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Stories from the Verse
Spy Verses
Chapter 129: Brown 152
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Chapter 128: Kondor 131
Derek’s phone rang. He was engrossed in his work, and so didn’t pick it up until the fourth ring. It was Simpkins.
“We have something,” the Colonel said. “It might be bad news, and the Morrises are upset over it, but it’s the best break so far.”
Derek nodded, then realized that he couldn’t just nod for the conversation to continue. “What did they find?” he said.
“In the journal--you were right, she confided in the journal. There was a page on which she several times wrote the name, ‘Mrs. Dorin Dalca’ along with ‘Samantha M. Dalca’ and other variations. The worry is that she actually did marry him, which would complicate matters greatly.”
Derek was silent, pensive, for a moment, then spoke. “I think it unlikely. If you can get me the date on that entry, I might be able to check one way or another, but I think American girls, at least, daydream their fantasies by writing what they think will be their future married name. There’s no other evidence that they got married, and no evidence that they ever slept together.”
“But you see the significance.”
“Absolutely. His name must be Dalca. D-A-L-K-A?”
“No, with a ‘C’, not a ‘K’. D-A-L-C-A, Dalca. Unfortunately it’s a fairly common Romanian name.”
“Yes, but not as difficult to spell as ‘Constantinescu’ or something. O.K., let me work with that, see what I can find.”
“Yes, unfortunately both ‘Dorin’ and ‘Dalca’ are relatively common names, so there might be several people with that name living in the area.”
“Yes, but not if we consider that he has to be about twenty years old. That’s harder to determine from a phone book or something, but I might be able to find something with a bit of hacking.”
“Hacking?”
“You don’t call it that? An illegal activity involving using one computer to break into another, sometimes for mischief but more commonly to steal information. I’m actually very good at it, and I have equipment no one else has even imagined having.”
“Well, let us know if you find anything.”
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #269: Versers Arrive. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
