Page 66 of The Mouse and the Maestro

“No. What was it doing?” Blue asked, but too late because Jane returned. “Everything okay?” he asked her instead.

“Fine,” she said, smiling serenely.

“You know, Jane,” Ethan began, “most people aren’t that calm after a private conference with our boss.”

“Really?” Jane said, her glance resting questioningly on Ridge. “He seems easygoing and gentle to me.”

“I had to wear a diaper for the first year I knew him,” Blue said.

“Me too,” Ethan agreed.

“Hmm, I don’t get it,” Jane said.

“Keep her,” Ethan whispered.

“Working on it,” Blue replied.

They went over the plan a final time. Maggie and Ethan left to get in place, and then it was Blue and Jane’s turn.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Sure,” she replied. “Are you?”

“Definitely,” he said. He clasped her hand and led the way two blocks to the secret hacker bar. It looked like any other abandoned, decrepit building on the block. If one didn’t know better, it would be easy to walk right by the graffiti covered outside. But Blue stopped, reached behind the door, and pulled out a keyboard.

“You have to hack your way in,” he explained at Jane’s questioning glance. He typed furiously for a moment, and then the door swung open.

“So cool,” Jane breathed. He clasped her hand and led the way inside. It wasn’t her imagination that the crowded bar seemed to come to a standstill as all eyes were on them. “Why is everyone staring at us?”

“I had to use my hacker name to get in. After the Department of Defense thing, it’s kind of infamous,” he explained in a whisper.

“What’s your hacker name?” Jane asked, intrigued.

“Cyan,” he replied.

“Synonym for Blue. Cute,” she said.

“Me or the name?” he asked, glancing down at her with a smile.

“Both,” she replied, returning the smile. “If it’s a hacker bar, how can Ethan get in?”

“He’s already in.”

She scanned the bar but didn’t see him. “Where?”

Blue rolled his eyes skyward. Jane followed his glance and saw oversized heating ducts above them. “So cool,” she breathed.

“Yeah, it kind of is,” Blue agreed.

Blue led her to the back of the room where two men sat in a booth. Jane braced herself in case it was someone she recognized from the museum world, but the men were completely unfamiliar to her. Not so to Blue.

“Cyan, never thought I’d see you in person,” the first one said.

“I feel like asking for your autograph,” the second said. “Maybe I’ll get it tattooed somewhere in binary.”

“Cracker Jack, Nuthatch,” Blue greeted them. “This is my…” he regarded Jane. She braced herself to hear what he would call her this time. Last time he had stumbled over “colleague.” “Jane. This is my Jane.” He took her hand, winding their fingers together. “You have a package for us?”

“You have Bitcoins for us?” the one called Nuthatch asked.

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