Bad Good Bad: Special Edition Page 6

  Tom: “If you feel like coming over to my penthouse for cocktails tomorrow night, up to you, you are welcome. I will email you my coordinates. But I understand you may need some time by yourself, so we can catch up later too. Thank you very much, and sorry for putting you all through this. Let’s see if we can all resume our ordinary lives now, but first, I need a shower and a real bed.”

  Then we kind of all parted pretty quickly, and for one I am not a big fan of the goodbyes that circle back in agonizing minutes. I am jumping into a cab again with Eric and Kim, heading over to Time Square to crash and be ready to welcome our dear ones and enjoy New York while we can.

  We are all exhausted. We all check in quickly at the hotel, we part and I can’t even go near the shower, I dive straight into bed, just after I booked the seats online and forwarded the email to Carolyn.

  After a few hours, I wake up. I left the curtain open, so not to trick myself into a big slumber. A good 3-hour nap, Carolyn and the kids are only a couple of hours away. I shower. I turn on the TV, Channel up until I reach some news channel. I don’t have to wait for long. Some officials from what looks like a real police station somewhere in New York, look reassuring, but those poker faces again... The titles at the bottom talk about some insider that was trying to collect money from China or Russia in exchange for access to compromised systems.

  We may normal people never get to the bottom of this, but it sounds like a complex game of half-truths and fishing between governments, militaries, terrorist groups, rogue entities, greedy bastards, hackers and everything in between. A complex who’s who to who game. Will this happen again? Yes, I think. But I guess it is a self-correcting platform, what does not kills it makes it stronger, never perfect but better readied for the next scare.

  To defeat the bad, you must be bad yourself. But a good bad. Ethical Hacker is like Ethical Burglar to me, I’ll break into the bank, run with the money, give it back, then I’ll explain to the bank how I did it so they can plug the gaps. But what if you’re bad and you want to defeat the good bad? You have to be good bad yourself, you’re a bad one, the next iteration. A bad good bad.

  Chapter 18

  Double digit in the Celcius scale, the sun shining on Manhattan on this Monday afternoon, our last day before heading back home, and we are in January. Yes, exceptional.

  Carolyn just walked into a store with Sarah. Kim is across the street, with Sophie and Isabelle, they are hopping some boutiques, in wonderland. Not that they are buying lots of things, it looks like they just enjoy visiting boutique after boutique, everyone’s first time in New York.

  Jonathan: “Hey daddy, look at the new friend I just made”. The boy is making a silly face, high-fiving the blue M&M character. Eric and I get a crack at it.

  Eric: “Think about it. Take your time. If you’re in, she’s in too.”

  Kevin: “Yeah, I need to talk to Carolyn, but not now.” I see her pop out of a store followed by Sarah, they bumped into Mr. M&M and Jonathan who is kind of too old for this stuff now at 13, so he is acting it out a bit, funny in his own head.

  I am still outside with Eric. Our eyes catch an interesting scene on the giant flat screen. The US President, shaking hand with none other than Bianca Taylor, Neocuris executive. Stock tickers are climbing, even Neocuris looks like it is just down 12 points now. Titles talk about evacuation order removed around Nuclear Plant in Taiwan, They are rebooting the plant now. Secretary of defense McKay congratulates Neocuris for their impeccable management of the crisis. Even New Forensics gets some flowers. No word about the bad guy.

  Eric: “This is the world we live in my friend. Bad guy one day, an asset for the good guys the next day. Don’t look for him in your neighborhood jail.”

  Kevin: “Yeah, that’s all smelly. A big cover up.”

  Eric: “They have been taking some liberties when I was out, but Tom is firm, the vault was never part of the deal. It goes back to us. Now that there is no extranet connection to the back end anymore, we have to make a decision, either to go back, or look forward. The bad guy’s idea to leverage the frontend to get to the backend, we need to think about it. Maybe bring it up to Neocuris. Pros and Cons. Yes you need to put more trust on the few individuals that have the access, but then what’s the difference if you have effective controls in place and logs?”

