That's my guy then. I thank the young man for all of this help. When he's gone, I walk down the steps of the filling-in room. I head over to Jay, who is staring off into the distance. It's only when I finally reach him that his face changes and he perks up.
"Hi."
"Hey there," I say. "I'm Annette Gardner. We talked over email."
"Ah, yes, Annette! Pleasure to meet you. Jay Biles."
"Nice to meet you, Jay. Everything going alright?"
"As good as it can get. These events can be pretty hectic, especially on a day like today where people are still showing up despite the bad weather."
"More than expected?"
"Definitely. I mean, we have our conference attendees here. But I didn't expect so many people from the free public to come to the event, you know?"
"Yeah, I can see that."
"So you know about the press row we've made for all of you."
"Oh, yes, totally. I just wanted to see if there was any chance I could interview Mary or Bradley after the speech."
He pulls out his phone at record speed and types away on it. He's one of those people who types with the volume on so you can see and hear how fast he texts.
"I'll text them both right now and see what their availability is."
"Sounds perfect."
We wait about thirty seconds before a text response chimes in. "Mary is free now if you want to talk."
"Now? Before the speech."
"She says she's free so don't ask me."
This is perfect. Now I don't have to sit through some boring speech and hear her spout off about how technology is so important. I tell Jay I'll meet her now. He nods and gestures towards the small door behind him. He whips it open and I follow him through to the other side. Black curtains hang off the walls. Crew members walk through getting the lighting and structure right just before the show begins. It reminds me of high school plays.
When we turn the corner, there's a pair of comfortable living room chairs situated at the center of a hardwood floor. A woman with flowing locks of brown hair dressed in an expensive black suit sits in one of them. She types feverishly on her Samsung phone. It's one of those one where the screen goes over the edges.
"Mary Nowell," Jay says.
She picks her head up. She sees me and Jay and walks over to us. Her plain-face becomes illuminated with a wild smile. She extends her hands.
"Nice to meet you," she says in one of the fakest greetings I've heard in a long time. She's new to the CEO game so I can't say she's bad yet. She's just unpracticed. But that also means she hasn't been worsened by the industry yet. She isn't a lost soul of corporate America.
We sit down at the chairs. Jay says he has a fire to put out so he'll be back shortly. He disappears behind the curtain leaving us both here.
"I'm glad you gave me a chance to speak with you today," I say. "I didn't think we'd be able to chat until after the event." Her face doesn't change. Does she understand what I'm saying? "Most CEOs want to wait until after their talk."
"Well," she says, crossing one leg over her other. "I'm a little unconventional."
She's sitting there in the chair with one leg crossed over the other. Her arms guard her body in a standoffish way. Her eyebrows are tilted inward. She's chewing gum. She seems guarded. What happened to her that made her this way?
"Anyway, I'm new to all of this tech reporting and I heard you were having an event. I'm working on a story about the federal regulation and New Surge and I wanted to get a different perspective on all of this."
"Well, I can tell you that you have to refer to our lawyers for all questions about New Surge."
"Yeah, I know. But that's on the record."
"Sorry?"
"I wanted to talk to you off the record."
"Is that a trick or something?"
I almost laugh. She really is green to her job. An experienced CEO would have already made-up their mind about me and my story, for bette for worse. But she doesn't appear to have an answer for me. She's still trying to decide if I'm someone she can trust.
"Look, I'm here to find out as much information about Up Sync and its connection to New Surge as I can. And even if that means learning it off the record, it gives me a chance to go look for that information somewhere else. You're essentially handing me a map without telling me where to go."
"I think that's fair. But my name won't be used?"
"Nope."
"I'm seriously. Like, not anywhere?"
"Not anywhere."
"Sorry, I've just had so much from the press the last month that the last thing I want is to show up in more articles."
"Your fine. I get it. You recently took over a company."
"Yeah, well, you don't know the half of it."
"Tell me."
"Off the record?"
"Yes."
"Okay. So, again, off the record, I actually don't love my job right now. I'm more taking it over because of what happened to our last CEO. He died in a tragic fire."
"I read about it and I am so sorry. I heard you survived too."
"Barely. If my boyfriend, Bradley, hadn't come and saved us, I don't know what would have happened."
"Well, you're heroic for surviving."
"Thank you."
"So you were saying?"
"So yeah, I don't really love my job. And I'm only spieling here today because Mr. Hyde was supposed to speak at this event and it felt weird to back out of it so shortly. I just don't believe in his mission and his goals."
"And what were those goals?"
"He wanted to work more with the government on research and development. It's a long story, but I can tell you that it had to do with artificial intelligence."
"Really?"
"Like, scary good artificial intelligence. We're talking something that would change the entire human race."
"That's interesting."
"His idea was to transition Up Sync from cloud based analytics to a technology development company. The sole focus would be building artificial life for the government. We'd turn into a government property. All of that stuff."
