Point of Contact

17

It took Jack a few moments to acclimate to driving a car seated on the right side of the vehicle, and even longer to get used to driving on the left side of the road. His first clockwise roundabout was an eye-opening experience. Paul clutched the overhead hand grip and shoved his feet into the floorboard, and Jack began laughing out loud after he got stuck on the inside and had to run the circle again before shooting out onto the correct street. What struck him as particularly funny was the near-frantic tone in the constantly changing voice commands from the GPS navigator as he whipped past the half-dozen exits on the roundabout.

The crowded early-morning traffic on the main thoroughfare was slow but organized compared to the free-for-all scramble that characterized most big cities in the non-Western world. It only took them seven minutes to find the techno-modern four-story steel, concrete, and green glass Dalfan building. He pulled into the gated driveway and gave the security guard their photo IDs. After a check against the data on his tablet, the unarmed guard smiled and waved them through the gate. Ten minutes after that they stood at the front desk of the main entrance on the ground floor.

“Jack Ryan and Paul Brown for Ms. Lian Fairchild.”

The young and demure receptionist smiled and called back on her phone. Jack saw the broad open floor and workstations on the other side of the secured glass wall. A minute later Lian appeared.

“Gentlemen, welcome. Any trouble finding us?”

“No problem at all. It’s your GPS that’s gonna need therapy. I think I drove that woman crazy — pardon the pun.”

“How about some coffee or tea before we get started?” Lian asked.

“We already had breakfast back at our place, but thanks.”

“Tea later would be nice, though,” Paul said.

“Of course. Anytime you like. Please, follow me.”

Lian flashed a card, unlocking the heavy security glass door, and led them through into the next suite. Glass-walled offices and conference rooms with glass doors were located on both sides of the room, and on the floor itself were two dozen occupied computer workstations.

On their immediate left as they entered the suite was the security office, another glass-walled room but without a door. A serious young man, maybe fresh out of college, stood behind a desk with a computer workstation off to the side.

Lian gestured toward him. “Gentlemen, please.”

“What’s this?”

“We have strict security protocols beyond this point. We must check your bags for contraband items and inspect your electronic devices if you want to be able to bring them inside.”

“I’m not comfortable with that,” Jack said.

Paul shook his head. “Me neither.”

Lian shrugged. “Then you have the option of leaving your bags with us and using only our equipment, or you cannot go in at all.”

“If we don’t go in, we don’t do the audit,” Jack insisted. “Your father won’t be pleased.”

“He’ll be even less pleased if I allowed two strangers to smuggle in equipment that hacked or stole our most important data. There is no Wi-Fi in this facility. Every computer is air-gapped and hardwired to our mainframe, which has a secure Internet connection.”

“Is corporate espionage that big of a problem?” Paul asked.

“It has been in the past. Not anymore.”

Paul and Jack set their bags on the table along with their smartphones.

“Please, do you mind opening them?” the security guard asked. “And power up your devices and enter your passcodes.”

Jack and Paul complied as the security guard snapped on a pair of surgical gloves — computer keyboards were dirtier than toilet seats, collecting bacteria, fecal matter, and other unsanitary deposits. The first thing he did was to swab each device with a cotton trace detector.

“You’re checking for explosives?” Jack asked.

“Standard operating procedure,” Lian said.

The security guard tossed the swabs, then did a quick check of the applications folders on their laptops and phones. Seeing nothing obvious, he returned the items to them.

“Thank you.” The guard tossed his gloves in a garbage can and began inspecting their bags. He frowned when he rifled through Paul’s opened clamshell bag. His finger touched an object tucked beneath the material lining the fold, and with some effort, he finally managed to extricate a USB drive.

“Sir? Is this yours?”

Paul felt the floor fall out from under his feet. He swallowed hard. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Jack saw Lian glowering at his partner. What was Paul trying to hide?

Paul shrugged. “It must have fallen down there. Sorry about that.”

The friendly security guard suddenly wasn’t as friendly. He took the drive and slipped it into the USB port on his computer.

Paul watched him tap a few keys, studying the contents intently.

Jack glanced at Paul. Shot him a look. Something you want to tell me?

Paul shrugged again and shook his head.

The guard’s computer beeped and he ejected the drive. “Nice photos, sir. Washington, D.C., isn’t it?”

“My last trip to the Smithsonian. I was wondering where that drive was. Thanks for finding it.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to keep the drive here. You can pick it up when you leave.”

Paul shrugged. “Okay, sure.”

Lian asked the guard a question in Mandarin. The guard shook his head as if to say “No problem.”

Lian pointed the way out. “All right, gentlemen. Please follow me.”

She led them toward the far end of the room, where there was yet another glass security wall, shut and secured by a card reader as well. They passed a steel emergency exit door leading to the stairwell, which was next to a large kitchen and dining area where someone was making coffee.

