Selene goes to a hacker friend of hers to help discover her past.
"Ahhhh! My moon goddess!"
Selene rolled her eyes. "Hello Nikodemos."
The wiry Greek before her grinned and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "So, Selene? What brought you here?"
Selene glanced over her shoulder at Griffin, who was glancing around at the filthy little pad-likely looking out for Nikodemos's sister, Electra. Selene sighed and reached for the bag slung over her shoulder.
"Business, Nikodemos. I need you to find someone for me." Selene unzipped the bag and withdrew a few papers-what she could find of the employment records of John and Vivian Rudridge and Walter and Isis Cunningham. "I need you to find out what you can about the situations and whereabouts regarding these two couples-John and Vivian Rudridge and Walter and Isis Cunningham. They used to work for SENGRAID, but they don't anymore. Believe me, I checked."
Nikodemos Diomedes, third generation Americanized Greek, expert hacker, and atrocious housekeeper, smiled at the papers Selene handed him and thumbed through them, nodding in appreciation at the photos accompanying the information.
"Good, very good. Lots of useful information here. Former SENGRAID employees shouldn't be too hard to track...that sort of thing stays on your record permanently. And I don't mean it's 'on your resume somewhere'..."
He sauntered through piles of stacked newspapers and boxes to a tiny living room, finally collapsing into a swivel chair and shoved off to a desk where a computer awaited.
"...I mean that's the sort of thing other employers look at, look twice, raise their eyebrows, and brush you off for. It's like being in the CIA. It's just a little too weird for most normal businesses..." He turned to the computer screen and glanced over some of the pages of information again before firing off a rapid series of commands. Then he smiled-beamed really, showing all of his teeth-and turned for Selene to see the screen he'd called up.
"Look. FBI. Now. Onto business. I'll have your Ruddies and Cunnies before Electra can make a baloney-feta sandwich, or I'm no great-great-great-something else greats grandson of Aristotle."
Selene smiled and cleared a spot on Nikodemos's cluttered, battered couch to sit. He enjoyed his work-even if the FBI didn't necessarily appreciate it. Griffin sat next to her, dodging an avalanche of magazines, none of which was more recent than five years ago.
"Dare I ask where Electra is?" Griffin muttered to Selene. Selene smiled."I could go find her for you..."
Griffin winced. "No...that's okay...I don't need to see Electra today..."
"Electra?"
Selene and Griffin looked over at Nikodemos, who had popped upright, looking for all the world like an underfed groundhog doing some 'spyhopping'. He looked over at Griffin, then smiled.
"Sorry Griffin, she's out grocery shopping. How she keeps that dismal little kitchen so clean is beyond me..."
He seemed to shiver at the thought that something in his little domain was clean. Even his curly black ponytail jittered. Selene restrained a smile at his expense.
"Any progress?"
Nikodemos didn't answer immediately, but only frowned at the computer screen. Finally, he turned around.
"Well, I've got news, but it's probably not what you want to hear. Both of the Cunninghams, and Vivian Rudridge, are dead."
Selene resisted looking crestfallen, then inquired, "What about John Rudridge?"
Nikodemos held up a bony finger. "That's where it gets interesting. C'mere."
Selene looked at Griffin before she stood and walked to Nikodemos's side. The Greek hacker proceeded to skim through several files, pointing to things as he went.
"He disappeared for a time here-thirty years ago-then resurfaced and started work at SENGRAID again, but quietly. Night shift, and under heavy security. His wife and the Cunninghams were still living then. Here-well, it's the approximate time the Cunninghams and Mrs. Rudridge died. The record's a little vague because they weren't discovered until some time after death."
Selene made a face. Nikodemos nodded, solemn.
"Here," he indicated another bit of information, "he went into hiding for a year, then took a job as a paper pusher at an accounting firm on the West Coast-very boring, low profile work. This continued for twenty years until he switched jobs abruptly-like, in one week-and began working for a fledgling research firm, conducting experiments in the decoding of the human genome for medicinal purposes, not," he looked at Selene with a smirk, "for the purposes of manipulating, cloning, and mutating DNA."
"I wonder what made him get back into genetic research so suddenly."
Nikodemos shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. By the way..."
His eyes were probing. Selene swallowed.
"...this John Rudridge...what's so important about him anyway?"
Selene couldn't answer immediately. She could only look at Nikodemos, feeling helpless. Nikodemos did not know her secrets. Her mutations. Her claws. Didn't know anything about her entire history with Babylon...Only Griffin really knew. She batted her emerald eyes at the little Greek man.
"Let's just say that...he might be an important figure in my past. That's all I can say right now."
Nikodemos said nothing, only nodded slowly. He clicked his mouse once. Somewhere in his clutter, between an old boot and a half-empty bottle of soda pop, a printer started coughing up a piece of paper.
"Here's where he lives...not far from here, actually. I mean, he's in New York, at least."
He caught her eye briefly. "Good luck, Selene."
She only nodded and smiled.
