Enemy In the Room (35 page)

It was almost noon when Callie emerged from
her bedroom in a long T-shirt that stretched to her knees. Her hair
was a mess and her face puffy; she needed a shower. She smiled at
Kristen, who was reading on the sofa. As she walked to the
refrigerator she rubbed her head and said, a little sheepishly,
“Well, the good thing is that I got an email that we don’t have
class this afternoon. So we have time to grab some lunch and go
downtown.”

Kristen closed the book but stayed on the
sofa. “That would be good, Callie. I really appreciate your
help.”

Pouring herself some orange juice at the
counter, Callie said, “Sure. No problem.” She turned toward
Kristen. “Listen, I’m sorry about last night—and this morning. I
didn’t mean to say all that. I…I’m sorry.”

Kristen smiled and put her book on the
coffee table. “That’s OK. Really. We all say things sometimes that
we later wish we hadn’t.” She stood up and walked toward the
kitchen. “That OJ looks good. Can I have some, too?”

“Sure.” Callie turned and reached for
another glass.

“And I’m sorry that I came on so strong
about your movies. Maybe I’ve just seen a little more of the end
result than you have.”

“Maybe. But it actually seems pretty cool to
me.”

“Things like that often do, at first.” She
smiled and put her hand up as Callie started to speak. “Hey—let’s
not go down that road again. I agree that we have differences. I
heard you, and I think you heard me. Is that OK? Truce?”

Callie thought for a second and smiled,
nodding her head. “Yes. Truce. Here, we’ll drink some orange juice
to it.”

They clinked their glasses and took a long
sip. Callie spoke. “Now I’ve got to get ready so we can hit the
stores.”

“Callie, listen, I think I’m imposing on
you, so I changed my reservation and I’m leaving for San Francisco
at six tonight.”

Callie seemed genuinely agitated. “Oh,
please don’t. I’m sorry that I got upset last night. I
did
think about it, and I believe you about coming here for real and
not for my father.” She looked down at the glass in her hands. “I
wish you would stay a few more days.”

“Well, thank you, but I don’t do wild
parties too well any more. Really. It’s fine. I like you a lot, I’m
glad we talked, and I’ll come back again some day if you’ll have
me. But for now, it’s probably better that I go. So let’s have a
great lunch, and you can drop me at the airport, or a taxi, and get
back to your studying.”

Callie put her glass in the sink and nodded.
“OK. But I hope you’ll come back. I liked talking with you, even
though I sort of freaked out. I never had a sister, and I guess
this is kind of how it would be to have one.”

Kristen smiled. “I never had a sister
either. So, get dressed, and I’ll pack my suitcase. We have some
serious shopping to do.”

SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH

Early on the following Sunday evening, David
and Elizabeth were sitting in shorts and casual shirts on their
patio, salmon cooking on the grill.

“It’s nice tonight,” Elizabeth remarked,
taking a sip from her glass. “Not too hot or muggy.”

“A good start to summer.”

“Yes. I’ll be glad when Rob begins working
over at Mail Express. I don’t like him just sitting around the
house all day now that school is out.”

“Well, it’s only for this week.” David
looked at his watch, stood and walked over to turn the fish.

“I just wish Callie were here, too—even just
a visit.” Elizabeth looked over at her husband. When he nodded but
said nothing, she continued. “I miss us all being together. Oh,
hi!” Elizabeth smiled as Rob joined them on the patio.

“When’ll supper be ready?” Rob asked, eyeing
the grill.

“Couple more minutes. Mom’s got everything
else ready.”

Turning to his mother, Rob said, “Justin
called, and I’m going to spend the night over at his house.
OK?”

“I guess so. More computer games?”

“Maybe. Or maybe a movie. Dad, can you take
me over to Justin’s after supper?”

“Sure. I’ve got to go into the office
tonight.”

Standing, Elizabeth said, “Well, I’ll get
the salad and rolls. Rob, can you help me with the food and the
iced tea?”

“Sure, Mom.”

Thirty minutes later Rob and his father were
in a hurry to leave. “Don’t you want some ice cream?” Elizabeth
asked, as they pushed back their chairs.

