The Soldier

Logan rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. 3 a.m.

He had been scouring the ’net for any clues he could find regarding either the missing chip or America. Willie’s mentioning that Americans may be connected to the chip’s theft had piqued his curiosity. And what about the Unis? Why would they be involved in something that could lead to an attack on England? It just didn’t make any sense.

Whatever the reasons, Logan had to find the thieves in order to clear his name.

Then it hit him, like the proverbial ton of bricks. The solution to his problem would not be found in England. Just as he reached for the keyboard to contact Willie, a chat window popped up.

BoomBoom: Any luck, old man?

MQLogan: No, not really. But I have come up with a bit of a plan that would solve my problem.

BoomBoom: What is it?

MQLogan: Probably should do this in person.

BoomBoom: No worries, this chat is encrypted

MQLogan: Very Well. We put a team together, go to America, find the chip and bring it back.

Logan sat and looked at the blinking cursor in the chat window. He could almost see Willie looking at the line he just typed and thinking that it was Logan who was off his nut.

BoomBoom: You are kidding, right?

MQLogan: No, I’m deadly serious, my friend. The only wisp of a lead we’ve got points to America, and frankly I’ve wondered what it’s really like over there.

BoomBoom: How do you plan to go? We can’t just hop a jet.

MQLogan: I know. I’ll think of something. Are you in?

There was another pause, then finally.

BoomBoom: I’m in.

Logan looked at the computer screen and smiled. It felt good to have a plan of action, even though the chance of success was insanely low. Even if they made it into America, the odds of them getting out again were not good.

One of the last messages America sent to the world was an advisory that Congress had added into the U.S. Constitution a proviso for applying the death penalty to any foreign national apprehended on American soil.

Still, Logan took that as just another challenge, just another obstacle to overcome.

Logan pushed his chair back from his computer and rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t getting much of anywhere and it was seriously starting to piss him off. For three days he had been scouring the ’net trying to find not only information about who might have stolen the chip but also any possible hint or clue as to how one would sneak into the United States if one had a reason to do so.

But so far all he had managed to accomplish added up to next to nothing. He found a little bit more about Unis, a movement that had first come to light about 25 years after the U.S. locked itself off from the rest of the world. Most of the world saw them as a bunch of wild-eyed radicals and dismissed their reunification message as idealism run amok.

Logan finally decided to call it a night when he looked at his clock and was moderately surprised to find it was nearly four in the morning.

“Well, it’s not like I have to get up and go to work,” he said to himself.

Logan stood, stretched, and then turned off the desk lamp. Just as he turned to walk into the bedroom, the computer beeped a chat window opened up.

Winter: Hello, Marcus.

Logan looked at the window. The screen name didn’t ring any bells, but he was curious because he never just had strangers popping in to chat windows, and especially strangers addressing him by his given name.

MQLogan: Who wants to know?

Winter: For now, let’s say a friend.

MQLogan: I know the screen names of all of my friends and this isn’t one of them.

Winter: Well, maybe I’m a friend that you just haven’t met yet.

Logan was quickly growing tired of the cloak and dagger aspect of the conversation.

MQLogan: Look it’s late, and I’m tired, what do you want?

Winter: I understand you’re interested in getting into the colonies.

Logan felt like he had been punched. He had only just mentioned the idea to Willie earlier in the evening and he knew his friend would not have mentioned it to anyone.

MQLogan: And how did you come to that conclusion?

Winter: I have special ’net spiders that keep watch for the sorts of inquiries you have been making. I may be in a position to help you.

Logan looked at the screen and thought, trying to decide if this was real or some ploy on the part of the Metropolitan Police to trick him into revealing that he really did have something to do with the theft of the chip. But then again, the police should have no way of knowing that Willie had tracked the chip to America, unless Willie had betrayed him – and Logan knew the chances of that were about as good as the chances of the Sun going Nova within the next hour.

MQLogan: I don’t trust the ’net that much and don’t want to go into it on chat. Let’s meet. Are you in England?

Logan waited for a response. He waited a full 60 seconds before trying again.

MQLogan: Are you there?

As soon as he hit the Enter key, a message popped up:

Winter is no longer on line.

“Well,” Logan said to the message on the screen, “I seemed to of scared the lad off.

“Perhaps he will turn up again.”

Logan was sitting in an outdoor cafe sipping an ale when Willie walked up and without preamble or greeting of any sort sat down at Logan’s table.

“Any news?”

“Same thing, you’ve found, bloody well nothing.”

Logan sipped and thought.

“I had a rather interesting experience last night.”

“Care to share,” Willie said as he ordered a drink.

Logan proceeded to tell him about the usual offer of help from his new online friend.

The waiter brought Willie’s drink. Willie sipped it casually until he felt the young man was safely out of earshot.

“Seems awfully damn convenient, don’t you think?”

“I do,” Logan said, “But there are two things I think we should consider.”

“And they are?”

“One, we have nothing else to go on,” Logan said. “And two, the fact that he dropped completely off-line the minute I suggested a face to face meeting suggests he is no stranger to operating on the shadier side of the law.”

Logan finished his ale and put the glass down.

“Well, we’ll see if the chap makes another appearance or not,” he said.

“So, you still plan to try and get into the United States and find out what happened to this chip?”

“If I wait long enough for Jean and her inspectors to find out, they will eventually find a way to pin it on me,” Logan said. “And I don’t plan to wait around for that to happen.”

Willie looked at him.

“Are you still in or not?”

“Still in,” Willie said.