The answer to the first part of Tracy Ireland’s question was one Spence was able to answer easily. She had already formed a fair idea that the woman in front of her would not be satisfied with purely defensive measures. Tracy Ireland would be eager to mete out some suitable retribution, Spence concluded. And as long as it was within the law and did not violate her own ethical precepts, she was ready to do all she could to help her achieve that goal.
It was the question of expense that caused Spence to hesitate ever so slightly. While the idea of simply quoting the standard rates Andy set for their services crossed her mind, Spence realized she had an opportunity to not only impress him with her chutzpah, a quality he admired in the people he dealt with, she would be able to score some well earned points in the unofficial competition she and Tommy were engaged in.
Suspecting Spence’s hesitation was due to her reluctance to quote a price she might balk at and with a busy schedule she had no intention of disrupting, Tracy Ireland cut to the chase. “Rest assured, Ms. Spencer, this agency is more than able to pay for your firm’s services, provided they are successful.”
With success never in question, Spence saw Ireland’s statement as an opportunity too good to pass up, causing her to toss caution to the wind and, instead of quoting the usual rate as she had been about to, decided to once more roll the dice. “Our normal fee is sixteen hundred a day.”
“Does that include expenses?”
“Normally it does, unless of course there is extensive travel involved or the need to purchase special hardware or any unique programs required along the way.”
“Seeing how you will be accompanying us to Milan, I assume I will have to pick up the full tab plus per diem for the duration of your employment?”
For the first time since entering Ireland’s office, Spence found herself unable to keep from reacting. Lurching forward ever so slightly, she frowned. “Milan?”
“Yes, Milan. That is where the next major show will be,” Ireland explained. “I would be a fool not to take you along if you’ve not sorted this out before we need to leave. Is there a problem with such an arrangement, Ms. Spencer?”
“No,” Spence replied as calmly as she could while madly scrambling to regain her footing. “None at all.”
Despite suspecting she knew why the girl across from her had been thrown by this, given Spence impressed her as the poster child for the world of computer security, Tracy Ireland did not take advantage of the first advantage she’d gained in the back-and-forth the two had been engaged in. While she had no qualms when it came to undercutting her competition whenever the opportunity to do so came her way, Ireland suspected it might not be a bad idea if she checked her predatory nature when dealing with Karen Spencer. Not only did the young woman impress her as being the sort who was more than ready to go toe to toe with her, it would be foolish to piss off someone who Ireland suspected she was about to allow to root about in every computer she had. And if there was one thing Tracy Ireland wasn’t when it came to business, it was foolish.
2
Spence spent the rest of the day mulling over how the meeting with Tracy Ireland had played out and what her options were now that she had committed not only herself, but Century Consultants as well. Even after she’d shut down her computer, locked the office door, and headed back to her flat, she found herself wondering how to go about skinning this cat.
Unfortunately, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that her initial impulse to show Andy and Tommy exactly what she could do was just bravado. This was not a computer-driven program that could be switched off and set aside if she ran into a problem. A client — a very competent and accomplished business owner that was under attack — was putting her reputation and the future of her business into Century Consulting’s hands, or, more correctly, her hands. This more than anything else weighed on Spence as she puttered around her tiny kitchen, absentmindedly throwing together a Caesar salad as she ticked off her options one by one.
The idea of calling Andy was dismissed out of hand. It had only been late yesterday that he had set off to the wilds of Northumberland where he and his reenactment buddies would lose themselves by shedding all trappings of their twenty-first-century lives and taking up their posts along Hadrian’s Wall as Roman soldiers and the sons they’d left behind had done centuries before. In addition to Andy being annoyed by a summons to turn around and head back to London to deal with a client he hadn’t vetted for a case she’d already accepted, she realized she would be conceding defeat before she had even given this case a shot. Even now, Spence could hear her father’s voice ringing in her ear: “You’ll never know what you can do or how far you can go on your own until you’ve tried.”
She sure as hell wasn’t going to go to Tommy, she decided as she plunked down on the sofa, plate and fork in hand, and turned on the TV. Not after the way he used every opportunity to remind her of how he’d singlehandedly saved her bacon when she’d been given a chance to handle the Kirkland Hospital case on her own and had come up wanting. The very thought of handing him another excuse to lord over her as if she were a wet-behind-the-ears rookie was intolerable.
Hannah Marbury, on the other hand, could always be counted on, not only for the sound advice she had to offer but for the discretion she showed in downplaying her role whenever she helped Spence. Of course, with Spence being Spence, when Andy finally did get around to asking her how she came up with her solution, she’d have to mention Hannah’s contributions. Taking credit for someone else’s ideas or efforts simply wasn’t something she was able to do.
That left The Colonel. For the longest time, Spence toyed with the idea of calling him. She was certain that at some point in his career in the air force or during his time at the corporation he now worked for he had come across a lowlife perv like the one harassing Tracy Ireland’s girls. Finding out how he’d safeguarded his client and their interests wasn’t exactly the same as asking him to help her.
That thought was still swirling about in her head as she watched the end of University Challenge on BBC 2 when she sat up straight, set aside her salad, and shook her head. “No!” she muttered to herself. Win, lose or draw she was going to tackle this head-on by herself. The time had come for her to see if she was as good as she thought she was. Besides, she reminded herself as she stood, took her unfinished salad to the kitchen where she put it in the fridge before heading over to the small desk where her laptop was. If things were on the verge of going tango uniform, she could always pop a red-star cluster and call in the marines, not that she intended to as she prepared to pull together a plan of action. “Well, as Andy likes to say, forward the Light Brigade.”
Wearing the one suit she had in her wardrobe and with her hair pinned back by an ornate Oriental clasp her father had given her one Christmas when they’d been stationed at Misawa Air Base in Japan, Spence returned to the offices of TI Modeling the next morning with her head held high, prepared to do battle.
Spence ignored the receptionist’s pasted-on smile and the way the woman inspected her outfit. “Ms. Ireland is expecting me,” Spence announced in a calm, no-nonsense manner.
“You must be the technical specialist,” the woman replied as her eyes looked up after checking Spence’s shoes. “She asked that you be shown to her office. She’ll join you in a few minutes. If you take a seat, I’ll show you the way as soon as I am done here.”