Information Warfare is real and its NOW.

Amazing that one really doesn't hear that much about it, but of course banks and other hacked businesses don't like to let on that their systems have been penetrated.  Lots of trade secrets are being stolen.


Read more from the people who track this stuff:  The-changing-and-terrifying-nature-of-the-new-cyber-warfare


Don't say you weren't warned. 

Reality Apes Fiction

This week when I read about the Chinese cyber-attacks, and especially the computer security firm (Mandiant) that revealed them, I couldn't help but think of well, The Shadow Warriors, and how in  1993 (twenty years ago) I discovered that the Computer Security Conference (even then an annual one) was held at Raffles Place in Singapore, and I had an (imagined) computer security firm with a mission and employees, and I took them to Singapore and bad stuff happened, and The Shadow Warriors novel was born.   Paul Strassman gave me the idea for the software agents (shadow warriors) who roamed cyberspace causing trouble and finally began an  info war, or information warfare.  I had a character we first meet in Hong Kong named Ocho Lee, who was at the root of the trouble.  This was before Hong Kong became part of China, although if you were ever in Hong Kong, you know that it was always China and today China has become like Hong Kong, not what everyone worried about back in the day.       

Remember the domino theory?  That once the commies got their mitts on unsteady little democracies, they would all fall like dominoes.  That didn't happen, and if fact if was the Communist bloc that fell like dominoes.  How could we have had it so wrong?

But I digress.    Even in 1993 computer security was a hot topic as it is today.  This week The Boston Globe had an interesting article about the  company (Mandiant) that blew the whistle on the Chinese. Mandiant is not our government but a "digital forensics" company that protects private companies from hack attacks and information theft. Private firms playing major role against cyberattacks
Most of the Mandiant gurus are "retired intelligence and law enforcement agents who specialize in computer forensics."  I went to the website and they were all men, kind of a surprise in this day and age.  Mandiant is the Blackwater of Computer Security according to the Globe
 Mandiant Report
This is interesting stuff, and although I am no longer writing about technology (it changed faster than I could write and sell) the temptation is still there.

My ficitonal computer security company was Nemecek Associates.  Franz Nemecek was a retired one-time math professor who fled the Hungarian revolution.  Wayne Wendel  was a hacker's hacker in the MIT tradition.  Emma Lee Davis happened into computer security and is the admittedly least technical of the trio, but definitely has her nerdy moments and she functions as the project manager who doesn't have to dig down dirty into the bits and bytes.  Nemecek is assisted by various hackers, old MIT buddies of Wayne's.  This was so much fun to write about, and I have two unsold books about Emma's (and the others) adventures.  The most fun  is when  Emma and Wayne go to Burning Man and the exciting times they have on the Playa. Lots of computer geeks and gurus to go Burning Man.

If you think all this sounds like a good read, pick up a copy of The Shadow Warriors, available in trade paperback or in ebook form.  Try Amazon or Smashwords for the e-book, Amazon for the paper copy.  The author is Judith Copek, who made a huge mistake by not checking Google before she assigned the title of so many other books, games and what have you to her novel.  A mistake not to be made again.

Computer security can be exciting, even riveting, because it's the white hats against the black hats, and they're both smart and interesting.     And devious.  Always devious.     

The Shadow Warriors novel on sale

Smashwords sale only (no Kindle) until March 15 for The Shadow Warriors.  Use Coupon Code QR73B and the novel only costs $1.49.  The author is Judith Copek.  Smashwords Web site


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The Shadow Warriors is a genre-busting novel of suspense, incorporating international locales (Singapore, Hong Kong, Boston, Brussels and Germany), technology (software agents) and derring-do at a German university. The story is framed by an outbreak of information warfare. Emma Lee Davis, a web security consultant, must dredge up a painful summer in her past to discover a means to end the info-war that has disrupted civilization.

The novel provides insights into the computer hacker culture of old, complete with colorful techspeak and the offbeat humor that always accompanies an information systems project.  All the while Emma’s irreverent, insightful observations and unique voice pepper the cyber-suspense with aspects of cyber-farce. The topic of technology running amok is timely; the characters are unique. The millions of  IT professionals will enjoy a book that features their misunderstood livelihoods.  

Some Cybercrime Web Sites

Here are a few basic sites.  Wikipedia even has one.

