"Looks can be deceiving," Kerry advised. "What do you do?" She indicated the spotless white shiny surface of the desk, which contained the writing pad, a cup with two pens in it, and not much more.
"Oh, I...um.." Shawna shrugged one shoulder. "I coordinate meetings. You know, like schedule the conference rooms and stuff like that." One fingertip rolled the pencil she'd been using. "I set up lunch, too, and bring in materials. Collate." The words seemed to trouble her briefly. "It's a good job, and it's a great office in here, really smart, you know? My parents really like me working here."
Kerry felt a very brief moment of resonance with this skewed reflection of one of her own life's possibilities. "My folks would have liked it for me too," she told Shawna. "But I'm glad I picked my own path," she added. "See you later."
She felt the eyes on her back all the way down the hall, until she turned the corner and pushed open the door to the break room.
Once inside she paused, as her cell phone rang. Kerry glanced at the caller ID, then took a seat at one of the tables and answered it. "Kerry Stuart."
"M...Kerry, this is Mayte." Her admin sounded a bit flustered. "There are some...I need to speak with you about a few things. Is that all right?"
"Absolutely." Kerry glanced around, glad she was alone. "Go ahead."
"Okay," Mayte said. "In the first thing, the papers from yesterday, the legal department brought them down for me. I have them here."
"Okay," Kerry said. "Just hold them for me."
"But..." Mayte said. "That man, the Mr. Quest? He has called here several times looking for you. He sounded very upset you were not here."
"Well, that's just too bad, I guess, because I'm not." Kerry rubbed her temples. "What did he say?"
"He said there was something you were going to give to him, yes?." Mayte said. "He sounded very angry that you were not here, and la Jefa was not here either."
Kerry stared ahead, her eyes a little unfocused. Was Quest bluffing? Playing yet another game? Or just demanding the response he'd requested the day before. "I see."
"He said that if you did not want to be serious with him, he would take you from the job?" Mayte continued. "He is not a very nice man."
"No," Kerry mused. "He's not."
"I think it is the papers he is waiting for," Mayte suggested. "Do you want me to bring them to him? I know where the place he said was. The Intercontinental Hotel. It is not far from here."
Give in? Kerry was uncertain which move to make in the odd chess game she'd been playing. So far, she'd worked to keep Quest and his bid at arm's length, not wanting to seem too eager.
Play his game? Kerry briefly considered going to ask Dar, then she shook her head. "Suck it up, Stuart."
"Kerry? Did you say something?" Mayte asked.
"I said, that's really great of you to offer, Mayte," Kerry responded. "I would really appreciate it if you could drop the paperwork off, but would you do me a favor?"
"Of course." Mayte sounded happy. "Anything."
"Grab Mark, or one of the guys to go with you. Just in case you bump into those ladies you and your mom ran into last night." Kerry smiled as she heard her assistant make a sound. "Okay?"
"Okay," Mayte said. "I will maybe put on my brother's football helmet. That should be okay, no?"
Kerry chuckled. "Sounds great. Thanks Mayte." She set that decision aside. "Was there something else?"
Mayte shuffled some papers. "The reporter from yesterday? He called here," Mayte said. "But he did not want to leave a message. I told him you were out of town."
"Okay."
"Also, there was some security reports. Mark said you would want to see them. I have them on our share, is that okay?"
"More than okay, Mayte. Thanks. You're doing a great job there. I really appreciate you following up on all that for me," Kerry said sincerely.
"You are very welcome," Mayte said. "I hope you are having a good time in New York. La Jefa was happy to see you I am sure."
Kerry chuckled. "Hard to say which one of us was happier," she admitted. "Okay, let me go see what Dar's up to. If there's anything else, just give me a call."
"I will. Have a good day, Kerry."
Kerry closed the phone. Then she got up and went to the window, gazing out at the rain.
DAR STRETCHED, ARCHING her back as she wandered down the wall of windows, peering out of them as the rain continued to roll down. She was alone in the conference room. Hans was in a smaller private office talking to his programmers and Kerry was off finding some coffee.
A surge of well being flooded her, and taking a quick look around, Dar took a bouncing step then inverted into a handstand, balancing her weight on her palms as she edged around in a small circle. "Heh heh heh," she chortled softly. "Haven't done this in a while."
Behind her, she heard the door suddenly open, and knew from the clicking of heels that it wasn't either Kerry or Hans. Caught in the act, so to speak, she decided to pretend walking on one's hands was a normal act and turned, spotting a short, somewhat squat figure in gray staring at her. "Yes?" she asked briskly. "You need something?"
Without a word, the figure retreated and slammed the door. Dar hastily let her body drop backwards and flipped up, landing a bit precariously on her heels, but rocking forward to catch her balance before she could fall back and smack herself silly.
With a soft, wry chuckle, she walked back over to the conference table, settling back into her chair and spinning around slowly.
KERRY GAVE THE two men entering the break room a cordial smile as she made her way to the coffee machine. "Afternoon."
"Ah, Ms. Stuart, right?" The older of the two came over to her. "Nice to see you again, but I wasn't aware you were coming out here. Is the problem that complex?"
"Called in the reserves, looks like it to me," his companion said. "Too much for them, I think."
"No, Mr. Godson, it really isn't." Kerry set two cups down and started preparing them to order. "Or, well...to be totally accurate, yes, it's complex, but Dar is more than up to the task of fixing it. I was in the area visiting another account and thought I'd stop by." It was an innocuous enough lie, she thought, and one Godson would have difficulty proving one way or the other.
"Ah, well of course." Godson nodded. "Are they making progress, I hope?"
The other man snorted softly. Kerry correctly deduced his identity and muffled a grimace. "You could say that. The program's being rewritten and we're waiting for the new code to test it. I think we should have this little problem wrapped up by sunset." She gave them both a smile
"Really?" Godson perked up. "Soon as that? See Jason? I told you they'd fix us up. You're too much of a pessimist."
"Well, I'll believe it when I see it, sir," Meyer said. "I still think we need a second opinion," he added. "I asked that consultant I told you about to meet me here today."
Godson looked vaguely annoyed. "Jason, I told you I didn't want you to do that."
"Well, I thought it was for the best," Meyer said. "I have to do what I think is right for the company, don't I?" He picked up his coffee cup. "Excuse me." He left, letting the door swing shut behind him.
Godson frowned. "Sorry about that, Ms. Stuart," he said. "I'm sure he means well."
Kerry smiled briefly. "I'm sure he's looking to get leverage against us for his own reasons," she gently disagreed. "But it's okay. We see that all the time."
The CIO sighed. "You too?" he said. "This is very discouraging. No one seems to be able to get along. I feel very uncomfortable, and on top of that, someone from the news is coming to see me. Says he wants to talk about your company. Do you know anything about that?"