Sometimes It Is Rocket Science (6 page)

“I stopped the rumors before they could start.  Did you see the stock futures?  What I did boosted our numbers!”

“We have an entire department devoted to nothing but dealing with the media.  It’s not your place to toss out comments like that especially when they have my name attached to them.  CA is mine, Mr. Hayes, not yours.”  Georgiana spun back around and drummed her fingers on the desk.  “It’s done now, though.  I’ve already started on the clean up.  I won’t add to your leaked sentiment, but I won’t deny it, either.”

“Thank you,” Hayes bit out grudgingly.

“I’m not doing it for you.  Make no mistake about that.  I’d ruin your credibility in a heartbeat if I didn’t know it would negatively affect CA.”

Hayes proceeded to mount a weak defense.  Georgiana’s attention turned to her assistant pacing in the next room.  Cell phone still pressed against her ear, she waited until Yvonne glanced her way before shrugging her shoulders at the other woman.  Yvonne stood in front of the glass separating their offices and mouthed Robert’s name.  Georgiana nodded.  She wasn’t surprised he’d shown up early for the meeting.  Dan had been her liaison with Norwood Systems, and Robert had a lot of catching up to do.

Sooner than she expected, Robert Norwood strode into her office.  His presence seemed to make the room, designed to appear light and airy, four sizes smaller.  She commiserated with Yvonne’s dumbstruck expression.  Dressed in an impeccably tailored charcoal pinstriped suit and crisp white shirt, he was a striking example of perfection and wealth. 

Robert didn’t stop until he was in front of Georgiana’s desk.  He dropped a piece of paper in front of her hands.  She scanned the neat, blocky handwriting.  He’d given her instructions on how to deal with Hayes.  Good thing, too.  Her anger would only get her so far.  She smiled gratefully at Robert, motioned for him to have a seat.  Questioning him on how he knew about the leak could wait.

“Mr. Hayes,” she interrupted firmly.  “Here’s what’s going to happen.  I am temporarily suspending you from any action related to Collier Analytics pending a security audit.  Once the audit is complete, once our best techs have gone through every electron you’ve touched, I’ll make a recommendation to the board regarding your future with Collier Analytics.  I will also contact the SEC to give them a voluntary disclosure on what you’ve done and how it may have impacted stock prices.”

She disconnected the call quickly to deny him the chance to vent his outrage.  Setting things up with the security department took only a minute.  Exhausted already, she dropped her phone on the desk, slumped back in the chair, and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes.

“You did an excellent job with him.”

Georgiana’s head snapped up.  She’d momentarily forgotten about Robert.  Cheeks tinged with warmth, she absently twirled her phone.  “Thanks.  I never would have thought of that.  I owe you one.”

Robert’s smile was all teeth and practiced charm.  Georgiana shivered despite the building’s regulated temperature.  She was acutely aware of why he’d earned nicknames like
shark
and
predator
.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

The breath caught in Georgiana’s throat.  There was little she could offer Robert, though her mind was quick to jump to a few rather interesting conclusions.  Throat dry, she swallowed and dropped her gaze to her hands.

“But first, a bit of advice.”  Robert sat back in the chair, smile gone and tone brusque.  “Until this matter is resolved, any future conversations you have with anyone regarding Hayes should be recorded.  It is the best way to protect the company.”

Georgiana nodded.  The Collier Analytics system was set up to automatically record all phone calls made via the landlines.  She would just have to make all her calls from her office.  “How did you know the quote was leaked by a board member?”

“Dad was on your distribution list.  He got the same email as everyone else and recognized the quote in the paper,” Robert said.  “He called and asked me to help you with damage control.”

“Thank you.  I was pissed and I wanted him to know it, but I didn’t know what I was going to do about Hayes beyond bitching him out.”

“It’s not over yet, Georgiana.”  Robert shifted, leaned forward with his elbows on the edge of the desk.  Dark brown eyes studied her twisting fingers.  “You can’t sell CA to Norwood without damaging your credibility and, by extension, the company’s credibility.  Whatever plans you and Dad made are worthless now.”

Her shoulders slumped.  She’d expected that, but hearing it from Robert made her temples throb and brought on the heartburn she’d accepted as a permanent addition to her life.  For every problem she solved another four popped up.  How had her father kept everything straight?

She couldn’t keep running things.  Inevitably, she’d make a mistake not even the great Robert Norwood could fix.  She couldn’t hang around until the board called for a vote of no confidence and froze her out of the company.  Tab, who’d learned at their father’s side, showed no desire to even leave the townhouse.  She didn’t fully trust the board, and she couldn’t let her father’s legacy fall into Prask’s hands.

“I could name your father CEO and stay on as Vice President or something like that.”

“You would run into conflict of interest issues.  He still has a majority of shares in Norwood and there would be accusations of favoritism every time contracts were drawn up between the two companies.”

