The Thrifty Hacker
The theif's address was only a few blocks away. It was a nice sized, well maintained house with tulips growing along the side of it. The tow truck was no where to be seen. These observations made Jet assume this place was not the girl's house. He opted to stay in the truck and watched Spike knock on the door. A smiling mustached black man answered the door.
Jet wasn't a professional lip-reader, but he was almost positive that the man said "Howdy" to Spike.
Spike held out the card for the man to inspect.
The man stared at it for a few moments, and shook his head.
"Sorry partner, I've never seen her before" he had a strange accent..
"Good Luck finding her though!"
"Ok, Thanks for your time." Spike tried not to look or sound too dissapointed.
He walked back to the truck with his hands in his pockets and his head to the ground.
"So the license is a fake huh?" Jet didn't have to say "told you so" because the words were all over his smile.
"Yup," Spike slumped down in his seat and slammed the door.
"So then I guess it's time to call the cops." Jet was sure the lanky mechanic had thrown in the towel at this point. He was surprised at what Spike said next.
"Well we can always check the license plate number of the car.."
"That's assuming she didn't steal that car as well.." Jet starting chuckling softy and Spike shot him a deadly look that made Jet clear his throat and play along for a little while longer.
"How can we do that?" he tried his best to sound serious.
"We can hack into the DMV's website.." Spike answered very matter of factly.
"And just how are we going to do that?" what was that nut up to now?
Spike looked in the back of the truck at Ed.
"Hey Ed, will you hack something for us?"
"Sure, but Edwina is hungry!"
"Ok, we'll feed you once we get what we need."
"Okide-Dokie-Artichokie!" Ed saluted Spike.
"But Spike, how did you know..." Jet was really confused now and somewhat impressed.
"Let's just call it a hunch Jet." a satisfied smile came to his face, and he uncrossed his arms and sat back up in his seat. Ed was always so great at finding bounties in his dreams that he'd figured it'd be worth a shot to ask, and luckily he was right. He assumed that most kids nowadays were hackers simply because society was quickly becoming so computer based.
Everything was falling into place.
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"Um, this isn't exactly what I had in mind, Ed."
Spike and Ed were standing outside of the local Best Buy staring up at the bright yellow sign with big, black blocky letters.
"Does Spike want Ed to hack something for him or not?" she sounded a little bit annoyed.
"Well sure, but I figured we'd use Tomato." Shit, I just called it Tomato! I hope she didn't notice what I..
"Tomato?" Ed started giggling "what tomato?"
"There's no tomato, Ed" Spike tried to hold back the red embarassment creeping up his neck, otherwise he'd look like a tomato.
"But you said.." Ed was started to giggle.
"Let's go, Ed!" and he gently pushed her through the automatic doors.
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They made their was through the blinding, busy store and walked over to the computer section.
Ed looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and quickly slipped a CD into the CD burner of a computer that was hooked up to the internet.
Spike was checking out some cute blond with big blue eyes. He almost went up to her until he heard her speak. She had a high pitched very ditzy sounding voice. Spike was desperate for a woman, but not desperate enough go after a ditz. He'd already had his fair share of ditzes, and this time he wanted something more...Julia.
Ed started yanking at his untucked dark blue uniform shirt.
"So what does Spike want? Ed can get him Photoshop 6, Flash 5, Dreamweaver..."
She was staring up at him with her swim goggles still on her face. She looked like a tall skinny bug having a very bad hairday. Not like Spike should talk, a day in the rain wasn't too good for his big green mop of hair either.
"Huh?" Spike scratched his head and stared at Ed like she was speaking some other language..
"I said Edwina can get you Photosh.."
"No Ed, I don't want computer programs, I want to find out who the car is registered to, I want you to go to the DMV's website and look up this plate number.."
"Ed cannot do that"
"Ed can only hack programs"
"You're kidding," Spike felt his heart drop. So much for finding the girl on his own.
"Nope, Nope, Nope, Ed is being one hundered percent totally and completely serious."
"Shit!' Spike exclaimed, almost to the point of shouting. A few people looked over at him, then when about their business. He realized he was overreacting, but he didn't care, it sucked, just when something slighty interesting was about to happen to him, it stopped. He wished he had never gotten that call today, he wished he had never trusted the snow white look-a-like, and most of all, he wished he never woke up today.
