The next morning back in New York, Kate awoke with a lot on her plate. Her resume was certainly not up to date, and she has lost contact with people like Victoria Gates who might serve as a valuable references. According to the papers, Gates had moved up the ladder at 1PP and now was in the top leadership circle. She called and got an appointment for later that week. That all changed when when Victoria called her back to suggest a long lunch at a trendy restaurant instead.
After being seated in a quiet alcove, Kate immediately broached the subject of her recent sudden unemployment and need to find a new career path. Gates was surprisingly supportive and totally unconcerned by what seemed like a bad ending at the agency. "These things happen all the time now; nothing lasts forever. I have been blessed; not many are." Gates happily offered to help and informed her that the NYPD had hired more than a few former agency types. "Most are in the cyber command, and I know they would like more?"
Kate replied, "Not my area of expertise; I would be better in the field."
Gates responded, "Lots of retirements are creating other opportunities." The idea of reemployment at the NYPD had not occurred to her given how she abruptly left the Twelfth. The lunch ended on an upbeat note with news that Kevin and Javier were now lead detectives at different precincts while Lanie was working in DC waiting for her man to propose.
After a leisurely walk home, she started a rough draft of her resume and quickly realized she would some creative help for her last job. Luckily, the agency had provided contact info for a person who could help with transitioning to what they referred to as 'normal life'. Early the next morning, she called Lucie and was greeted by a cheerful enthusiastic voice. After looking over her record, she suggested sending Kate the wording the agency recommended. Calls for additional info were to go through a special number. As she explained, "If you get a probing questions, keep to the script, and if they dig too deep, claim it's classified. That always stops them dead in their tracks." Kate hung up thinking this job search might not be so bad after all.
The next day, bleary from wordsmithing her resume, she opted to head to the combat club. Her reception was not like usual. Her fight with Thad had raised her profile significantly among the gym rats, and some now openly taunted her for a chance prove it was just a fluke that would not be repeated. She felt some sparring might be welcome and opted for a couple of rounds with a particularly obnoxious guy. Unfortunately, his words fell far short of his skills, and that only added to her unsolicited notoriety.
On her way home, she hatched a plan to dial down that notoriety very soon. By the end of the weekend with the resume in its final iteration, she strolled down to the combat club for her dive performance. She picked one of the more competent regulars, put up some flourishes, and totally folded. A small crowd swarmed the new winner, while she made a hasty retreat to the showers fully confident that a different result was easily within reach.
The call from the company came the next week. From her perspective it went really well. Thad's recommendation carried some weight with owner, and they focused on an overview of the job. The job was to be part of the sales team to assess properties for security vulnerabilities and suggest solutions that involved products, installation, and monitoring services his company provided. The owner was sure her stint in law enforcement would be a huge competitive advantage in luring skeptical customers to place orders.
The interview was scheduled for two days hence. That morning, the owner met her at the train station for the five minute walk to the office. The company was housed in a non-de-script strip mall. On a quick tour, she got a gander of the place, met just about everybody, and learned more about the specifics she would be tasked with.
When time came for a discussion of her last job, she took her cues from Lucy to emphasize that her reconnaissance and surveillance skills were easily adaptable to the analysis of vulnerabilities of private households or businesses by simply reversing the perspective. After a lunch, the owner took her for a visit to his own house that he assured her was fitted with latest and greatest. After about an hour tour, he got into the car looking very smug until she pointed out three flaws he failed to consider. On the train ride home, she was sure a job offer would be forthcoming
That night she went solo to one of Castle's favorite Italian haunts to celebrate. After finishing the last of the wine, she checked the weather for the following day and decided to do a test commute on her bike and perhaps even take a swing by Castle's gate out in the Hamptons. The commute was longer than she thought and Rick's gate looked little changed from when she last saw it. The call came the next day during her lengthy plank routine. She was happy for the interruption and returned to the rigid position even happier.
The job started the following week, and she spent the first day completing paperwork and listening to a long lecture on company history and policy. Her mentor for the first three weeks was the sales team leader who introduced her to the product line, installs, and sales strategies. After three weeks, she went on her first sales call and was surprised by the deference customers gave her because of her law enforcement background. While the sales agent gave her pitch, Kate excused herself for a tour of the property. For the next couple days she worked diligently building her report. It was presented that Friday to both the sales agent and her new boss. Both were pleased with the report, and she would begin regular sols sales calls the following week.