"I'm still a little confused on how Up Sync works currently."
"Well, we're essentially a cloud software. You know, like Dropbox and all of those companies. But we allow people to upload everything -- photos, credit cards, bills, etc. Like, everything paperless in one hub. People take surveys on our website and we send that information over to New Surge. We also receive all the data from our other subsidiaries, like Maximum Inc, and what not. New Surge then uses that data to influence their products."
"So why would you move toward artificial intelligence?"
"Like I said, our old CEO was a little weird toward the end of everything. He wanted to make something more meaningful than just a cloud so he decided to join the hardware department."
"Seems messy."
She shrugs and sits back. She unfolds her arms and looks a little more open to talking finally. I've broken through the first icy wall. Slowly the rest of her will begin to throw out. Or at least I hope that's the case.
"It is, and that's why I'm sort of trying to change our approach."
"So did you guys ever sign a deal with the government?"
"I think he did, yeah, before he died. I'm still weeding through a lot of the documents and papers and all of that mess. But I think he signed a deal in principle with the government."
The pieces begin falling into place. For so long, everyone has been focusing on New Surge. Everyone has been wondering if New Surge has been the one feeding analytics and information to the government. But a signed deal between Up Sync and the government would draw a much shorter line. The connection would be a lot closer. Up Sync's data would become government data. There would be no hard foul on the mess.
But how could the Senate miss that? How could government officials miss the link between the two? I guess if the CEO here Mary's tried to bury all of the old CEO's plans, then it would make sense. And if sh
e couldn't find the contract between the two, then it's unlikely the Senate could.
And even if they did know ... could that have its own ramifications?
By focusing the spotlight on New Surge, were they purposefully ignoring Up Sync? Were they helping themselves? They were showing the public that they were looking into tech regulation. But privately, they might still be getting all of that public data.
"Mary, this is a little silly, but I have to ask. Do you know who your old boss was working with for the deal?"
"Hmm. I'm not sure. But I remember there was a big board meeting the week he died. Like, seriously. Every single who's-who of the company went in there. And they were meeting with some pretty important people. I remember walking by. Everyone was wearing suits. Like, tight, pressed suits. Except for this one woman. She was super tall. Lanky, almost. And she wore a bright red suit. She was the only woman in the room. A little American flag pin on her chest. Thought she might be someone from the government. But I don't know."
When I don't respond immediately, she says, "Sorry, did I say something?"
Chapter 22: Pieces
The pieces have fallen together. I'm sitting in the crowd to Mary's speech, which has only just begun with plenty more room to travel. And I'm slowly connecting dots from everything I just learned while talking to her.
Up Sync collects data and information from people in the cloud.
Up Sync sends that data to New Surge.
New Surge uses that information to influence its products.
Up Sync also struck a deal in principle with the government to work together.
Up Sync data became government data.
But the deal was in principle. No one signed anything. It was off the record. Signed behind closed doors. It won't appear in any paperwork. The former CEO who signed the deal is dead, so he can't speak on it. The current CEO Mary Nowell can't find the deal anywhere either.
Somehow the government is receiving free public data without any record of it. And no one can prove it. The only person who could is dead.
And, the icing on the cake -- Senator Simmons may have been the one inside of that room to strike the deal. Tall, lanky, wearing red, an American flag pin.
She must have been the one to work out the deal between Up Sync and the government. So she has a stake in all of this.
She doesn't want me to find out the truth because the truth is that she stole all of this information. The truth is that she started a deal that isn't legal, and that no one knows the truth about. She doesn't want me to uncover it all the leak it out to the press.
But I can't. Just like everything else, there's no proof that the deal is real. There's no one who can vouch that it all happened. If anyone knew the truth about what happened, it would be out there already.
And if they hand't come forward, surely someone like Senator Simmons would go all out to make sure it didn't get released. She killed Kayleigh after all.
Kayleigh. An IT worker for New Surge in New York. Someone who had a hands on job with information and technology.
Did she know something? Did she discover something that the senator didn't like? Was she going to say something at the Senate hearing that would have exposed the truth?
I can barely hear Mary speak because my brain is busy with thinking about everything I just learned. It all came together so quickly. And it was Mary, the CEO of a tech company, who put it all together for me. Of all the people to help me with this, it was her.
When her speech ends to a moderate amount of applause, I head outside and into the lobby of the auditorium. I begin to pace around. My fingers tickle my chain. I'm trying to figure this out. I'm trying to understand how this could all be true.
Now I have to figure out the next steps.
I pull out my phone because that's easily the next thing to do in a time like this. And what hits me immediately like a baseball bat to the face.
App alerts from a flurry of news sources say that the government is going to reopen. The Senate and the House have created a bipartisan bill to open up the government.
I click into the story and read through it. For me, one of the interesting tidbits is at the bottom of the story: President Hicks agreed to sign that bill when the Senate and House agreed to allow for more than $3.4 billion into the technology and development space, primarily focused on cloud-based software and security for the government records.
