by K. T. Lee
Alexis’s voice buzzed in her ear. “Waffle smelled Dmitri on Tony’s suitcase. Watch your backs, it’s hard to tell what they have in their bags, but we know it’s not explosive.”
Stefanie tried to act normal, then heard Joey. “I’ll meet you in the hallway. Stay calm. Just say ‘give me a second’ if you want to back out. Otherwise, tell me to come with you if you are still good to go. We can both try to figure out why one of them smells like Dmitri.”
“Right this way, gentlemen.” Stefanie remained carefully cheerful. She’d come this far, and if they played their cards right, it could all be over by the end of the day.
Joey met her on her way down the hallway and she stopped, introducing him to her three new friends. “Everyone, this is Joey. He’s a new intern at the OEG and we’re trying to get him as much experience as possible this week. He might even be able to help your team if he understands what you need. Do you mind if he joins us?”
Tony answered, “Sure, if these guys are good with it.”
The men agreed and introduced themselves to Joey. Soon, they were all seated around the conference table. She told Waffle to lay down and he settled on the floor next to her. Joey sat on her other side. Waffle’s toy lay at his front paws and his nose remained in the air, still smelling. Joey’s tension was not obvious, but after their time together, the alertness in his eyes betrayed his easygoing posture. Stefanie opened her laptop, hoping they would attribute her finger shaking to jangly new-employee nerves, not to secretly-working-for-the-CIA nerves. She displayed her presentation and described in great detail their company’s capabilities and goals for future research. She finished her presentation and asked if they had any questions. It was a quiet, contemplative crew. However, their eyes were bright and interested, and she was careful to keep up her act.
Tony crossed his arms, showing the elbow patches on his jacket. “How deep can your submarine go?”
Stefanie gave her practiced answer. “Our workhorse ROV can go down to about three thousand feet. We have connections with companies that can take us deeper, but most of our customers don’t need the additional expense that comes with that technology. Our communications solution and cost structure are certainly less expensive, particularly when you account for our modular research platform rental. What kind of research are you all working on?”
Tony’s partners remained silent, looking at Tony to answer the question. Tony leaned back in his chair. “Our customers’ research is proprietary. Our team has been given a finite budget for scientific inquiry and anything we can do to use our resources wisely might help us stretch it further.”
Stefanie stilled. “Oh, who is your customer?”
“We all represent businesspeople in our respective countries collaborating on research for mining work.” Tony gave her a patronizing smile. “They prefer for us to be the face of their business – you have to understand, the business they are in is very competitive. They value discretion, and we don’t want to undercut their value proposition. I can say they’re working with unusual materials and will be providing their own sensors. We just need someone to help us deploy the equipment and retrieve it when the time comes.”
Stefanie’s heart began to pound. She didn’t need Waffle to understand that the CIA had every right to be worried. Even if she’d never gotten the call from her sister, Tony’s team’s desire for total anonymity would be raising red flags. If the circumstances were different, she’d be calling Cole as soon as they left to communicate her misgivings. After giving Joey grief about it at their first meeting, she was a little self-conscious about feigning ignorance, but she didn’t have a lot of other options. “Oh, of course. We’ll steer clear of specifics, then.” Stefanie gestured to the small-scale OEG model on the conference room table. “Our standard research platform can be customized to your needs if you can explain what you need to us.” Waffle chewed on his toy but as soon as he noticed her looking at him, he began to smell the air. He stood and she gave him a pat, as she would any family dog. He stretched and got closer to Tony’s briefcase. He fully laid down, pointing his nose at it, almost willing the poor daft human to figure out it smelled like something important. Her pulse drummed in her ears, but she decided to press just a little harder. “Is there a specific type of research equipment you will need?”
“We will be happy to request anything from you we don’t already have. If we provide you with dimensions, could you leave a blank space or a bracket that could hold our product on your frame?” Tony examined the model. “We’d really just need you to secure our equipment to your frame and include your transmitters.”