Lian showed them the rest of the floor beyond the security glass and pointed out the offices along both walls for the senior analysts following global markets and related research. Junior analysts sat at workstations on the floor.

At the far end of the room Jack saw another glass partition wall, but on the right side of the room leading up to it was a large glass-walled conference room. A dozen people were seated around a long table.

Lian motioned toward the door. “Gentlemen.”

When Jack and Paul entered, everyone else stood, all smiles. They were mostly in their thirties and forties, men and women, from East and South Asia, intense and earnest but friendly, like tech executives Jack had met all over the world.

Lian introduced them to several department heads and their assistants from around the company, including production, marketing, sales, and accounting. She further instructed her employees to answer any and all questions that the Hendley Associates auditors might have. “And they insist you call them by their Christian names, Jack and Paul.”

The brief meeting ended with more handshakes and smiles, and Lian led them to the next security door. She flashed her key card and they passed into the last section of the floor. Across the room along the far wall opposite the glass partition was Dr. Fairchild’s expansive office, spanning the entirety of the outer wall. On the left side of the inner wall were two offices — Yong’s and Lian’s. On the opposite wall were two more offices, both empty. Lian pointed at them. “Those are yours for the duration.”

Jack and Paul stepped over to one of them. They were spartan accommodations. Each office just had a desk and computer terminal with a landline phone, a small laser jet printer, and a single storage cabinet full of office supplies.

“Your laptops can’t be connected to the mainframe without the installation of proprietary software, so any work you need to do will have to be done on one of our terminals.”

“Can we download data from your system to our laptops so we can do work off-site?” Paul asked.

“No. For the purposes of the certification audit, our data remains on our hard drive. Of course, once our firms merge, Marin Aerospace will have complete and total access to all of our data, mainframe, and storage. Until then, the two of you are welcome to take notes on your machines or print hard copies of anything you need, but we can’t allow any kind of machine interface between your equipment and ours. That includes the use of any portable drives. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly,” Paul said.

He was screwed.

Lian checked her watch. “We just have time to visit the second and third floors before your assistant arrives, Mr. Brown. He’ll walk you through the accounting databases and software and be available to you for any further questions.”

“What about me? Don’t I need a minder?” Jack asked.

“You have one. Me.”

Jack half expected a playful smile or a coquettish shrug, but she was all business.

Lian guided them back out onto the main floor and past the kitchen area, explaining that for security purposes, the stairwells were never to be used except in the case of an actual emergency.

They exited the suite and took the elevator to the second floor, which had the same strict security protocols as the first. Lian assured them the protocols were the same on all four floors. Clearly, Dalfan and Lian Fairchild took their security seriously. Jack was glad he wasn’t on a clandestine black-side operation. He wasn’t sure if he could crack this high-tech safe.

Lian introduced them to Dr. Chen Tao, the head of their virtual reality department. Jack couldn’t help noticing the lovely spray of freckles across her nose. For some reason it made him think of a Beach Boys song. They set a meeting time.

Lian then took them to the third floor, where they met the head of their Steady Stare research program, Dr. Mahindar Singh, who assured Paul and Jack of his complete cooperation. Jack made an appointment to see him tomorrow.

“What about the fourth floor?” Jack asked.

“That’s where we keep our mainframe secured. It’s also where Dr. Heng’s department is located.”

“His team is doing some very interesting work,” Paul said.

“Unfortunately, he is at a conference right now. But you can meet him on Saturday if you like.”

“We’re in no hurry. That works for us,” Jack said.

Jack was genuinely looking forward to seeing the demonstrations Drs. Singh and Tao had promised, and what their two departments were developing. From what he saw, it was all cutting-edge stuff. Dr. Heng’s work was harder to grasp but still impressive, judging by the corporate reports. No wonder Marin Aerospace wanted to do this deal.

After the brief tour, Lian escorted them back to their offices across from hers on the first floor and reintroduced them to the young man named Bai from accounting they’d met earlier in the conference room. He would be Paul’s assistant.

Lian also handed both of them security badges and cards that would permit them to enter any room in the building. “Except for the mainframe facility,” she said.

“No need for us to be in there,” Jack assured her.

“I’ll leave you to start your work. Please contact me if you intend to leave the building.”

“Sure,” Jack said. He had no intention of heading out today anyway. Tomorrow? Well, we’ll see, he told himself.

“I hope you’ll both join us for lunch. We have a chef who comes in and prepares a meal for us.”

“That would be great,” Paul said.

“It’s another chance for both of you to get acquainted with our staff and ask all of your questions.”

It’s also another way for you to keep an eye on us, Jack thought. The car. The house. Yeah, it was all so very convenient, wasn’t it?