in internal security and investigations. And he always gets something on the people he investigates. It’s his theory that nobody has clean hands. And maybe he’s right. You can’t be out on the streets as a field agent and run things one hundred percent by the book all the time.”
The others didn’t say anything. But she could see from their faces that this was something they’d already heard or at least suspected. After all, how many times had they jumped into action because the hands of Net Force were officially tied? Even though they knew he was innocent, Captain Winters could be in serious trouble if the Internal Affairs department decided to go on a witch hunt.
“With Steadman on your case, if you’re lucky, you either wind up humiliated or with a wrecked career. If you aren’t lucky, you end up behind bars. And he’s going to go all-out on a high-profile case like this one.”
“We’re with you,” Leif said. “What can we do to help?”
She blinked, hoping to hide the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes. “Do you think the piddling stuff we’re offering to do will really help?”
Megan didn’t allow herself to wait for an answer. Choking back her frustration and fear, she cut the connection and vanished from Matt’s space.
Seconds later Matt floated open-mouthed in his virtual workspace, staring at the spot where Megan had stood.
“Well,” Leif said, “that was a bit more exciting than most of our after-meeting get-togethers.”
“Even more exciting than most meetings I’ve been to,” Mark agreed. He made a production of looking at the virtual watch on his wrist. “Maybe I should be heading out, too.”
“You really going to do what you said you would?” Andy Moore asked.
Offended, Mark gave him a quick look. “I said I would.” Then he vanished, too.
Mark’s exit seemed to open the door for everybody else. A couple of people, David Gray among them, apologized as they left. Matt didn’t say much to them as they vanished, one after another. After Megan’s outburst, what more was there left to say?
Soon Matt’s virtual sanctum was empty except for himself and Leif Anderson.
“I thought you’d be in a hurry to pull out and begin your investigation of Tori Rush.” Matt couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Maybe you’ll discover she was a centerfold model before she went into news. That way we’ll have some interesting pictures to look at — even if Captain Winters gets shafted.”
“I don’t think Tori Rush will be that easy a nut to crack,” Leif said. “At best, I’m hoping all her innuendos will turn out to be nothing.”
“But that didn’t stop you from stepping in and giving Megan a little backup there.”
Leif just raised his eyebrows. “Yeah. And you saw how much she thanked me for it.” He sighed. “No matter what we do, I know Megan’s going to be stirring things up, pushing the envelope to help the captain. As long as she thinks some of us might help her, at least she’ll stay in touch. And that’s a good thing. We don’t need her out there as a loose cannon.”
Matt shuddered. “Okay. You’ve got a point there.” He turned troubled eyes toward Leif. “But you were at the last meeting — the last regular meeting — where Captain Winters asked us to lay off.”
“He asked us to lay off McGuffin, and not to mess around with Steve the Bull Alcista.” Leif spread his hands, the picture of innocence. “And I will observe those requests. I’m not going near either of them. Neither are you.”
Matt had to laugh. “When the time comes for you to decide what you’re going to be when you grow up, you should consider being a lawyer.” He shook his head. “Or, as my Irish grandmother pronounces it, a liar.”
Leif gave him a thin-lipped smile. “It’s a possibility,” he said. “Do you have any ideas on what we as a group can do to tell Winters we all still love him?”
“Nothing very definite — or very helpful,” Matt admitted. “A picket line with a couple of cardboard signs would look more pathetic than supportive. And where would we go? The HoloNews office here in D.C.? Their headquarters in your town?” He managed a sour smile. “Or maybe Jay Gridley’s office?”
“Hangman Hank Steadman’s office.” Leif’s grin was wicked. “He’d love the media coverage.” Then he got more serious. “I’ll bet it’s not just the kids here who’d want to help. We’ll want to do something national — something on the Net.”
“You think I can get David to hack in and stick a message of support on all of America’s phone bills?” Matt suggested.
Leif laughed. “A little extreme, maybe, but I think you’re heading in the right direction.”
The humorous glint in Matt’s eyes faded. “Watching that meeting last night — it was like being told that Captain Winters had contracted some terrible disease. I just want to send him a giant get-well card.”
“Why don’t you?” Leif said. “Draft up a petition, something like that, and send it out to all the chapters. See if you can get every member to sign on.” He shrugged. “It shouldn’t be too hard. Look how quickly you guys got things rolling when you began banging the drums to roast Jay-Jay McGuffin’s tail.”
Matt slowly nodded. “You may have something there. Not exactly a petition, but a statement of support from all the Net Force Explorers, individually and together.”
Leif shrugged. “I’d sign it.”
Matt looked at him. “And to tell the truth, that sort of surprises me. The captain has roasted your tail from time to time over some of the stuff you’ve pulled. He trusts you only about as far as he can throw you.”
Leif wasn’t smiling at all as he leaned forward. “Look, I really like Captain Winters. Maybe it’s because of that suspicion, that continuous back and forth when we talk. I respect him for it. He’s usually right, too. I almost always am up to something when he thinks I am. Or maybe it’s something more than that. Remember what Daniel said? How he likes Captain Winters because the captain believes in him? Well, you’ve got to believe in something in this life. Me, I believe in James Winters.”
Leif looked a little embarrassed, as if he’d said something he shouldn’t. “Do me a favor and don’t spread that around, okay? It would ruin my rep as a cool, cynical playboy-in-training.”