Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) by Lisa Emme

a lot of room to roam. Most of the time he wasn’t around
because he was off exploring some new corner of the World Wide Web. I also had a
strong suspicion that there were a lot of good-looking women who kept their laptops
open in their bedrooms and had their webcams turned on remotely. He was a bit of a perv.
    At my insistence, Nash had followed me home to see for
himself. He paced the corner of my living room where the office was set up,
tousling his hair with his hand.
    “So let me get this straight,” he said with exaggerated
patience. “Bryce, the ghost, didn’t go to wherever ghosts go…”
    “Into the light,” I added helpfully with a grin. I was
kind of enjoying Nash’s discomfort.
    “Right, into the light. He didn’t go into the light.
Instead, he figured out how to live in your computer.”
    Tess, who had arrived home about the same time we did,
rolled her eyes. “I tried to explain all this to you a month ago when we were
trying to find Harry,” she said.
    “I don’t think you could really say live, since he’s dead,”
I added, ignoring Tess’s complaint. “But yeah, Bryce is now in the computer.
Or the computer is really Bryce, I guess.” I shrugged. I really didn’t
understand the logistics of it myself. “However it works, Bryce is part of the
computer and he’s a super hacker and can find just about anything on the web.”
I sat down at the desk chair and flicked the monitor on. We kept the computer
running all the time now, Bryce preferred it that way. “We just have to hope
that he’s around.”
    “Where does he go when he isn’t there?”
    “I don’t know, surfs the web, talks to other computers.” I
shrugged again. I really didn’t know although I did have my suspicions, but
Nash didn’t need to hear about Bryce’s predilections.
    The computer monitor remained black and I jiggled the mouse
a few times. “Come on Bryce,” I said. I really didn’t know if he would be
there.
    Nash began to look at me skeptically. “You’re yanking my
chain aren’t you?” He looked at Tess. “Both of you.”
    “No, we’re not. Honest,” I said holding up two fingers like
a boy scout making a pledge. “It’s just he isn’t always there.”
    “Very funny, Harry, you had me going for a minute
there.”
    “Look, it’s not a joke.” I banged on the side of the
computer. “Bryce, quit kidding around if you’re in there.”
    “Hey, hands off, hot stuff!” The disembodied voice
that came through the speakers sounded like a male version of an automated
smartphone voice.
    “Bryce. You’re there.”
    “ At your service, darlin’ ” The voice took on a
distinctive twang.
    “Holy shit! He’s really in the computer.” Nash looked at
the computer screen in disbelief. As a joke, Bryce had placed an animated GIF
of a robot on the screen that
interacted with us whenever we spoke to him. At Nash’s words the robot began
to wave then held up a sign that said “Hi Loser”.
    “Very funny, Bryce,” I scolded. “Where have you been?”
    “ Oh you know, here and there. There’s a really hot MILF
in Seattle… ”
    “Yeah, yeah, okay. Too much information,” I interrupted.
“So listen, I have a job for you.”
    “ I’m all ears, or rather microphone. Speak and I shall
obey .”
    I described the man to Bryce and then told him about the
sigil on the ring. “It had a red background with a white cross. Only the
cross was sideways so it looked more like an ‘X’.”
    “ Like this ?” The computer screen suddenly had an
image similar to what I had seen.
    “Close, but the cross isn’t quite right,” I replied, biting
my lip in thought. “It’s the arms of the cross, they’re different. They
weren’t all equal in length so it wasn’t exactly an ‘X’. Two of the arms were
a little shorter, like if you took a regular cross and turned it on its side.”
    “ I think you mean a saltire cross. Like this? ” He
displayed another image.
    “Yes, that’s it.” I clapped