Old Friends, New Friends

I knocked on the door of Richard's office. He opened the door moments later. I followed him inside closing the door behind me. He sat behind his desk and kicked his feet up. He picked up a mini football and tossed it in the air.

"How's your first day going so far, John?"

"It's going good. I can tell that Meredith likes cracking the whip," I replied.

"She's dedicated to excellence," he said with a chuckle before tossing the football to me.

"That's one way to put it," I said while catching the ball. "You had something that you wanted me to do?"

"Yes. I need you to check in with the Head of Security, Luis Hernandez, the Chief of Research, Samuel Willis, and the Project Coordinator, Velena Jackson. Get a status report from them and find out if they need anything for the tech reveal party."

"Okay. I'm on it."

I tossed the football back to Richard and he almost fell over as he reached back to catch it. I gave him a quick thumbs up before I left his office. His secretary was back at her desk as I stepped outside.

"You must be John Walker. Rich was talking about you. It's good to have a face to go with the name. I'm Kimiko Lee," she said as she offered me her hand.

"Kimiko Lee. That's a pretty name," I said while shaking her hand. "Hopefully, everything you've heard about me has been good."

"It was," she replied with a smile.

Kimiko had jade eyes that sparkled like her smile. Her long brown hair stopped in the middle of her back. Her beige skin seemed flawless and toned. Her skirt accented her hips and I felt myself getting warm.

"Ms. Lee can you tell me where to find Velena Jackson and Luis Hernandez's offices at?"

"Sure. Ms. Jackson's office is on the 23rd floor and Luis should be in the security control room on the first floor. The guards at the front desk can show you where that is." She paused, and then said, "You can call me Kimiko."

"Thank you, Kimiko. You can call me John."

I entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 23rd floor. It was a quick ride down 7 floors. I exited the elevator and followed the signs to the door that said Project Coordinator. A camera followed my progress down the hallways. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Please enter," came a voice from an intercom.

I opened the door and stepped into a large office. There was a young woman with mahogany skin standing behind a desk typing on a tablet. She looked up at me.

"Hi Ms. Jackson. I'm John. Richard sent me to check on your status and to find out if you needed anything for the tech reveal party.

"Hi John. I don't think there's really anything that I need except more time to prepare."

"Were you having problems?"

She looked at me as if she was judging my worthiness. She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She placed the tablet on the desk and slid it towards me. Before I could pick it up she placed a hand on mine.

"This is extremely sensitive information," she said. "We're talking about proprietary business secrets."

"I've known Richard and his father for years. I'm trustworthy."

She moved her hand. I picked up the tablet and looked at it. There were numerous charts of numbers and various graphs. I clicked my tongue as I placed the tablet back on the desk.

"I'm not sure what I'm looking at."

"Good," she said with a laugh. "Because if you did, then I'd probably kill you."

I let my mouth drop in fake shock as I placed a hand on my chest. Velena tried not to laugh, but she couldn't hold it in. I waited for her to regain her composure. She smiled as she stifled her laughs. Her eyes shone a brilliant shade of copper.

"These are energy readings for the device that Mr. Grayson wants to unveil. The numbers are off the charts, but we don't really understand what we're working with."

"Is the device working?"

"Yes. Well, as far as we can tell. It seems to be working better than we expected."

"Is that a bad thing," I asked out of curiosity.

"Only time will tell. I'll need to confer with Mr. Willis about it."

"I'm going to see Sam later. Do you want me to send him your way?"

"Sam, huh?"

"Oh. Yeah. We grew up together. He's one of my oldest friends."

"You can tell him to send me an email."

"I'll let him know."

"Thank you. Tell Richard that I don't need anything and we'll be ready for the reveal."

"Thank you Ms. Jackson," I said with a little bow.

I took the elevator to the ground floor. I decided to check in with Luis Hernandez first. I walked to the circular desk in the front of the lobby. I asked one of the security guards how to get to the control room.

He led me to a nondescript door next to a janitorial supply closet. He told me I needed to use the scanner by the door. I held my id card to the barely noticeable scanner. The door clicked and I opened it.

I stepped inside a large room with a wall covered in monitors. There were two women and a man watching the monitors. A bald, husky latino man approached me.

"How can I help you," he asked as he sized me up.

"Richard Grayson sent me to speak to Luis Hernandez."

"I'm Luis and you're John Edward Walker. Former college roommate and new assistant to Richard Grayson; former Marine, honorably discharged; never been married; no kids and 15 minutes late this morning," he said.

"I feel totally unprepared. How do you know all that?"

"It's my job to know."

"I see. You were wrong about one thing though. Once a Marine, always a Marine."

"My mistake. I'll remember that," Luis said with a nod.

"Richard wanted to know your status and if you had any needs for the tech reveal party."

"I have extra security scheduled. I wouldn't mind having more, though. But we should be good. I've tried to cover all the bases."

"Okay. I'll let him know," I said as I walked to the door.

"Hey, Mr. Walker."

"Yes sir."

"Semper Fidelis," Luis said as he saluted me.

"Thank you, sir," I said as I returned his salute.

I left the control room and headed for the lab. I knew that Sam would be expecting to see me. He was excited when I told him that I was hired. He was more excited than I was.

I entered the lab and Sam was typing away on a keyboard. He rolled his chair over to another station and began typing there. He rolled back to the first keyboard and looked at the screen.

"You're looking awfully hard at that screen."

"Hey John. How's your first day at work going," Sam asked as he strode over to me and gave me a fist bump.

"Aside from being late, it's going pretty good. How are things down here?"

"They're going pretty good. Just going over last minute calculations before the tech reveal party."

"Actually that's part of the reason that I'm here. Rich wanted a status report and Ms. Jackson wanted you to email her."

"Velena wanted me to email her? Did she say why," Sam asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I think it has to do with the numbers for the device at the tech reveal party."

"She should understand those better than me," he said with a shrug.

"What is this secret device?"

"It's a secret."

Sam looked at a glass containment chamber at the far end of the lab. There was some type of machine covered up by a large tarp. I pointed towards the chamber as I walked closer.

Several computers began to beep and flash. I could feel a strange power reaching out to me. I noticed that there was a purplish hue coming from the hidden device. Sam spotted it too.

"Hey. Move away. There's a strange energy reading. I don't know what it's going to do."

I moved back towards Sam. The purplish light faded away. All the bells and whistles seemed to die down. I looked at Sam, but I could tell that he wasn't exactly sure what had happened.

"Sam, what's going on? Was that supposed to do whatever it did?"

"I don't know what just happened. I'll need to get Velena down here so we can figure this out. Tell Richard that I'm keeping tabs on the device and if I need something I'll let him know."

"Okay," I said as I started to leave.

"Let's get a drink after work," Sam said while he moved from screen to screen.

"Bet. Maybe you should invite Ms. Jackson. I think she would like it."

"You think so," he asked as he rubbed his chin.

"Yeah. It's just a hunch," I replied.