  Kevin: “Well, we will need to look at the filters, this thing could quickly get out of control otherwise. Well, that’s assuming I’m in.”

  Eric: “Ha, ha. You’ll get two weeks before I hear you say yes. Kim is off to San Francisco for a couple of weeks, she needs to see if she can stitch a few things back together. We reconnect in 2 weeks. Tom says he found some venture for us, not those suits. I’m thinking one third each for the new spin-off. We need a name for it too. A good one.”

  Kevin: “Let’s go check what Jonathan is pointing at now.”

  Chapter 19

  I think I get it now. Maybe.

  Good bad good bad.

  Chapter 20

  I flip the board into the vertical now and grab it with my right hand. I get on the tram, at the bottom of the hill. Not a bad February day in San Francisco.

  Am I ready for this?

  I look at the passengers on the tram. Who are these people? Where do they belong?

  Good thing I never wear makeup…

  “Go tell him how much you love him!”

  I clear my vision. A man’s face is now standing out in the anonymous crowd. Black. He looks like a young grandfather, projecting goodness and wisdom. I nervously laugh.

  The man: “Happy and sad all at the same time. I miss that. These are the best years of your life. Go girl!”

  Go girl!

  Book 2

  Good Bad Good Bad

  Book 2

  Good bad good bad

  Chapter 1

  I jump off the tram. Back on the long board. A few minutes before I get to Voilà!

  Amanda, she’s my mom. She is a fighter. And an entrepreneur, not unlike Tom. Pregnant at 17, no paper, she had to raise me alone. I never met my real dad.

  She always wanted the best for me. She always protected me. She had to roll up her sleeves, she got help from the extended family. She opened her first restaurant in Los Angeles, a taqueria, nothing really fancy, but she was always trying to find something different from the start. She was both running the business and the kitchen at first. At one point she hired a chef who was really inspired. The menu started to evolve in a unique way. It became a famous stop for those who were looking for an inspired and healthy Mexican cuisine.

  Amanda married my stepfather, Randy, when I was 4 years old. Cristina my little sister was born 2 years later, when I was 6. I was very excited when my little sister finally arrived. I could hold her in my arms at the hospital. I liked to think she was my little baby.

  After a few years, my mother sold the restaurant. She was ready to start a new one. She is a busy woman, and as a young girl, I enjoyed a lot of freedom. I became autonomous at a young age. I was also a little rebel in my teens. I would end up fighting with Randy, my stepfather, a lot. He was trying to be a good dad to me, but I had strong opinions. I would rebel against his authority, I would defy him. When he left my mother, Cristina was 10 and I was 16. That’s when we moved north to San Francisco. Cristina got the idea somehow that I was responsible for splitting the family, and still to this day, I think she is a bit angry at me. She is very close to Randy, she loves her father.

  Last year, Amanda was on the run again to open a new restaurant. She was looking for something unique, something new. San Francisco has a lot to offer, but she has ambitions and she is setting the goal for herself to be recognized as an innovator. She travelled to Paris in April. She wanted to catch the vibe, learn about the new trends, and see where the best chefs in Paris were evolving what she calls ‘La fine cuisine’. She told me she found out about a few chefs who were trained in Japan, then in France, by flipping the pages of a magazine that was on the coffee table in
her hotel room. She was expecting to be served some foie gras sushi or some other catchy combo, but no. Just traditional French cuisine, with a kick: New combinations of spices, sauces and presentations that are out of this world. The plates were not too filling, and each one a little piece of art to the eye, a hidden gem.

  She convinced Toshiro to follow her back to San Francisco. Toshiro spent 4 years in France. At first he had to work very hard to make a name for himself. He was starting to be recognized as one of the top new chefs in Paris. Amanda told him that he could always use the experience in San Francisco to boost his credentials as an international chef. He is an adventurer. He jumped in.

  I can see the restaurant now, and the vertical sign for Voilà! Written from top to bottom, with a little Japanese feel to it. I grab my board and push the door. It is 8 pm, the place is starting to be busy. I don’t recognize the woman at the welcome desk, probably a new employee. I have not been here in more than 3 months. I don’t have a reservation, but she finds a table for me. I sit down after putting my board against the wall. I open the menu, but I am not really reading it. I don’t feel very hungry right now.

