Starting over… chapter one
Standing there watching Sylvester, then Paige, then Toby and Happy walk out, hearing that door shut Walter stood there unbelieving. He looked at Florence, then Cabe both of whom appeared to be confused. Florence left after her damning, devastating confession, so once again there was the sound of the door closing. Cabe, in shock looking from the door to Walter, turned to Walter standing stock still, dark eyes wide and unseeing.
"Walter, what just happened?" Cabe asked. "What the hell just happened?"
"It is over," Walter murmured. "The end of everything."
"No, no, Walter, they will be back," Cabe said, "Just give them time to cool off and think of what they are doing. What a stupid argument, over nothing. So you went to a lecture with Flo, big deal; same as me going with you. Paige knows you love her. She will be back."
Walter turned wide, stricken eyes to Cabe. "You heard what she said. Gods, everyone heard what she said. She is tired of me, I never satisfied her, never could as I am… oh gods, she's gone, Cabe." Walter turned and went to sit at his desk in a slump. A few moments later he then sat up straight, "the Gettleman proposal will have to be rewritten, I will work on it tonight."
Cabe walked to stand by Walter's chair, one hand on the desk the other on Walter's shoulder, "Walter, why not leave that for tomorrow, won't have to be rewritten when they all come back when tempers are cooled."
Walter looked up at Cabe, dark eyes closed off like Cabe has not seen in Walter in a long, long time- since their Bagdad bombing confrontation. "Work needs to be done, the proposal is next week. Most of the team is gone, things need to be reworked. Good night Cabe, I have work to do, I'll call when needed."
Cabe looked at Walter as he pulled his desktop keyboard closer and started typing. "Alright, Walter, alright, call me if you need anything."
Walter called Cabe and Florence to join him for presenting the Gettleman proposal. The proposal went well but, when leaving the CEO's office, to find the Centipede Partners all lined up to enter with a competing proposal was a shock. When the door closed in Walter's face after his calling to Paige, the drive back to the garage was silent and foreboding.
Getting out of the SUV, Walter turned to Cabe and Florence. "Thank you for your time today, your services will no longer be needed. Scorpion is closed and out of business." Walter then walked into the garage, closed and locked the door to leave them both standing there.
Once inside the garage, Walter went to sit at his desk for a moment then called the Gettleman office to inform the secretary that the Scorpion proposal was rescinded. He then leaned back in his chair to think about his future…. or the lack thereof.
Sitting there he thought…. and thought….. and thought…. and thought throughout the night and came up blank. Saw nothing but a big blank, a total dead zone. After hours of mind numbing nothingness, he got up and got the coffee going then wandered around the garage- Sylvester's neat desk and chalkboard with his latest math in work, there are Happy's tools and engine parts on her workbench, over there Toby's desk and filled bookshelves, here is Paige's neat desk and upstairs her clothes, make-up, shampoo, lotions. All the things that made the garage a home, workplace, and meeting place for friends.
He sat back down at his desk and thinks- this is starting to remind me of when I was nine- the loft in the barn of his parents place. That also was a refuge from all the pain of being outcast only now there was no longer a Megan to visit and lighten the darkness for a while. Childhood except for Megan was anguish. Teenager with the burden of the Bagdad bombing deaths, taking on the responsibility as a young adult to gather the funds to get Scorpion going, the difficulties keeping it together until Homeland swooped in. The four years of life risking cases, the emotional turmoil of working with people, finally coming to terms and emotional growth to open up to life and love with Paige to have it all wiped out. Paige was not satisfied with him, and never was. He was nothing. Immature, weird, not human….. not a man, not fit for real people to be around. With Megan gone, he had no anchor, no other person to lean on….