Now it makes even more sense what the president and the government are working to do. They wanted to buy Up Sync off in the beginning. They wanted to work a deal that would allow for them to collect all of Up Sync's data and use it for their own good.
Now that they've had a month or two of pulling the data, they must understand how it works, and they must understand how they can use it.
And if that's the case -- are they donating the $3.4 billion in order to build security around it so that no one can break into their systems Are they now going to collect all of the data and leave it in their records and systems?
I guess if they pull all of Up Sync's data, bleed it dry, then there will be no more need for the in principle deal.
Is that why they shut the government down? Delay this move?
A certain level of thrill enters my mind from discovering all of this. I have achieved a point where I understand most of the story, or what I believe to be most of the story. There's a good chance that all of this is wrong. But then again, there's a good chance that a lot of this is right.
Another app alert filters into my phone, telling me that Senator Simmons, of all people to hear about right now, is going to give a speech outside the U.S. Capitol about the new deal and what it means for the shutdown and the Senate hearings. My heart fills with dread for what this could mean. She must have figured something out and worked on the next phase of her plan.
I fall back against the nearby wall and slam my head against it. I realize the truth. She told me to stay away from the story just long enough for me to stop writing or reporting about it. And because of that, she delayed me from finding the truth too soon. She slowed me down on purpose. And now, here she is, about to announce what's going to happen next.
The good news is that I did figure everything out. I learned the truth about what happened between Up Sync, New Surge and the government.
Sure, it pretty much trashes all the previous reporting I've done on the topic. But it does do one thing -- it gets me to the heart of the matter and closer to how Kayleigh was really killed.
I have to watch the senator's speech. Maybe she'll tell us something more. Maybe she'll have even more details that I can use to put the pieces together.
I trek through the snowy, wintry weather of Washington, D.C., back to my hotel. It's not as bad as it was when me and the caravan of conference attendees left the hotel together. The sun has warmed everything up. I feel a little more hope too now that I know what path I'm traveling down.
Later, when I'm up in my room, I lay back against my set of pillows. I place my laptop on my lap. As I surf the web, CNN plays on the TV across the room. A countdown clocks ticks down on the corner of the screen for the senator's speech. I spend the time in between typing out all of my notes so I don't forget what's going on and I can remember what's about to happen when the senator finishes speaking.
Soon enough, it's time for her to speak. I grab the remote and turn the volume all the way up. It jumps to its highest point without being too loud. The camera cuts away from the talking head to the senator. The snowy background of the capital stands behind her. Wind flusters her hair. But she looks just as cruel and upset as she did the previously night when I spoke to her.
If there's one person I could get rid of from my life, it'd be here. She put Ben behind bars.
Oh, poor Ben. I wonder how he's doing.
The senator stands up the podium. I get off the bed and walk over to the screen. It's like standing closer to the screen will bring me closer to hearing what she says.
"Good morning my fellow
Americans. I wish we could be meeting on a better day but the weather has not been kind to Washington, D.C., but that's how life is. Sometimes the weather is good, sometimes the weather is horrible. But we all press on, don't we?"
And here we go again -- the fake speech about America and what she wants to portray. She's such a fake person upfront. So fake and such a liar when it comes to the public face of things. Behind closed doors she is ruthless and cold.
"I speak to you today not as a presidential candidate, but as a senator who worked tirelessly on this deal to reopen the government. Now, many of you know that we didn't set the budget back in September, and that's causing problems for us now. We didn't set the budget so we could use the showdown as a political weapon. And it has led to us stopping a Senate hearing on an important issue, and it has led to the death of one of our fellow Americans at the national mall. I want to send my deepest apology and prayers out to the Donnowho family, who is still recovering from the death of her daughter."
I still can't believe she's sending these well wishes to the Donnowho family. She's the one who killed their daughter. She's the one who caused all of these problems. And here she is -- on national TV pretending to play the hero. I can't believe this is true. I can't believe she'd stoop this low.
"When Congress returns to work, I can say that we will once again finish our Senate hearings and wrap up our investigation into New Surge. And when that is finished, I am excited to announce that the government will fund our technology and research department with $3.4 billion dollars. That's right. $3.4 billion to help us remain secure in our own technology and bring all government information to the cloud.
"Our great President Hicks has agreed to sign this bill, and it would help us all move forward from this time tough time in American history. President Hicks and I don't agree on everything. There's a reason I plan to run against her in the upcoming election. But she did make the smart decision in signing this policy. Together, we can build a better, more intellectual, and more technological future for our country. Beginning today, we will bring America into the future in such a brilliant way. Thank you all for coming out today. We will be handing out specifics for our new deal shortly, and you can take those and read what we'll include. But it's important to remember that we will all stand together as Americans. One country, under God, and indivisible. Thank you."
Into the Night Page 16