Enemy In the Room (39 page)

Both men on the video screens nodded.

“But David is very good at real estate for
USNet, and we need him right now with the President in Moscow. So
we’ll leave him there—doing his American job, and we’ll also let
him keep calling his cousins in Tehran. We’ll flag all his calls
and use him to take us straight to his cousins and their entire
organization. He will help us silence more voices that are opposed
to Allah’s truth.” Trevor smiled.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17TH

Todd had a lot on his mind as he pulled into
the RTI Control Center at seven on Friday morning a week later.
First time in the control room itself. And we’re signing the
contract on Capital Tower at eleven
.

He parked and went inside. He was greeted by
Victor Mustafin. They shook hands, and Mustafin held up a new ID
card. “Here’s your new, and final, card. It gives you access to the
control room itself. Let me have your old one.”

Todd still had it in his hand from swiping
the entrance and gave it to his mentor, taking the new one in
return.

They used Todd’s card and his handprint to
go through the airlock and into the control room. As their eyes
adjusted to the dimmed lighting, Todd put the new card in his
wallet. He looked around and couldn’t help a small smile.
This
is it. Seemed like I’d never learn enough, but I actually feel
pretty well prepared. So much opportunity. So much money
.

Mustafin said, “I’ll be taking over as duty
officer in a few minutes, and you will sit next to me.”

“Fine.” In a few minutes both he and
Mustafin were online.

With no active message in front of them,
Todd heard Mustafin through his earphones. “Just like at the lower
level, there are archives here that you should review, catalogued
by day and by subject. It’s always a good idea to arrive twenty
minutes early and scroll through the chronological file for the
days since you were last on. At least you’ll be aware of how the
issues were handled, in case more of the same comes up on your
watch. Here are the icons. And these can only be read from consoles
in this room.”

“Thanks. I’ll look through them when we have
a break.”

“Good. OK, here’s one. Looks like an email
that’s been correlated with one from last night. It appears that
the opposition in Malaysia is planning demonstrations to disrupt
the government. Attached is a summary of our interests there. It’s
prepared automatically when one of the evaluators highlights a word
in the message or types one in, then pushes the Summary button.
Luckily we don’t have many, but Malaysia is the world’s leading
producer of tin, so we can expect supplies to be interrupted. I’m
typing a note to our traders to buy as much of the current supply
as they can, and to sell short the shares of the mining interests.
There. That should produce a tidy sum before the rest of the world
even has a clue.”

“Nice.”

“Yes. Notice that we don’t intervene in
anyone’s politics or influence a government to change an outcome.
Whether Malaysia, China, Iran—anywhere there are arguments or
upheavals going on. If we did, it could give us away. And it would
be almost impossible to manage. We just use the information we get
before others have it to make money.”

“Makes sense.”

“Yes. Here’s another one.”

Three hours later, Mustafin was relieved as
duty officer, and he and Todd walked the corridor back to the main
entrance.

“What do you think?” Mustafin asked.

“It’s certainly more interesting than the
first level. By the time issues reach here, they’re pretty
significant. It’s incredible to think, having been at the other
levels, how much other stuff—potential profit for us—is handled at
those levels. You must get a daily or weekly summary, right?”

“Yes. Both.” Mustafin nodded.

“And in a way it’s calmer. The decisions are
pretty clear, really. We only passed one on to the Council during
our watch.”

“Yes. But there’s no pattern. Next time we
might handle ten genuine crises ourselves
and
pass ten to
the Council. There’s just no way to predict. That’s why we always
need a competent duty officer on watch.” They stopped at the exit
to the reception area. Are you on again this weekend?”

“No. I’m due here again on Wednesday.”

“Good. There’s still a lot to learn, but
it’s basically just time in the chair now. You learn by doing.”

“And keep cashing those checks.”

Mustafin smiled. “Yes. Of course. We should
have another one for you next week. And, oh, Todd, by the way,
please remember that nothing that we do here can slip into anything
outside. Nothing in your personal or business life. Not even a
hint, This all has to stay here, with us.”

“Yes, of course.”