Cybercrime: U.S. Department of Justice

For a foreign slant:  Interpol and Cyber Crime

Drug Lords and Rackets:  Cyber Crime and Money Laundering

I hope this gives you some food for thought.  If you need something more imaginative, you can grab a copy of The Shadow Warriors.

Another Cyber-Crime Thriller

Map of the (then) East German Island of Ruegen, setting of World of Mirrors

You might want to take a look at World of Mirrors, authored by Judith Copek.  Published as both a trade paperback and an ebook, World of Mirrors is another cybercrime thriller from Wings ePress. 

World of Mirrors is set on an island off the Baltic coast in the former DDR, and the year is 1990, the “time of the turn.” The Berlin wall has crumbled, but Germany is not yet reunified.   Against the seductive decadence of an old resort with its classic sailboats, nude beaches and crumbling casinos, Zara Gray, a consultant to high tech firms, and T.K. Drummond, a man who finds people and fixes situations, must track down an American software thief before he can fence a stolen copy of his company’s bleeding-edge new software.

 Zara narrates the story as she fights the fear that their mission is jinxed from the beginning.  Bad decisions and chilling discoveries threaten to sabotage the project.  The situation further unravels during a sailing weekend, and turns deadly at a Midsummer Festival.  Trapped in a matrix of betrayal, Zara and T.K. must rely on two unlikely people to help them escape the island and in a final, desperate gambit to save the software, Zara must perform her own dangerous treachery.  

There is plenty of suspense and cyber-derring-do (isn't that the best kind)? and a look at East Germany the year after the wall came down, a  World of Mirrors in the words of Marcus Wolf, the former East German spymaster.  Available from the publisher or Amazon.  

E-ISBN:                          978-1-61309-073-2

POD-ISBN:                     978-1-61309-929-2   1613099290  (ASIS) 

    

More Battles on the InfoWar Front

Defense Department Looking to Automate Cyber Defenses

Automation is wonderful, but nothing beats a keen pair of eyes.  I'm sure the government will monitor the automation.

Read the Infowar Blog

Here is the link. Infowar Blog Lots of late-breaking news, etc.

 Assume everyone who can read has learned of the attack on GoDaddy yesterday.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Yes, Sir! Senator!

The Senate has blocked an important cybersecurity bill that would have required business and industry to beef up their security standards, especially in vulnerable infrastructures like dams, transportation and power grids.  If information warfare ever breaks out, and most experts think this is just a matter of time, it will affect all businesses, and then we will have to listen to them howl about the money they are losing.  Yet, the U.S, Chamber of Commerce screamed that the legislation would be “too burdensome” for corporations. 

From my years in IT, I learned that business never wants to spend money that won’t immediately bring in more money, and that the short term always trumps the long term.   Most CEO’s understand zilch about their vulnerability in the area of cybersecurity  and how real the threat of information warfare is.  They think the IT department, well, they should serve sales and marketing and sure, keep our data safe.  

Ask yourself how many companies have had credit card and other information stolen.  Hasn’t that been rather costly?  Wouldn’t it have been better to beef up security rather than alienate customers and suffer all the bad publicity?  Can’t they see beyond their noses?

I guess not.  For a detailed look at the Senate’s short-sightedness, here is the  link from the New York Times:

 Cybersecurity Bill Blocked

CyberSecurity: people just don't get it!

Gaaa!  After reading about the Olympic grand slam opening last night, I caught sight of a NY Times article about taking the teeth out of a CyberSecurity bill because it would be too hard (read expensive), for businesses to comply with.  Business would be the first to scream and rant if a cyber war broke out and they were brought down by infrastructure problems or a ripped-to-shreds economy.

I worked in IT for 20+ years, and believe me, business is always dragging its security heels.  I had to scream loud and long before the customer service people stopped leaving orders by the fax and copy machines, orders with the customers' credit card numbers and expiration dates.  I had to beg for a shredder for confidential information.  I had to preach and tear my hair before everyone understood that by law you could not put the credit card CVVC number on an electronic file.  I cannot tell you  how many forms used to ask for that number.  Duh!  Business is in business to do business and as the old saying goes, the devil take the hindmost.  Credit card processors are hide bound and dragged their feet for as long as possible before the fines outweighed the cost of cleaning up their act.

Business will never implement security measures because it's always more important to please the marketing department who comes up with some meatball idea that needs implementation yesterday!  Executives are mostly focused on sales, not the security infrastructure.  Someone has to mind the CyberSecurity store and right now it's looking like that someone is no one.