Stefanie exchanged a look with Joey. He’d been silent up to this point, letting her take the lead. When he answered, his voice was slow and easy. “Sure. Whatever you want, we can build it. Just let us know how you would like for us to fasten your parts to the frame of the platform. Can you tell us what kind of measurement equipment you’re using? The communication equipment we send down can be sensitive to electrical interference. I wouldn’t want to pair up your equipment with anything of ours that would cause problems with the readings.”
“I’m glad to hear you have such a thorough approach to your work.” Tony smiled. “Not to worry, we’d never send anything down that would interfere with your equipment. We’ll check that.” He rose and shook both of their hands, although his tone was more like that of a parent talking to a child. It was a wonder he didn’t pat Joey on the head and send him away. “We’re in a hurry, you understand. Our previous plan to start the exploration was delayed, and we only have until the end of the month to stay on schedule. We’d like to start by testing a single prototype before deploying it in a number of locations, so anywhere you typically complete your prototype testing is fine. If you have a spot in shallower waters, perhaps nearer to the coast, that will help us minimize the cost of our initial testing. Do you have any availability in the next week? That would make the decision quite easy for our clients.”
His colleagues began to gather their things and Stefanie fought to hide her panic. Their only lead was ready to walk, and they didn’t even know why one of these guys smelled like Dmitri yet. They needed more time. While her internal panic had lasted less than a second, Joey picked up on it. “We can try to make that work. We are going out to pull some data tomorrow from one of our platforms. You could tag along, and I could show you some concepts for your specialized bracket to make sure we can meet your deadline. Do you have dimensions for me to work with?”
One of Tony’s heretofore silent associates stood. Apparently, the meeting was over. “Yes. We’ll come out on the boat to see how you gather data. Our proprietary equipment will be self-contained.” Oliver pulled a sheet of paper out of his bag that listed the outside dimensions and a drawing. The drawing consisted of a large container with a rounded edge. Well, if she wasn’t suspicious before, she definitely was now. He’d handed her a detailed drawing of…a box. She wished she could hear Joey’s thoughts and know what they were supposed to do. Waffle stood and sniffed the paper. She gave him a friendly pat and he wagged his tail but didn’t alert. Instead, he stood at her thigh, leaning against her exposed side. She did some quick math on the dimensions. There would be room for the equipment they used to connect their research platform to the transmission buoy, but that was it.
Stefanie tapped a finger on the paper. “It will take up nearly the entire research platform. We’ll use our standard location tracking equipment on it. That will allow us to collect the data regularly and retrieve the equipment when your experiment is complete.”
“That’s good news.” Tony nodded thoughtfully. “Our customers will want to know where their components are. You’ll provide the GPS coordinates as well?”
Something about what he asked didn’t sit right with her. It should have, but it didn’t. “Um, yes. That’s standard with any of our platforms. Your equipment won’t contain hazardous material or anything that might cause an environmental impact, will it? We’re very cauti
ous not to damage the delicate environments we operate in.”
Tony frowned. “No, there won’t be any environmental impact. It’s perfectly safe.”
Alarm bells rang in her head again. There was always risk. Stefanie kept her voice light. “Your platform isn’t designed to mine for oceanic microhyla taraiensis by any chance, is it? There is a lot of interest in the material.”
Tony gave her a wink. “I can neither confirm nor deny if my customers are mining for that.”
“Okay, my lips are sealed.” Stefanie gave him another friendly smile. “And you have documentation explaining that there isn’t anything that would cause an environmental impact?” When Tony’s polite mask turned offended, she clarified. “For our lawyers, you understand. We’ve openly advertised that we don’t damage the surrounding environment, and if we put anything hazardous on the ocean floor, we have to make sure that we have the appropriate permissions, permits, and risk controls in place. The rules are very specific on this.”
