Read CyberStorm for Free Online

on a side table next to the couch. I rolled my eyes.
    “Fine. I’ll figure it out.” I shook my head but managed a smile. “Go on, get going.”
    “Thanks.” She began collecting her coat and purse. “And if you do go out, don’t forget to bundle up Luke. I’ll just go and calm him down before I leave.”
    I nodded and returned my attention to surfing through some websites on new social media outlets. The web was incredibly slow. It was taking forever for new pages to load.
    Lauren went into our room, and I heard her talking to Luke. She picked him up and began pacing back and forth with him, and quickly the crying stopped. Lauren appeared a moment later with her coat on, coming around to my side of the counter to give me a little hug and peck on the cheek. I shrugged her off. She swatted at me playfully and I smiled, and then she was off and out the door.
    As soon as she left, I went to check on Luke in his crib in the bedroom. He was still whimpering, but had calmed down and was cuddled up with his blanket. Returning to my laptop, I tried doing some more research work, but the slow web connection persisted. I couldn’t be bothered to check the router or if something else was wrong, so I gave up and decided to get on with my day.
    Opening the front entrance to our apartment, I walked next door to the Borodins. With our door left slightly open, I could still hear Luke.
    Our apartment was the last one at the end of a narrow carpeted hallway, lit along its length by recessed lighting. Susie and Chuck lived right next door, on the left coming out of our place, with the Borodins to our right.
    The next door down from Chuck’s was Pam and Rory’s place, directly across from another hallway that led off at right angles to the elevators. The emergency exit was right next to Rory’s, with the stairwell leading down six floors from there. Five more apartments lined the rest of the hallway, ending in the entrance to Richard’s three-story condo on the opposite side of the building from ours.
    Irena opened the door on my first quiet knock. They were always home, and she must have been standing just beside the door, cooking as usual. The smell of roasting potatoes and meats and yeasty bread wafted out as the door slid open.
    “Mi-kay-yal, pryvet ,” greeted Irena, her warm smile creasing the deep wrinkles in her face.
    At nearly ninety years of age, she was stooped and shuffled when she walked, but always had a bright twinkle in her eye. As old as she was, I’d still think twice before messing with her—she’d been a part of the Red Army that had defeated the Nazis in the frozen wastelands of northern Russia. As she liked to tell me, “Troy fell, Rome fell, but Leningrad did not fall.”
    She was wearing a green-checked apron, slightly stained, and held a tea towel bunched up in one hand. With the other she motioned for me to enter.
    “Come, come.”
    I glanced at their doorframe and the mezuzah affixed there, a tiny but beautifully carved, ornate mahogany box. At one time I thought these were like Jewish “good luck” charms, but I’d come to understand this wasn’t their purpose. They were more about keeping evil away.
    Hanging back, I resisted entering.
    It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but going in there always ended with a plate of sausages and recriminations that I was too thin. That being said, I loved her food, and I enjoyed even more the simple pleasure of being doted on. It made me feel like a kid, protected and indulged, and no self-respecting Russian grandmother would have it any other way.
    “Sorry, I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
    Whatever she was cooking smelled amazing, and I realized that dropping off Luke would give me the perfect opportunity to come back later and be spoiled.
    “I don’t mean to impose, but would you be able to watch Luke for a few hours?”
    She shrugged and nodded. “Of course, Mi-kay-yal, you know you don’t need to ask, da ?”
    “Thanks. I need to go out and make