When the cyber war breaks out, don't blame me and don't blame your president.  Blame those who didn't want to spend a few bucks to beef up their systems:  electric grids, transportation, nuclear power plants, all those pieces of our infrastructure that may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.  Brother can you spare a dime?  

Cyberattacks Increase in U.S.

Targeting our infrastructure, cyberattacks against the U. S. have risen 17-fold in the past few years (2009-2011).  Read all about it here:  Cyberattacks on Rise in U.S.


Cyberattacks are the theme, framing the plot in The Shadow Warriors, first pubbed in 2001.  Was I ahead of the curve or not?  Falling on deaf ears, of course.  Maybe I should have sent the NSA and the White House copies of the book?  Will it become a best seller if the attacks are not thwarted on some occasion?  I would not wish that on anyone, the attacks, that is, not becoming a best seller.  


I did scads of research, and considered myself almost an expert at one time.  A few years ago I threw out all my  carefully collected documents because everything was so out of date.  


BTW, I had no idea that WE created Stuxnet.  Is that a fact?  I read it recently, maybe in Wired Magazine, my go-to place for cyber lore.  We haven't acknowledged it, if true.  What would the Skunkworks think?  Writing my techno-thriller was such fun.  Along with World of Mirrors which had a different kind of technology at its heart.   It  would be fun to be a mouse in the wainstcotting (assuming there might be wainscotting) at the Aspen Institute. 

Danger Room Blog

I thought that my readers who are also technology geeks might  enjoy knowing about Wired Magazine's blog, Danger Room.  It pays to keep informed about practically everything these days.   

Here is the link.Danger Room.  Is has sort of dystopian ring, doesn't it?

 BTW,  if you're up for international intrigue and technological history, my novel, World of Mirrors is out.   It can be ordered from the publisher's web site in print or as an ebook.  Still waiting for Bowker to  register the ISBN.  Not everything happens quickly in e-publishing.  Here is the link to the novel, and you can find out whether it's your cuppa tea.  Link to World of Mirrors publisher

The story is set on an island off the Baltic coast in the former DDR, and the year is 1990, the “time of the turn.” The Berlin wall has crumbled, but Germany is not yet reunified.   Against the seductive decadence of an old resort with its classic sailboats, nude beaches and crumbling casinos, Zara Gray, a consultant to high tech firms, and T.K. Drummond, a man who finds people and fixes situations, must track down an American software thief before he can fence a stolen copy of his company’s bleeding-edge new software.

Zara narrates the story as she fights the fear that their mission is jinxed from the beginning.  Bad decisions and chilling discoveries threaten to sabotage the project.  The situation further unravels during a sailing weekend, and turns deadly at a Midsummer Festival.  Trapped in a matrix of betrayal, Zara and T.K. must rely on two unlikely people to help them escape the island and in a final, desperate gambit to save the software, Zara must perform her own dangerous treachery.    

Kinda like a caper with an international cast of miscreants.  :)    

World of Mirrors

At long last, I have a new novel coming out. next month.  No date yet. 

World of Mirrors is set on an island off the Baltic coast in the former DDR, and the year is 1990, the “time of the turn.” The Berlin wall has crumbled, but Germany is not yet reunified.   Against the seductive decadence of an old resort with its classic sailboats, nude beaches and crumbling casinos, Zara Gray, a consultant to high tech firms, and T.K. Drummond, a man who finds people and fixes situations, must track down an American software thief before he can fence a stolen copy of his company’s bleeding-edge new software.

 Zara narrates the story as she fights the fear that their mission is jinxed from the beginning.  Bad decisions and chilling discoveries threaten to sabotage the project.  The situation further unravels during a sailing weekend, and turns deadly at a Midsummer Festival.  Trapped in a matrix of betrayal, Zara and T.K. must rely on two unlikely people to help them escape the island and in a final, desperate gambit to save the software, Zara must perform her own dangerous treachery.       

Like The Shadow Warriors,  technology drives the plot.  There is no Infowar, but there are lots of international bad guys who want to get their grubby hands on this intelligent software.  The Americans are by no means the good guys either.  No one come out unscathed.  Sort of like real life!  

As the details become available, I'll post them for you.   

New Book on Info War

The Art of Intelligence: lessons from a life in the CIA's Clandestine Service

Just out today!  Sounds compelling for anyone interested in our government's fight against cyber-terrorism.  