"Did Ed do something wrong?" the child looked hurt and confused, she took the goggles off her eyes and pulled them down over her neck. They lay there like and ugly rubber necklace with two odd-shaped dull clear stones.
"No Ed, you didn't do anything wrong, are you still hungry?"
"Yes, Ed is still very hungry!"
"Good, so is Spike, let's go make Jet take us out to eat.."
"Out to eeeatt! Yay!" she skipped out of the store after Spike totally forgetting about her CD in the computer.
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Jet was sitting in the car with Ein. He claimed he didn't want to go into the store with Spike and Ed because there was a ballgame on the radio that he really wanted to listen to, but the truth was he wanted as little to do with this whole crazy thing as possible. He didn't understand why he didn't just call the cops earlier, but he decided that it must have been because of Spike's desire.
Jet knew that Spike would've gone without him, and that he would've just walked because Spike was the type of person that just didn't care about things like that, and he was a bright kid too. Jet often thought that Spike would make a great cop or detective, if only his mind wasn't always somewhere else. He imagined his green haired co-worker getting shot at by crooks, bullets piercing through his trenchcoat and fidora, and Spike would be staring into space with his hand stroking his chin and a dazed look on his face, lost in a daydream.
"He's got the dream, but not the drive." when Jet realized what movie he had just quoted, he was glad nobody else had been in the car to hear him but the dog, although Ein did perk his ears up.
Sometimes Jet thought that dog knew more then he let on, but then Ein would disprove his theory by chasing his own tail with hellfire in his eyes.
Ein jumped up at the window and started barking happily.
Jet looked over to see a happy skipping red head, and a defeated looking green head.
"Did you get it?"
Ed jumped into the truck and scooped up Ein cradling him like a baby.
A very pissed off Spike got in the truck, slammed the door and glared his eyes out his window.
That was enough of an answer for Jet.
"Spike said Jet would take Ed out to eat. Ed is very hungry."
"Where do you want to go Ed?" Jet threw a concerned glance at Spike. The kid was taking this thing so seriously, too seriously if you asked Jet.
"Ed wants to go to the diner on the highway!"
Jet headed towards that highway.
-------------------
Jet's radio was broken so the four passengers sat in silence.
Jet was mulling over a way in his head to bring Spike out of his funk.
Ed was still cradling Ein.
Ein was still a little wet, smelling like mushrooms and fritos, he considered scratching his ear, but he'd save that for later.
Spike was staring out his window into the early night sky. The sun had not fully retreated yet, but the moon was slowly emerging and stars were mushrooming up all over the place. He'd love to take the Swordfish for a ride right tonite, but he doubted he'd be able to sleep well after such a dissapointing day. He'd be thinking alot about that girl with the purple hair. He hated her, but not for stealing the truck. He hated her because she was the promise for something exciting, and now she was gone.
"That looks just like Jet and Spike's tow truck!" Ed was pointing about half a block up the highway.
Spike opened his window and squinted into the hazy distance. It was their tow truck alright.
The beat up tow truck was along the side of the road with it's hazards on. "Snow White" was still wearing her yellow jacket although the rain stopped a while ago. Spike hadn't noticed how short her skirt was before, but he realized now that her rain coat almost gobbled the whole thing up. It was a wonder nobody had stopped for her yet and it was also a miracle.
"Haha! It stalled, just like it did this morning. Serves her ass right!"
Spike and Jet exchanged victorious smirks with each other. As much as he hated to admit it, Jet was really starting to get into this. He pulled off to the side of the highway.
"So now what?"
"I'm not sure.." Spike really didn't know what to do at first. Then figured he do whatever Spike the cowboy would do, except he didn't own a gun and he didn't know Jeet Kun Do, and this girl seemed like she could handle herself. He got out of the truck and closed the door.
"Spike!" Jet let out a harsh loud whisper. What a lunkhead! He was going to get himself killed!
"I'll be ok Jet." But he wasn't sure that he would be. He took a deep breath and walked towards his purple haired "bounty."
