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happened.
    â€˜The thing I can’t work out,’ said Trina, ‘is that I called them right away to make sure the order was legit.’
    â€˜The fakes could have given you any number,’ I said. ‘Even a payphone number.’
    She gave me a withering look. ‘I checked the number against my own Rolodex,’ she said. ‘It was genuine. In fact, I remember calling it a couple of times before.’
    â€˜Are you going to finish those mashed potatoes?’ Trina shrugged. I helped myself to a forkful. ‘They must have re-routed the call. They probably broke into the company’s PBX and forwarded that number to their own phone.’
    â€˜So what the hell were they trying to do?’ said Trina. ‘Swan thought they wanted to use the drive to hide a program on her systems. She went over it with a fine-tooth comb.’
    â€˜Once they got into the computer centre, they could have done just about anything. Stolen research. Slipped a doctored backup tape in amongst the real ones so the computer would write them some big fat checks.
    Trina shook her head. ‘They checked all of that. They lost like a day’s work making sure everything was the way it should be. Nothing got changed or stolen.’
    â€˜I guess Swan cottoned on to it before they could doanything,’ I said. ‘Boy, would I like to talk to her.’
    Trina laughed as I made puppy eyes at her. ‘Come on, Chick.’
    â€˜Give me a present for your birthday, pretty lady.’
    â€˜My birthday isn’t until tomorrow. And there’s no way Swan wants this to get out.’
    â€˜It’s already got out.’
    â€˜Yeah, but I’m deep background,’ said Trina. ‘I guess you could ask to interview Swan, though. She likes to talk about herself. Just don’t get me involved.’
    â€˜Don’t worry,’ I said, eating the last of the potatoes. ‘I know her reputation. I’ll bet she knows mine.’
    Not only had Swan heard of me, she’d read my stuff, and she knew right away I might be able to help solve her little mystery. She didn’t ask how I’d heard about the intruders: she just ushered me into the plasticky little staff lounge at the centre of the TLA building. It was more like she was interviewing me than the other way around.
    â€˜Everything I tell you is strictly off the record.’
    â€˜Not a problem, Miss Swan.’
    â€˜If you use what I tell you in a story, TLA’s identity will be deeply buried.’
    â€˜Yes, ma’am.’
    Swan nodded. She sat back for a moment, looking me up and down with her X-ray vision. ‘You’ve heard the whole story,’ she said at last. ‘Who do you know that might try something like that?’
    â€˜My first guess would be an ex-employee – someone with a grudge, or with a money-making plan. Maybe by blackmailing you after planting a logic bomb in your system, or maybe just by fooling with your payroll program.’
    â€˜We can forget about former employees,’ said Swan. ‘I’ve already checked.’
    â€˜What do you have that someone might want to steal? Anything new or unusual?’
    Swan made a chopping motion with one hand, cutting off that line of conversation. ‘The police were useless,’ she said. ‘They’d never heard of a crime like this one – they weren’t even sure it was a crime. I’m sorry, but I don’t care about any of that. I want these people. And I’m going to get them, never mind the police.’
    â€˜It sounds like you have your own procedure in mind, Miss Swan.’
    Swan considered me. I could see that the two sides of her hacker personality were at war in that instant: the cool and businesslike side that knew better than to show off, and the enthusiastic side that loved nothing better than boasting and bragging.
    â€˜Strictly off the record,’ Swan said.
    We drove to Swan’s house in