CHAPTER 13

Frank Hardy slammed down the receiver for the umpteenth time. He had tried calling Joe for almost an hour now.

"No one home?" Phil asked, raising his eyebrows. Frank had gone straight to Phil's after following Con to McGuire's house. He hoped to learn more about the program in the CD. He had made a copy of the CD before giving the original one to Con.

Frank just shook his head. "I hope he's not in trouble," he said, trying not to sound too worried. "He should have been back home by now."

"Did you call at home or the van?" Phil asked.

"Both."

"Maybe he stopped somewhere for lunch, and forgotten about the time," Phil guessed.

"Or maybe he got distracted by a pretty waitress and forgotten everything," Frank added with a grin. Then he turned serious. "But that doesn't sound like him. He'd always call if he's going to be late."

Frank started pacing around the basement like a caged tiger. Where could he be? Is he all right? Has something happened to him? What if he's d – Stop! He ordered himself sternly. I'm not going anywhere if I keep on going like this.

"Did you find out anything else from the program?" Frank asked, trying to keep his mind away from Joe.

"If what you said about piracy is true," Phil started, "then there should be some kind of 'earmark' in this version, which would pinpoint the leak."

"And?"

"We have to check it with ElectroSoft's database and compared it. But I should warn you that it won't pinpoint exactly to the exact person," Phil told him.

"But it narrows down to a few people," Frank said. "That should help I suppose." He stopped pacing. He found himself standing in front of Phil's bookcase. He just gave a glance at the books, without really looking. "I just wished Joe would call. I'm dying to find out what he's got so far."

Frank unconsciously picked a book from the shelf. Pascal programming, he read the title of the book. He just leafed through it without any interest. "Maybe Joe's in trouble. I can't help but feel something's wrong," he went on.

"Maybe you should check the place he's supposed to be," Phil suggested.

"But I want to wait for the names," Frank said.

"It's going to take a while," Phil said. "When it's ready I'll send it to you and Con."

After debating to himself, Frank finally agreed to check on Joe. "All right," he said. As he placed back the book on the shelf, a sudden idea hit him hard.

"Phil, I think I know who Wirth is!"

***

In the meantime, Joe and Duncan were pushed into the backseat of the black car. After closing the door, the two men climbed the car in the front.

Someone else was already sitting in the backseat, pointing a gun at them when Duncan and Joe sat down. Joe immediately recognized the person.

"You!" Duncan cried to the person before Joe could say anything.

"What's going on?" Joe demanded. He was sitting between Duncan and the familiar-looking man, who was holding the gun.

Slowly, the car started moving toward the street.

"I can't believe you, after all these years," Duncan continued. Joe was surprised to see the hatred look in Duncan's eyes.

"You know Red Lewis?" Joe asked Duncan, in surprise.

But no one seemed to be answering his question.

"Nice to see you again, my boy. Do you know how hard it is to find you? I got lucky when I spotted this kid's van," Lewis sneered at Duncan as he jabbed his thumb at Joe. His voice filled with sarcasm.

Joe couldn't believe his ears. My boy?

"What's going on here, Duncan? How do you know Red Lewis?" Joe asked, looking confused. Now that he looked at it, he could see some resemblance between Duncan and Red Lewis. Except for a scar across Lewis's forehead, both of them had the identical gray eyes, and almost the same handsome features.

Duncan finally turned to Joe. "This man's real name is Ware Peterson. He is – or was," he looked at Lewis with a disgusted look, "my father."

"But your last name is Blackwell," Joe pointed in confusion.

"My mom decided to change back to her maiden name after Dad left home when I was ten," Duncan explained. "He never really cares about his family, and I wasn't aware that he has different names – or what he does for a living either."

"Oh, boy," Joe let out his breath in a rush, "First, Lyn's dad is onto you, now your own dad," he said. "How many more out there who wants your head, Duncan?"

"The police," Lewis piped up. "The gun I put in your drawer was very handy."

"You killed McGuire!" Duncan said accusingly.

"You framed your own son? Why?" Joe asked Lewis in surprise.

"Why? I'll tell you why – McGuire knew too much. I've got to get rid of him to protect someone else's reputation – and mine," Lewis growled. "And it's just a coincidence that McGuire's rival happened to be Duncan. He's the easy target to get blamed. So, I pretended to be McGuire when I called Duncan to meet McGuire at his home."

"So that Duncan would be caught with a dead man," Joe finished.

"How clever of you, Hardy!" Lewis said sarcastically. "A little birdy told me you were working on the murder case," he explained when he caught Joe's surprised look.

"And I bet you were the anonymous caller," Joe went on.

"All right, enough chit-chat!" Lewis ordered. He pulled out another gun from his jacket and pointed each one toward Joe and Duncan. "Where's the disk?" he demanded.

Duncan and Joe exchanged puzzled looks. Joe began to look tense.

"What disk?" Joe asked.

"Don't play games with me, pretty boy," Lewis warned. "One foolish move and I'll have you two zotzed."

Joe could tell he meant what he said. And judging from the way Lewis handled the gun, he could guess the man had killed before – and he wouldn't hesitate to do that now either.

"You're even going to kill your own son?" Joe asked, stalling for time.

"He never was my son ever since I walked out of the house," Lewis said casually, as if they were deciding which tree to cut.

"We have no love lost here," Duncan put in curtly.

"Well?" Lewis demanded. "Where is the disk?" he repeated, his voice hardening.

"If this is what you want, you can have it!" Duncan pulled out the ElectroSoft's CD from his jacket and tossed it at Lewis.

"That's not what I want – I've got thousands of them at my place," Lewis snapped. "I want the other disk!"

"Then, we don't know what you're talking about 'cos we don't have it," Duncan told him simply.

A backhand across his face was a response he got from Lewis. Blood trickled at the corner of his lips, and Duncan wiped it away with his sleeve.

"Hey!" Joe cried, pushing Lewis away from Duncan. "He said he doesn't know."

The gun instantly was pressed against Joe's neck. "Don't even move, Blondie," Lewis warned. "Will!" he called his driver. "Get this flivver back to our joint. Looks like we have some screws to tighten here," he said with a devilish look on his face.