Cassandra Syndrome

Counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke discusses cyber war in this month's (April 2012) Smithsonian Magazine. This story  sounds so much like The Shadow Warriors (the Stuxnet virus) that I too feel like Cassandra, for having first written about Info War after hitting upon the idea for the "Warriors" from Paul Strassman in an article way back in 1995.  Can you believe it? 

I recommend anyone interested in the topic of cyber or info war to head to your nearest library and sit down with the April Smithsonian Magazine.  According to Clarke, the U.S. can go on the offensive but we are virtually (!) helpless against an offense.  Where are Wayne, Christof, Kathy Chang and even Emma  (my characters) when we need their expertise so badly?  Bring on the Skunk Works! 

Lots of questions, few answers, but Richard Clarke has his ideas about Stuxnet.  Endlessly fascinating. 

The Shadow Warriors  hit the nail on the head.  Read about it now, before the Cyber War brings down your computers. 

Day Two of the Smashword Giveaway

The Shadow Warriors is free this week on Smashwords

First, a quick synopsis of The Shadow Warriors:

Emma Lee Davis must delve deep into the past to find a weapon to end the Infowar that threatens to de-stabilize a computer-dependent global economy.  Project manager of a  tiny firm of cyber-sleuths, Emma scrambles to make the connections between a body washing up on a beach in Singapore, and the technical derring-do at a German university.

She tracks a desperate hacker planning a unique software auction, a determined entrepreneur who will stop at nothing to acquire  ‘bleeding edge’ software and  tumbles onto a new generation of terrorists with their own agenda. 

Emma and her colleagues are sucked into a vortex of lies, spies, and betrayals and ultimately into the sleaze and paranoia of Berlin in the months before the wall comes down. Not quite glamorous, sometimes nerdy, always nosy, irreverent and intuitive, Emma becomes the reluctant sleuth. She narrates the story as she scrambles to manage a software project and her complicated love life, while puzzling over the paradox, “if our mission is to stop computer crime, why are we abetting it?”

This is still as relevant (if not more so) than when I started writing it in the nineties.   Here is how to order The Shadow Warriors - - FREE!  Free Book!

I hope you enjoy it.  If you do, please let me (and your friends, know).

This Week Only, Get The Shadow Warriors Free From Smashwords

Big giveaway this week!  The Shadow Warriors

Institute For Advanced Computing

The Denizens of the Institute ate pizza with a knife and fork

When I began the novel, The Shadow Warriors, I knew I wanted Goettingen to be a big part of the book, and I knew technology was a huge part of the story.  My in-laws lived in Goettingen on the Prinzenstrasse on the 4th floor of an office building.  I went through the phone book to make sure there was not already a computer institute.  Whew!  There was not.  I came up with the name "Institute for Advanced Computing" and created Dr. Mittelstadt, Jacob Loose, Marcus, Christof, Marlies and Verena.  All the folks who worked there.

Did you catch my beginning author boo-boo.  Marcus and Marlies.  Never have character names that are too similiar.

Recipes from the Shadow Warriors

The Shadow Warriors is certainly NOT a cozy mystery, so why are there recipes?  Because, that's why, and here they are for your delectation.  Emma is the protagonist, the heroine if you will, although sometimes she is very unheroic.

Emma bought a well-thumbed copy of Elizabeth Schuler’s German Cookery at a rummage sale in Wisconsin, and hoped the recipe she found in it was as tasty as Frau Eisenach’s.  Pflaumenkuchen. Since Emma thought it was, she wanted to share that recipe and a couple of others with you.]

Plum Tart

1 recipe sweet mellow dough (see below)

2 lbs. Prune plums (sometimes called Italian prune plums)

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup chopped almonds.

Prepare dough (see following recipe) and line a greased cake tin with it (Emma used a 10 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom). Pit the plums and arrange in a circle on the dough. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. Bake in a fairly hot (375º) oven for 30 minutes.

Mellow Dough, Sweet

2 cups flour

1 stick (¼ lb.) butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. Baking powder

Mix all ingredients and, on a breadboard, knead to a supple dough. Roll out (Emma spreads it right into the pan with her fingers) and line a tart pan. Due to high butter content, chill a bit before baking.

