by Melissa Good
“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’m 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.”
Bridges looked at Dar. “I know we gave Easton a budget to revise all his dinosaur systems. He’s talked to you about that?”
“He’s our next stop,” Dar said.
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 glanced 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. It’s 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 isn’t worth it. I need an outsider.”
Kerry nodded. “I see.”
He looked back 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 9/11. 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 stop them wanting to.”
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.”
Bridges looked relieved. He stood up and held his hand out. “Monday it is. Have a good weekend ladies.” He ushered them out, holding the door open for them and gestured to the guard. “Please walk these folks out, Dustan. They’re friendlies.”
The guard smiled at them, and opened the outer door. “Yes, sir, I will take good care of them.” He held the door for them and followed them out, as the sound of the halls started to echo around them.
Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. Then Kerry reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, giving her head a tiny shake. “Dar, I need a drink.”
“Me too.”
“Well, hey.” Dustan’s ears pricked.“I know a good sports bar round the corner, wanna go there?”
“No thanks,” Dar said. “We’ve got to go to the Pentagon.” She put her hand on Kerry’s back as they maneuvered through the crowd. “But with any luck, Gerry’ll have scotch in his desk drawer.”
THEY DIDN’T GET far after leaving the White House. Dar found the first little grill and pulled into the parking lot, turning off the rental car’s engine and leaning her hands on the wheel. “My brain hurts.”
Kerry had her arms folded across her chest, and she regarded the windy and overcast weather outside with a pensive expression. “Are you really going to think about this?”
Dar’s eyebrows twitched and hiked. “Hell, no,” she said. “What I’m going to think about is how to say kiss my ass in some politically acceptable way that won’t mean I get the last twenty years of my tax returns audited by members of the Westboro Baptist Church.”
“That guy really wants you. I was joking before, but sheesh.” Kerry exhaled. “What do you think about his idea?”
“His idea to spy on everyone?” Dar said. “I think I’m going to find another country.”
“Really?”
Dar half turned. “Kerry, if he’d asked me to coordinate the intelligence services, or evaluate new technology, or find a way to integrate the multitude of data systems...maybe I would have thought about it for a few minutes. The country needs that.”
Kerry nodded.
“But figure out a way to snoop on my neighbors? Not my gig. Let’s get a cup of coffee or something.”
Kerry got out and zipped her jacket closed as they walked across the parking lot toward the grill. She paused in mid step when Dar did, and stopped when Dar turned to face her. “What?”
“Listen.” Dar’s face was unusually somber. “I’m really sorry that guy was such a jackass to you.”
Kerry smiled. “Thank you, sweetheart, but I
felt nothing but happiness that he didn’t want any part of me. Honest.” She patted Dar on the chest. “C’mon. It’s cold out here.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Kerry towed her toward the door. “If I’d wanted a political career, don’t you think I could have managed one from my family?”
“No, I know.” Dar opened the door and followed her inside. It was early for lunch and there were only a few patrons inside, mostly at the bar. They were given the once over as they walked by, and settled gratefully out of sight in a small booth against the wall.
They looked at each other, then started laughing. “How in the hell do we get into crap like this, Dar?” Kerry asked, after a moment of chuckling. “That’s crazy, you know?”
“I know.” Dar glanced at the waitress as she arrived. “Coffee for me.” She eyed Kerry. “Want to share some sliders?”
“Sure,” Kerry said. “Ice tea for me and one of the six slider plates.”
The waitress studied her briefly, then nodded and took the menus back, disappearing behind the service counter without any comment. “I think we were just pegged as not being from around here, Dar,” Kerry said. “We should have ordered a salad to share.”
“Yuck.” Dar was busy with her little gizmo. “I’m going to text the pilot, and see if Gerry’s available now. Maybe we can get out of here early.”
“Music to my ears.” Kerry leaned against the seat back, folding her hands over her stomach. “How about some handball at the gym tonight?”
“You feeling brave?” Dar laughed, as she finished texting, then pressed one of the dialing buttons. “You know, I sorta like this thing.” She put it to her ear. “Yes, this is Dar Roberts. Is General Easton there? I’d like to talk to him for a minute.”
Kerry smiled, considering the sense of relief she felt. Part of her had been a little afraid the government was going to ask Dar to do what Dar had mentioned, a logical, and needed request she knew would have tugged hard at Dar’s innate sense of honor and likely result in some real soul searching on her part.
This? Write a program to spy on citizens? Aside from outraging Dar, it shunted aside any other consideration of the request and selfishly, she was glad.
Glad. Absolutely happy that it took one piece of complication out of her life, and left only Gerald Easton and his systems refresh.
“Okay, Gerry, we’ll be there in about forty five minutes.” Dar was speaking into the phone. “See ya.” She closed the phone and put it on the table. “I think I’m going to end up being a jackass to him,” she said. “After that last meeting, the less I have to do with the people in this town the happier I’ll be.”
Kerry picked up her tea and sipped it. “You don’t expect me to disagree, do you?” She’d been prepared to. She’d had all her arguments marshaled and her objections ready, absolutely intent that nothing was going to get their hooks into her beloved without her having a chance to stop it.
Kind of skanky, in an overly possessive, really, honestly selfish kind of way, but Kerry was in a place where she cared more about their future together than that.
“No.” Dar mixed as much sugar and cream into her coffee as was possible given the level in the cup. “I know you’re here to keep me from doing something stupid.” She glanced up, her eyes twinkling a little. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about though,” she added, as a blush became evident on Kerry’s face.
“Sorry I’m that transparent,” Kerry muttered.
“Shouldn’t you be, to me?”
Kerry took a breath to protest, then paused, regarding the look of mild affection on Dar’s face.