That was the eye opener that made him sit up. He IS a man, a damned smart man, why should he need to lean on anyone. He was capable- he had gathered the funds to start Scorpion, he can do it again. Like Richard had said about his 'smart building', failure is a learning experience, to pick up, try again, move forward. This iteration of Scorpion was an epic failure. Its success was dependent on others- that was the first mistake he made- depending on others. Thinking there would be appreciation and loyalty for giving others a base for them to excel. Where would Happy, Toby, or Sylvester be had he not stepped in and brought them together to give them a platform to display their excellence and ability, show the world what a team of geniuses was capable of. So much for that lofty idea as they have proven that they cannot show loyalty to the one person who kept them from going down the abysmal road their lives were on before he met them.
Powering up the desktop computer, he brought up his finances for review- what he owed, his assets, liquid funds. First and foremost is retention of the garage- his home, his electronics, his base. Number one issue to address is paying off the garage- owning the entire structure. How to accrue the needed funds to get that issue resolved. Been paying on it for years, so not much needed to get it free and clear. Did a quick search on awards for computer issues.
poof= a list of computer security systems the developers would give awards to any hacker that can get through their security. He chose the highest award listed by Number One Security Systems, reviewed their software, and got to work.
Three days later he broke through and left a message routed through a computer coffee shop in Denver, Colorado on the developer's personal computer: YOUR SECURITY SYSTEM NEEDS WORK. Send award funds to on-line Number One Bank, account #4528550. Once funds are deposited will inform where system was breached.
After sending the message, he hiked up the steps to the loft to shower and get some sleep.
He went to the second on the list, Primo Security Software, and in two days he broke through to leave the same message routed through a computer coffee shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the developer's personal computer: YOUR SECUTRITY SYSTEM NEEDS WORK, send award funds to on-line Number One Bank, account #4528550. Once funds are deposited will inform where system was breached.
After sending the message, he hiked up the steps to the loft to shower and get some sleep.
He spent time at the garage deciding to give the breached program developers time to come to terms and make the decision to fund the award to get instruction on fixing their failed system. He also spent the time going through those breached systems and rewrote the necessary fixes where needed and reinforced the security so if requested, for a fee he could send them a secure program. For a fee- a good sized fee.
The fifth day after sending the messages to the developers, he awoke, got dressed, took a drive across town to a computer coffee shop to check the on-line bank account and there it was, more than enough funds to pay off the garage and keep him in coffee for some time. Both developers had deposited the awards. He drove back to the garage and sent the information to each developer on where their system was breached, again, routing the messages through a computer coffee café in Baltimore, Maryland, the other from a computer café in Austin, Texas.
The following day, he contacted the real estate broker to get the paperwork started to finally pay off the garage- he would own the entire stand-alone structure so not have to worry about a neighbor again as Florence had vacated to return to Texas. May even open up the dividing wall to make the entire structure usable.
Being out of debt, now, owning his home so no worries about his future as far as a roof over his head and his electronics were safe, he contacted the Scorpion attorney to have all Scorpion assets, patents, etc. transferred to Centipede Partners, once completed terminate the Scorpion retainer and send a final bill for services rendered. He also had the attorney inform Centipede Partners that the Scorpion office would be open for twelve hours the following Wednesday of the asset transfer so the former Scorpion employees could gather their possessions. After that security codes would be changed and no access given.
Once done, he sat back to think of what to do with himself- he was totally out of debt once all the transactions with real estate agent and attorney were completed, his home assured, his electronics safe. Now what to do. Clean out unnecessary files from his computer- Scorpion related files, clean out everything related to the past years of Homeland cases, anything related to the Scorpion team members. Everything- transferred to an external drive to store in case needed in future, but gone from his working system going forward. He again sat up and brought up his rocket fuel system component. Certainly do not need rocket components. He had, on sleepless nights completely redesigned it and did computer modeling on the efficiency so he put all the drawings, specifications, data results in a file and attached it to a message to Richard Elias:
Richard- I have no use for this. Walter
A few days have passed with Walter wandering the garage and pondering his future. He could always do his security system coding for income. Don't need anyone to help him with that kind of work, and it pays well. Scorpion Security Systems. First possible clients to approach were the two developers whose awards paid off his home. Having gone through their system in depth in order to hack it he was quite cognizant of the problem and where to correct. Same with the second program he managed to hack. Walter pulled the keyboard of the desktop unit closer and began typing a message to those two developers that Scorpion Securities could offer a secure system within the parameters of their hacked system.
