The ebon boy with the cloak of glitter that was Dodger’s icon slipped away from the subprocessor serving Salt Lake’s government center personnel files. The hulking cubist bears prowling each of the data-lines leading into the stores made it patently clear that the Ute computer specialists had dealt with illegal entry through this route before. The visual design of the Intrusion Countermeasures might be more for the sake of intimidation than reflecting the true strength of the ice at those access points, but Dodger didn’t think now was the time to try it. The least threat involved in engaging one of the bears was the chance that the decker behind it would give notice of Dodger’s presence in the system. If an alert went out, the going would get considerably tougher. Sam’s schedule left no time for a siege, meaning that this run required total stealth until the goods were gotten, or else it was worthless.