Here is CHAPTER ONE of a new manuscript I’m working on.
“What have you got for me, Faulk?”
Eying my supervisor, Clive Borinsky, I wonder, for the four hundredth time, why he only calls me by my last name. Despite the gaping holes in my science training, I am Deputy First-Class Investigator Derrick Faulk. I hold the highest investigator rank in the National Science Service, a division of the National Security Authority. Our organization’s primary mission is to ensure that the rapid pace of scientific and technological advancement does not run amuck and consequently destroy the world.
Somewhere around four hundred instances of disrespect have finally worn me down.
“Would it trouble you to call me Agent Faulk?”
Sitting next to me, my associate, Aurora Zolotov, turns her head to the wall painted a dismal shade of green. The subtle shake of her body tells me she is stifling a laugh. Aurora is as colorful, beautiful, and other-worldly as the Northern Lights, after which she is named. I have tried not to have feelings for her, but I am steadily succumbing to the onslaught of her charms. After working with Aurora for nearly six months, I find it difficult to resist her radiant beauty and personality. The most maddening aspect of the situation is that Aurora does not make the slightest effort to affect me the way she does.
Borinsky glares at me. He finally decides to ignore my remark. “It’s been twenty-four hours since the unauthorized file copy has been missing. You and your partners better have some good news for me.”
“Our forensic IT team has thoroughly examined AndroBiotica’s IT systems,” I answer. “They have determined that no exterior cyber breach occurred. We’ve questioned each IT employee extensively. The forensics team scanned their computers. We found no examples of wrongdoing by any employee.”
Borinsky places his elbows on the desktop of his workstation, hunches his shoulders, and leans toward us.
“Are you saying the file disappeared into thin air?”
“We are saying it is reasonably certain the IT Department is not responsible for the theft,” Brendt Williams offers.
I cringe inwardly. At this moment, I want to strangle Brendt. He is the remaining member of our team. A handsome, trim, affable man in his mid-thirties with a full head of blond and prematurely graying hair, Aurora and I find Brendt marginally useful, thanks mainly to his overly logical mind. Sitting atop Brendt’s superstructure of qualifications is a conspicuous lack of intuition. Only the top two percent of our profession possess this essential trait sufficiently to handle a crisis of this magnitude. Brendt’s other capabilities have propelled him to the sixty-seventh floor to complement our team. And so, we are stuck with him. At least he means well.
“Reasonably certain is not good enough,” Borinsky explodes. “I want you to be dead sure!”
“We are more than reasonably certain,” I quickly interject. “Agent Williams’ choice of words is unfortunate. He intended to say we have high confidence in our findings so far.”
Borinsky is a man in his late forties who looks like he smokes three packs of sagarillos a day and is somewhere in his late sixties. His eyes look like the double-door entrance to a bomb shelter after a cold fusion holocaust. I’d feel sorry for the man if I didn’t hate him intensely.
“Do you have anything to add, Agent Zolotov?”
“I believe agent Faulk has given you an accurate update on our progress.”
“Are you telling me that ninety-five percent of AndroBiotica’s employees remain under suspicion?”
“That’s one way to put it, Director. I am confident we will find ze culprit or culprits quickly by ze application of superior deductive techniques and intuition.”
I’ve observed that Aurora tends to revert to her native accent when under pressure.
“Our next target is the Science Department,” I add to inform Borininsky and deflect his attention.
Borinsky glances at the updated computer interface on his compact and super-efficient workstation. Despite his exalted position, the man has failed to make his office feel like anything but a prison cell.
“Get on with it, then. I have work to do. I’d say you have another forty-eight hours at the outside to get the file back before all hell breaks loose.”
We scurry out of Borinsky’s office like squirrels evading a predator. Waiting for the bullet elevator, I tell Agent Williams to re-interview the IT employees. I observe him wilt visibly.
“Do you think that’s a good use of our time? There are only three of us on the case.”
Two and a half, I think to myself.
“Because you opened your big mouth in Borinsky’s office, it is now necessary to waste time. Borinsky will surely ask us if we did the re-interviews.”
The elevator arrives. We descend twenty-three floors in a matter of seconds. The elevator’s intelligent gimbals make it feel like we are standing still.
As the doors open on sixty-seven, I turn to Aurora. “You’ll handle backgrounding the scientists.”
She winks at me. “Of course.”
I wish she wouldn’t wink at me that way.
We go our separate ways. I head down the long corridor to my corner office.
The AndroBiotica File will be available in sixty to ninety days.
Heart Banter by David Gittlin 