  Amanda spots me. She walks to my table in a hurry, looking very concerned.

  Amanda: “What are you doing here? Are you out of your mind? Get out of this place!” Amanda grabs me by the arm and she drags me outside the restaurant. We walk away from the restaurant window.

  Kim: “You don’t seem to be very happy to see me. I missed you too, Amanda.” Not the welcome home moment I was expecting from my mother. Amanda is looking behind her shoulder. She is looking at me again with the scrutiny of a loving mother, but that is going to punish me like I am her naughty little girl.

  Amanda: “You never call, you never answer your phone when we call. We had no idea what was going on in your head, why you abandoned us. And you believe you can show up just like that? He is crushed. He tried to call you every day, he tried to find you in Portland back in early January. He is talking about going back to Japan. He dropped his plans to open a cuisine academy in San Francisco.”

  Kim: “You have no idea what I have been through mom. I could not call you, sorry, I just could not do it. I got dragged into a crazy situation. My new friends were in danger. You have no idea how difficult it is for me right now to be back here.” I don’t want to cry, I am clinching both fists very hard now.

  Amanda: “You will destroy him. If you want to play with his heart and abandon him again, you will destroy him. Leave him alone.”

  I am not listening anymore to Amanda. I am looking above her shoulder. She stops talking and she turns around. Toshiro is standing on the sidewalk, about 20 feet away. He is staring at me, paralyzed, his mouth open. I need to bury my face. I run to him and I jump in his arms. He puts his arms around me, he is shaking. My tears are flowing, but I feel such a warm feeling to be in his arms, I missed him so much. I love him so much. The world vanishes. Time stops.

  Chapter 2

  Tonight nothing else is important, just the 2 of us. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where to start. I just envelop myself in this moment. I am Toshiro’s princess. We invest ourselves into each other without thinking about tomorrow. I don’t want this moment to stop. I don’t want time to start again.

  …

  I wake up in Toshiro’s loft. Morning. Toshiro is up, making some tea. He comes back and sits on the bed next to me. He takes my hand.

  Toshiro: “You are back in my life. For how long?”

  I turn around and look at the blue sky outside, the curtains all pulled now. I turn back towards Toshiro.

  Kim: “I wanted to come back before. I wanted to call you. I was not ready.”

  Toshiro: “What happened to you? I came all the way to Portland to look for you. I rang your apartment number. I called your phone. I even asked the tenants walking in and out if they know you. Then I assumed you did not love me anymore, that I needed to leave you alone.”

  Kim: “I was trying to help Eric and Tom. You heard about those terrible things that were happening in January, the attack in Taiwan, the attack on Neocuris, our customer. We all got dragged into this crazy situation, and we knew that we had to stick together. We knew that we could stop the crisis. We stopped it.”

  Toshiro: “You could have let me know. I don’t understand why you would not be able to at least call me, text me. I did not know if you were alive or dead. I could not sleep anymore at night.”

  Kim: “I am terribly sorry. I should have stayed with you. But I really wanted this job, this is important to me. I just did not realize what I was getting myself into. I did not anticipate that I would have to jump into a crazy race to help my new friends. Eric and Sarah were caught into a very difficult situation. Eric had to lock himself into a metal box, they were after him. I was alone. I had to get to somebody very important first, to help Eric, Sarah and Tom. I had to go to Canada and bring back Kevin: He held the key to the puzzle.”

  Toshiro: “Are you going back to Portland? You know I cannot leave San Francisco now. Your mother has invested a lot of money into the restaurant.”

  Kim: “I don’t know. I want you with me. The separation was very difficult for me. But I knew that if I had reached back to you, I would not have been able to stay away anymore. I wanted to help Eric and Sarah first. Now it looks like the crisis is over. We are not exactly sure about what happened, or if it will happen again. But nobody is in immediate danger today.”

