Sigma One (15 page)

His grip relaxed for a second as he tried to fend off his daughter's attack and Sarah took advantage of it abruptly whipping around and flicking her soapy hands at him. All three ended up covered in suds and laughing, hugging one another. Pat's sense of well-being continued until after the dishes were put up and long after Alice went to her room to study and, of course, watch more rock video.

When he went to bed it was only 9 o'clock and for thirty minutes he stared at the ceiling thinking about SIGMA ONE. Although he was tired he was kept awake by visions of his poor performance in the hearings, by visions of Kamarov and the Soviet mastery of the technique he had been trying to perfect, the death of O’Shaunnesey and the deadline which was fast approaching. All these thoughts swept over him like a black suffocating veil threatening to consume him. When he finally turned over and shut off the light, he was in a very dark mood.

Sarah finally came to bed at 9:30 after finishing the chapter in the book she had started earlier by the fire. When she got into bed, she sensed his anxiety and rolled over next to him and pressed her hip up against his to get his attention. He hadn't even commented on the dinner or her new hair style, although he had been tolerable throughout the evening.

"What's wrong, Pat?" Sarah said as she snuggled closer and slipped her arm around his side giving him a tender hug.

Her advances saddened him even more than his troubles at work bothered him. He knew she was only trying to help. He also knew she wanted to talk about what was troubling him and it depressed him he couldn't.

Remaining silent, he pushed her hands aside and let out a deep moan of despair.

Sarah couldn't help but hear him. "What's wrong, Pat? She asked
again, this time less passionately, feeling slighted by his lack of response.

"Nothing's wrong!"

"I don't believe it!"

"I don't care what you believe! Nothing's wrong! Now go to sleep. I have a big day at work tomorrow!" His tone was abrupt.

Sarah pouted. "I should have never even asked. All I know is I'm not going to make your problems mine. You're impossible to talk to. Sometimes I wonder why I ever married you or why I'm staying with you now! You make me so mad I could just spit." She was bitter. She was hurt.

Pat didn't say a word and both of them rolled over to their respective sides of the bed, back to back, each trying to avoid the slightest touch from the other, each ignoring the other, each adding to their mutual pain by doing nothing to mend the situation. Neither slept well that night and the chasm between them widened when Pat got up early and left for his office without even saying good-bye: something he hadn't done in years.

Circumstances didn't improve at home or at the office for the next two days, and Pat buried himself in his work. He was so concerned with meeting the deadline given him by the committee, he rolled in each of the SIGMA ONE task managers and gave each one a thorough ass shredding, reminding them that their jobs were on the line and that he wouldn't tolerate anything but dedication and perfection. He also told them that if they didn't meet their schedules in the labs, that none of them were irreplaceable.

Amanda Yates even caught some of his wrath when she was fifteen minutes late coming back from lunch on that Friday. She wasn't the kind of person that could take a reprimand very well and as soon as Pat was done with her, she bolted out of his office and ran to the ladies room. Cherisa Hunt was there on her break and was standing in front of the mirror primping when she burst in.

Cherisa noticed Amanda had tears in her eyes and put down her eyebrow pencil and turned to her and asked, "What's going on?" She had never seen Amanda cry since she was briefed into the SIGMA ONE project and they had gotten to know one another over the past few weeks.

Amanda, ignored the question, passed by her and went directly into a vacant stall, slamming the door behind her.

Cherisa approached and tapped lightly on the door while she waited for a reply. Behind the door she could hear Amanda sobbing quietly. Normally, Cherisa wouldn't have had the patience to wait to find out what was happening to another co-worker. She didn't have any close female friends at the NSF because other women, on hearing through the rumor mill that she was having an affair with Radcliff, shunned her. They probably wouldn't have cared who she slept with, but Cherisa made it quite- obvious to the other women that she had a different status at her job as a result of the senator, and she used this as an excuse to avoid doing any hard work at all. While other secretaries were working late on proposals, Cherisa left on time, or in some cases, early, thoroughly peeving her co-workers. The other women at the office retaliated by first giving Cherisa the nickname, Princess, and then by gossiping behind her back any time they could.

Amanda, however, was the first person who had been newly indoctrinated into the project in well over a year and hadn't heard all the gossip about Cherisa, and if Cherisa was ever going to have anyone as a friend, Amanda seemed like her last chance. Even someone as bitchy as Cherisa got lonely, so she waited letting Amanda get it out of her system instead of leaving.

After five minutes had passed, Cherisa approached the stall door and tapped lightly. "What's the problem, Amanda? You've been in there for almost fifteen minutes. Your eyes should be out of water." Cherisa was trying her best to make Amanda forget her problems with a little joke, but she really wasn't a very good comedienne and it came out sounding stupid, which, fortunately worked anyway. Amanda laughed at the idiotic comment and came out.

"What happened?" Cherisa asked as Amanda stepped by her to go to the sink to wash her face.

Amanda sniffled one more time and then answered. "Mr.Huxley....he……he came down on me for being fifteen minutes late when I came back from lunch. It's not like I'm late all the time."              She was defiant and her tears had dried.

Cherisa moved closer to her friend and spoke softly, soothingly. "Don't worry Amanda. I don't think Mr. Huxley is mad at you in particular."

Amanda disagreed. "You didn't see the way he looked at me while he was chewing me out. You didn't hear his tone of voice."

"I don't need to know what he said to know that he isn't mad at you."

"How do you know that? You're not clairvoyant are you?"

"No, of course I'm not clairvoyant. But I just happen to know that Mr. Huxley probably has his reasons for being on edge. That's all. It has nothing to do with you. Okay?"

"What reasons?"