***

Frau Eisenach finds a better selection of smoked meats in the Göttingen markets than Emma finds Stateside. Frau Eisenach’s recipe for Kassler calls for a smoked pork rib roast; however, Emma feels fortunate when she can find smoked pork chops. When she does, she makes--

Kassler Rippenspeer.

4 –6 smoked pork chops

1 onion, chopped 

1 tomato, chopped

2 ribs of celery, sliced thin

A half dozen mushrooms (thinly sliced)

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

Freshly ground pepper

Salt

2 T. canola oil or 1 T. oil and 1 T. butter or lard

In a skillet large enough to hold the meat in one layer, brown chops in oil. Remove from pan and add vegetables. Cook and stir until onion is wilted and transparent. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place chops on bed of vegetables and add 1 cup liquid. Emma uses a mixture of dry white whine and beef broth.) Cover and bake for one hour a 325º. Serve with mashed potatoes and a salad.

***

Like her mother and grandmother before her, Emma seldom cooks straight from a recipe. The quantity of the ingredients can be adjusted according to what’s on hand. A few chopped mushrooms could be added along with the tomatoes to:

Frau Eisenach’s Hoppel-Poppel

For 2 persons:

2-3 slices of bacon cut into ¼ inch pieces

1 small boiled potato, peeled and cut into ¼ inch dice

¼ onion, minced

4 eggs, beaten with 1 T. water

2 T. chopped chives (fresh are best)

1 T. butter

salt and pepper

½ tomato, seeded and juiced and chopped into ¼ inch dice

Brown the bacon in a heavy skillet. Emma likes the big cast iron skillets her grandmother used. Heavy?  Yes, but hoisting them around the kitchen does tone the arm muscles. Remove the bacon and cook the onion and potato in the remaining fat. When the potato is slightly browned, add the chopped tomato. Cook and stir for a minute or two, then add the butter, eggs and chives. Continue to cook and stir over low heat until the eggs are cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Serve right from the skillet.

***

Renate Mittelstadt made a delicious fruit salad for Verena’s party at the Ballhaus. When Emma asked why it tasted so special, Renate shared her secret: two tablespoons of Apfel Korn (a mild apple liqueur). Kirshwasser, Apple Jack, Calvados, or even rum can be used as a substitute.

Renate’s Fruit Salad

Use some or all of the fruits listed: 

Raspberries

Strawberries

Blueberries

Peaches (skin removed)

Nectarines (skin removed)

Bananas

Grapes

Apples (peeled)

Oranges

Dried Cranberries (for color in winter)

Melons

A little sugar depending on the sourness of the fruit

2 T. Apfel Korn or a substitute

Emma likes to add a few chopped pecans or walnuts. If she feels industrious, she toasts the nuts first. The salad can be made with as few as three fruits. Try to vary the colors. Serve plain or with a dab of whipped cream.

***

Goulash Soup is found is many restaurants in Germany and Austria. Emma eats it summer and winter, but she’s more likely to cook up a pot in winter. The recipe below serves 3-4, but can be doubled.

Goulash Soup

1 pound boneless sirloin or top round steak

2 T. vegetable oil (Emma likes Canola)

2 cups finely chopped onions

2 t. finely minced garlic

1 red or green pepper, diced

1 carrot, diced

2 boiling potatoes, peeled and diced

1 t. caraway seeds

2 cups fresh or canned red tomatoes

1 T. sweet or hot Hungarian paprika (Emma uses some of both)

1 bay leaf (optional)

Salt and pepper

3 cups beef broth

Sour cream

1. Trim the meet and cut into half-inch cubes

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan. Add meat and brown.

3. Add the onions, garlic, green pepper and carrot. Cook stirring, for a few minutes. Add all the seasonings. Add the tomatoes and potatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally for about one hour.

Place a dollop of sour cream on each serving. Serve with a good rye bread and a cucumber salad.

Guten Appetit!

Tangled Up In My Technology Underwear

I'm changing from an email account I've had since God was a boy. 8 pages of web sites. Merging identities, visiting websites and hunting for where to change the information. Makes one appreciate a well-designed site and curse others. Often Fortune 500 sites are the worst.

So far I am only locked out of two sites. It's a wonder it's not two dozen. Merging the blog identities is today's project. I have given myself a year to complete this whole project. If that long enough? Complications abound.

Ye gods, I need a project plan! That's it. What a crazy world we live in.