The theif's address was only a few blocks away. It was a nice sized, well maintained house with tulips growing along the side of it. The tow truck was no where to be seen. These observations made Jet assume this place was not the girl's house. He opted to stay in the truck and watched Spike knock on the door. A smiling mustached black man answered the door.
Jet wasn't a professional lip-reader, but he was almost positive that the man said "Howdy" to Spike.
Spike held out the card for the man to inspect.
The man stared at it for a few moments, and shook his head.
"Sorry partner, I've never seen her before" he had a strange accent..
"Good Luck finding her though!"
"Ok, Thanks for your time." Spike tried not to look or sound too dissapointed.
He walked back to the truck with his hands in his pockets and his head to the ground.
"So the license is a fake huh?" Jet didn't have to say "told you so" because the words were all over his smile.
"Yup," Spike slumped down in his seat and slammed the door.
"So then I guess it's time to call the cops." Jet was sure the lanky mechanic had thrown in the towel at this point. He was surprised at what Spike said next.
"Well we can always check the license plate number of the car.."
"That's assuming she didn't steal that car as well.." Jet starting chuckling softy and Spike shot him a deadly look that made Jet clear his throat and play along for a little while longer.
"How can we do that?" he tried his best to sound serious.
"We can hack into the DMV's website.." Spike answered very matter of factly.
"And just how are we going to do that?" what was that nut up to now?
Spike looked in the back of the truck at Ed.
"Hey Ed, will you hack something for us?"
"Sure, but Edwina is hungry!"
"Ok, we'll feed you once we get what we need."
"Okide-Dokie-Artichokie!" Ed saluted Spike.
"But Spike, how did you know..." Jet was really confused now and somewhat impressed.
"Let's just call it a hunch Jet." a satisfied smile came to his face, and he uncrossed his arms and sat back up in his seat. Ed was always so great at finding bounties in his dreams that he'd figured it'd be worth a shot to ask, and luckily he was right. He assumed that most kids nowadays were hackers simply because society was quickly becoming so computer based.
Everything was falling into place.
------------------------
"Um, this isn't exactly what I had in mind, Ed."
Spike and Ed were standing outside of the local Best Buy staring up at the bright yellow sign with big, black blocky letters.
"Does Spike want Ed to hack something for him or not?" she sounded a little bit annoyed.
"Well sure, but I figured we'd use Tomato." Shit, I just called it Tomato! I hope she didn't notice what I..
"Tomato?" Ed started giggling "what tomato?"
"There's no tomato, Ed" Spike tried to hold back the red embarassment creeping up his neck, otherwise he'd look like a tomato.
"But you said.." Ed was started to giggle.
"Let's go, Ed!" and he gently pushed her through the automatic doors.
-------------------------
They made their was through the blinding, busy store and walked over to the computer section.
Ed looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and quickly slipped a CD into the CD burner of a computer that was hooked up to the internet.
Spike was checking out some cute blond with big blue eyes. He almost went up to her until he heard her speak. She had a high pitched very ditzy sounding voice. Spike was desperate for a woman, but not desperate enough go after a ditz. He'd already had his fair share of ditzes, and this time he wanted something more...Julia.
Ed started yanking at his untucked dark blue uniform shirt.
"So what does Spike want? Ed can get him Photoshop 6, Flash 5, Dreamweaver..."
She was staring up at him with her swim goggles still on her face. She looked like a tall skinny bug having a very bad hairday. Not like Spike should talk, a day in the rain wasn't too good for his big green mop of hair either.
"Huh?" Spike scratched his head and stared at Ed like she was speaking some other language..
"I said Edwina can get you Photosh.."
"No Ed, I don't want computer programs, I want to find out who the car is registered to, I want you to go to the DMV's website and look up this plate number.."
"Ed cannot do that"
"Ed can only hack programs"
"You're kidding," Spike felt his heart drop. So much for finding the girl on his own.
"Nope, Nope, Nope, Ed is being one hundered percent totally and completely serious."
"Shit!' Spike exclaimed, almost to the point of shouting. A few people looked over at him, then when about their business. He realized he was overreacting, but he didn't care, it sucked, just when something slighty interesting was about to happen to him, it stopped. He wished he had never gotten that call today, he wished he had never trusted the snow white look-a-like, and most of all, he wished he never woke up today.
