As requested....
Pretoria, three hours later
“Dr. Alinsky? Ma'am? What did you want me to do with the report on Project Firefly?”
The earnest voice of her newest (and youngest) lab assistant jolted Rachel out of her reverie, and the realization that she'd completely lost track of time thinking about Gerad set her cheeks burning lightly as she glanced up at... Featherstone, wasn't it? “I'm sorry, I was a thousand miles off. Once more?”
He flashed her an earnest, almost worshipful smile, and Rachel was instantly put in mind of a puppy her mother had recently bought and sent video clips of. “Project Firefly, ma'am. I have our secondary approval paperwork to file, and I wanted to verify where you wanted me to do the filing through. The Vienna office seemed the best choice to me, for the advantage in EU patents.”
“Firefly?” Rachel blinked, then reached out and snagged the cased chip from him and pushed it into her reader. “I thought Alexis still needed to file her test results on that.”
There was a sudden, uncomfortable silence from her assistant, and Rachel looked up at him with the slowly dawning embarrassment of a mourner at a funeral who has just mispronounced the name of the deceased. “Well, don't simply stand there, Jacob. What is it?”
“Dr. Rothstein filed her results three weeks ago, ma'am.” Featherstone didn't quite mumble the words, but the tone of his voice suggested he was wishing desperately for one of the new invisibility suits they'd been testing. “She also filed a follow-up the week after, and two last week.”
“I see.” Rachel sat for a moment with her fingers completely still on the keys, feeling the flush build in her cheeks and silently cursing her own pale complexion. If Alex ever blushed, she wouldn't look like a ripe strawberry.... “Well, then, I suppose I'd better go down and talk with her about it, then.”
Featherstone's face twitched as though he'd bitten into something sour. “That may be... problematic, ma'am. I tried to call her myself, and the appointments secretary said she was leaving for a field assignment in Saudi Arabia. You didn't know?”
For the second time in as many minutes, Rachel Alinsky found herself speechless.
By the time she'd finished dealing with Featherstone and crossed the short distance between her lab and Alexandra's suite, Rachel had a great deal more information about Alexandra's new assignment from the main databases but very little in the way of answers. The cold legalese of the contract, “consulting position” and “effective immediately,” offered no hint of why the carefully organized world she'd grown so comfortable in was unexpectedly coming apart at the seams.
Alexandra's door, at least, greeted her as though nothing had changed. “Fourteen fifty one, Constantinople.”
“Override Rachel six four three seven.” For a moment nothing happened, and a little chill slithered down Rachel's spine and settled in her gut. She's never disabled my keycode, not since she gave it to me... Then the door finally slid silently open, and she gave herself a firm little shake. Gerad was right; you're overreacting. Alexis isn't going to be that angry about a silly little thing like... well, like that. Slipping into the front room, she glanced down at the two carryalls resting within reach of the door and worried her lower lip slightly with her teeth; her legs were trying very hard indeed to edge back out of the room, but... Dammit, Rachel, show some spine! She could almost feel the rough grip of her father's hand on her shoulder, and she flushed sharply at the thought of how his lip always curled when he said it; the urge to bolt retreated to the back of her mind and cowered. Squaring her shoulders, she marched herself through Alexandra's rooms and snapped the lab door open sharply. “Alexis, we need to talk.”
“I'm a little busy right now, Rachel.” Alexandra's voice emerged from a virtual whirlwind of metal surrounding one of her workbenches, almost a dozen steel suitcases filling themselves with components and devices while information whipped by on one of the large overhead monitors at a rate even Rachel had to struggle to follow. “I don't suppose it can wait?”
“No.” The quiet firmness of her own voice startled Rachel, a tone that would have been better suited to Anna or Alexandra, but when her friend said nothing she continued a little less steadily. “Going for long?”
“Not sure yet. Depends how much work the Saudi Army needs.” The cases snapped shut one by one, seating themselves in the small trailer at Alexandra's feet, and Rachel could finally make out the fitted black jumpsuit Alexandra usually wore in the field. She crossed her arms and fixed the other woman with a look, knowing full well Alexandra could “see” her perfectly without turning her head, and Alexandra's shoulders heaved in a silent sigh as she dumped the rest of her briefing and observation data to a small portable drive before turning around. “Or until the Saudi's run out of credit, which will probably happen sooner.”
“When were you planning on mentioning it to me?” Rachel's voice was sharper than she'd meant it to be, tight with a hurt she couldn't have explained even to herself. “We have contract obligations here, too.”
Alexandra's smile was as precise as clockwork and just as warm. “I didn't expect you'd notice my absence.” The words were quiet and calm, but the pained reserve in them glittered just below the surface like razorblades embedded in ice. She didn't say “you're more than two weeks behind on your work” or “you've barely said more than a dozen words to me on any given day this month” or even “you haven't made a single move on either of our chess games this week.” She didn't need to; the icy steel walls in her eyes did it for her, and Rachel felt her own indignation turn to ash in her mouth. Alexandra held her eyes a moment longer, then gestured to the table next to her. “Everything I've worked on lately is there. I think you'll find it adequate to cover our commitments with a little tinkering.”
“Alexis...”
“I have a plane to catch, Rachel.” Alexandra walked past her, cart following at her heels like a well-trained dog, hesitated in the doorway a moment, turned back to her. “When I come home, we'll talk. Just us. Please?” There was a soft pleading to her voice that nearly brought Rachel to tears, more devastating in its own way than any of the weapons packed away in her bags. Alexandra never begged, pleaded or flinched, and the sudden vulnerability in her face when she met Rachel's eyes was enough to punch a gaping hole in even Rachel's limited social awareness. All she could manage was a stricken little nod, but Alexandra saw; her full lips curved in a faint little smile, delicate as a morning mist, and then she was gone.
