Chapter 5

Walking around the desk, I find the computer already turned on, the screen staring at me like a black hole, one little blinking cursor the only sign of life in the machine. I sit down in the chair and groan when I see the processor—it’s an ancient Pentium, rebuilt and reconfigured, the same damn machine they gave me when I first got here, too, so I already know it’s going to be a bitch to fix.

No wonder Danny wanted me. He knows I can at least get this thing up and running until they give the poor boy a new computer. Or until he quits. This is what, his third day? And he’s having a shitty time, I’m sure, with thispiece of crap.

As I lean over to reboot the computer, I hear someone enter the room. Without looking up, I flip the reset switch on the UPS. “Hey,” I say. The door closes softly and I figure this is that Jared kid Becky can’t stand. “I’m from support.”

“Hey yourself.”