"Did Ed do something wrong?" the child looked hurt and confused, she took the goggles off her eyes and pulled them down over her neck. They lay there like and ugly rubber necklace with two odd-shaped dull clear stones.
"No Ed, you didn't do anything wrong, are you still hungry?"
"Yes, Ed is still very hungry!"
"Good, so is Spike, let's go make Jet take us out to eat.."
"Out to eeeatt! Yay!" she skipped out of the store after Spike totally forgetting about her CD in the computer.
------------------------------
Jet was sitting in the car with Ein. He claimed he didn't want to go into the store with Spike and Ed because there was a ballgame on the radio that he really wanted to listen to, but the truth was he wanted as little to do with this whole crazy thing as possible. He didn't understand why he didn't just call the cops earlier, but he decided that it must have been because of Spike's desire.
Jet knew that Spike would've gone without him, and that he would've just walked because Spike was the type of person that just didn't care about things like that, and he was a bright kid too. Jet often thought that Spike would make a great cop or detective, if only his mind wasn't always somewhere else. He imagined his green haired co-worker getting shot at by crooks, bullets piercing through his trenchcoat and fidora, and Spike would be staring into space with his hand stroking his chin and a dazed look on his face, lost in a daydream.
"He's got the dream, but not the drive." when Jet realized what movie he had just quoted, he was glad nobody else had been in the car to hear him but the dog, although Ein did perk his ears up.
Sometimes Jet thought that dog knew more then he let on, but then Ein would disprove his theory by chasing his own tail with hellfire in his eyes.
Ein jumped up at the window and started barking happily.
Jet looked over to see a happy skipping red head, and a defeated looking green head.
"Did you get it?"
Ed jumped into the truck and scooped up Ein cradling him like a baby.
A very pissed off Spike got in the truck, slammed the door and glared his eyes out his window.
That was enough of an answer for Jet.
"Spike said Jet would take Ed out to eat. Ed is very hungry."
"Where do you want to go Ed?" Jet threw a concerned glance at Spike. The kid was taking this thing so seriously, too seriously if you asked Jet.
"Ed wants to go to the diner on the highway!"
Jet headed towards that highway.
-------------------
Jet's radio was broken so the four passengers sat in silence.
Jet was mulling over a way in his head to bring Spike out of his funk.
Ed was still cradling Ein.
Ein was still a little wet, smelling like mushrooms and fritos, he considered scratching his ear, but he'd save that for later.
Spike was staring out his window into the early night sky. The sun had not fully retreated yet, but the moon was slowly emerging and stars were mushrooming up all over the place. He'd love to take the Swordfish for a ride right tonite, but he doubted he'd be able to sleep well after such a dissapointing day. He'd be thinking alot about that girl with the purple hair. He hated her, but not for stealing the truck. He hated her because she was the promise for something exciting, and now she was gone.
"That looks just like Jet and Spike's tow truck!" Ed was pointing about half a block up the highway.
Spike opened his window and squinted into the hazy distance. It was their tow truck alright.
The beat up tow truck was along the side of the road with it's hazards on. "Snow White" was still wearing her yellow jacket although the rain stopped a while ago. Spike hadn't noticed how short her skirt was before, but he realized now that her rain coat almost gobbled the whole thing up. It was a wonder nobody had stopped for her yet and it was also a miracle.
"Haha! It stalled, just like it did this morning. Serves her ass right!"
Spike and Jet exchanged victorious smirks with each other. As much as he hated to admit it, Jet was really starting to get into this. He pulled off to the side of the highway.
"So now what?"
"I'm not sure.." Spike really didn't know what to do at first. Then figured he do whatever Spike the cowboy would do, except he didn't own a gun and he didn't know Jeet Kun Do, and this girl seemed like she could handle herself. He got out of the truck and closed the door.
"Spike!" Jet let out a harsh loud whisper. What a lunkhead! He was going to get himself killed!
"I'll be ok Jet." But he wasn't sure that he would be. He took a deep breath and walked towards his purple haired "bounty."