“Dr. Alinsky? Ma'am? What did you want me to do with the report on Project Firefly?”
The earnest voice of her newest (and youngest) lab assistant jolted Rachel out of her reverie, and the realization that she'd completely lost track of time thinking about Gerad set her cheeks burning lightly as she glanced up at... Featherstone, wasn't it? “I'm sorry, I was a thousand miles off. Once more?”
He flashed her an earnest, almost worshipful smile, and Rachel was instantly put in mind of a puppy her mother had recently bought and sent video clips of. “Project Firefly, ma'am. I have our secondary approval paperwork to file, and I wanted to verify where you wanted me to do the filing through. The Vienna office seemed the best choice to me, for the advantage in EU patents.”
“Firefly?” Rachel blinked, then reached out and snagged the cased chip from him and pushed it into her reader. “I thought Alexis still needed to file her test results on that.”
There was a sudden, uncomfortable silence from her assistant, and Rachel looked up at him with the slowly dawning embarrassment of a mourner at a funeral who has just mispronounced the name of the deceased. “Well, don't simply stand there, Jacob. What is it?”
“Dr. Rothstein filed her results three weeks ago, ma'am.” Featherstone didn't quite mumble the words, but the tone of his voice suggested he was wishing desperately for one of the new invisibility suits they'd been testing. “She also filed a follow-up the week after, and two last week.”
“I see.” Rachel sat for a moment with her fingers completely still on the keys, feeling the flush build in her cheeks and silently cursing her own pale complexion. If Alex ever blushed, she wouldn't look like a ripe strawberry.... “Well, then, I suppose I'd better go down and talk with her about it, then.”
Featherstone's face twitched as though he'd bitten into something sour. “That may be... problematic, ma'am. I tried to call her myself, and the appointments secretary said she was leaving for a field assignment in Saudi Arabia. You didn't know?”
For the second time in as many minutes, Rachel Alinsky found herself speechless.
By the time she'd finished dealing with Featherstone and crossed the short distance between her lab and Alexandra's suite, Rachel had a great deal more information about Alexandra's new assignment from the main databases but very little in the way of answers. The cold legalese of the contract, “consulting position” and “effective immediately,” offered no hint of why the carefully organized world she'd grown so comfortable in was unexpectedly coming apart at the seams.
Alexandra's door, at least, greeted her as though nothing had changed. “Fourteen fifty one, Constantinople.”
“Override Rachel six four three seven.” For a moment nothing happened, and a little chill slithered down Rachel's spine and settled in her gut. She's never disabled my keycode, not since she gave it to me... Then the door finally slid silently open, and she gave herself a firm little shake. Gerad was right; you're overreacting. Alexis isn't going to be that angry about a silly little thing like... well, like that. Slipping into the front room, she glanced down at the two carryalls resting within reach of the door and worried her lower lip slightly with her teeth; her legs were trying very hard indeed to edge back out of the room, but... Dammit, Rachel, show some spine! She could almost feel the rough grip of her father's hand on her shoulder, and she flushed sharply at the thought of how his lip always curled when he said it; the urge to bolt retreated to the back of her mind and cowered. Squaring her shoulders, she marched herself through Alexandra's rooms and snapped the lab door open sharply. “Alexis, we need to talk.”
“I'm a little busy right now, Rachel.” Alexandra's voice emerged from a virtual whirlwind of metal surrounding one of her workbenches, almost a dozen steel suitcases filling themselves with components and devices while information whipped by on one of the large overhead monitors at a rate even Rachel had to struggle to follow. “I don't suppose it can wait?”
“No.” The quiet firmness of her own voice startled Rachel, a tone that would have been better suited to Anna or Alexandra, but when her friend said nothing she continued a little less steadily. “Going for long?”
“Not sure yet. Depends how much work the Saudi Army needs.” The cases snapped shut one by one, seating themselves in the small trailer at Alexandra's feet, and Rachel could finally make out the fitted black jumpsuit Alexandra usually wore in the field. She crossed her arms and fixed the other woman with a look, knowing full well Alexandra could “see” her perfectly without turning her head, and Alexandra's shoulders heaved in a silent sigh as she dumped the rest of her briefing and observation data to a small portable drive before turning around. “Or until the Saudi's run out of credit, which will probably happen sooner.”
“When were you planning on mentioning it to me?” Rachel's voice was sharper than she'd meant it to be, tight with a hurt she couldn't have explained even to herself. “We have contract obligations here, too.”
Alexandra's smile was as precise as clockwork and just as warm. “I didn't expect you'd notice my absence.” The words were quiet and calm, but the pained reserve in them glittered just below the surface like razorblades embedded in ice. She didn't say “you're more than two weeks behind on your work” or “you've barely said more than a dozen words to me on any given day this month” or even “you haven't made a single move on either of our chess games this week.” She didn't need to; the icy steel walls in her eyes did it for her, and Rachel felt her own indignation turn to ash in her mouth. Alexandra held her eyes a moment longer, then gestured to the table next to her. “Everything I've worked on lately is there. I think you'll find it adequate to cover our commitments with a little tinkering.”
“Alexis...”
“I have a plane to catch, Rachel.” Alexandra walked past her, cart following at her heels like a well-trained dog, hesitated in the doorway a moment, turned back to her. “When I come home, we'll talk. Just us. Please?” There was a soft pleading to her voice that nearly brought Rachel to tears, more devastating in its own way than any of the weapons packed away in her bags. Alexandra never begged, pleaded or flinched, and the sudden vulnerability in her face when she met Rachel's eyes was enough to punch a gaping hole in even Rachel's limited social awareness. All she could manage was a stricken little nod, but Alexandra saw; her full lips curved in a faint little smile, delicate as a morning mist, and then she was gone.