Tron Legacy by Alice Alfonsi Page A

missing—without even saying good-bye.
    It’s that stupid company’s fault my dad is gone, Sam thought. Encom was always more important to dad than me.
    After his father vanished, Sam inherited a huge stake in his company. But Sam didn’t care. He pretended the company didn’t exist, except on one day every year—the anniversary of his father’s disappearance.
    Every year on that day, Sam pranked Encom. Once he performed a flaming motorcycle stunt at the company barbecue. Another year he hacked into the CEO’s computer. Then there was the time he bungee jumped during a big press junket.
    Sam knew these wild pranks could never make up for a life without his father. But the stunts gave him satisfaction. On that one day a year, he made sure everyone at Encom remembered that he was still here—and that his dad wasn’t. It was, in a weird way, his only connection to the father he would probably never see again.
    For tonight’s very special anniversary, Sam had planned something really spectacular.
    Pulling free of his memories, Sam gave a sharp jerk on his motorcycle handlebars and cut across six lanes of traffic. He blew down an off-ramp, ran a red light, and swerved into a narrow alley. Finally, he parked the cycle on a big commercial boulevard. In the daylight hours, these streets were very busy. Now they were dark and deserted. Everyone was home—with their families.
    With his backpack slung over his shoulder, Sam jogged toward Encom Tower. In the quiet shadows of the night, a young man joined him. The kid wore a dark hoodie, black jeans, and dark sneakers. This was Sobel. He was an acquaintance of Sam’s. Sam didn’t have friends.
    “You were on time,” Sobel whispered gleefully. “That’s good. Synchronization is good.”
    Together, the two jogged to a steel security door near Encom’s loading dock. Sam pulled up the cord hanging around his neck. Attached to it was a USB device. He plugged the device into the electronic door lock. Then he connected it to a handheld keypad with a tiny LEd screen.
    “We take down the big guy up there,” Sobel whispered. “That is assassin cool. That is rep, bro!”
    “Huge rep,” Sam quietly replied, still working the keypad.
    “But why we always messin’ with the same guys?” Sobel asked. “I know they’re master-of-the-universe, corporate-evil style, but I want to hit other villains, too. My game is too strong for just one enemy.”
    “You do have mad game,” Sam said halfheartedly, his eyes on the hundreds of cipher codes running through his device. He knew one of them would open the lock.
    “You’re courageous, Sam,” Sobel said. “You’re my Butch Cassidy! This is just the beginning!”
    Sam noticed something on the screen just then. “Uh-oh…”
    “What’s up?” Sobel asked, worry in his voice.
    “They added a new security cipher,” Sam explained. “The code I hit…I might have just called the cops.”
    Sobel’s eyes grew big. “Cops?”
    Sam shrugged. “So we get caught. This is where reps are made, ‘assassin.’ ”
    But now Sobel had gone completely pale. “If I’m caught by the cops, call my stepmom!” He took off down the street. “My stepmom!”
    Sam rolled his eyes. Figured. The only person he could rely on was himself. “Okay, Sundance!” he called. See you on the flip side, he added silently.
    Just then, the multiple locks clicked, and the security door opened. Sam smiled, tucked the USB device into his jacket, and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Then he took a deep breath and darted through the door.
    At the base of the stairs, Sam spotted the red light on the first security camera, indicating that it was active. He slipped a modified laser pointer out of his wrist sheath and fired at the lens.
    Somewhere inside Encom, a security monitor went blank. Then another and another as Sam fired at each camera.
    Now, that’s how we do it, he thought. Invisible people can’t get caught.
    Sam needed no map as he raced through