  I did not tell Toshiro about the chip. Back in December, when I started to have the dreams, I just wanted to hide, I knew it had something to do with the chip. I was confused, scared. I was afraid to tell him, I did not know how to tell him. I knew I wanted him back, but I was not ready. Now my app is disabled. I am myself again.

  Toshiro: “You are different. You are not telling me everything.”

  I am so tired of lies. Lies to myself, to Sarah: I was afraid that if she knew Toshiro’s real name, she would be able to track him down. I saw a copy of the magazine listing the top 10 young chefs in California, with the picture of Toshiro standing in front of Voilà! She wanted to help me. I needed to help her and Eric get their life back.

  Chapter 3

  I have been in San Francisco for a week. Toshiro invited me at the restaurant tonight. He takes a pause from the kitchen and we go sit at a table. I get served this incredible dish, crayfish raviolis in a light broth of jasmine and shitake, with some northern berries and a presentation that makes the whole thing look like it is a little samurai hut. One of his last creations. Every bite is surprising, delicious.

  Dinner is over now. He has to go back to the kitchen for a few hours. I just sit at the table by myself, with a smile on my face, watching him work with his assistants. He explains the steps to them, he makes sure that each plate that comes out of the kitchen is perfect. Every customer seems to be enjoying the discovery: I hear kudos, wows. The crowd is a mix of young adults and older couples, and they are all traveling together to exotic lands and beauties.

  Amanda pushes the chair, she sits down at my table.

  Amanda: “Another busy night. Tonight is a success. This is the best restaurant I ever put together.”

  Kim: “I know you. You will get itchy again soon. You cannot stop making new plans.”

  Amanda: “This time, I think I have the best chef in the world. He keeps re-inventing himself. He has the patience of an angel with the staff, they all like him a lot. He wants them to learn, to succeed. It is all about respect, dedication, and creativity. He is a true artist. We also have this project for the academy.”

  Amanda: “Cristina is coming back from Los Angeles this weekend. She can’t wait to see you.”

  Kim: “She is still mad at me.”

  Amanda: “She is getting older now. She is a lot like you. You were a rebel when you were 16. Randy and I we keep telling her that you are not responsible for the divorce. We had to part, we were just not on the same planet anymore, me and Randy. She is starting to understand.”


  Amanda gets up to go help seat a few couples that are just arriving. She is trying to find tables for them. I decide to free my table. I grab my board and my phone. I go stand outside the restaurant. It is a cool night, I zip my jacket. I take a look at my phone, I see a text from Eric: ‘We need to talk. Call me when you get this’. I put the phone in my jacket. I get on my board. I am going to Toshiro’s loft, I will wait for him there, surprise him.

  …

  Morning again. Toshiro just left to go shop for some ingredients. He is able to find some of them locally, but he is also importing other ingredients from Japan and Alaska. I pick up my phone, I see another text from Eric: ‘Please call me.’

  I owe Eric this call. He paid my ticket to San Francisco from New York. He is sincere when he says he did not mean to hurt me. Sarah was there for me when I needed a cheer, when I could not stay alone anymore in my apartment.

  Eric: “Kim! I am so glad you called me back. Sarah wants to know if everything is ok.”

  Kim: “Yes, I am at my boyfriend’s loft now. We are back together. My mother’s new restaurant was on TV the other night. And my sister is coming to town this weekend.”

  Eric: “Great news! I am so sorry. I should have known better about the chip. I did not mean to derail your personal life.”

  Kim: “Don’t apologize. You trusted me. You gave me my first real job. I could not let you down.”

  Eric: “Thanks Kim, I will never forget what you did for me and Sarah.”

  Eric: “Sorry to be asking, I know you have other priorities, but did you have time to think about my offer?”

  My brain wants to say yes. My heart wants to say no. My mother invested a lot of money so I could attend the best schools. She worked hard. I want to work with Eric. But I want to stay with Toshiro.

  Eric: “Look, you don’t have to answer me now. Take your time. But I would like you to come to Portland for a day or two. Bring William with you. I will take care of the airfare, and you can have the guest room and my whole house actually if you want to stay a few days: We are splitting our time between Social’s upstairs and the house nowadays.”