5- Starting over… chapter five
By four-thirty Friday morning, Walter had driven from the hi-rise condo, had breakfast and pulled into a hotel to get a room and carried in his duffle and laptop case. By five-thirty he was showered, had closed the window drapes, hung the DO NOT DISTURB tag on the door, and was relaxing in his boxers while stretched out across the bed in the air-conditioned room checking mail on the laptop.
Messages were from Richard's data centers he had installed security in- all reported any hacking attempts were repelled and there were no incursions. He set the open laptop on the bedside table, pulled the light blanket over him and dosed off.
Nine-thirty the laptop alerted new mail waking Walter up. He laid a moment orienting himself then pulled the laptop to check for messages.
Walter- all the reports so far for data centers you installed security in have been secure with no issues. Here is another, contact Harley Bishop to schedule. Everything is doing so well with your security. Dean let me know the garage will be ready to tour Monday so will see you there at one. Looking forward to seeing the transformation. My choice for front office manager will be with me for you to meet, and will have all the banking accounts and deposited funds for the jobs you completed. See you then. Richard
Walter checked the time, then contacted Harley Bishop that he would be stopping in by eleven to scan the system to prepare a security program for installation, possibly early Monday morning.
Walter then got up, got dressed, put the laptop in its case and went to the hotel restaurant for coffee. While drinking his coffee, he checked mail to have a message from Harley Bishop saying to stop in any time, inform the guard at the gate and he would come to escort him into the facility.
Walter hit reply that he was on the way, finished his coffee, closed and put the laptop in its case and headed for the car to drive to Anaheim.
After scanning the Anaheim data center's system, Walter headed to the garage to work up the security program on his desktop unit. Pulling in at the front of the garage, sure enough there were little trees in the planters bracketing the door. The door was open so he walked in, the office space was furnished with his desk still parked in the middle- probably will be the last thing moved after he is back. He powered the desktop unit up and sat down, pulling the laptop out of its case to open and put to the corner of the desk. While the desktop unit was booting up, he rose to go into the kitchen to see if any coffee was available to find Dean entering through the door from the separate back area.
"Walter! Nice to see you. You may like this little finishing detail," he said opening a cabinet and pulling out a coffee cup with 'Scorpion Security Systems' and a black scorpion on it. "How you like that?"
"Wow, a touch I never would have thought of. I have some work to do at the desk should be but a couple hours. Then will be out of your hair until Monday at one. Got a message from Richard that he will be here as well."
"The last thing to move is your desk and its computer. You want to retain that desk? The den area in the loft already has a desk and cabinets but your decision. And I take it you want to move the computer yourself?"
"When I finish this job in a couple hours, I can shut down and disconnect this computer so you can move it and do whatever with the desk- put somewhere or get rid of. Have a box handy I can empty the drawers of the hard drives and flash drives and whatever is in it to go to the loft den. The computer can be put there as well, I will do the hook-up myself Monday afternoon after everyone leaves."
Dean poured Walter a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "Enjoy your coffee, will bring a box for you shortly."
Walter taking the coffee said, "thank you," and returned to the desk to begin work. He sat down and thought for a moment then pulled the desktop keyboard closer and brought up the program he needed to scan through, and began the necessary alterations. Within three hours, he pulled an external hard drive out of a drawer, removed its packaging and began the transfer. He got up to get more coffee and went through the kitchen door to the rest of the garage to see Dean and workers discussing issues. One, the man Walter had talked to about trees was there and noticed Walter.
"Mr. O'Brien! I put dwarf lemons by the door and a Mandarin orange between the garage doors. Picked the best and most healthy looking the nursery had, and every customer that enters will have the lovely citrus fragrance in their nose on the way in," he said with a big smile. "Good for business, huh?" he added taking off through the garage open door to the alley.
Dean turned around, "Hey Walter. Let me show you a few things here in the open bays. I told you the two bays have plumbing in for the air compressor. In this cabinet are the hoses to quick connect at the different ports. We just power washed and sealed the concrete floor in the two bays. You see the tile flooring in the rest of the open area, the seating area set up for guests and separate lighting depending on what is needed, switches are labeled. How you like it so far?"
"Rather overwhelming, honestly. Not my homey, old, lived in garage anymore, but I am sure I will fit into it in time."
Dean laughed, "I am sure you will fit in once back in the place. You will have much more square feet of room here between this area and the loft than most people in their expensive McMansion's here in LA. To be honest, with the loft upstairs Anna doing the living space- I am kinda' jealous. She has really pulled out the stops and done a beautiful job. She really was happy to have such, as she called it, a blank slate to work with."
"Possible to go up and check it out?"
