Read CyberStorm for Free Online Page A

some deliveries,” I replied without needing to explain. Glancing inside, I could see her husband, Aleksandr, asleep in his La-Z-Boy recliner in front of a Russian soap opera playing on the TV. Gorbachev was curled up asleep beside him.
    Mrs. Borodin nodded again. “You bring Luke?”
    I nodded back.
    “And you wrap yourself up. It is much below zero today.”
    I laughed. Two women had already told me to wrap up and I hadn’t even been outside yet. Maybe I am still a kid. “We use Fahrenheit here, Irena—it’s cold but not below zero yet. Still about ten degrees, I think.”
    “Ack, you know what I mean.” Flicking her chin to tell me to get going, she turned to get back to her cooking, leaving the door ajar.
    Going back to my apartment, I rummaged around in the closet, looking for winter coats and gloves and scarves. With space at such a premium, we’d rented a storage locker across town to hold all nonessential seasonal household stuff like skis and mitts and such.
    The weather had been so warm that I’d only just gone to get out one of my winter jackets, and I remembered that Lauren had dropped it off at the dry cleaner yesterday. Sighing, I pulled a thin, black jacket off a hanger, picked up my backpack with the gifts in it, and went into the bedroom to put a sweater on.
    Luke was wide awake, and he watched me enter. His cheeks were a bright, ruddy red.
    “Not feeling well, buddy?” I said, reaching down to pick him up. His forehead was definitely hot, and the little guy was sweating. He’d also wet his diaper, so I quickly changed him, switching him into some dungarees and thick socks with a cotton shirt, and then took him next door.
    Even if he wasn’t feeling well, Luke managed a toothy grin upon seeing Irena.
    “Ah, dorogaya !” she gushed, taking the still-sleepy Luke from my arms. “He not feeling well, nyet ?”
    I brushed Luke’s head, feeling the sweat in his matted-down hair.
    “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
    She pulled Luke into her bosom. “No worry, I take care. You go.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be back about lunch.” I smiled and raised my eyebrows, and by the way she smiled back, I just knew there would be a feast awaiting my return.
    She laughed and closed the door.
    A child was such an amazing thing. I’d gone through life before we had Luke, wondering what it was all about, trying to sort out my hopes and dreams and fears. Then all of a sudden, there was a little version of me staring back at me, and everything had become clear. The meaning of my life was to protect and raise this new life, to love and teach him everything that I knew.
    “Forget something?”
    “Huh?”
    Pam was standing in the hallway, outside her door, staring at me. She was a nurse, and she was dressed in scrubs, on her way to work. We’d become quite good friends with her and her husband, Rory, but we hadn’t quite developed the kind of bond and easy relationship we had with Susie and Chuck.
    The thing was, Pam and Rory were strict vegans, and while I didn’t have a problem with it, somehow it created a gap. It made me feel guilty when I ate meat around them, or even just the fact that I ate meat seemed to make things a bit weird, no matter how many times they made it clear it didn’t bother them and it was a personal choice.
    I liked Pam a lot. She was a very attractive blonde, and hard not to like. Where Lauren was what you might call a classic beauty, Pam was of the more voluptuous sort.
    “No, I was just dropping Luke off.”
    “I saw that,” she laughed. “Deep thoughts, huh?”
    “Not really,” I replied, shaking my head and walking toward her. She worked for the Red Cross and was currently stationed at a blood bank just a few blocks away. “Still draining veins, even before Christmas?”
    “It’s the season to give, right? Are you finally going to come down?”
    The elevator pinged our floor, and the doors opened. I was trapped.
    “Ah, you know,” I hemmed and hawed, “I’ve got a lot to