“Yup.” Hollins nodded. “They did at that. You know what this ultra-density microchip did, Sandy?”
“Not specifically.”
“Way it was, see, all computer chips used to be placed side by side. The ultra-density chip could be stacked one on top of the other so you’d end up with a job done in a fraction of time since the information had lots less space to travel. The discovery revolutionized lots of industries, mostly oriented ’round communications. What with cable startin’ to boom and the explosion of live satellite feeds, there was need for new micro-switching equipment capable of doing things quicker and cheaper than ever. Radio was the same way, telephone, too, maybe most of all. Way I hear it, the chip revolutionized the whole airline industry as well. Whole damn telecommunications industry had to rethink and retool almost from scratch.”
“All because of one chip?”
Hollins smiled faintly. “Hold up your hand, Sandy. See your thumbnail? That’s the size of the chip we’re talking about.”
“And you had it first, didn’t you?”
Hollins’s smile became even more faint. “I suppose you could say that.”
“But it was Krayman who made millions on the chip, a fortune.”
“That’s what you’ve heard, ain’t it?”
“That’s what everybody’s been hearing for a decade.”
“It ain’t true.”
“What isn’t?”
“Krayman didn’t make no fortune off his famous chip. Matter of fact he lost money. Sold the buggers at less than half his cost.”
“How can you know that?”
Hollins returned his coffee to the table and almost spilled it. “ ’Cause there never was no such thing as the Krayman Chip. He stole it from me.”
It took a few seconds for Hollins’s words to settle in.
“Wait a minute,” she managed, “are you saying that the famous Krayman Chip was just a version of yours?”
“Nope, not a version. It was mine lock, stock, and barrel with a few cosmetic changes thrown in for good measure. Sort of like retyping Gone with the Wind and publishing it under a new title.”
“But how—”
“Believe me, Sandy, there haven’t been many days over the years when I haven’t asked myself that same question.” Hollins glanced around him. “Least until I got here. Anyway, computer espionage makes what goes on between the Russians and our boys look like playschool. The real cold war is a circuit war and it’s bein’ fought right here in the U.S. of A. Always has been. I don’t know how Krayman got hold of my design. Guess I never will. Fact is he did, though, and brought it out into the market ’bout a year after I did with a new name … and different price.”
“But if what you’re saying is true, he must have lost the same fortune he was reputed to have made.”
“And don’t ask me why neither. First I thought he had some vendetta against me in particular. Maybe he didn’t like somebody ’sides IBM diggin’ in the same yard as he was. Maybe it was worth all that money to him to get me out of the way. Lord knows he could afford it. Then I figured it was a pretty expensive proposition to carry out just for pride. ’Sides, if that was what was on his mind, why’d he buy me out for sixty mill when my stock was about to hit rock bottom anyway? Nope, it made no sense then. Still don’t.”
“Some part of a larger picture perhaps?”
“Way I figure it, the whole deal ended up costing him a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty million dollars and the loss sheet ain’t been balanced yet. Pretty expensive picture.”
“Did you tell anybody this when it was happening?”
“Sure, lots of people. Nobody wanted to hear about it. And them that did, well, something made them change their minds pretty quick and a few seemed to just vanish. Most gave me the courtesy of listening and said they’d check things out.” Hollins snickered. “Maybe they’re still checkin’.” His face grew somber. “Can’t say I blame ’em, though. It’s like you said before ’bout nobody wantin’ to talk on the record about Krayman now even though he ain’t been seen in five years. Imagine what it was like then when he was makin’ newspaper headlines every day.”
“You could have sued.”
“I did. Case stayed in the courts long enough for me to realize I was fighting for something I didn’t want anymore. I’d spent too much time up here raising horses in God’s country to go back to all that. I figure I made out pretty good on the deal. Got everything I ever wanted. There are days up here where the phone don’t ring at all and I like that just fine. Yup, if you ask me, Sandy, I made out lots better on the deal than old Randy. A just Lord gave him his due. He pulled up stakes and ran like I did, ’cept the difference is he’s hidin’ and I’d wager he ain’t got half the space I got even if he’s got ten times the land.”
Sandy found herself totally transfixed by a man who had openly come to love his life. Through all his words, all the painful rehashing of his hardest times, his voice had not so much as wavered. Emotion was absent, contented acceptance clear, as if the past had happened to someone else. And maybe it had. Alex Hollins had become simply Spud.
“What about the effects of the Krayman Chip on the rest of the computer industry?” she asked him.
“Well, Sandy, now we come to the real fun part of the story. See, the ultra-density chip makes computers work so fast that they can talk only to computers that are wired the same way. So I guess you could say it revolutionized the entire production industry, too, and Randy’s got himself a monopoly on the ultra-density market. It’s too damn specialized for anyone to challenge him, ’specially after what he done to me. The whole goddamn telecommunications industry is probably wired by now with chips that oughta have a little S for ‘Spud’ tattooed in their corner. Why, you can’t turn on a TV, fly in an airplane, use one of them automatic teller machines, or even make a phone call without bein’ affected by Randall Krayman.”
“So maybe a one-hundred-fifty-million-dollar loss was worth it, after all.”
Spud Hollins’s expression stayed chiseled in stone. “Depends on your perspective, ma’am.”
After the interview was complete, Sandy used the need to freshen up as an excuse to dash upstairs and try to capture all of the salient points of Hollins’s comments on her notepad. It wasn’t easy. She wanted to remember each and every word he said, each colorful expression, and ended up confusing things and having to reconstruct the conversation in her mind from the very beginning. When she had finished, twelve pages were full of scribbling and almost two hours had passed. Dinner would be coming up shortly and she didn’t want to burden Hollins’s hospitality by being late.
Still, she had to check in with T.J. He would be expecting a call and she wanted to learn if anything new had turned up regarding the computer disk. He answered his phone on the second ring.
“It’s me, T.J. How’s—”
“I’m scared, boss. Oh, God, I’m scared.” His voice sounded frantic.
“Slow down. What’s wrong?”
“The orbital flight plan. It’s … gone.”
Chapter 11
Friday night Scola moved stealthily down the corridors of Roosevelt Hospital, hiding her face as well as she could behind the cart she was pushing. Amazing how busy the place was during the daylight hours, but once night fell, a shroud of somber silence seemed to enclose it. So far no one had said a single word to her. They seldom did when she donned her nurse’s disguise to carry out a mission.