Cyber Snoop Nation — Anne Hart

Sixteen-year-old Cybersnoop, Littanie Webster, color coordinated down to her underwear in denim and a Greek fisherman's cap, sat with her legs folded under her in 'the cage.' "Welcome to Cyber Snoop Nation," she specified.
It was eighty degrees inside the recording booth and humid. On the advice of her lawyer, she decided on a guest for the evening at the last possible minute-Gene Wright.



He wheeled his desk chair in a semi-circle and clicked a ball point pen nervously until she extended her hand and steadied him. Her voice was courteous, but patronizing. "We're on the air in five seconds-no background noise, please!" He braced his chair against her desk.



She pinched the pen out of his fingers and tossed it into a cup filled with pencils. He grabbed it from the cup, spilling the contents over with a crashing sound.



"Klutz!" She screamed in a whisper. "You'd make a fortune in comedy reviving the Three Stooges."



"Sorry, it's my gold award pen." Gene looked up at her with the child in himself giving her the pout of a newborn lamb.


The red lights blinked "On Air," and her silver gaze of false innocence imploded into a critical squint. "We have a surprise guest tonight, folks," she murmured mysteriously. The words tingled strangely on her tongue.



A caller, Gene Wright, nursed the microphone as if it were too precious to defile. "Why would someone offer a foreign guy two million to murder you?"