Seer (10 page)

“Perhaps you can refresh your memory and explain it tomorrow,” I suggested. I asked the same questions for about six more of the errors. Brody explained two of them, the simplest two, but told me he’d have to “refresh my memory” on the others. I didn’t believe him.

“Kent, is someone on vacation?”

“No,” he replied. “This is everyone. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious. Let’s talk about development practices, and then you can show me the source code.”

* * * *

I collapsed against the seat of the car. Aubree looked just as tired. “It’s going to be a long week,” I said.

“That’s why we make the big bucks,” she
replied. “Solange is talking to the other teams now but wants to know if we can go to dinner together.”

“Sure.”

“Felix, you too.”

“Sure,” he said. “Sidney, do you mind if I ask some questions?”

“Go ahead,” I said.

“Why did you ask about HIPAA?”

I let Aubree talk about salesmen who make up answers when they don’t know the truth. Felix asked several more questions. Aubree and I took turns answering them.

“Aubree, I think Felix should be disgruntled about being here, and cozy up to the programmers instead.”

“We’ll talk to Solange about that at dinner,” she replied immediately.

“I’m not disgruntled,” Felix said. “I love my job!”

Aubree explained to him. “Sidney thinks the guys will confide in you long before they’ll confide in her. She wants you to be a spy. Could you do it?”

“Oh,” he said. “Sure. I guess.”

“It would have to be subtle,” Aubree said. “You can’t make it sound like MetaWolf is tough to work for. We don’t want them all jumping ship if the sale goes through. And if you over-sell it, they’ll get suspicious.” She paused. “We have to talk to Solange about this.”

“It’s just an idea.” I paused. “Other than that, Felix, I want you to concentrate on the front end. Have you played with
AngularJS?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool.” He started talking about it, but I cut him off. “Right, sorry,” he said. “But Sidney, do we really care about the front end? The web site was pretty slick, but in the end, isn’t all the work being done on the server?”

“Yeah. I think you’re going to find a very well-written user interface, but I want your impressions, and I don’t want to be distracted thinking about it. Once I start digging into the server software, I’ll probably redirect you, but it might not be until next week.”

“Sure, Sidney. Whatever you want.”

* * * *

Tuesday morning, I got Felix set up with one of the web developers and told him to see Aubree or me if he had issues. After that, Aubree and I began interviewing the staff.

A couple of the guys were excited. They’d looked into MetaWolf and liked the idea of working for them. Most of the guys didn’t seem to care one way or the other, and the only thing that seemed to be important to them was that they’d still have jobs. Kent Schmitt and Brody were both antagonistic during the interviews. Kent probably assumed he’d be losing his job, and I presumed he didn’t have enough equity in the company to make up for it. I wasn’t sure what Brody’s problem was.

Most of the guys were a little dismissive of my technical skills, which I had long grown to expect. It’s a male-dominated industry, and a lot of men I encounter tend to discount me. Oh, generally speaking, most guys are great, especially once they get to know me. And a dismissive attitude isn’t always about my gender. The industry is filled with some pretty big egos, and those egos can be dismissive of
almost anyone new, at least until that person proves himself. I wasn’t worried about that. I wouldn’t be working with them, anyway, unless Ed hired me for more consulting.

Shortly before lunch, I told
Kent, “I want to begin reviewing the software tonight. I want a copy on my laptop before I leave tonight.” He immediately relayed that question to John. And then I said, “And I want to be able to compile and run it.”

“Impossible,” John immediately said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“It typically takes a couple of days to get a new developer box configured to build and run the software.”

“Is there licensing involved?” I asked.

“No. Everything we use is open source. There’s just a lot.”

“But it runs on a laptop?”

“Sure,” he said. “I take mine when I go on vacation, just in case.”

“I see.” I turned to Aubree. “I want to speak to Solange before we make lunch plans.”

* * * *

I explained the problem and my solution. “It’s two thousand dollars, and I’m not paying for it,” I said.

“Aubree, take her into Salt Lake City and buy whatever she needs.”

And so Aubree and I found the Best Buy and bought the best Mac laptop they had. Then we went to lunch. When we returned, I found John, handed him the laptop, and said, “Have someone set this up and clone his existing machine. It won’t take long to get started, and then he can ignore it until it’s done. As long as you’re on a wired network, it should only take a few hours to copy everything. You can show me later what I need to compile and run your software.”

He stared at the computer. “Shit,” he said. He looked up at me. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Will it work?”

“Yeah.”

“Also make sure I can attach to your VPN and your source repository.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon on interviews. It was six before we were done, and I found John. I saw my laptop set up on his desk.

“It’s not done,” he said.

“That’s fine,” I said. “It will be done by morning. You can show me everything then.”

* * * *

“You look exhausted,” Solange observed in the hotel lobby a half hour later.

“My neck is killing me,” I said, “and I have a killer headache.”

She turned to Aubree. “Make reservations for an hour from now. Come to my room when it’s time to leave.”

“Four of us?”

Solange glanced at Felix. “Do we need him tonight, Sidney?”

“No, probably not for another day or two.”

“Just three, Aubree.” Then Solange stepped forward and took my laptop from me. “You will come with me.”

I followed obediently. She led me to her room, holding my computer hostage against my good behavior. The thought made me snicker.

“Something funny?” She unlocked the door.

