"Then you have the right man," said Raf briskly. "I always specialize in quickresults." He shook Eero's hand. "You've been very helpful, Eero. It was pleasantto meet you. Enjoy your stay in the islands. We look forward to furtherconstructive contacts. Viva la revolucion digitale! Goodbye and good luck."

"You don't have the big money for us yet?" Eero said.

"Real soon now," Starlitz said.

"Could I have some cab fare please?"

Starlitz gave him a 100-mark Jean Sibelius banknote. "Hei hei," Eero said, witha melancholy smile. He tucked the note into his cowboy shirt pocket and left.

Starlitz saw the hacker to the door, and checked the street as the cadaverousFinn ambled off. He was unsurprised to see Khoklov's two bodyguards lurkingclumsily in a white Hertz rental car, parked up the street. Presumably they wererelaying signals from the plethora of covert listening devices that the Russianshad installed in Raf's safe-house.

Eero drifted past the Russian mobsters in a daze of hacker self-absorption.Starlitz found the kid an interesting specimen. In Japan there were plenty ofmajor Goth kids, but the vampire people-in-black contingent had never reallycrossbred with Japan's hacker population. Here in Finland, though, there weresomber and lugubrious hairsprayed Cure fans pretty much across the socialspectrum: car repair guys, hotel staff, pizza delivery, government clerks, theworks.

When Starlitz returned, Raf was hunting in the kitchen for coffee. "Aino, let'sreview the political situation."

Aino perched obediently on a birchwood kitchen stool. "The Aland Islands are achain in the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden. They include Aland,Foglo, Kokar, Sottunga, Kumlinge, and Brando."

"Yeah, right, okay," Starlitz grunted.

"The largest city is Mariehamm with ten thousand inhabitants." She paused."That's where the autonomous digital bank will be established."