“Remember you once made me promise I’d think of both of us before I made decisions, even about myself?” Dar asked. “When I quit that time?”
Kerry nodded.
“Trust me.”
Kerry blushed again, this time more intensely, as she moved her cup to let the waitress put the sliders she now had no interest in eating in front of them. “Wow,” she said, as the woman left. “Now I feel like a complete creep.”
“C’mon, Ker.” Dar picked up a mini burger and took a bite of it. “Ease up. We’ve got a twenty minute scope inspection and then we’re outta here. I want to go back to planning our trip.”
Kerry studied the angular face across from her. “Why the hell am I being such a jerk?” She sighed, shaking her head a little and picking up a burger. “Maybe I need to go get my head examined.”
Dar munched in silence, regarding her.
“You think Doctor Steve knows someone I can talk to?” Kerry nibbled at the bacon sticking out of the slider.
“Probably.” Dar swallowed and took a sip of coffee. “Yeah, I think he does. He suggested someone he knew for me to talk to after they told us about Dad.”
“Did you?”
Dar’s lips twitched “What do you think?”
Kerry felt the angst ease a little. “Let me guess, that would be no.”
“Correct. But doesn’t mean you shouldn’t if it would make you feel better,” Dar said. “There’s a lot of people who were part of that whole situation who say they’ve been socked with PTSD.”
“You think that’s what this is?”
“I have no idea, hon.” Dar selected another burger. “I don’t know if there’s anything for it to be, but if it’ll make you feel better to talk to someone, hell, do it.”
Kerry chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. She watched Dar’s body language, the relaxed and easy motion matching the casual speech. Things usually didn’t chew at Dar. She tended to dismiss things that were in the past, the one exception to that, her relationships, but even now that seemed to have faded and left her living pretty much in the moment most of the time.
There was value in that. Kerry wished her mind worked the same way. “I guess I’ll talk to him next week,” She said. “So...this government offer.”
“Mm?”
“Why you?” Kerry asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, sweetheart, you know I think you’re the greatest gift to IT the world has ever seen.”
Dar started laughing.
“But why would this guy want you to come work for him? I love you, but you’d be a political nightmare and we both know that.” Kerry wiped her lips. “I don’t really get it.”
Dar sat back and took a sip of her coffee, clearing her throat a little. “Those are pretty good.” She indicated the plate. “I think this guy is someone who mostly cares about results. I’m sure he knows my background and my rep, and he’s made the decision that he’s willing to deal with that to get what he wants.”
“Hm.”
“Victim of my own success,” Dar reiterated her earlier statement. “He asked for the impossible, and I made it possible. I can see why he wants someone like me to make this impossible dream of his reality.”
“Is it impossible?”
Dar motioned the waitress over. “It’s impossible for me.” She handed the woman her credit card. “It’s not right. I won’t do it. I’m sure they’ll find someone who will.”
Kerry rested her hands on the table. “Dar?”
“Mm?”
“I actually suggested that to them.”
“What?” Dar’s head cocked slightly. “That they find someone else?”
“That they go to the Tier 1 providers and put their sniffer in there to find bad guys,” Kerry said, quietly. “I didn’t even think about it from a personal angle. I just wanted them out of our datacenter.”
Dar blinked a few times, much as she had in the White House office. “That when they wanted in to the Herndon office?” she asked. “When I locked everything down?”
Kerry nodded.
The waitress came back and handed the check to Dar, with a pen and a slip. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Dar signed it and took back her card. She folded the receipt up and stuck it in her pocket, then leaned her elbows on the table. “Given where we were right then, you told them the right thing,” she said. “It’
s the same thing we told the yahoos in that guy’s office the last time. Follow the money.” She held up her card, then put it back in her wallet. “Besides I’m sure that idea occurred to more than one person.”
“True.” Kerry slid out of the booth and followed her toward the door. “But, Dar, that’s what we told them to do, wasn’t it? To find those people, they would have to do that.”
“Mm.” She opened the door back out into the cold windy weather. “In an abstract sense yeah,” she admitted. “So I guess I’m sounding pretty hypocritical, but all the same, I’m not doing it. Besides, by the time you designed a metric and parser, the real bad guys would find out how to hide from it, and it ends up becoming a way to embarrass political rivals.”
Kerry sighed. “That’s probably true.”
“Probably?” Dar opened her door for her, and watched her slide inside. “Think your father would have used it to get dirt on people?”
“Huh.”
Dar closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, pausing to glance around the parking lot before she opened the door and got in. Just a scattering of cars were around them, but one had a guy behind the wheel, reading a newspaper and she spent a moment indulging in a moment of spy fantasy.
Then she shut the door and started the car, wanting nothing more than to get past the Pentagon and go home. “Today is kinda sucking.”
Kerry reached across the center console and put her hand on Dar’s thigh, rubbing gently with her thumb against the cotton fabric covering it. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Let’s hope it turns around.”
Dar paused as they reached the exit, and waited for traffic to slow before she pulled out. She glanced in her rear view mirror out of long habit, and felt a faint shock as she saw the guy with the paper behind her, waiting to turn as well.
Coincidence? “Yeah, let’s hope so,” she said, turning right out of the lot and proceeding along the street, keeping an eye on her mirror until she saw the guy pull out also, but to the left, heading away from them. She exhaled “Let’s hope so.”
GERALD EASTON’S OFFICE was quiet, and there were comfortable leather chairs to sit in near an open space off to one side of his desk. Kerry took a seat as the general arranged for some coffee, leaning back and crossing her legs at the ankles. Off in the distance she heard the sounds of construction, or more to the point, reconstruction as the area damaged by the attack was rebuilt.