Dean shook his head, "nope, gotta' wait for Monday. Anna is looking forward to your reaction when it is completely finished," Dean laughed. "I show you hook-ups for tools, she will wax poetic on whirlpool bathtubs, separate showers, not to mention ambient lighting and color coordinated bedsheets and bath towels."
"She has not put up frilly curtains and knick-knacks I hope. Not into dust collecting useless trinkets," Walter said sipping his coffee.
"No, she scoped out your loft before making any changes- she can 'read' a person by their living quarters. She made a comment about the total lack of frivolous stuff- no statues, pictures, bookends, and the like. Don't worry, she won't force feed you women's idea of fashionable décor." Dean said. "Same with Pat and the office décor- a lot of wood, formal setting with some modern chrome touches for the computer world these days. Once your desk is removed, she will be getting the office furniture set up and staged. Here is a crate for the contents of your desk if you are done."
"Thanks, will clean everything out and disconnect the computer once the download is completed. Will be heading out when done and see you Monday afternoon at one."
Walter went back to the office area through the kitchen. The download was done so he disconnected and packaged up the hard drive and put it in the laptop case. He then sat down and pulled everything out of the drawers to put in the crate. When completed, he put the crate on top the desk, shut down and disconnected the desk top unit. He checked the laptop for mail then closed it up and slipped it into its case. Standing there, he looked around for a moment when Dean entered from the kitchen.
"Taking the last look around, Walter?"
"Yes, things will be radically different come Monday. The old Scorpion is dead and gone with all these changes. I will be happy to get back here, though…. it is home, after all."
"Monday you will be starting over, a new environment, and a new business prospect. Do me a favor, when you come in Monday, everyone who was involved in this project will be here. If you remember, make a comment about the lemon tree fragrance at the door- the crew appreciates the little things being noticed. By the way, the garage doors were replaced with automatic doors so the remotes will be on the desk. Knowing there have been instances where automatic doors have been inadvertently activated, these are set up with manual stops. You will have to manually slide the stops and either open the door manually or use the remote."
"Thanks for taking the precautions. Have a good evening," Walter said and, picking up the laptop case, left. Going out the door he did stop to smell the citrus fragrance of the small, flowering lemon trees by the door. Then got in the car to go to the hotel for the weekend.
Walter popped in to a store and picked up some swim trunks to use the hotel pool over the weekend. He jumped in and did some laps when most others were having dinner so was not disturbed with pool side socializing. He went to the hotel restaurant at odd times as well and got a couple good night's sleep.
Monday morning he awoke and went to the pool to do a few laps, then returned to his room to shower and relax while checking the laptop for any messages:
Walter- remodel viewing of the garage at one o'clock Monday. Dean
Walter- Will meet you at the garage at one, Monday afternoon with bank cards. Richard
Mr. O'Brien- The security system install can be done at your convenience. H. Bishop
Walter then got dressed, packed up his duffle and checked out having breakfast at the hotel restaurant. When done he put his duffle in the trunk and left to go to the data center to install the security program. When completed, while Harley Bishop was escorting him to the gate Walter gave direction on the monitoring of the system and to contact him should any problems arise or let him know of any hacking activity even if not successful. At the gate he shook hands, went to the car and left. He decided to stop in at Kovelski's for some coffee and to wait to get to the garage at one. Pulling in to Kovelski's parking lot he did not spot and vehicles he recognized so parked and walked in to sit at a corner booth opening the laptop to check mail.
The waitress came over, "Hey Walter, been quite a while. Nice to see you, what can I get for you?"
"Just a cheeseburger and coffee, thanks."
"Of course, should have known. Be right up with the coffee," she said and left, returning with a large cup and poured coffee for him.
Looking through a couple messages, he absently said thanks while she poured the coffee. While on-line he checked his Number One Bank account to check the available funds left over from the hacking awards. He then shut down that site and left it open.
"Here you go, Walter," the waitress said as she brought his cheeseburger. "I will freshen your coffee in a minute."
"Thanks."
Finishing up he closed his laptop, rose and took the tab to the register to pay and leave. Was still going to be a bit early, but figured it would not be a problem. Pulling up to the garage there were a number of cars, including Richard's yellow Ferrari. All the doors were open with numerous people standing around talking. When he got out of his car Richard was at the door with Gina from the hi-rise condo. Spotting Walter Richard waved with a big smile.
"Well, Walter, welcome home at last. I must say I will never make a snide comment about your garage again. The place is beautiful, and you can still pull your car in." Richard said with a smile. "I believe you know Gina. She is the business and finance major I thought would be perfect as your office manager. She will handle everything while you just design, code, and figure out theoretical math."
"Hello, Richard. Gina, nice to see you again." Walter said as everyone gathered together to begin the tour. "Can certainly smell those citrus flowers by the door."