As he walked to his car, Todd wondered what
he might be able to learn about the inner workings of their
competitors, and even of USNet, through RTI—but he’d have to be
very careful.

Given his senior position in the Stinger
Missile training command at Fort Bliss, and the trust that he had
built up with those in the program over the years, Salim had been
able to steal six of the missiles through a combination of
falsifying destruction reports and forging signatures on two-man
control documents.

Each missile was now housed in its own
climate controlled mini-warehouse bay in the El Paso area,
surrounded by attic-quality furniture, in case anyone took a
cursory look.

Late that afternoon Salim began a week of
much-deserved leave. After driving out of the base, he parked his
truck at his home. He went inside and came out with a small travel
bag, then walked the four blocks to the truck rental facility whose
location had helped him determine where he wanted to rent his
home.

An hour later, after a stop by one of the
mini-warehouses, he turned east on I-10, for the start of his drive
to New York.

David paced the floor of their hotel room in
L.A. that evening, while Elizabeth finished getting ready.

“Don’t worry; she’ll be here in a minute,”
Elizabeth said from the bathroom. “Probably the traffic.”

“I guess,” David said, moving gold curtains
and looking out their tenth floor window as the cars inched along
the Los Angeles freeway below.

“I’m glad she could bring Jane. It’ll be
great to meet her.”

The phone rang.

“We’re downstairs.”

“Good. We’ll be right there.”

Five minutes later the Sawyers met their
daughter and her tall, blond roommate in the lobby, near the
elevator bank. David was wearing a dark gray suit and striped tie.
Elizabeth was in a blue dress with pearls. The two younger women
were in much more casual attire: Callie had on dark blue pants with
a multicolored shirt, and Jane was in a low cut light-green
sundress. Both of the younger women were deeply tanned and chewing
gum.

Elizabeth held out her arms, beaming, and
mother and daughter exchanged hugs and pecks. Callie gave a cursory
hug to her father, looking the other way, and then introduced
Jane.

“This is Jane, my roommate. She’s also a
theater major.” Everyone smiled. “Jane just got back from Mexico
this afternoon, and I thought she could join us for dinner.”

“Yes, yes. We’re delighted,” said Elizabeth.
Jane nodded. Elizabeth turned to her daughter. “Where do you want
to go?”

David interrupted. “I already set that up
with the concierge. How does Torini’s sound?”

“That’s kind of expensive, isn’t it,
Dad?”

He smiled. “How often am I out with three
beautiful women in Los Angeles?”

“David, it’s fine with me if it’s OK with
the girls.”

They nodded. “If that’s what you’d like,
then fine,” said Callie.

“Let’s get a cab.”

While riding in the minivan taxi they
exchanged stories about the day’s travels, the weather, and David’s
upcoming trip to Moscow to greet the President.

“That’s way cool.” Jane responded. David
retold the White House trip story, and the cab pulled up to the
restaurant. Callie said nothing.

Ten minutes later they were seated at a
candlelit table in a quiet alcove of the northern Italian
restaurant. Each table was lit by a large red candle. David and
Elizabeth sat across from each other, with one girl on each side.
After they ordered drinks, Elizabeth turned to their guest. “Jane,
where are you from?”

“Dallas. At least that’s where I was raised.
Actually I lived with my grandparents. I never knew my father, and
my mother has been in and out of rehab most of my life.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Elizabeth said,
the concern obviously genuine.

Jane smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s really
all I’ve ever known. I got a scholarship and a loan for school, and
now with some money from a job on the side, I’m OK.”

“Are you in the same classes with
Callie?”

“One this semester.”

“And what kind of job do you have?” David
asked.

Jane and Callie exchanged glances. “I pick
up a little extra money modeling.”

“I see. That must be fascinating,” Elizabeth
said.

Jane nodded and smiled. “Yes, it certainly
is.”

“Were you on vacation in Mexico?” David
asked.

“Sort of, I guess, but I was also doing
some, uh, modeling.”

“Do you like Mexico?” Elizabeth asked.

“I love going down there. It’s beautiful
where we go.”