Tony nodded thoughtfully. “I can work with my team to provide a certification from our parts suppliers. They are making everything for us. The business I represent has been able to turn around equipment quite quickly. The sensor will be fully sealed when we deliver it.”
Joey exchanged a look with Stefanie then looked back at Tony. “If it’s sealed, can you tell me more about how we need to bolt it to the platform? Will the case have holes or do we need to develop something that will go around it to secure it?”
Tony reached into his bag and Stefanie saw the slightest movement out of the corner of her eye. Joey had shifted his hand to his back. Waffle tensed against her leg. Tony removed a small box and placed it on the table. Waffle’s tail began to wag furiously and he gave it a sniff, then lay on the floor again. It wasn’t explosive but it was the object from Dmitri. Good dog, Waffle. Her competitive spirit rallied with the clue, but her inherent preference for self-preservation would rather throw it out the window. Her heart began to pound just a little harder. Tony had picked it up, so hopefully, it wasn’t too dangerous. “Our manufacturer provided this small scale, non-functional prototype for just these kinds of questions. I will leave this here for you to study.”
“Thank you so much.” Stefanie swallowed hard.
Joey studied it and responded in the slow drawl that she now recognized as his cover for how quickly his brain was processing the information. “I should be able to work with that. Let me check the schedule. We’ll see what we can do this weekend.”
Stefanie ushered the men out, exchanging pleasantries along the way. She brought Waffle with her, more as a security blanket than anything else. What the hell had Dmitri sent? And what was Tony’s role in all of this? Once they left, she heard Joey’s voice in her earpiece. “What is microhyla taraiensis?”
Stefanie took in a deep breath, checking behind her to be sure she was alone. “A frog from eastern Nepal. They’re bullshitting us, Joey. What’s in the box? Do we need to clear the building?”
His response wasn’t quite as quick as she’d hoped. A few long seconds later he replied, “I don’t think so.”
“Think?” She practically hissed out the question. “You don’t think so?”
“I don’t think so, but I also can call in a false alarm from the fire department and get this thing out of here.”
“Do you have it now?”
“No. I stepped away in case it has a listening device in it. Can’t be too careful.”
Stefanie’s shoulders tensed. She took the deep cleansing breaths that she’d read about in the first three chapters of a yoga book someone had given her as a gift. “Okay…what do you want me to do?”
“Come back to the conference room and we’ll figure out what to do with this thing.”
18
On the way back to her office area, Peggy stopped her. “Oh, honey. Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Stefanie froze and tried to decipher if Peggy was testing her or truly concerned. She couldn’t tell. Great. Cole’s lies got in her head. Now she was scared and mad at herself. She was good at reading people, darn it. Peggy sensed her frustration and took a step back. “Sorry, Peggy. Those guys want us to move mountains in a week and I don’t want to disappoint Cole. He took a chance on me, after all.”
“What did they want?” Peggy tilted her head. She reached out her hand to pet Waffle, but Waffle stayed dutifully by Stefanie’s side.
Stefanie shrugged. “To put some kind of undefined box on the research platform. They don’t want to tell us what’s in it. They claim it’s proprietary.”
Peggy nodded with understanding. “Well, some customers are that way.”
“Really?” Stefanie eyed her incredulously.
Peggy chuckled. “Oh, yes. Like we don’t know what they’re actually sending. It’s okay. They can be precious about their technological developments all they want. Our lawyers have special forms for the customers who won’t tell us what they’re sending. Cole warned me when I took the job that I’d have to shuffle paperwork for customers who think this way.” She lifted her hands. “I mean, it’s not like we don’t figure it out eventually. There are only so many things people want to send to the bottom of the ocean.”
Peggy knew something. Of course she did. Why didn’t she think of that sooner? Administrative assistants knew everything. But if she knew, whose side was she on? Was she part of Dmitri’s deception? “They seemed interested in a trip out on the boat when I offered – will anyone mind if I take them out?”