Dean stepped up with a chuckle, "Good one, Walter. Come along, time to see your new abode." Gina was talking with Pat on the office set up and shown the kitchen and bathroom as well as the appliances she would be dealing with. Dean, Anna, Richard and Walter went up the central stairs to the loft. The den was the first area, built-in shelves already contained all his books. The desk was a massive mahogany piece carved with Irish themed clover and lions, his computer placed but not hooked up. The Scorpion Explosives sign centered on the back wall between the windows over-looking the alley that were fitted with folding shutters. The windows over-looking the first floor were removed and left open made into arches by the wood surrounds, the pictures of Walter and Megan as children and adults were nicely framed and hung between the arches. The rest of the combined loft area was filled with kitchen larger than previous, same with the bathroom with whirlpool tub and separate shower the bedroom complete with king-sized bed and floor to ceiling dressers, cabinets and shelves. The windows overlooking the bay were also arched but had glass and fitted shutters for privacy. Color scheme was royal blue, Kelly green and brass, same with the bathroom.
"There is the central ramp with curved stairs now along-side the ramp to the loft, but at both back corners there are wrought iron spiral stairs for safe egress in the event it is needed. Don't take up much space but good for safe exiting if necessary. We also installed the same for getting to the roof which now has a partially covered seating area, you can always bring up a grill to picnic up there. Juan also put a couple climbing Cecil Bruner rose plants in big pots to, in time, cover the seating area- if you remember to water them. You will find the roof to be as pleasant as any backyard but without the grass mowing, tree trimming maintenance."
Richard handed Walter a notebook containing before and after pictures as well as all the appliance registrations and instruction manuals. Tucked in the notebook was the file containing the Elias Enterprises bank cards and the account information. "As far as the bank accounts go, the retainer and completed security job funds have been deposited. All funds are automatically deposited. Most everyone opts for a saving and checking accounts so the deposits are divided equally into each, ATM cards in the file with the temporary PIN you can change at your leisure. Quite a transformation, from leaky industrial garage to fit for a king living quarters. The crew are already leaving, the rest will be shortly. How about you, Gina and I go have dinner at my favorite Italian place, then you can come back and start setting up your computer and settle in."
"You and Gina go ahead, I want to change the security codes and do a quick check on some things and will meet you there shortly."
Richard and Gina left. Walter put the notebook and his laptop on the loft desk and decided to hook up the desk top unit in the morning. He did check the separate security monitoring data for the cellar but nothing had been disturbed. He then went and made sure the two garage doors had their manual stops in place. He then went to the building security system and changed the code then went out the door, set the security, got in his car and headed to join Richard and Gina at the Italian restaurant.
Entering the restaurant Walter joined Richard and Gina at Richard's usual table.
"Sorry to make you wait, but wanted to change security code for the building, managed to not get lost in the place. Have to admit, having so much room now will feel like a BB in a boxcar rolling around the place. But, will settle in in short order I am sure."
The waiter came and took orders and left.
"Walter, I looked over numerous interns of the business/finance sector and Gina was the most notable. She told me she met you at the condo." Richard said and nodded to Gina.
Gina said, "I fully understand this is a trial period, it is a completely new business model so will have to try out different methods and I understand while I may start there, I may not 'fit' as well as another might. That being the case, should there be a clash, neither you nor I will have to explain the personnel change."
Walter chuckled, "you will find I am not really as difficult to be around as many think as long as you understand the office is separate from my living quarters. Privacy is all I need. You can yell, or more civilly, just message me- my laptop is open at all times and I check immediately when there is a mail alert. When coding, working design or math I prefer to not be disturbed, matter of fact you may have a hard time getting my attention when I am focused on something. You are already well aware of my lack of socializing with groups- any future customers are all yours to deal with."
Drinks were refilled and entrees set by the waiter.
Richard laughed. "Walter, I dare say there is probably a better than even chance Gina will ask for a transfer within six months with all that. Not many people have the fortitude to work for someone they never see. You have no idea how many of my employees I know by name as well as something about them, their hobbies or family."
"I thought the office manager was your employee, Richard, not mine. You are the successful businessman, not me. If the success of this affiliation is dependent on my social skills it is doomed to failure in short order. I am geared toward code, design, and math, give me the issue, I will solve it. That is my forte as you well know. That reminds me," Walter said getting a pad and pen from his jacket pocket. "Here is the security code to get in when you come to work, Gina. Don't want you camped out on the doorstep waiting to get in."
"This is going to be an interesting experiment." Richard said with a laugh and dug into his lasagna.
"Boy, amen to that," Gina mumbled returning to her spaghetti.
"For what it is worth, I enjoy experiments," Walter said with a smile, taking a bite of garlic bread.