“Oh, I see,” Elizabeth smiled. “I’m sorry to
say that I’ve never been.”

Their drinks arrived, and they ordered
dinner.

At that same hour, Callie’s brother and his
friend Justin were finishing a late Friday night session with
Street War 2100 at Justin’s home, where Rob was spending the
weekend while his parents were in California.

Justin took off his helmet and stretched on
the VR plate. “You nailed that guy coming at me after I dropped my
gun. I was starting to sweat big time.”

Rob opened his visor and smiled. “He was
certainly surprised to see me.”

“A good night’s work.”

“Should we sign off ?”

“I guess so. It’s late. But while we’re
here, let’s use our WorldPoints. We should have about fifteen
minutes of free time for all that we’ve played this week.” He
smiled. “Let’s go to their XXXtra Cinema site.”

Rob nodded. “I logged off, and here come my
points. They’re giving me a code to use.”

“ Have you seen the XXXtra Cinema amateur
site?”

“No. Is it good?”

“Is it good?” He motioned for Rob to come
over beside his chair in front of the monitor, then put in the code
he had just been given. “We’re in. Have you seen this Arab chick,
Samantha?”

“No.”

“Where’ve you been? She’s awesome!”

“I guess I’ve been saving the world while
you’ve been ogling.”

“Here, look. This is her newest, ‘Samantha
Calls the Shots.’”

Justin turned to catch Rob’s reaction and
found him staring, his mouth open.

Rob looked at his friend and then back at
the screen. “That…that’s my sister, Callie!”

Justin turned back to the screen. “Hey, I
haven’t really seen her in a couple of years, but, no way,
man.”

The camera pulled back to reveal her body.
Rob said nervously, “Yes, the face, the voice. It’s her. I promise.
It’s Callie. Or her perfect twin.”

Samantha looked at her partner, smiled, and
said, “I’m here for you…”

Justin asked again, incredulously, pointing
at the screen, “That woman is your sister? Samantha?”

Rob almost whispered, “Not Samantha. Callie.
It’s gross.”

“Wow! No one will believe this.”

Rob dropped down to face him at the console.
“And you won’t tell them.”

She started to remove her panties.

“Stop! Turn that off !” Rob almost yelled,
and reached for the on/ off switch.

“You crashed the computer.”

“I don’t care. Listen. Don’t tell anyone
about this. Just chill this weekend. OK? I am
grossed
out
!”

“Well, OK. But you gotta tell me what you
find out.”

“Sure. Now, let’s fold up for tonight.”

They stood and placed their SW 2100 guns in
their charging stands. Rob said, “I can’t believe this.”

At the Sawyers’ table at Torini’s, Jane
asked, “Mr. Sawyer, what exactly do you do?”

He took a sip from his drink and replied,
“I’m in charge of all the real estate for USNet, a large
communications company. We have facilities in almost every country,
so we stay pretty busy.”

“Wow. Is that why you’re here?”

“Yes. I’ve got to do final inspections on
some properties we’re acquiring in this area.”

“What kind of properties?”

David looked at his daughter, who smiled.
“Oh, some office buildings, and, actually, some film studio
assets.”

Callie turned to her friend and said, “Dad’s
company is in the
adult
movie business.”

David could feel himself turning red. “A
subsidiary. I don’t really do much with it.”

Elizabeth asked her husband, “I never think
about that. Why is USNet in that business, anyway, David? Is that
why you had to come out this time?”

He took a long sip. “I’m just the real
estate guy. I don’t choose our product lines.” He and Callie
exchanged glances, and then he looked back at Elizabeth. “There are
some new laws, like preventing anyone under twenty-one from working
in the industry, including acting in these kinds of movies.” He
glanced again at Callie. “So I’m not sure the future is so bright.”
He saw Callie’s eyes widen just a bit.

“Well, good,” Elizabeth said.

“But to answer your question, dear, there
are a lot of assets in several acquisitions that Trevor put
together that I have to walk through. I warned you that I might be
really busy. Bud Purcell is picking me up at ten in the morning. We
figure there will be less traffic over the weekend for driving to
the properties.”