Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson Read Free Book Online

black hair was shaved close at the back and sides, but piled into
     an oily loaf of curls above his forehead.
    Sally introduced Kumiko: “My friend from Japan and keep your hands to yourself.” Tick
     smiled wanly and led them to a table.
    “How’s business, Tick?”
    “Fine,” he said glumly. “How’s retirement?”
    Sally seated herself on a padded bench, her back to the wall. “Well,” she said, “it’s
     sort of on again, off again.”
    Kumiko looked at her. The rage had evaporated, or else been expertly concealed. As
     Kumiko sat down, she slid her hand into her purse and found the unit. Colin popped
     into focus on the bench beside Sally.
    “Nice of you to think of me,” Tick said, taking a chair. “Been two years, I’d say.”
     He cocked an eyebrow in Kumiko’s direction.
    “She’s okay. You know Swain, Tick?”
    “Strictly by reputation, thank you.”
    Colin was studying their exchange with amused fascination, moving his head from side
     to side as though he were watching a tennis match. Kumiko had to remind herself that
     only she could see him.
    “I want you to turn him over for me. I don’t want him to know.”
    He stared at her. The entire left half of his face contorted in a huge slow wink.
     “Well then,” he said, “you don’t half want much, do you?”
    “Good money, Tick. The best.”
    “Looking for something in particular, or is it a laundry run? Isn’t as though people
     don’t know he’s a top nob in the rackets. Can’t say I’d want him to find me on his
     manor.…”
    “But then there’s the money, Tick.”
    Two very rapid winks.
    “Roger’s twisting me, Tick. Somebody’s twisting him. I don’t know what they’ve got
     on him, don’t much care. What he’s got on me is enough. What I want to know is who,
     where, when. Tap in to incoming and outgoing traffic. He’s in touch with somebody,
     because the deal keeps changing.”
    “Would I know it if I saw it?”
    “Just have a look, Tick. Do that for me.”
    The convulsive wink again. “Right, then. We’ll have a go.” He drummed his fingers
     nervously on the edge of the table. “Buy us a round?”
    Colin looked across the table at Kumiko and rolled his eyes.
    “I don’t understand,” Kumiko said, as she followed Sally back along Portobello Road.
     “You have involved me in an intrigue.…”
    Sally turned up her collar against the wind.
    “But I might betray you. You plot against my father’s associate. You have no reason
     to trust me.”
    “Or you me, honey. Maybe I’m one of those bad people your daddy’s worried about.”
    Kumiko considered this. “Are you?”
    “No. And if you’re Swain’s spy, he’s gotten a lot more baroque recently. If you’re
     your old man’s spy, maybe I don’t need Tick. But if the Yakuza’s running this, what’s
     the point of using Roger for a blind?”
    “I am no spy.”
    “Then start being your own. If Tokyo’s the frying pan, you may just have landed in
     the fire.”
    “But why involve me?”
    “You’re already involved. You’re here. You scared?”
    “No,” Kumiko said, and fell silent, wondering why this should be true.
    Late that afternoon, alone in the mirrored garret, Kumiko sat on the edge of the huge
     bed and peeled off her wet boots. She took the Maas-Neotek unit from her purse.
    “What are they?” she asked the ghost, who perched on the parapet of the black marble
     tub.
    “Your pub friends?”
    “Yes.”
    “Criminals. I’d advise you to associate with a better class, myself. The woman’s foreign.
     North American. Theman’s a Londoner. East End. He’s a data thief, evidently. I can’t access police records,
     except with regard to crimes of historical interest.”
    “I don’t know what to do.…”
    “Turn the unit over.”
    “What?”
    “On the back. You’ll see a sort of half-moon groove there. Put your thumbnail in and
     twist.…”
    A tiny hatch opened. Microswitches.
    “Reset the A/B throw to B. Use