Severe Clear

21

Holly Barker looked across her desk at the young woman. Her name was Heather Scott, she was thirty-five, single, and had been at the Agency since her graduation from college. Holly liked her. She particularly liked that she had held responsible assistant’s jobs in both analysis and operations, so she had an understanding of how both directorates worked.

“Heather?”

“Everybody has called me Scotty, since childhood.”

“You were born and raised in a place called…” Holly checked her application. “Delano, Georgia?”

“That’s right. Public schools, followed by the University of Georgia.”

“And you were recruited where?”

“On campus at Georgia. A recruiter spent a few days there.”

“What do you hate most about the Agency?”

Scotty erupted in laughter. “That’s a tough one, since I like so many things about it. I like coming to work every day.”

“Come on, what do you hate?”

“I hate it when I can see a piece of information as relevant, even critical, and it takes the Agency too long to come to the same conclusion.”

Holly laughed. “I think we’ve all had that experience. No matter how exotic our work, we’re still a bureaucracy.”

“I’ve had to get used to that.”

The two women talked on for another half hour, then Holly said, “I’ll get back to you in a few days.”

“Right,” Scotty said. She stood up and shook hands with Holly. “If it’s offered to me, I’ll take it.”

“Good to know.” Holly watched her leave, then she got up and walked across the reception room to Grace’s desk. “Okay, I’ve found my assistant. What next?”

“I’ll send her name to our internal security people, and they’ll do a fresh background check, from the ground up.”

“How long will that take?”

“Yours took a week,” Grace said, “but Heather Scott’s is likely to take a lot less, since she’s never been employed anywhere but here.”

“Then go,” Holly said, handing her Heather’s personnel file. “The sooner she’s cleared, the sooner you can wash your hands of me.”

Grace smiled. “Oh, you’re not so bad. You’re a piece of cake, compared to the director.”

Holly laughed and went back to her office, past the outer room where her assistant’s desk was. Her phone buzzed: the director.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Come in for a minute, Holly.”

Holly opened the adjoining door and walked in. Kate Lee was sitting on a sofa by the window and waved her to a seat.

“How’s the search for an assistant going?”

“I’ve found her, I think.”

“Did you talk only to women?”

“I’ve seen half a dozen people. Two of them were women. The one I didn’t choose was probably a good secretary, but I thought she would never be more than that. All the men were too nakedly ambitious, I thought.”

“And the other woman was just right.”

“I believe so. Grace is ordering the requisite recheck of her background, and if she passes, I’ll offer her the job.”

“Good. Now there’s something else I want to ask you about. I’m reviewing a number of people who might be suitable to replace me, and one of them, of course, is Lance Cabot.”

Holly nodded.

“I want to ask you some questions about Lance, and I want you to put aside personal loyalty for a moment and give me straight answers, the unvarnished truth. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Forgive me if I cover territory you’re already familiar with, but it’s necessary.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Lance had a stellar career as an agent in Europe, but nobody he worked with liked him very much, including his boss in the London station, Dick Stone, whose untimely death allowed Lance to leapfrog into his position as DDO-at least, that’s the way some people saw it at the time. Why do you think he’s not very well liked?”

Holly thought about that for a moment. “A minute ago, you said you wanted the unvarnished truth.”

“And I do.”

“The unvarnished truth is what Lance offers, and he doesn’t much care who the recipient is. He states his opinions flatly and backs up his hunches with facts, then he defends his positions very strongly.”

“I think that’s fair to say,” Kate replied.

“It may be fair, but a lot of people don’t find it attractive. Lance can be charming, when it suits him, or when it’s required to get what he wants, but he doesn’t employ charm a lot in intra-Agency relations. As a result, people always approach Lance with some trepidation.”

“And what is the result of that trepidation?”

“People who know him walk into his office and present themselves concisely, and they’re always ready to back up what they say. There’s no shooting the breeze, there’s no idle gossip. Everything has to be to the point when talking to Lance.”

“That’s very interesting,” Kate said. “Of course, I look at Lance from the top down, not from below, so I don’t see that side of him too much. However, I think the characteristic you describe would be an important asset in a director. I’m more easygoing than Lance, so people sometimes talk too much when reporting to me. Sometimes I wish I had Lance’s gift for demanding that they get to the point. What do you think of Lance’s attitude toward the women who work for him?”

“Lance has always-well, nearly always-treated me respectfully. He’s been demanding, but fair.”

“What about the other women who’ve had dealings with him?”

Holly thought some more. “I think when assigning important work, Lance tends to go to men first. He assigns women as women, not as agents. I mean, he’ll assign a woman when the job calls for a woman, explicitly. I’ve nudged him about this from time to time, and he’s responded to a degree, but I think he still shies away from putting a woman in charge of men.”

Kate smiled. “That’s an astute judgment. What do you think Lance will say when I ask him about you? Do you think he would be reluctant to put you in charge of men?”

“Well, when you ask him, I guess we’ll find out how well I’ve trained him.”

Kate burst out laughing.

“Seriously, I have no fear of what Lance might say about me, and I think you should consider his comments very carefully, because they will be just as unvarnished as his views on everything else.”

“Do you think he’s an honest man?”

Holly shrugged. “I’m not sure honesty is a desirable quality in a spymaster. Lance can certainly be devious and, like everyone else, self-serving, but if it matters, I would be happy to work in an Agency with Lance running it.”

“You’ve been very helpful, Holly. Now get back to work.” Kate opened a file and started reading.

Holly got out of there.