The guard looked grumpy and frustrated, but he just shrugged and went back to the little booth guarding the entrance and got on the phone.
Dar hummed under her breath. “Glad I took all those Advil before we left.” She commented. “Otherwise I might have seen jail time in my near future.”
Kerry chuckled. “Yeah, glad I took some too. My cramps lasted way longer than usual this time.” She leaned against the fence post and pulled out her new gizmo, tapping the screen and regarding the results. “You can actually surf the Internet on this thing, Dar.”
“At one bit per twenty seconds?”
“And it has ringtones. You can make your phone ring songs.” Kerry went on. “How about if I had jingle bells as my phone ring?”
“How about if you record me singing jingle bells for your phone ring?” Her partner countered. “At least that would be unique.”
“Oh honey, in a freaking heartbeat.”
Dar grinned, then turned as the guard came back. “Well?”
“It's okay.” The guard said. “Please come with me.”
They followed him past the booth and in a side door, which he carefully closed behind them before leading them on. The halls were all polished linoleum, and despite the fact it was a civilian office building there was a touch of the military about it. Kerry kept her eyes slightly down as she walked, just keeping aware in her peripheral vision of the fast moving bodies going in either direction around her.
Then they were going down a hallway and into an antechamber, that she last remembered filled with nervous, rushing people dealing with an unimagined disaster.
Now there were four or five people present, quiet, calm, giving her and Dar brief glances and then returning to their work as they passed them by and went into the conference room.
“Please wait here.” The guard said, then left them.
Dar went to one of the comfortable seats and took it, resting her forearms on the table and folding her hands. “Sit.”
Kerry took the chair next to her and settled into it. She could feel her heart thumping a little, and she was aware of being nervous but she wasn't entirely sure of why.
Time ran out to think about it, as the door opened and Michael Bridges came in. “Ah.” He regarded the two of them. “You two Siamese twins or something? I only asked for one of you.” He was tall man, with a craggy face and a spare frame wrapped in expensive silk trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“Yes.” Dar responded in a mild tone. “Next question?”
“We were separated at birth.” Kerry added. “But in reality, Mr. Bridges, if this is a professional request, I have a piece of it because I am the operations vice president of ILS. If it's a personal request, I have a piece of it because Dar's my spouse. It's just how it is.”
“Uh huh.” Bridges closed the door, then went to his seat and sat down. “Well as it happens you all did me a very big favor so I suppose you can bring anyone you like in here.” He paused “Glad you skipped that lawyer though. God damn he was a pain in the ass.”
“I'll pass along that compliment.” Dar said. “So.” She pushed the envelope she'd brought with her over to him. “That's the bill for your last favor.”
He took the envelope and tossed it into a bin behind him. “All right, so let's get down to brass tacks.” He paused. “What the hell does that mean? Who uses brass tacks anymore, anyway?” He didn't wait for an answer. “Here's the situation. What we found out a couple months ago is there's too much we don't know.”
Kerry cleared her throat, and waited for him to look over at her. “Didn't know, or didn't recognize?”
His lips twitched faintly. “Good point. Maybe both. Maybe that plus we didn't know our ass from a hole in the wall, maybe that plus no one had the sense to share anything with anyone across the hallway. Could be.” He said. “Point is, that has to change.”
Dar nodded. “That's a point.”
“I know we gave Easton a budget to revise all his dinosaur systems. He's talked to you about that?” Bridges looked at Dar.
“He's our next stop.” Dar responded.
Bridges nodded. “Okay, that's his problem. My problem is, I need someone to take charge of how we deal with technology and information and all that horse crap at the federal level. I want to bring you on board as what we're calling the.. ' He glanced at a paper he was holding. “Half ass horsecrap. Anyway, they want to call it the techno czar.” He looked at Dar. “When can you start?”
Dar blinked. Then she turned and looked at Kerry. Then she looked back at Bridges. “Are you saying you want me to come work for you?”
“Good catch.” Bridges said, dryly. “Yes.”
“Me personally?” Dar clarified. “As in, not the company I work for?”
Bridges laced his fingers together and gave her a faintly exasperated look. “Yes you.” He glance at Kerry. “No offense, Stuart, but you were not in our plans.”
“I'm not offended.” Kerry said. 'So don't worry about it.”
Dar inhaled and exhaled. “What exactly does this position do?” She asked. “Aside from talk to the press in incomprehensible terms about things they don't and won't understand?”
The presidential advisor chuckled dryly. “Don't worry, Roberts. Its not a talking head job. I don't think you really fit the administration's image ideal in any case.” He cleared his throat. “The job is to find a way to get this government the ability to see into everything and anything, and find out what's really going on. Needs.. what do you call it? Software. Whatever.”
“What do you mean by everything and anything?” Dar asked.
“Everything. The Internet, the phones, we need to see everything people are doing so we can find these bastards and get them out of here.” Bridges said. “So you agree? When can you start?”
“You want me to figure out how to spy on everyone.” Dar clarified.
Bridges shrugged. “You could call it that, I suppose. But if a terrorist is sending an email to another terrorist about planting a bomb, I want to know that.”
Kerry watched Dar's profile, which was as still and cold as she'd ever seen her.
“Well.” Dar folded her hands carefully and precisely on the table. “That's not something I want to do. So you'll need to look elsewhere for your candidate.” She stared Bridges right in the eye. “I'm sure there are a lot of them out there.”
Bridges cocked his head to one side. “You understand what kind of offer this is, right?” He looked at Kerry. “I know you understand, so why not explain it to her?”
“I do understand.” Kerry said. “And I really don't have to explain anything to Dar. She gets it.” She leaned forward a little. “Wouldn't this really be something better just outsourced, or maybe you could create a group in the Joint Chief's office to handle this?”
“No.” Bridges shook his head. “Every existing division in this government wants to be put in charge of this and the infighting ain't worth it. I need an outsider.”
Kerry nodded. “I see.”
He looked at Dar. “Want to think about it for a couple days? Look, Roberts, I know you probably want to work for us about as much as I want to have to pay you, but I'm a realist, and despite how hoary and old fashioned it is to say it, I'm a patriot. We need to be able to do this so that no one can do what they did on September 11th. You agree with that, yes?”
“Actually no I don't” Dar said. “I don't think you can ever stop someone from doing that at the sharp end. You have to top them wanting to.”
Ah. Kerry felt a sense of pleasurable surprise hearing the words, but had no time to appreciate them as she sensed Dar starting to move and she got her feet under her to stand up.
“I'll spend the weekend thinking about what you asked.” Dar said, crisply. “Talk to you on Monday.”