This one is completely boring for action fans. Sarah and Josie face off verbally and the conversation gets real.

Chapter 6

Late afternoon the next Monday, Josie entered AG1 to find Sarah waiting for her. She took a deep breath. "So, 'Planning'," Josie said. "Could you be any more vague?"

"Do you really want to start this meeting on an antagonistic note?" Sarah replied mildly.

Josie frowned and reconsidered, "Sorry. Your meeting, you start."

Sarah nodded. "As Chief Operating Officer, I have been woefully neglectful of the most profitable part of Carmichael Industries: Cybersecurity."

Josie sat and folded her arms, "And now, I'm assuming you have a plan for us?"

Sarah shook her head, "No. You've done an amazing job. I wouldn't presume to offer any kind of input without listening to you first."

Josie was taken aback. She frowned thoughtfully and cocked her head, saying, "So you want to hear MY plan for Cybersecurity?"

Sarah leaned forward and looked directly into Josie's eyes, saying, "No, I want to hear your plan for the rest of your life. Then I want to discuss what role Carmichael Industries can play in it."

Josie looked away, "I'm sorry. I'm not prepared to discuss my personal life goals."

Sarah sat back and waited.

"So is that it?" Josie asked, irritated. "Are we done?"

Sarah slowly shook her head no, "We can discuss your personal life goals without preparation. Or we can find something else to talk about. If you insist, we can just stare at each other for the rest of the hour."

Josie's lip curled, "I think I liked the old Sarah better. Life was easier when Chuck was trying to prove himself to you. You trying to prove yourself to him is just unnatural."

"Is that really what you think is going on here, Josie?" Sarah smiled. "That I'm inserting myself into Cybersecurity in order to prove my value to Carmichael Industries?"

"It's not so far fetched," Josie said defensively. "I know that after months of keeping your distance from Chuck and the company, you suddenly moved back in with him and are now attached at the hip. Why don't you tell me YOUR plan for the rest of your life and the company's role in it?"

Sarah stared at her hands thoughtfully for a long moment. "My first instinct is to refuse to allow you the classic dodge of turning my question back on me. But I really do want to approach this as your peer, not one of the founders or your boss's wife."

"My plan for the future is to build a life with Chuck. We both have unique skill sets that have always been most effective when used together. I want us to use our skills to help people. I also want us to build a family. That will include other adults who can add their skills to ours. It will also include children who can take joy in the future we build. I want to use Carmichael Industries to harness our skills and to become a legacy we can pass on." Sarah paused, then added, "Ultimately, thought, it's the people who matter, not the company."

Several minutes passed. Sarah kept her eyes on Josie, her expression completely neutral. Eventually Josie broke the silence, "So are you inviting me to be part of your family?" Her expression was unreadable.

Sarah shook her head, saying quietly, "No, but I'm leaving it open as one possibility."

"And you're not worried I might try to steal your company or your man?" Josie asked, inscrutable as a sphinx.

Sarah turned those scenarios over in her head for a while. Then she allowed, "I admit I don't entirely trust you. But if you could make the company a force for good, I would be OK with you taking it. If you could make my man happy it would shatter my heart but I think I would try to learn to live with it." Then her expression hardened and she said, "If you destroyed either one, I could easily see myself killing you."

Josie's eyebrows shot up and she stared at Sarah for long moment before nodding and saying, "OK, I believe you." She took a deep breath and added. "My priority is my son. I want the best for Desmond and letting go of my government salary and pension was a risk. I expect to be well compensated for the risk I took."

Sarah inclined her head, acknowledging Josie's declaration but clearly waiting for more. Eventually Josie continued, "I admit that I don't have much of a support network. It would be wonderful if I could trust that you and Chuck would welcome us into your family. Unfortunately that need is obvious enough that I would expect you to exploit it to manipulate me. If you or Chuck threatened Desmond I would most certainly do my best to kill you both."

"I appreciate your honesty, Josie," Sarah said with a wry smile. "Thank you for going there even though it made you uncomfortable. I would love to include you and Desmond in our family but I understand you have no reason to trust us."

Clearly uncomfortable, Josie replied, "I have to admit, this is not at all how i expected this meeting to go."

"I'm sorry about that. Radical honesty doesn't feel natural to me either. I blame Chuck's influence," Sarah chuckled mirthlessly. "Since I'm putting my cards on the table, I'm going to have to admit something else. It's the reason we had to meet here." She waved her hand at the panel proclaiming, 'Air Gap Secure'. "I have reason to believe that Nicholas Quinn was working with someone in CIA PsyOps. It's highly likely that there is still someone with an intersect obsession in government who is well aware of who you are and who will be watching Carmichael Industries closely. If they were working with Quinn, they'll be comfortable using resources drawn from the same cesspit, which makes them dangerous."

"Your status as an intersect candidate means you were already on their radar but for your safety and Desmond's you're going to have to carefully weigh the risks of working with us." Sarah took a deep breath and stared directly into Josie's eyes before continuing, "There is, of course, a chance that you are working for Quinn's partners right now as a double agent. If I discover proof that this is the case, you can expect three bullets center mass and two in the skull just to be sure. I'll do what I can to make sure Desmond is taken care of." She held Josie's stare for a long moment with equanimity.

It was Josie who broke the silence, "So if one of Quinn's partners fell completely into your power can you honestly say you wouldn't seize the opportunity to pay back some of the torture Quinn put you through? You'd just kill them quickly and move on?"

Sarah took a long moment to consider, then shrugged, "If it were Quinn himself, I might indulge, though I'd be embarrassed about it afterward. As it happens I killed Quinn quickly and believe it or not it was actually in self defense. In your hypothetical I wouldn't see the point of wasting another moment of my life on them beyond what was required to eliminate the threat."

Josie registered a moment of surprise but didn't challenge Sarah's statement. After another uncomfortable silence she said, "So I guess my options are to leave Carmichael Industries and run or throw in with you and fight them, correct?"

"Correct," Sarah smiled impishly. "But you already knew all this and you've already made your choice. Your speech about leaving the security of government service was cute but we both know it's bullshit. If you'd stayed, you would have eventually been yet another test subject. You could have carved out a clean ID and tried to disappear but you threw in with us instead because, like me, you'd rather be proactive than hide."

Sarah stopped and waited. It was several long minutes before Josie admitted, "Your analysis is correct." Then she immediately changed tack adding, "You DO have to admit, however, that I am the main rainmaker at Carmichael Industries. I think we can both agree that I have cause to feel it's a bit unfair that John Casey has a bigger share of the company than I do."

Sarah didn't miss a beat. She said, "You're right. The way I see it, you need something you have complete control over. I've reviewed my notes from when we first envisioned Carmichael as a cybersecurity company. It's common to isolate the intellectual property for a tech company in a separate holding company. My proposal is that we put the rights for all software and tools Carmichael Industries produces in a holding company in which you would have a 60% stake and Chuck would have 40%. That gives you an additional revenue stream and something you can build on if Carmichael Industries ever crashes and burns."

Josie was taken completely off guard. She said the first thing that popped into her head. "Was this your idea or Chuck's?"

"I haven't talked to Chuck about it yet," Sarah admitted. "But I know I can sell it to him. If you can think of another way to make yours and Desmond's future feel more secure, I'd be willing to listen."

"I would like some time to think about it," Josie acknowledged. "But I really appreciate you trying to find a way to to give me a long term home here."

Sarah nodded and said, "Thanks for hearing me out, Josie. Unless you have something else you'd like to talk about it looks like I can give you twenty minutes back."

Josie got up and left, a bit unsteadily, her mind clearly elsewhere.