I pointed to my computer. “Is that a hostage?”

She laughed. “Yes. Go.” She pointed into her room, and I stepped past her. She closed the door, kicked off her shoes, and set my laptop down. “Take your shoes off.” I left mine next to hers then turned to her.

“You may be the most important person on this trip.”

I thought that was unlikely, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.

“I need you in top condition.”

“Solange, I’m sorry.”

“Hush,” she said. “I’m not chastising you. I’m telling you why you’re not going to resist when I tell you the next part.”

She had my attention. “All right.”

“Take your jacket off. Then I want you face down on the bed. Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to take care of the knots in your neck.”

“You’re going to give me a massage?”

“Yes. Unless you really, really hate the idea.”

I looked her in the eye for a good fifteen seconds then shrugged and made my way to the bed, shrugging out of my suit jacket on the way. I pulled one of the pillows out then made myself as comfortable as I could. Solange moved over to the side of the bed, sitting next to me, and a moment later, I felt her hands on my shoulders.

Her hands were magical, and I closed my eyes, nearly moaning in bliss.

“Oh god,” I said. “There. Oh…”

She worked on my neck and shoulders for a few minutes before she leaned over and said, “Do you mind if I’m a lot more forward? I don’t want a sexual harassment lawsuit.”

“It’s not sex,” I said. “It’s a massage. And you can do whatever you want. Just don’t stop.”

“Sidney, are you sure?”

I opened an eye and rolled enough I could look up at her. “Are you about to get me naked?”

“A little.”

“Huh,” I said. “And you a lawyer and all that. You should know better.”
I smiled at her. “You can get me as naked as you want, but you have to massage whatever you expose.”

She laughed then pointedly closed her eyes. “Unbutton your blouse then lie on your stomach again.”

I didn’t even question. I did what she said, then said, “Ready.”

A moment later, I felt her hands tugging at my blouse. She pulled it out of my skirt
, but didn’t try to take it off my shoulders. She reached under the blouse and undie the clasp of my bra, spreading it away from the center of my back. Then she went back to massaging my back, paying attention to the large muscles in the lower back, then she was at my neck and skull.

Everything felt amazing, and this time, I did moan with the pleasure.

“I’ve never done this before,” she said.

“Liar,” I said into the pillow.

“I mean to someone I was working with.”

“That part is unique for me as well. Oh god, Solange, you’re good at this.”

She worked for a half hour, turning me into a limp pile of Jell-O there on her bed. Finally she leaned over and whispered, “I’m sorry, Sidney. I’d keep going, but we’ll be late for dinner. If you want, I can step into the hallway while you reassemble yourself.”

“It’s just us girls,” I said. I sat up slowly, and I knew I flashed her while I did it, but it had been her idea, and if she didn’t like looking, she could close her eyes again. I sat there numbly. “God, you’re good.”

“How’s your headache?”

“Gone. Thank you.”

I fixed my clothing before turning to her. She was watching me with a small smile. “I can’t believe you did that,” I said, “but it was amazing. Thank you.”

“I’m a little surprised myself,” she said.
“I’d rather we kept it between us.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Me, too.” I stepped past her to her bathroom to check my appearance once more, and when I got out, Aubree was there.

* * * *

Wednesday, John had the laptop for me. He showed me how to make the software run.

I spent the morning going through the code. It was complicated, and there was little documentation. This isn’t unusual amongst startup companies, but it’s frustrating and, in my opinion, unprofessional.

In the afternoon, I asked for another tour of the data center. I then asked what each machine was for.

“All right,” I said. “I want administrator access on each of these machines.”

No one wanted to give it to me.

I turned to Aubree and said one word. “Unconditional.” She nodded.

“It’s nice out. Go enjoy the mountain air. I’ll come get you.”

It was a half hour later before I felt Aubree and Solange step up beside me as I stood in the yard outside the office building, looking up at the mountains.

“Did I cause a stir?”

“Oh yes,” said Solange.

“Did I get what I asked for?”

“Yes,” she said. “What do you need it for?”

I turned to her. “I have seven removable hard drives. I’m going to capture the contents of each machine. Then I can review them at leisure later. I don’t know what I might need, but if they catch me grabbing files from one machine, they might try to scrub the others.”

She frowned. “I thought you didn’t like thinking like that.”

“I don’t.”

“Damn it.”

“Look. The tech works. It’s amazingly impressive, actually. I understand why Ed wants it. But they’re hiding something, and it’s not that their salesman lies during sales presentations.” I paused. “I want to see the books.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I want to see the sales figures.”

She thought about it. “Okay. Sure.”

“Quietly. In fact, I’m going to ask to see them, and I want you to turn me down. Should we argue?”

“Very briefly. Drop it when I turn stern.”

I nodded.

She looked at me for another minute. “Damn it.”

“Yeah.”

* * * *

Early Thursday morning
, I had a dream, a real dream. In the dream, I was sitting at a computer. There was a can of Coke sitting near the monitor, and the work area was a little cluttered. I reached for the can, and my arm was hairy.

I knew immediately it was a real dream, and I knew it wasn’t me. In the dream, I was a man.

I was coding, and in the course of fifteen minutes, I knocked out two more features for the software. In my dream eyes, at least, the code was clean and elegant.

There was a knock at my office door. I didn’t even turn around. “Go away,” I growled. “I’m busy.”