Cherisa hesitated before answering. She liked Amanda, but wasn't sure she could trust her entirely yet. "Let's just say I have it on good authority that SIGMA ONE is in trouble and it may be cancelled. That's the reason why Mr. Huxley is so irritable. Not because you were late!"

"Who told you that?" Amanda pressed for an answer. She was concerned for her job, and the resultant bills which wouldn't be paid if what Cherisa said was true.

"A friend," Cherisa replied evasively. She didn't want to tell her that it was Radcliff who had told her about the hearings when she had been with him two nights earlier.

Amanda had no reason to disbelieve her or press her for the source of her information. It just didn't seem to be the right time. The fact that SIGMA ONE might be cancelled meant a direct threat to her future ability to support herself, and finding out who the bearer of the information was took a second seat to finding out if it was true or not.

"Are you sure what you heard, Cherisa?" Amanda asked.

"I'm quite sure."

"When? When will it happen and why?" Amanda continued to probe.

"My friend didn't say exactly when and he was vague about why such an action would be taken. He merely said that unless things straightened out here, that it would be soon. So I wouldn't go worrying about a little chewing out Mr. Huxley gave you. He has his hands full now and he wasn't mad at you in particular. He was only mad at being put into this bind and you happened to be a convenient target for his anger."

What Cherisa said comforted Amanda slightly. At least her boss didn't have it out for her personally. But the fact remained; unless things got better at the NSF, she might end up having to look for another job sometime in the near future, and that prospect didn't appeal to her in the slightest.

She remembered the charts she had given Huxley a couple of weeks earlier and wondered if the overrun had anything to do with SIGMA ONE's problems. Whatever the reason, though, she made up her mind that from then on out she wouldn't be late for work again. She also resolved to work harder than she had ever worked before to save the NSF and SIGMA ONE. She liked her job and she felt particularly strongly about its mission. She liked the thought of contributing to a world safe from nuclear destruction. If her extra efforts could help make that dream come true, the small personal sacrifice she would have to make would be well worth the price.

Amanda looked kindly at Cherisa, thankful she had confided in her. "Thanks for being so understanding," she said feeling better knowing there was a reason for her boss being so irritable.

Cherisa shrugged her shoulders and told her to think nothing of it. She hated maudlin shows of affection between women finding it far easier to be bitchy than to be caring.

"Hey Cherisa," Amanda said as she finished wiping her face off in front of the mirror. "I'm going out tonight to have a few drinks after work. I think after what you told me, need them. Want to come along?"

"You going alone?" Cherisa asked tentatively. She didn't want to go if any of the other girls were going to go along fearing she would be the butt of their comments and not wanting to face Amanda's questions if anything came up about the senator.

"No." Amanda answered.

Cherisa's face dropped.

"Well, then who are you going with?"

Amanda played coy briefly, but then replied, "you, you idiot. I won't take no for an answer!" She was adamant.

Cherisa's frown turned up into a smile. "Okay," she answered. "How does six o'clock sound at the Crab 'N Claw Bar at the Key Bridge Marriott near Georgetown?"

"Sounds great to me." Amanda said as she left and then added "six sharp?"

"Six sharp's okay by me," Cherisa agreed as she glanced at her watch. It would give her plenty of time to go home and change. She was, after all, leaving at her standard time of three thirty.

The Crab 'N Claw restaurant sat high atop the Marriott Hotel at Key Bridge just west of quaint Georgetown. It was a beautifully decorated cocktail lounge done in beige and pinks with a hint of brass to add to its opulence, and unlike most hotel bars in the area that catered almost strictly to their captive guest clientele, the Crab 'N Claw was lucky in that it did a fair business catering to local regulars as well. This was due primarily to its fantastic raw bar and the spectacular view of the urban Washington skyline it offered. Even though the bar was moderately expensive, as are most of the Washington pubs, the elegant atmosphere more than made up for the dent to the pocketbook that would result after a night there.

Unbeknownst to Cherisa and Amanda, Pat Huxley and Radcliff had agreed to meet at the Crab 'N Claw the same afternoon they had. Pat, it turns out, had called the senator to discuss the schedule the committee had given him and after his review of his organization's progress earlier that day, he didn't see how he'd be able to make the artificial deadline. He hoped Radcliff would have the answers he didn't.

When Cherisa and Amanda arrived at the bar, Radcliff and Pat had already been there two hours and had already downed several vodkas on the rocks. Now they were locked in a heated (but nonsensical) debate regarding SIGMA ONE. Both were a little tipsy and were seated at the far end of the room out of sight from the entrance and didn't notice the girls when they walked in and sat at the bar, their backs to them.

Amanda ordered two Chardonnays for the pair and began the conversation. "So how did the rest of your day go, Cherisa?"

"My day? You're asking about my day? How about yours?" she replied. "Did Mr. Huxley attack you again?"

"No, he pretty much left me alone. I did hear him giving some of the scientists hell to hurry up and find out why Dr. Jackowitz died. They were supposed to have had an answer by today, and Mr. Huxley blew his stack when they said they'd need a couple of more days. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be one of them. He can get downright nasty when he's chewing you out. Some of the other girls in the section crossed his path, too, but I didn't tell any of them the reasons you gave me for his outburst. I didn't think it would be too good an idea to let everyone else in on what we know."

"Why not?" Cherisa asked passively darting her head from left to right, scoping out the businessmen lining the bar on either side of them. She wasn't interested in the slightest why Amanda didn't let any of the other girls know. She hadn't told her from whom she obtained the information in the first place, besides which, she rather hoped Amanda would leak that SIGMA ONE was in trouble. It would put the other girls on edge and maybe they'd leave her alone for the time being. Cherisa wasn't paying attention to Amanda for another reason, as well: she didn't want to bump into the tire salesman with acne she had met there previously. She definitely didn't need that hassle!