Dark Rivers of the Heart

Defense."
        D.O.D.
        He squatted on his haunches. "Are you a government agent?"
        "I didn't say I was talking to the D.O.D computer with the D.O.D's permission. Or knowledge, for that matter. I up-linked to a phone-company satellite, accessed one of their lines reserved for systems testing, called in to the D.O.D deep computer in Arlington, Virginia."
        "Deep," he mused.
        "Heavily secured."
        "I bet that's not a number you got from directory assistance."
        "Phone number's not the hardest part. It's more difficult to get the operating codes that let you use their system once you're into it.
        Without them, being able to make the connection wouldn't matter."
        "And you have those codes?"
        "I've had full access to D.O.D for fourteen months." Her fingers flew over the keyboard again. "Hardest to get is the access code to the program with which they periodically change all the other access codes.
        But if you don't have that sucker, you can't stay current unless they send you a new invitation every once in a while."
        "So fourteen months ago, you just happened to find all these numbers and whatnot scrawled on a rest room wall?"
        "Three people I loved gave their lives for those codes."
        That response, though delivered in no graver a tone of voice than anything else Valerie had said, carried an emotional weight that left Spencer silent and pondering for a while.
        A foot-long lizard-mostly brown, flecked with black and gold-slithered from under a nearby rock into the sunshine and scampered across the warm sand. When it saw Valerie, it froze and watched her.
        Its silverand-green eyes were protuberant, with pebbly lids.
        Rocky saw the lizard too. He retreated behind his master.
        Spencer found himself smiling at the reptile, although he was not sure why he should be so pleased by its sudden appearance. Then he realized that he was unconsciously fingering the carved soapstone medallion that hung against his chest, and he understood. Louis Lee.
        Pheasants and dragons. Prosperity and long life.
        Three people I loved gave their lives for those codes.
        Spencer's smile faded. To Valerie, he said, "What are you?"
        Without looking up from the screen she said, "You mean, am I an international terrorist or a good patriotic American?"
        "Well, I wouldn't put it like that."
        Instead of answering him, she said, "Over the past five days, I tried to learn what I could about you. Not very damn much. You've just about erased yourself from official existence. So I think I've got a right to ask the same question: What are you?"
        He shrugged. "Just someone who values his privacy."
        "Sure. And what I am is a concerned and interested citizen-not a whole lot different from you."
        "Except I don't know how to get into D.O.D."
        "You fiddled with your military records."
        "That's an easy-access database compared with the big muddy you're wading in right now. What the hell are you looking for?"
        "The D.O.D tracks every satellite in orbit: civilian, government, military-both domestic and foreign. I'm one-stop shopping for all the satellites with the surveillance capabilities to look down into this little corner of the world and find us if we go out and about."
        "I thought that was part of a dream," he said uneasily, "that talk about eyes in the sky."
        "You'd be surprised what's up there. 'Surprised' is one word. As for surveillance, there are probably two to six satellites with that capability in orbit over the western and southwestern states."
        Rattled, he said, "What happens when you identify them?"
        "The D.O.D will have their access codes. I'll use those to up-link to each satellite, poke around in its current programs, and see if it's looking for us."
        "This awesome lady here pokes around in satellites," he said to Rocky, but the dog seemed less impressed than his master was, as if canines had been up to similar shenanigans for ages. To Valerie, Spencer said, "I don't think the word 'hacker' is adequate for you."
        "So… what did they call people like me when you were on that computer-crime task force?"
        "I don't think we even conceived there were people like you."
        "Well, we're here."
        "They'd really hunt us with satellites?" he asked doubtfully. "I mean,