“Tomorrow,” Rob said.

Looking across the table at her husband, she
asked, “And you have to leave, too?”

“I know it’s crazy, dear, but I’ve got an
important presentation for Trevor tomorrow, and the plans and plats
were just too big to bring home. So I’ll be in the office getting
ready.”

Elizabeth frowned. “You guys are no fun. Eat
and run. Well, I’ll have a blast cleaning up and then I’ll watch
TV.”

“Don’t do too much of that addictive TV,”
Rob chided, smiling as he rose with his empty plate.

“Don’t worry. This will be the only TV I’ll
see all week.”

“OK, but don’t get hooked!” He disappeared
inside.

“I’m sorry, dear.” David rose.

Elizabeth shook her head good naturedly from
her chair at the end of the table. “Just no one be out too late,
please.”

An hour later Todd Phelps was seated in the
special tandem training cubicle at the USNet RTI headquarters.
Victor Mustafin was seated beside him, and they were using their
headsets to communicate.

“All right, Todd, we’re going to log you in
now as a middle manager. Here’s your new password. After today I
won’t sit with you. But a senior person will review all your
decisions for the first few sessions, and you’ll get a critique
with suggestions when you next log on.”

Todd smiled. “I’m looking forward to
it.”

“Good. At this level you’ll be receiving
general pass-ups from the entry level monitors. Your role is the
same as before: designate the intercept to a specialist, copy it to
several specialists, pass it up to the control room, or send it to
the dustbin. To help you there are these new menus of policies and
history, so you can quickly research how we’ve handled a similar
keyword or situation in the past, and also what our current policy
on it may be. At this level we hope you’ll take time to think and
associate, rather than just pass on.”

Todd scrolled through the two new menus. He
was impressed with how comprehensive they were.

“Finally, as we get started, we have one
more role for you. With this new password, we’re designating you as
a specialist in real estate, which means that you will also receive
pass-ups from any entry level analyst in the entire system who
believes the intercept requires a real estate expert. Now this is
fundamentally different, because with this designation, you can
act
, not just review and pass. So, for example, if you see a
message you think requires us to buy, sell, change a
policy—anything—you can initiate it.”

Todd nodded.

Mustafin continued. “Everyone at this level
functions as both a general reviewer and a specialist. If you
stayed here, you’d be expected to be conversant in at least five
specialties. They could be energy, autos, environment, banking—all
those same categories that you’ve been sending to. We think real
estate is an easy place for you to start, and in the control room
you will have to be a bit of a generalist, ready to take on most
things. I suggest that whenever you have any free time you scroll
back through the History archive on the Real Estate menu. It will
show you our current issues and how we handled earlier
opportunities.”

Todd shook his head. “Are you sure I’m going
to be able to do this?”

Mustafin smiled. “Of course. Here, let’s log
on and see what we get.”

When Rob and Justin were let off at the
movie by Justin’s older sister, they walked inside but never bought
tickets. They had been sure to tell each set of parents that the
other would probably pick them up after the movie and a few video
games, so they figured that they had at least three hours. A few
minutes later, at the appointed time, the familiar silver BMW
pulled up outside the theater, and they walked over to it.

Rob opened the passenger door, Justin the
back. The driver greeted them. He was in his mid-twenties, well
built, with black hair and a small tattoo on each arm. He was
wearing a gray T-shirt and black pants over black boots. A ring in
each earlobe completed the look. “Hi, guys. Whatzup?” he asked, as
they slid into their seats.

“Nothing much,” Rob said, smiling at their
new friend.

“We’re going to have a great meeting and a
blow-out tonight! You’ll love this guy’s house.”

“How come?” Rob asked, as they pulled out
into the traffic.

“It’s
wired
!” Rob knew from Blue
Six’s voice that it must be really something. “He’s got a T-One
line to his
house
, if you can believe that.” The driver
looked back and forth from the road to his guests as he spoke.
“There’s an HDTV flat screen in
every
room and two special
game rooms with
ten
virtual floor plates in each one. Three
bedrooms with surround sound and flat screens everywhere. When
you’re on the bed, it’s like you can imagine you’re anywhere you
want. He even closed in the garage and made it mostly a Street War
2100 game room. It’s awesome.”