“Not at all. It’s all part of the sales package.” Peggy put a hand on her hip. “And if being secretive is the worst thing you have to deal with, you’re going to be just fine. Sister, I could tell you stories you wouldn’t believe. I know I’ve only been here a little longer than you, but working here is nothing compared to where I used to work.”
Stefanie didn’t need Joey to tell her to dig. Peggy was ready to talk. She sat down in Peggy’s guest chair and Waffle rested his chin on her leg. “Okay, story time will definitely help my stress. Where’d you use to work?”
“A nuclear research facility. Not too soon after the OEG was started, there was some talk about nuclear waste disposal in the deep ocean, but the executives killed that idea. I’ve heard that it was suggested to the CEO here exactly once. She has very publicly said the OEG is only in the business of exploration. I know all of our company’s official stances – I’m also in charge of writing press releases.”
“Awesome. How did you get into that?”
Peggy tapped a neat fingernail on her desk. “I do a little writing as my side hustle. I can whip up a corporate-approved email quicker than just about anyone else. I corrected some errors on Cole’s paperwork once, and he sniffed out my ability to write. The rest is history.”
Stefanie tilted her head. “What kind of writing do you do?” She spied a paperback peeking out of Peggy’s purse, but couldn’t make it out.
“Oh, nothing you’ve probably read.” Peggy blushed. “Just a little story or two. Pays for my vacations and makes writing reports quite a lot easier for me.”
Stefanie grinned. “That’s awesome. You’re full of secrets, Peggy.”
“I try to be an open book, so to speak, but I do keep a few things private.” Peggy gave a bashful shrug.
For a moment, Stefanie had forgotten that she was gathering information from Peggy. And while she had definitely gathered information, it wasn’t quite the kind she expected. Or that would be useful for the operation. Joey’s voice snapped her back to the task at hand. “Stef, I scanned the box. There aren’t any listening devices in it.”
Stefanie leaned in. “Well, thanks for letting me in on a few of your secrets, Peggy. And I love books. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them.”
Peggy smiled. “That’s nice of you to say. I do write under a pen name, just to keep it under my hat, you understand.”
Stefanie heard Nash’s voice, distant, through her earpiece. “Hey Joey, I was wonde
ring where you’d gone.”
Despite now being even more curious about what kind of stories would make Peggy blush, Stefanie made her apologies and stood. She walked Waffle back to save Joey from Nash’s curiosity. When she returned to the conference room, Nash was chatting up Joey, and they were both leaning over the small box their new clients had given them.
Nash turned his head almost fully sideways while he examined it. “I’m assuming the thick case and coating is to make it waterproof. They dipped the whole assembly in the rubbery material.” He gave it a poke for effect and Stefanie winced. “Hard to take it apart and see what’s inside.”
Joey shrugged. “Wouldn’t do us much good anyway. Tony said it was just an example of what the box would look like. They wanted to make sure that whatever system we used to lock it down would work with their waterproof coating.”
Nash pulled out his phone and dug in a drawer until he found a little attachment that he connected to his cell phone camera. Stefanie held her breath. It was starting to feel like he was on their investigation, and according to the FBI, he was definitely still a suspect. She snickered when she saw the display. “Do you have a thermal camera attachment for your cell phone?”
“You don’t?” Nash looked up from the device to grin at her. “They’re not nearly as expensive as you think. And a whole lot of fun.” He pointed the camera at the box, but the display stubbornly stayed one color. “Okay, nothing is popping. Probably no active components in their demo device, but what can we figure out…?” Before Joey could stop him, he hefted the box. “It’s heavier than most of our components, and the walls are made of metal instead of plastic. Interesting choice, considering it’s expensive to do it this way.”
Stefanie shot a look at Joey. Nash put the box back on the table but didn’t make any effort to leave the room. If Nash was going to help, they shouldn’t stop him. “Wouldn’t metal make it harder for a sensor to detect anything outside of it?”