Joe Burke's Last Stand

he said with satisfaction. Mo was ea

to?" she asked, breaking

ht a co

gh

t they're good tools-I bought it for

bites, "what they say about how to

's t

start with

's one method

fast," she said. "What is

ten people that asked me question

ake it,"

. Info is coded and split into small packets. Each packet is numbered and addressed; it heads toward its destination by any route that is open; it doesn't have to travel with its sister packets. A program at the receiving end collects the packets

you learn t

he university. I actual

look the ty

beamed from an antenna on top of the engineering building to a satellite and then down to an antenna at MIT in Massachusetts. A few seconds later, blak, bl

ou want to do,

, any

took a mouthful of rice. Her eyes we

ike to write

" she

u get by?"

ch a couple of courses. When I get the chance, I do my o

Kertesz." Mo looked at him sharply. "His pictures of New York are so still," Joe said, "like etchings, bu

. "I love his early Par

u're full o

er is a

grew up

. My mother died when I was a kid. Did you

seen some o

ce. Want to h

ow about

ly." They

. She was slim, intense, in her late thirties, with high coloring and black hair pulled into a bun. She was damned good looking-hapa-Asian, French maybe. Sh

d y

her to Franz Griessler's studio, way up the mountai

was he

es that I couldn't do it, couldn't just sit there with people looking at me. Drops of sweat started to form over my eyebrows. I wanted to run away. But something happened. I bega

ght dessert and c

ir, a lot of greens, sage, purple lilac colors. Her hands were partially sketched, folded in her la

ranz said, looking at indications of bracelets and ri

osition. Always I

onut banana dessert. Mo looked tho

k at the mountain and remember that studio, especially at night. You can see a couple of lights way

hey left the restaurant she put a hand on his arm. "When the going gets tough, the

they went in different

en

know what to make of Mo. She was a good listener. She didn't seem to be

cious metals were hot. He was making money. He had made the acquaintance in cyberspace of Claude Ogier, a knowledgeable gold bug from Quebec who issued a constant stream

at had been mined for gold in the last century. The deposit, known as 'desert dirt,' contained gold, silver, and platinum in small concentrations. Small, that is, by the ounce. By the square kilometer, S

was engaged to evaluate the deposit. Various explanations were advanced to counter the objections. Seasoned investors said that these companies were scams nineteen times out of twenty, so why bother at all? Optimists brought up investor

an experimental extraction technique had yielded results that were higher than expected. Tests were continuing with larger samples. Joe jumped on the ask and boug

He bought 1500 more shares at $10.50. When the price rose over $11, Claude shocked the online bulls by selling most of his shares. "But C

sition if that comes to be. I have my original investment r

verify this. Joe e-mailed the company to inquire but received no answer. Kate had an academic friend in Seattle who checked and was unable to find a record of graduation. The closest any one could come was to determi

wed stock, driving the price down in order to frighten investors into dumping their shares. The price held in the $10 range for a few weeks and then quickly fell to $8 and then $7. The short position grew larger by the day. The bulls argu

ade no mention of the extraction yields. The company made bland assurances about ongoing efforts to improv

oe waited for a bounce, clamped his jaw, and sold out at $3.25, just below the high of the

avered between the attitudes of the trader and the long term investor, ignoring the safeguards of each approach. If you are trading, you must wait for good entry points and you must exit immediately if the price moves against you. Gains more th

failed to follow through on his investigation of the CEO. He had been too cheap to go to the annu

to his monitor, living on the Internet, reading the Wall St. Journal every day and Barrons every weekend, a

one, the next slid in against him and put her hand on his leg. "Buy me drink? You want pu-pu's?" The music

ay-after shambles w

h,

, J

ya doin'

m at the

er, or are you jus

couple of days. Kate t

"Max, you look terrific . . . gr

on't look so g

s, it will all be history." Max put his pack down

own in it. Carried it

ands? What do t

outh," Max s

nted to go there, suppos

nest expression. Max had gotten through the University of Vermont, studying this and that, anthropology mostly, but he'd gone walkabout instead of buckling do

get some b

," Max

Joe asked, "Remember that week we s

a Pali coast

"The whole damn island

told us about the leper who

too. One sick guy with a rifle against marines and cannon-he killed, what? . . . three o

," Ma

nd never caught leprosy. A few years later, she climbed back over the pali and started all over aga

t like a grown up, hol

linked

next?" J

d lifted off the top. The box was rectangular with an oval center; a thin piece of stone lay in the oval, tawny and flaked. "It's an arrowhead. Found it in Vermont." Joe put the arrowhead in his palm

and then when I was in New Zealan

said. "The oval is per

things," he said. "That's what

put the arrowhead

see Kate when I get to

o working with his hands. Nice guy." Joe had an

ru

istered and the insurance is good for another six or seven months. Here." Joe found the registration in his wallet and gave it to him. "Just take this. That way all you

all

." Max sat back and considered. He stretched his arm f

," he

ax, I

s head. "Tha

band around it, and put it in his pocket. They walked to Waikiki

and asked Max if he'd ever had a

in an economics class. I remember now-he was steamed about the Romans. They had tax laws

to see you go. But you're headed in the right direction. That's a joke. You'll see a cookie fortune taped to the dash in

ks. Take care o

s gone. That's the way it

at day. "You and me. They don't have a chance." That night