by Roddy Wix
Anne Fitch’s arrival in California proved uneventful; perhaps anticlimactic. After a short fuel stop made prudent by unexpected headwinds, they flew straight to San Jose where they cleared customs at a private hangar.
Anne stepped off the plane, shook her new auburn hair in the balmy Northern California air, and immediately felt as though she were home.
For the first time Anya presented a US Passport identifying her as Anne Fitch and she reminded herself to start responding to the name Anne as if she’d done it all of her life.
The young customs agent handed her the documents and said, “Welcome back to the United States, Dr. Fitch.”
“Thank you.” She smiled first at the customs agent and then at Gabe Bowman.
“Welcome home, Anne.” Gabe put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Anne gave him a grateful hug in return.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here.”
Gabe directed her toward the tarmac where a silver Denali stood waiting for them. An S3 security officer manned the wheel, but Joey Beretta was not there to meet them. Mac Larsen at S3 advised Gabe in advance without giving a specific reason for Joey's absence. A natural born anal retentive, he worried for hours, but those concerns were soon put to rest by the S3 agent in charge of Anne’s protection.
“Mr. Bowman, my name is Bobby Conrad and I’m managing security for Dr. Fitch.”
“Bobby Conrad the Auburn quarterback?” Gabe kept his addiction to college football a dark secret.
“Yessir. The same.” When he smiled it revealed something about his face that made his mouth appear misaligned. An Iraqi IED was to blame and Gabe remembered the news stories about the incident. Anya from Ukraine noticed instantly. Anne Fitch said nothing.
“You had a hell of a career, Mr. Conrad.”
“Did you go to Auburn, Mr. Bowman?”
“Hardly. I’m a college dropout, but at least I’m free to support the teams I like.”
“Yessir, that would be one advantage.”
“Please forgive me for not making introductions. Anne Fitch, Mr. Conrad.”
“Dr. Fitch.” The man enthusiastically thrust a welcoming hand at her.
“Please, call me Anne.”
“Your bags have been stowed in the vehicle. If you will follow me.” He motioned toward the waiting SUV and they all walked in that direction.
A half hour later they toured the townhouse that would be Anne’s new home.
“It’s beautiful, Gabe.” Anne stood in the middle of the living room looking out at a private walled garden complete with a small fountain bubbling water into a riot of colorful flowers.
“And the furniture is perfect.” Everything had been upholstered in the bright, cheerful colors she enjoyed.
“My partner’s wife, Carroll Button, is the one who took care of that part.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.” Anne’s voice trailed off as she ran to the kitchen like a kid on Christmas. Her apartment in Milan had been upscale by local standards, but this was too much. All new granite, stainless steel and oiled walnut accented the décor.
The rest of the tour went the same, with Anne overwhelmed by her home and its furnishings. Finally, glancing at his watch, Gabe said, “I am scheduled to meet with Jack at the office. Why don’t I leave you to get comfortable and settle in a little? Bob can acquaint you with the security plan S3 developed for you.” He picked up a key fob with an Audi logo. “Oh, here are the keys to your car. An A5 should be in the garage.”
“Gabe, I don’t know what to say. This is so much more than I ever expected.”
“Don’t worry. We plan to make you work for it.”
“Great. When do I start?”
“You’ve already made a lot of progress.”
Anne cut him off in her enthusiasm.
“I know I’m close to another breakthrough on the stock market matter.”
“In what regard? You said you already figured out how to isolate the virus.”
“I only view that as temporary. I’m working on identifying who actually wrote it and a way to eliminate it.”
Gabe didn’t attempt to disguise his surprise.
“I thought the Rusikovs wrote the code.”
Anne shook her head. “I’m pretty sure they did not, at least not the whole thing. My husband was working on something when he died and I think the person he was in communication with may have been involved with this. There are a lot of similarities in the work.”
“You don’t know who that was?”
“No. I never did. I’m not sure Karl knew the person’s name. The hacker went by the pseudonym “Suspicion”. I guess that says a lot.” Anne wondered if she’d said too much.
“The name doesn’t mean anything to me.” Gabe glanced at his watch again. “I need to get to the office, but why don’t you have Mr. Conrad bring you over later, say, about six thirty? I’ll give you a tour of the building and we can all grab a bite to eat.”
“Gabe, if you don’t mind, I've had a long day and I have a lot to adjust to. I’d like to stay in and work on a few things then get a good night’s sleep. I'll plan to come in early in the morning.”
“I understand. I’m told the refrigerator and bar are stocked so you aren’t without groceries. We’ll see you tomorrow then.” He gave her a hug and made a quick exit.
Gabe was driven to Dynamic Integrity’s headquarters where he was surprised to find Sally and Bart sitting side by side at a small conference table in Zeigler’s cubicle. Hard at work, they paid little attention to his arrival.
“Well, I see you two learned how to play together while I was gone.”
Sally stifled a laugh. Bart bobbed his head.
"Something funny?"
She said, “no” and he said, “yes”. Sally looked up for a second and said, “whatever” with a half smile and half smirk. Gabe walked away. Children.
“You two can fill me in on your progress tomorrow.” He continued walking without looking back.
“Sure thing, Gabe. Tomorrow.”
Maybe I should travel more. Gabe continued across the floor, found Jack, and pulled him into an empty conference room.
57.