She slid lower in her chair.  There weren’t many options left.  Going private was probably the best way, but that meant meetings with her accountants and lawyers and dealing with the board.  She was going to have to learn all she could and pray Tab came around before she burned the company to the ground. 

“CEOs can be hired, Georgiana.”  Robert covered her cool, fidgety fingers with a large, warm hand.  The rough pads of his fingers stroked the back of her hand, swirled around her knuckles.

“I trust Dan.”

Robert withdrew his hand.  The loss left her cold.  “Bobby, I didn’t mean that I don’t…”  Georgiana let her voice trail off.  She trusted Bobby, the brilliant boy she’d known as a child, but business powerhouse Robert was somewhat of a stranger.  He was Dan’s son, but that didn’t mean he had the same fondness for the Collier family.  She wanted to trust him the way she trusted Dan, though.

“Is there still a cafeteria in the building?  NORA insisted that oatmeal was the only item available for breakfast.”  Robert rose to his feet with a grace Georgiana envied.  He straightened the cuffs of his shirt, but did not offer his hand.

She winced.  NORA took most instructions literally.  When Georgiana had uploaded new nutritional guidelines for Dan into the system, she’d intentionally set narrow parameters so that Dan couldn’t wheedle his way into a sugar and fat filled meal.  She hadn’t allowed for variation for Robert.  At Robert’s questioning look, she quickly explained the problem. 

He tilted his head back, giving her a wonderful view of his strong jaw, and laughed.  “Mom would have enjoyed that.  She loved oatmeal and was forever trying to force it down Dad’s throat.  I’ll take a look at the code this afternoon and take care of it.”
             

Georgiana paused in the doorway to Yvonne’s office to let her assistant know she was giving Robert a tour of the building.  The elevator ride to the lobby was uncomfortable.  Despite his earlier laughter, she was afraid he was still hung up on her comment about trust.  The orange indicator light switched from 12 to 11.  She slammed her hand on the emergency stop button.

“Dan has joint custody of Tab,” she blurted, throat tight and eyes fixed on the closed steel doors.  “Not his stock or trust, that’s all on me, but over Tab’s well-being.  It’s how Dad set it up.  Dad trusted your father with the most precious thing in his world.  I’m following Dad’s example and trusting Dan with everything.”

Robert was silent, but she knew he was listening.  She exhaled shakily and, glad she’d worn heels that made their height difference negligible, met his inscrutable stare.  “Dan was there when Mom died and again for Dad’s death.  Trusting him is like breathing because he’s always been there.  I’m sorry, Bobby, but I just don’t know you that well anymore.  A couple of hours together every six months or so just doesn’t cut it.”

“I know you would have wasted away your freshman year if I hadn’t dragged you out of the library for meals.”  Robert held up a hand to stave off the impending rebuttal.  “You would have been late to every one of your classes if I hadn’t given you that tour or drawn you a map.”

Her lips curved upwards at the mention of when she and Robert had truly been friends.  Her first year at MIT had been his last.  He’d taken time out of his busy schedule of wowing professors and seducing undergrads to show Georgiana around.  As children, they’d bonded over the isolationism of being the children of wealthy, famous parents and the tribulations that went along with genius.  In college, they’d commiserated about expectations and overprotective fathers.  After Robert’s MIT graduation, he’d gone to Oxford for an additional year of study.  Their friendship faded to emails and brief visits during the holidays.

I also know you wouldn’t have passed that Elements of Software Construction class without my help,” he continued.

Georgiana shook off the melancholy to glare at him.  “Oh?  And who was it that helped you with that Statistical Physics class when they were, oh I don’t know, in
high school
?”

Robert’s rumbling laughter bounced off the elevator’s metal walls.  “You are aware that when you say ‘high school’ it does not mean the same as it would for anyone else, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she grudgingly admitted.  Though she’d technically been enrolled in a private high school, she’d been in an independent program taught by local college professors.  “Truce?”

“Of course.” 

Robert extended his arm for a handshake.  As soon as Georgiana’s palm brushed his, he folded his long fingers around her hand and slowly drew her towards him.  The orange-and-lemon tang of her perfume filled his head.  He lowered his chin so that his breath stirred the tendrils of hair near her temples.  “I sincerely look forward to rekindling our relationship, Georgiana.”

“Ms. Collier!”

Georgiana jumped, swallowed a squeal.  On trembling knees, she slowly turned away from Robert’s intensity to face the speaker in the wall panel.  Her hand slid free from his grasp.  “Y-yes, Yvonne?”

“Is everything okay?  Maintenance has performed a diagnostic on the elevator and hasn’t found any problems.  Do you need them to open the hatch?”

“N-no.”  She smoothed her damp palms along her jacket and hit the emergency button.  “I just needed a moment of privacy with Mr. Norwood.  We’ll be in the cafeteria if you need me.”

When they stepped out on the first floor, she studiously avoided looking at any of her employees.  It might have been her imagination, but she swore she heard snickering from the security station.  Her heels clicked on the polished floor as she sped to the small coffee shop attached to the main employee cafeteria. 