“Sounds incredible,” Justin said from the
backseat.

“We’ll be there in a minute.”

They could tell the home from the cars
parked in the drive and on the street. They parked, got out, and
walked up to the front door. Blue Six opened it without knocking.
He motioned the boys to follow. “The meeting’s probably about to
start. All these guys are in Street War 2100 with us. Here, get a
beer.”

They walked through the deserted dining room
where pizza boxes were open on the table and stood in the kitchen
by a keg. They looked out into what had been a family room but was
now a large open space outfitted with folding chairs. There was a
huge flat-screen TV above the mantel, and speakers on both sides.
Their host was wearing a headset and pointing to the screen, while
about twenty young men and half as many women watched.

Blue Six whispered as they took their beers
and sat at the back of the assembly, “We’re plugged in with about a
thousand other Blue players for our usual Sunday night critique.
Randy is handling it for our group.”

As the boys watched, Randy and several other
group leaders carried on a conversation that the rest could hear
over the speakers. Many of that week’s better engagements were
replayed on the screen, and the action was stopped at several
points for a brief discussion of the tactic employed or the
opportunity missed.

The meeting lasted for almost an hour, and
Rob learned a lot. He was impressed by the commitment of all these
adults to the game he loved so much. He and Justin sipped their
beers, occasionally looked at each other, and smiled.

When the tactical session was over, the
participants broke into smaller groups, and some went toward other
parts of the house. Blue Six took his new friends over to their
host, Randy, who was still standing by the mantel.

“Hey, Randy, meet Blue Nine and Blue
Ten.”

Randy, tall and thin, was dressed in tight
jeans and a shirt that was almost molded to his body. He extended
his hand. “Great to have you. We’ve seen your work. You’re good.
Blue Nine, we noted your great move in Wednesday’s game just a few
minutes ago. Did you see it?”

Rob beamed and nodded. “Yes, thanks.”

Randy smiled. “Good. Make yourselves at
home. We shift to party mode after the recap, to finish off the
weekend. Lots will be going on.” He looked down at their empty beer
cups. “If you want something stronger, we got plenty. In fact, try
these.” He handed each of them a pill. “They’ll make you feel
really good while you’re here.”

The two boys exchanged glances, then Rob
took a pill and swallowed it. “I’m in,”

“OK…Excuse me for a minute. I’ve gotta shift
the mood.”

Randy went over to what would have normally
been a built-in bookcase, but in his house it was the control panel
for his media/ recreation center. He began pushing buttons.

Rob, Justin and Blue Six were on the way to
the kitchen when the lights dimmed down, rock music began playing
from every speaker in sight, and the flat screens offered two girls
and two guys rapidly peeling in a large bedroom for what promised
to be a round of adult entertainment video. The two boys tried to
act nonchalant; watching both the screen and Blue Six as he
expertly pumped the keg and refilled their cups.

Six glanced up and had a look at the
screens. “Not bad tonight. You know, that’s happening just down the
hall.”

Justin couldn’t take his eyes off the
screen. “What? That’s not a video?”

Six laughed and moved closer to Rob. “No.
That’s four members of our Blue Team. We’re a close group.”

Justin stuttered. “You mean those—they’re
here? At our meeting?”

“Sure. Randy has cameras everywhere. He can
throw any room up on the monitors. Here, have some more beer.”

“And they know?”

Six laughed harder and put his arm loosely
around Rob. “Of course! We’re not inhibited. In fact, it’s kinda
cool. We’ll go in there in a while.”

“We will?” Rob asked.

“Why not? We came to party, didn’t we?”

Twelve hours later, on Monday morning,
Senator Joe Bulloch received a phone call in his Georgetown
townhouse. Standing by a small desk in their second-story bedroom,
his wife put her hand over the mouthpiece and said, “It’s Bradley
Fuller from the White House. Sounds like he’s on a cell phone in
his car.”

Senator Bulloch slipped on his white shirt
and walked from the closet. Taking the phone, he said, “Hello,
Bradley. How are you on this beautiful morning?”