Texas Lightning. Gerry Bartlett
get it.”
“You have staff.” Anna let YoYo down, holding him close with his leash. She could imagine him chasing a squirrel in this wilderness and she’d never see him again.
“Caretakers. I’m rarely here, and they keep the place ready for me when I need to use it. They have a little place through the trees there.” He pointed to a narrow path.
If Anna concentrated she could just make out the shape of a building through the trees. “Looks like a nice-size home.”
“They don’t complain. Though Conchita says it’s pretty far to the nearest grocery store.” King walked up to the front door but it opened before he got there.
“King, I saw you on the security camera. I didn’t expect you until late this evening.” A smiling woman looked past him. “Hello.”
“Conchita, this is Anna Delaney. She’ll be staying with us for a while. She’s going to need to borrow from Karen because she was robbed. We bought her a few things at Nordstrom, but she’ll need a change of clothes after her shower and might want to have a look in Karen’s bathroom”—King grinned at Anna—“for some feminine stuff.”
“Aw, you poor thing. Come on in here. And who is this?” Conchita bent down and spoke rapid Spanish to YoYo. “What is his name?”
“YoYo. We brought his food and bed.” Anna was glad to see her dog was behaving, tail wagging happily.
“He’s a pretty boy.” Conchita picked him up. “Wait till my husband sees him. He will spoil him, you can be sure of that.” She got a lick on her rosy cheek. “Now follow me. You look tired, and no wonder. Robbed. Once, I was robbed. It’s like a violation. A man snatched my purse at the Fiesta store. I chased him and threw a cantaloupe at him, right there in the produce department.”
King watched Conchita lead Anna away. As usual, his housekeeper had plenty to say and knew just what to do to make a guest feel welcome. He’d heard the cantaloupe story. Conchita had hit the thief square in the back and security had rescued her purse and arrested the man. You didn’t mess with that lady. He pulled out his phone and called Ron.
“This program Anna is working on must be worth a hell of a lot. Whoever is after it sent pros.”
“King, thanks for taking care of our girl. It’s crazy how you ran into her like that.” Ron wasn’t telling him what he wanted to know.
“Cut the bullshit. What am I guarding here? If these people don’t get what they want from her computers, Anna claims they’ll need her to finish the project. Is that right?” King walked over to stare out the window that looked over Lake Travis. The view of the massive lake was why he’d bought this piece of property and why he’d built this house. Right now, though, it didn’t soothe him like it usually did. The silence on the other end of the line was ramping up his tension. “Ron? You owe me an answer. I have her in my home. That means I’m at risk and so are my people here if someone comes after her.”
“All right. Here’s what I know. There are several possible groups that want that software. Has Anna told you what it can do?” There was the tinkle of ice dropping into a glass.
“Are you fixing yourself a drink? Glad one of us can relax.” King wanted to reach through the phone and throttle his old pal. Shit. Of course Ron could chill, he’d passed off his problem. But then again, King had volunteered. Maybe he should be rethinking this.
“I’m not relaxing. Far from it. This is serious.”
“I get that. FYI, Anna hasn’t told me a damned thing about her project. She’s guarding your secret like it’s more important than her life.” King looked longingly at his own bar, built into the wall next to the window. “Which it is not. I can’t think of anything that I would put before a woman’s life, Ronald. Now be straight with me. Who is after this so-called big-deal project?”
“Could be the Russians. Or the Chinese. There are even some local bad actors who probably think to make some large cash by acting as middle men to either of those buyers.” Ron obviously took a deep swallow. “You know I’m into healthcare now, besides the usual computer hardware and software. Right?”
“Yeah. It’s a solid area for the future. Aging population. Blah, blah, blah. You talked me into being one of your investors and I haven’t regretted it. Until now.” King gave in and walked over to pull down a bottle of his favorite scotch. He twisted off the cap and poured an inch into a tumbler, tossing it back. The smooth heat was welcome but didn’t dissolve the knot in his gut.
“This one program is set to make us millions, maybe more.”
“Go on.” King eyed the empty glass then walked away. One was enough.
“So we know in my business that drug interactions are a big problem. People die from them all the time. At the very least, they can cause confusion, inaccurate diagnoses, and unnecessary hospital stays.” Ron was chewing ice now. When had his friend gotten so damned irritating?
“So?”
“So Anna created a program that can and will be used with a scanner. Each patient’s records are put into it, every drug they’re on. Then, when the patient is prescribed a new drug, the data is entered and checked automatically for interactions. If there’s any danger of complications, a red flag goes up. No way can the new drug be administered if there is any possibility of a problem. The beauty of this is the program can be loaded into something as small as a hospital bracelet, King.”
“That sounds interesting.” King tried to wrap his mind around such a service. All that information crammed into a little piece of plastic. But then why not? His little phone could do the job of a giant computer now. And he’d seen for himself how Ron had innovated other tech and made a fortune. That’s why he’d put money into Zenon.
“Imagine. People with health issues will be begging to own these for themselves, but the real bucks will come from pharmacies, hospitals, of course, and, get this, those emergency room clinics that are springing up everywhere. Totally helps with their liability claims.” Ron sounded excited. “I’m thinking even insurance companies may start requiring this program for doctors before they’ll write a malpractice policy. All you’ll need is one of those scan guns and a computer and you’re in business.” Ron laughed, he was so high on this thing. “It’ll save lives, King, and make us a butt load of money. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”
“What’s the catch? Seems like there always is one.” King sat in his leather recliner.
“Yeah. Security has to be tight. People are right to want their medical records confidential. Plus, if anyone can break into the program, substitute the wrong meds? Well, it can be a killer.” Ron crunched ice, nervously, King thought. “Trust is everything. That’s why I sent Anna to some special training. To the National Institutes of Health for one, so she’d understand the pharmaceutical side. Then to classes in cybersecurity. So she could be sure this program is safe as houses. We can’t take a chance anyone can subvert it.”
“I see that.” King couldn’t sit still and got up again. More and more it seemed that Ron had put this all on Anna’s shoulders. “So Anna came up with the idea. Did she insist on doing this all on her own?”
“I wouldn’t say that. But she’s motivated. Has been working on it for years. The fewer people who know exactly how the program works, the better. The idea’s been around awhile but she figured out how to make it come together. She’s just weeks away now from the first test run, then we’ll take it to market. I put out feelers and the orders are going to be off the charts. Everybody wants it, especially if we can get the price right. We’ve already got the copyright in the pipeline.” Ron sighed. “What can kill us is if someone steals our software and gets it out there first. That’s why it’s so important to keep this under wraps. To keep Anna safe until she can finish her program and we can get it into production.”
“Well, you were doing a piss-poor job of it before I ran into her.” King was back to staring at the