But in this case, the guy only had an ex-wife, things were on a tight time frame, and she couldn’t take the chance that he wasn’t going to meet with her tonight.
She tapped in Dr. Turnisen’s number and waited.
He was a regular client. Actually, she’d had to call him twice before and he’d picked up both times. She trusted that he would now as well, especially since they’d made plans last week to meet at 10:00 this evening at the Chimera Club.
He answered and must have recognized her number because he spoke her name before she had a chance to identify herself. “Calista?”
“Hey.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m lonely. Can we meet earlier?”
“I won’t be able to slip away. I’m not even sure I can make it tonight.”
“No charge. This one’s on the house.”
A pause.
She thought that might do it, but she didn’t want to wait for him to say no again, so she added, “I’m feeling naughty tonight.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes.”
He hesitated, but finally agreed. “Okay, but I can’t be there until at least 10:20, maybe 10:30.”
“At the Chimera Club?” She had a thought. “Or do you want to just come to my room?”
“We’ll meet at the club.”
“I’ll be waiting. I have some surprises planned for you tonight.”
“Something memorable?”
“Very.”
They agreed on 10:20. Then she hung up and called Derek, who had left to meet with someone — she didn’t know who — to let him know everything was on schedule. “I’ll have him back at the room by eleven.”
“Perfect. I’ll be waiting.”
“You promise it’s going to be quick?”
“Can’t promise that, I’m afraid,” he replied.
“And the needle and thread? You’re going to use them?”
“Yes.”
“Can I watch?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll see you tonight.”
“See you then.”
Derek ended his call with Calista and waited at the rendezvous point for Tomás Agcaoili, but he didn’t show.
When he tried Agcaoili’s number, no one answered.
He gave it another half hour, but still there was no sign of him.
It looked like there was a little wrinkle in the plan after all.
He held his anger in check and processed where things were at.
Okay, he would find Agcaoili eventually and deal with him accordingly, but for now he would need to rely on the man Calista was meeting tonight.
As long as she delivered him, they should be able to make things work.
Yes.
With a little persuading, the engineer would tell them what they needed to know. And if there was one thing Colonel Derek Byrne was good at, it was persuading people to tell him things that they would normally have been unwilling to share with a stranger.
He received a call from Akio Takahashi, president and CEO of Plyotech’s Cybernetics, about an upcoming, unplanned meeting with Undersecretary of Defense Williamson, and he told Takahashi exactly what to tell her and what not to.
End call.
Yes, it was definitely time to move the research out of the country.
Derek’s goal was not just to hasten the coming of The Singularity, but to be present when it arrived. Whether that was in a biological body or a nonbiological one didn’t matter so much to him. Those who control the machines that control our lives, control our lives. He wanted to be the one holding the reins when humanity galloped into its fast-approaching, inevitable evolutionary dawn.
We grab a late supper of subs and Cheetos at 6:45.
Charlene hears back from the FBI agent, but he seems to have not taken her as seriously as she hoped he would. He’s not impressed with the RixoTray connection Fionna was able to discover on the USB drive. Only after Charlene presses him does he finally promise to have his team analyze the files on Monday.
Though Xavier’s not usually one to say, “I told you so,” when he finds out about that, he reminds us in no uncertain terms that the FBI’s reluctance to get involved is just what he expected.
Now it’s time to shift gears and put the final touches on the show.
All three of us try to slide thoughts of the search for Tomás Agcaoili out of our minds and focus on the upcoming performance.
Let’s see how my breath-holding goes when it counts.
Part V
The Undersecretary
Akio Takahashi waited anxiously in his office on the top floor of Plyotech’s R&D facility northeast of Las Vegas.
The meeting with Undersecretary of Defense Oriana Williamson was scheduled to start in ten minutes, and he was hoping she would be late so he could have something, even if it was something small, to hold against her.
He was planning to say the things Colonel Byrne had told him to say — explain that the research has been going well but there haven’t been any recent breakthroughs. He had the progress reports on his desk. They showed steady but not exponential progress on the program that the Department of Defense was paying for.
The reports weren’t doctored, they just weren’t complete. They didn’t include information about what was going on in the building’s unofficial lower levels. Akio was being paid very well to keep that under wraps. And he would be paid even better when they made the breakthroughs he’d been promised. He didn’t know all that happened down there, and honestly, he didn’t want to know.
He just hoped these reports would be enough to satisfy Williamson. He’d read over the files at least half a dozen times, trying to view them through her eyes, but he wasn’t completely satisfied they were convincing.
And if she threatened to terminate the funding, he had no idea what he would do. Way too much was at stake.
“She’s here, sir.” His receptionist’s voice came through on his iPad. When he was in the office, she was as well, no matter what time of day it was. It was in her contract. He tapped the screen and replied, “Kindly see her in.”
A few moments later there was a light tap at the door as his receptionist, a diminutive thirty-year-old woman who was also from Akio’s home country of Japan, politely eased it open, and Undersecretary of Defense Oriana Williamson strode into the room.
Chieko gently closed the door behind her as she seemed to dematerialize into midair.
Akio bowed respectfully to Undersecretary Williamson, and she gave him a perfunctory, militarily brisk bow.
“Good evening, Undersecretary Williamson.”
“Mr. Takahashi.” She stood ramrod straight and gave him a steady, if somewhat impatient, stare.
He gestured toward the leather chair facing his desk. “Shall we have a seat?”
“That won’t be necessary. We won’t be here in the office for long.”
Of course he wanted to ask her why they would be leaving his office, but he had the sense that doing so might be considered impolite. And besides, he had something he wanted to do right away — assure her that things were on schedule.
But before he could, she said, “I’m here for one reason: I want to verify that you are making progress on the project.”
“Yes, of course. Yes, we are.”
“Let me make this clear. The oversight committee sent me here; it was not my choice. I do not like being called away from my family for this type of thing, especially on a Saturday. But the deadline is coming up, and we have not been impressed with the progress reports we’ve been receiving. The committee thought it best to have someone on-site.”