"From Money Markets Review, this is Vincent Moran, wishing you a fortunate day."
…47
The landscape in Tom's backyard was designed to inspire peace and tranquility. Alex was feeling neither, instead pacing restlessly on the patio, around Tom and his grill.
"Grab a seat," Tom invited her, "it's better in the shade."
"It's all right, can't settle down, don't know why," she replied.
Steve's eyes met Tom's in an inquisitive wordless expression. What was going on with her?
"Tell me about your day," Tom asked.
"Nothing to it, really. The team is great, I love working with them. Every morning I look forward to getting there."
Steve's concern rose, a slight frown shading his face. Tom picked up on it and continued.
"You make me curious, give me some details, what did you do today? How is your boss?"
"My boss is a wicked asshole. By the way, I just learned I have two bosses now. I report to Sheppard, the chief of technology, but, in fact, I work for Walker, the biggest, slimiest snake of them all. Huh! I guess that's my luck!"
Alex was behaving quite out of the ordinary. Her usual attention to detail and focus on the specifics of her complex task were gone, replaced by this restless indifference.
"And your day? Anything worth mentioning?" Tom pushed.
"I had a really amusing staff meeting with my team. They are nice people, you know. One of them hacked into my laptop, but that was because I told him to. I didn't think he'd do it."
"You're not making any sense, Alex, slow down. Who hacked into your laptop?" Tom asked.
"Louie, he's my analyst. He's also an ex-Navy SEAL."
"Interesting," Tom said, "but why did he hack into your computer?"
"'Cause I told him to. Never mind, it's OK. Has no meaning, I checked. But two people were asking questions about me today."
"Who were they?" Tom was getting seriously worried.
"Not sure, could have been a routine check for new hires. I heard it happens every now and then."
"You have to promise me you will be extra careful. At the first sign of real danger, you have to step away. You need to promise you will call me, and then walk away." Tom had left the grill to cook on its own. He was standing in front of Alex, getting her full attention. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." She looked pale. "I'm not so hungry anymore."
"Just a burger," Steve intervened, bringing the salvaged, yet overdone, hamburgers to the table, "it's not going to kill you."
"OK, I'll try to eat something."
Claire had joined them earlier, going unnoticed while everyone was caught in their conversation. They were all seated, thoughtfully chewing their hamburgers. Alex was playing with her food, more than she was eating, extracting the patty from the bun and nibbling at small pieces of it.
"Gotta run," she said abruptly, standing up, "I have a lot of emails to browse and a lot of stuff to do before I go to bed. Thanks for dinner!"
Before they could react she was gone, climbing behind the wheel of her Toyota and driving away.
"OK, what just happened?" Claire asked.
"Wish I could tell you, honey," Tom said, "but the thing is I don't know." They both turned and looked at Steve.
"I don't know either, but something is definitely off. She is obviously preoccupied. Her brain was working in high gear on a different subject than our conversation. And she wouldn't share — that is what scares me. Whatever it might be about, if we know, we can deal with it."
"True," Tom said thoughtfully, "do you think she might be stressed out?"
"Dealing with a secret agenda such as hers in an environment like NanoLance can definitely take its toll. Add the twenty dead and sixteen wounded in Florida as a form of pressure, and it's possible that she might be caving in. She might be ridden with guilt that she's unable to solve the case fast enough. She might be deeply tired and in a state of hyper-vigilance, due to hiding her real identity for so many hours a day. Remember, she has two of everything: two identities, two difficult and challenging jobs, two laptops, two phones. Most of us struggle to properly handle only one of each."
A sad chuckle came from Tom. "How do we help her?"
"We need to watch over her carefully. In a state of hyper-vigilance such as this, the brain and the body get tired and become unable to correctly deal with stressors. She could overreact to otherwise normal stimuli or fail to perceive a threat in due time. And she was definitely not eating much either."
"I was hoping she had what it takes to be successful on her own in this type of work," Tom said, letting his disappointment take over.
"I wouldn't write her off just yet, we actually don't know what's going on, and she hasn't made any mistakes. She's also new at this and dealing with a case way more difficult than my first case was. Back in the day when I started working for you, if I had been hit with the pressure of twenty bodies, I would have probably caved under that strain."
"She's just a kid," Claire pleaded, "a kid you threw to the wolves. You have to take care of her." She reached across the table and squeezed Tom's hand. "Promise me you will."
…48
Alex arrived at the office earlier than usual, to catch up on cloned email review before the place got busy. She felt tired and edgy; she could hardly wait for the small coffee machine to finish brewing.
Two emails caught her eye in the first minute. Both emails came from Walker, the chief operating officer; both were worrisome. About the first one, there was nothing she could do.
From: Benjamin Walker (COO)
To: Angela Prescott (VP HR)
Subject: Request
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 8:47PM
Angela,
Please run an extensive, in-depth background check on the new director of infrastructure and support. There's more to her than meets the eye, and I hate surprises.
Thanks,
Ben
The second email though made her jump to her feet.
From: Benjamin Walker (COO)
To: Angela Prescott (VP HR); Chandler Griffiths (CSO); Audrey Kramer (CFO); Dustin Sheppard (CTO)
Subject: Strategy Meeting Re: Leadership Change Announcement
When: Thursday, July 1, 10:00AM—11:00AM
Where: Conference Room 501
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 9:02PM
All,
Let's get together and discuss Barnaby's announcement, and what we need to do to be prepared.
Thank you,
Ben Walker
She stood for a few seconds, staring into the laptop screen, thinking about options. She slammed the laptop shut and headed out. She had two hours to prepare for this meeting.
…49