The enticing aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans soothed her.  It was her territory.  The shop had been her idea back when she’d assumed she would do nothing more than liaise with Norwood Systems or work for Norwood’s R&D department.  Her father had approved the project and provided the baker with a few of his mother’s pastry recipes. 

The shop was crowded.  Georgiana led Robert to a small square table in a cozy corner bracketed by bookshelves.  She slid a one-sided laminated menu across the table.  Robert moved to stand in line at the counter, but she stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

“I can text in my order along with the table number.  They’ll deliver.” She grinned up at him.  “What’s the point of having a building full of cleverness if you can’t use it to eliminate pesky things like lines?”

They didn’t have to wait long for their coffee and breakfast.  Receiving prompt service was one of the perks of running the company.  Georgiana stirred a packet of artificial sweetener into her coffee-and-chicory blend and surreptitiously watched Robert chew a mouthful of his sour cream coffee cake.  She wrapped her fingers around the warm mug to keep herself from brushing the crumbs off the corner of his lips.

Bringing Robert up to speed on the latest contract wasn’t difficult.  Collier Analytics had won a bid to create a tracking and targeting system for Norwood Systems’ latest unmanned combat air vehicle.  Collier Analytics had created over sixty-five percent of the computer systems Norwood Systems used.

“R&D’s giving a demonstration of a similar guidance system to be used for ground vehicles.  It’s geared more towards domestic use.  Something about having to have a map of the terrain already loaded.  I don’t know.”  Georgiana swallowed her last bite of chocolate beignet, caught the gleam of impending geekdom in Robert’s eye.  She couldn’t resist teasing him a bit.  “Let me have your firstborn child and I’ll let you watch.”

A slow, sensual smile spread across Robert’s face.  He took a long sip from his mug and eyed Georgiana over the rim.  “How can I turn down a proposition like that?”

Georgiana’s cheeks reddened.  She glanced around to make sure no one had heard their exchange.  She’d told Robert that his flirting had no effect on her, but she’d lied.  She was as susceptible as any heterosexual woman with a heartbeat.  “That’s not what I meant!”

“No?”  Robert shook his head, shrugged.  “That’s a shame.”

“Oh god,” she groaned.  Images of little dark-haired, square-jawed boys and blonde, brown-eyed girls danced through her head.  Each imaginary child carried a scientific calculator and drafting pencil.  “Can you imagine what geeks they’d be, though?”

“Born with a slide rule or laptop in their tiny little hands,” Robert agreed.  He returned his mug to the table and pushed his chair back.  “Is there still time for that tour?  I haven’t been in the building in years.”

Though her feet were certain to exact their revenge later, Georgiana gave him a tour of all the non-restricted areas.  If he were going to continue as liaison, she would need to set him up with a security pass.   He would have the same access as Dan, and it would get him into a few of the research and development sections.  It would also allow him to use the CA pool and gym, though she knew for a fact the gym at his father’s house was larger and better equipped.

Half an hour before the start of the meeting, she left him at the main security hub and returned to her office.  Yvonne grinned at her knowingly.  Georgiana indulged in her inner five-year-old and stuck her tongue out at her smirking assistant. 

“It’s a good thing we don’t have cameras in the elevators isn’t it, Ms. Collier?”

“It wouldn’t matter if we did.”  Georgiana dug a battered leather folio from her bag.  Her father had given it to her after her high school graduation, and she liked having a piece of him with her in the meetings.  “All you would have seen was two adults talking.”

“Mm-hmm.  That’s not what I would have done with him.  Geeks.”  Yvonne clucked her tongue.  She slipped the folio out of her boss’s hands and exchanged it for a powered-up tablet PC.  “All the notes you need are on here.  No more doodling during meetings.  It makes the suits nervous”

“Aren’t I a suit?”

“No, ma’am.  You’re a grease monkey; a very smart, very rich, robot-obsessed, attractive, high-tech grease monkey, true, but you are no suit.  Mr. Norwood is a suit.”

“He’s a geek, you know.”

“Yes, but he knows how to play the game, so he’s also a suit.  Stop pouting.” 

Yvonne tucked the folio under her arm.  Part of the reason Georgiana had hired her as an assistant was her ability to keep Georgiana focused and push her in the right directions. Yvonne wasn’t afraid of calling her out on her bad habits.  Polite and respectful didn’t work when Yvonne had to pull, quite literally on numerous occasions, her boss away from her latest project.

Georgiana tried to stay focused on the representative from her legal department, but it was hard when Robert’s knee brushed her thigh every time he moved.  She made a mental note to have the chairs in the conference room inspected.  Surely they weren’t so uncomfortable that he needed to shift so often.  In the first ten minutes, he’d touched her fifteen times.  At that rate of movement, and given the average length of the contract meetings, by the time they were finished, his knee would have brushed against her thigh eighty-seven times.  If Westin from Norwood’s legal department was exceptionally verbose, it was possible the number could rise to…