Makes The Shadow Warriors look like a Sunday school picnic. No! They're still mean and lean and slinking around in cyberspace. OMG!

Errand in Hong Kong

The author in Hong Kong in the nineties

The narrator, Emma,  must pick up some tapes from a scary man in Hong Kong.  The year is 1989.

CHAPTER 3

Hong Kong,

What a hassle! My flight arrived late and I barely had time to check into my hotel and change before my appointment.

I kept trying to remember Franz’s last minute instructions.  Keep the calling cards pristine.  Don’t use them as book marks or tooth picks.  Arrive on time.  Present the cards with both hands after the handshake.

My taxi stopped at a soaring skyscraper of steel and smoked glass on Connaught Road in Victoria. He’ll be expecting you between three and four, Franz had said.  I walked through the elegant rosewood lobby, and took the swift, silent elevator to Suite Eight on the Eightieth floor.  Eight is a lucky number in Chinese cultures.  My appointment was with Mr. Ocho Lee of South China Software. I had to keep wiping my damp hands on a handkerchief lest I soil the business cards, and I scrutinized my suit for spots or smudges. 

Suite Eight had thick red carpeting, white walls, and sleek lacquered black furniture. Feng Shui to the max. A petite receptionist in a red dress ushered me into a private office. 

A man in a black pinstriped suit, a white shirt, and a yellow paisley tie sat at a teak table, empty except for a jade chess set. He had the softest hand I ever shook. Just as Franz had coached, I presented three calling cards: Franz’s, Dr. Mittelstadt's and mine.  Mr. Lee placed them in a neat arrangement in front of him.

“Miss Emma Lee Davis representing Dr. Franz Nemecek, Dr. Mittelstadt’s delegate?”  The voice was so muted that I strained to hear.

“Yes.” 
 He gestured toward a chair.  I had to pull my eyes away from the hypnotic view over Hong Kong, north to the Kowloon hills, and beyond to the New Territories and China.  Below us, ferries, wooden junks and freighters from every port of call criss-crossed the busy harbor while jets took off and landed over the water in the east.

 At first I wondered if Mr. Lee was albino, but he was just pale: white skin, alabaster hair, chalky brows, and lashes.  Milky blue eyes smiled at me without geniality or mirth.  He wasn’t Asian, and his accent was an absence, neither English nor American. His unlined face could be thirty or forty or even fifty.

Abstract oils lined the walls, but their stiff twisted forms repelled me.  In the bloody reds and the angry daubs of orange, I imagined executions and disemboweling, torture and mutilation, even more appalling for being subliminal.

"Do you admire my art collection?"  The soft unaccented voice had asked, breaking the silence. 

"Interesting.  Very intense."  I tried to be noncommittal.

Ocho Lee’s pale eyes forged a smile.

Not bothering to conceal his interest, he cast an auctioneer's glance over my suit, my shoes, my handbag, even my wristwatch.  He looked absolutely sure of his knowledge, as if he could pronounce a value for each piece separately, or for the total package.

“May I please have the tape?” I asked, making an effort to sound polite.

“Won’t you join me for tea?”

Remembering how adamant Franz was about avoiding conflict and causing Mr. Lee to lose face, I said, “I’m so sorry, but I’m meeting my husband’s five o’clock flight.” 

Bleached blue eyes met mine, quietly, patiently, attempting to gauge character and personality. 

"Your husband is also associated with computers?"

"Oh, no.” 

"Will you be staying on as tourists?" he asked with polite disinterest?

I didn’t want to tell him any details about myself or Roger or our plans.  I just wanted to leave.  My diction began to borrow the formality of his speech.

"I do regret that I am pressed for time. May I have the tape, please?"

A suggestion of petulance played about his soft grayish lips.

 "Pity.  Americans hurry so.  Stress is dangerous for the body.  And the mind."  His silky hand gestured toward the chess set.  "You in the West should practice...avoidance," he said, and I heard the soft warning in his voice.

"Yes."

When he handed me the tape, I felt the velvety hand again, and suppressed a shudder.

  "The present difficulties can be remedied. ”He paused for emphasis, and I must have looked dim, for he continued, “South China Software is anxious to obtain more development projects in the West."  His voice both insinuating and ingratiating.  “We are aggressively… competitive.” 

I popped the tape into my handbag, muttered some polite inanities and made my escape.  Riding down in the elevator, I noticed my once crisp white linen suit was limp and wrinkled.