Chapter Four
“Come on, spill,” Ashley said as Diana transported Nadia back to her virtual office.
“You like this outfit?” Diana asked as she turned Nadia’s hair back to short and blond and traded her going-to-meeting clothes for leather jacket and jeans.
“Yeah, but—”
“You’d wear it?” Diana added a line of chalky black beneath Nadia’s eyes.
“I know what you’re doing,” Ashley said, but Diana knew she had her. Ashley couldn’t resist the question. Clothes had always been the perfect distraction. “Absolutely. Those business clothes are so Marian the Librarian. Does she have a Cheerleader Barbie outfit, too? Remember when we used to play Barbies?”
Diana did remember. They’d play for hours on end. They had Bride Barbie, Ballerina Barbie, Cheerleader Barbie, and Western Barbie. Western Barbie, Diana’s hands-down favorite, came with a pair of six-shooters, each with a cylinder that actually rotated. All the Barbies had lived in the Barbie house, swam in the Barbie pool, and argued over which one got to drive the pink Corvette.
“All you ever wanted to do was change their clothes,” Diana said.
“Which was hard because you kept losing the shoes and hair accessories,” Ashley shot back.
“Hair accessories? You lost their arms and legs.”
“Those were scientific experiments and sacrifices to the gods.”
“Sure they were.”
“So what’s this?” Ashley asked, pointing to the corner of the screen where a stack of messages had queued up. Atop the stack was a message from PWNED, a friend Diana had made in this virtual world. “E-mail?”
“Just like.”
With a ding, a new message appeared on the top of the stack.
GROB: Hey!
“Grob?” Ashley leaned toward the screen and slowly turned her head to face Diana. “What kind of a name is that?”
Diana felt her face flush. A moment later, another ding.
MISSION: UP IN THE SKY 6 PM COPLEY PLACE
“Now here’s something you’ll appreciate,” Diana said, clicking the message open.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION: 2NITE
“Spontaneous Combustion? Sounds like a band. There’s a Copley Place in this Fantasyland?”
“OtherWorld. Probably. There’s an Eiffel Tower. A Moulin Rouge. A Taj Majal. A downtown Detroit. However, this event”—Diana indicated the message—“is right here in Boston. The real one. Spontaneous Combustion is an improv group. Like a flash mob? They’ll pile into a subway car and fill it with balloons and streamers and serve cake. Or show up in a clothing store and all try on the same dress, guys, too, then walk out onto the floor and freeze like mannequins. They post videos of their events on YouTube.”
“Like those people standing frozen in the middle of Grand Central during rush hour.”
“This one’s at the BPL. ‘Meet on the front steps of the old entrance,’ ” Diana read from the screen. Those steps faced the west side of Copley Square. “ ‘Six sharp. Today. All you need is a cell phone and a pair of sunglasses.’ ”
“What are they going to do?”
“Be there at six and find out.”
“Today? But I’m meeting Aaron.”
It took Diana a moment to remember. Aaron was Ashley’s latest, a guy she’d met on a plane. A stockbroker, according to him. Wanted to date her but wouldn’t give her his phone number or tell her where he lived. The only way she could reach him was through e-mail.
Ashley must have read her expression because she said, “You’ve never even met the guy.”
Diana raised her eyebrows and held Ashley’s gaze.
“Okay. You’re right,” Ashley said. “He is a shit. And on top of that, he’s been weirding me out. Checking up like he’s some kind of control freak.”
“So why are you seeing him?”
“I’m not. I’m dumping him. Tonight.” Ashley sounded determined.
“Well, dump him early. Then you can go to this. I bet the people you meet here will be far more interesting than Aaron.”
“ ‘If you accept this mission . . .’ ” Ashley read the screen. “So anyone can just show up and participate?”
“And there’s a ring tone.” Diana clicked on the link and a piano crescendo played, then horns came in: DUM dah DUM, DUM dah DUM. Then a man’s solemn voice. “Faster than a speeding bullet.” There was a whoosh. It was the iconic opening of the old Superman TV show. “More powerful—”
Diana laughed and turned off the player. “You’re supposed to download that to your cell before you go.”
“That’s easy. I’m in.”
Diana hit reply. “There. You’re registered.” She hit print and the original message rolled off her printer.
Ashley grabbed the printout and scanned it. “Nadia Varata?”
“Sorry. She got the invite, so you’re registered as her. It doesn’t matter. I’m sure they don’t make you wear name tags or show a photo ID.”
A new message popped onto the top of the queue, confirming the registration. Diana was about to delete it when there was another ding. This time there was a blinking star beside the message—a file attachment.
Yes! She’d planted the bogus data file in time and MedLogic’s hackers had taken her bait.
A third ding announced a new message from GROB.
Diana turned the monitor away from Ashley, stood and clapped her hands together. “So, you want to see what came in that UPS box?”