He looked at her in surprise and then nodded slowly. “That would be great. Is there a coffeepot around?”
“It’s on the other end,” she said. “I’ll go grab two cups.” She stopped as she was about to exit, then turned and asked, “Black?”
“It’s the only way,” he said with a smile.
She grinned back and headed out.
Johan thought of Galen’s earlier words as she disappeared. She really was a sweetie. Not to mention gorgeous. It would certainly complicate his life to have a relationship over here. If it was short with no strings, that was one thing; but, if it got to be serious, well, that would stop him from going back to Africa, at least right away.
Maybe that was okay too. He shrugged it off as he delved a little further, wondering exactly what he was seeing.
When she returned a few minutes later, she carried three cups of coffee.
He immediately stood and took two from her hands, as she attempted to set them on his desk.
“I’m not very clumsy normally,” she said, “but these are big mugs.” She shrugged and added, “I figured, if I was making the trip, I might as well get a cup for myself too.”
They were also quite hot. Johan distributed one cup to Galen, who still talked quietly on the phone with Stone, while working on his laptop. Because Galen was talking, Johan didn’t want to disturb his partner, so he motioned to the doorway and asked Joy, “Can anybody hear us out there?”
“Possibly,” she said. “I don’t know what’s in the other rooms.” She looked over at Galen, then frowned and asked, “Who is he talking to about our system?”
Johan just gave a shrug, not committing to anything.
She eyed him carefully and then said, “I’m not supposed to know, am I?”
“It’s better if you don’t,” he said gently.
She sighed and nodded. “I wanted to tell you about a strange meeting I just got called up to.”
His eyebrows shot up, and he pulled her back into the room and closed the door. He sat her down in the chair beside him and asked in a low voice, “What happened?”
She told him about the visit with Barlow, who was the original creator of the company.
“Now that’s interesting,” Johan said slowly. “Obviously the upper echelon of the company is hearing about us being here.”
“Barlow said he talked to Edward,” she stated, by way of explanation. “And also that my section boss, James, had talked to Barlow about what I had found.”
“Well, that’s good, I would think,” he said quietly, cautiously.
“Yes,” she said with half a smile. “A hierarchy’s in place, and we go up from one level to the next to the next, like I did by going to James first.”
Johan chuckled. “I don’t think anything is quite so normal here anymore,” he said. “When it looks like a shakedown will be happening, people start jumping as high as they can to save themselves.”
“I get that,” she said. “Barlow did ask me about my previous jobs and the work I did, but I didn’t quite understand where he was coming from.”
“Keep an eye out,” he said, “because it’s hard to say.”
“Right.”
He stopped, looked at her, and asked, “Did you consider the fact that maybe he was offering you a better job?”
She gave him a wry look. “If that’s what he was doing,” she said, “I’m just wondering …” And she hesitated.
He looked at her seriously. “If you have any doubts, or if your instincts are telling you that it’s something other than what it appears to be on the surface, then tell me,” he said. “We can’t deal with a threat if we don’t understand how dangerous it is.”
“He was friendly and all,” she said slowly, “but I did wonder if maybe he wasn’t dangling something in front of me.”
“And, if he was,” Johan said, “was it a reward or a bribe?”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” she said, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “Because I don’t want to deal with that.”
“The previous company you worked for, did you have any trouble with them?”
“No, none,” she said. “Once we realized I had a talent for it, I went in to help other companies relieve the pinch points in their processing, or whatever it was they were doing. And you know what? All three companies I worked with alleviated some major kinks in their systems. But, when I got here, I needed a job to pay the rent, and so this is what I ended up applying for because I couldn’t land a job that I preferred.”
“Yeah, process engineering is not exactly an easily marketable skill,” he said, “but then maybe a recruiter could have helped you with that.”
“I was pretty unconcerned about it at the time. I was just delighted to be away from the Boston winters and was enjoying traveling around and being part of Texas,” she said. “Eventually reality set in, and I needed a job because the rent had to be paid. This job offered me an opportunity to do that, so I accepted the position.”
“So you took it while you could look around for something better,” he said, noting her wry expression at his words.
She nodded. “Let’s hope James and Edward and Barlow didn’t figure that out too,” she said.
He laughed. “Doesn’t matter if they did or not. Corporations all over know their prize employees are prime targets for headhunters. You try to keep the good employees. You obviously have skills, and you are smart enough to do what you need to do,” he said. “So whatever they figure out doesn’t really matter.”
“That’s true enough,” she said, “but I still have that pesky rent to pay.”
He grinned. “Yep, I hear you.”
She stood and said, “I need to get back to work too.”
“Well, if anybody says anything about you being here,” he said, “just tell him—or her—that I needed information.”
“And you did,” she said with a smile as she left.
He watched her go, only to hear Galen beside him. “What was that all about?”
He turned to look at his buddy and quickly explained what she just told him.
“Interesting,” Galen said. “Definitely suspicious.”
“Yet innocent enough on the surface. Smart even because, if she has a skill that they could use, of course they would want to bring along someone they’ve already got on board and make better use of those skills.” He looked at Galen’s laptop. “Did Stone help?”
“Absolutely,” he said.
“Good. I might have to give him a call a little later too.”
“I saw how you were looking at her, by the way,” Galen said, a smile in his voice.
Johan shot his friend a disgusted look. “She’s pretty, so how else can I look at her?”
“No way. I saw that look,” Galen said smugly. “Which is a whole lot more than just about her being pretty.”
“Well, in that case,” Johan said, “that is your answer.”
Galen looked confused for a moment. “To what question?”
“As to whether I’m interested or not,” he said. “So now she is off-limits for you.”