While composing the proposal to the two developers his laptop, open at the corner of the desk alerted there was new mail. He reached over to see the message- was from Richard Elias:
Walter- per the engineers, there is enough difference in this design from the one you put out in the public domain- the legal department is working on getting it patented. When I incorporate this design into present manufacture, where should the check be sent? Richard.
Walter sat for a moment and hit reply:
Richard- Send check to self- the design is yours. Walter
He then continued the message to the developers and sent them off. Again the laptop alerted new mail- from the Scorpion attorney:
Mr. O'Brien: the Scorpion patents, assets, contracts, have all been transferred to Centipede Partners as of this day. They have been informed the Scorpion office will be open the following Wednesday for them to retrieve possessions. They agreed to this so should be there tomorrow morning at nine.
Walter sat back- they will be here tomorrow morning to finish cleaning out Scorpion- leaving but an empty skeleton. The place will be quite empty once all their possessions are removed. There is nothing for any of them to retrieve from the roof so guess I will sit up there while they gather everything. He pulled a pen and paper out from the desk drawer to write a note:
-PROTON ARNOLD CONSOLE BELONGS TO RALPH-
He taped it to the console screen so easily seen to ensure it gets to Ralph. He thought of the day it was delivered. Then the day the garage was ransacked and Ralph and he repaired it. He gave a little huff, good times he thought. Over and done. Then he went up the stairs to the loft to clean it up from bachelor living the past few weeks. Do wash, make the bed, dust, empty trashcans and make everything neat and tidy for the coming invasion in the morning. When done he set up the coffee maker in the downstairs kitchen, then returned to the loft to shower and sleep….. but he didn't sleep.
Eight in the morning he quit staring at the ceiling, got up, dressed, went down to the kitchen, started the coffee, and opened the roll-up door to the back bay, as well as the front door. Poured himself a cup and went to sit at his desk to await their arrival. He put his laptop in its case, shut down the desktop unit and continued to sip his coffee. Hearing a number of vehicles pull in the front and alley at the back-bay, he rose, looked around at everything one last time then grabbed his laptop case and headed up to the roof to await their leaving. They entered when he reached the top of the stairs to the loft, he turned for one last look at them- Paige looked up and they locked eyes for a moment to be broken when she went to her desk so he continued on to the roof. He put his laptop case on the picnic table and walked to the wall to look over the neighborhood, watching pigeons swoop around and disappear into the park a couple blocks away.
Paige is still beautiful to my eyes. Just her presence still takes my breath away and makes my chest constrict he thought. Will that ever end, he wondered as he turned to sit on the picnic table, feet on the bench. I obviously have no effect on her as she did not even hesitate to look elsewhere to get to the job at hand- destroying his life. She is gone, Ralph is gone, those he thought of as friends were gone, his business is gone- he is right where he was when he cut ties to Cabe after the truth of the Bagdad bombing finally came to light. Sixteen years old and on his own, roaming the country, worried about nightmares, deportation, eating the next meal. This time he has a base- the garage, the ways and means of income- coding, now a citizen, so in much better shape… nightmares still hit, but that is survivable. He really does not need anyone- he survived and managed as a sixteen year old, he can certainly manage at thirty-four….. older and, after this Scorpion failure, relationship failure, friendship failures, so very much wiser. He moved his laptop case and laid out on the picnic table watching the few clouds in the LA sky slowly head east, changing shape on the way. Change- the only constant- especially when working with people. Changing loyalties, changing moods, change for the sake of change. He heard a car leave, heard things being loaded into Happy's truck- heavy toolboxes. Surely more than one trip will need to be made with her small truck. He got up, went down the steps to the loft to use the head. In the bathroom all the shampoo, lotions, make-up, hairbrushes were gone. Coming out and not wanting to go downstairs for fresh coffee he started another pot of coffee in the loft kitchen. While brewing he went into the bedroom and saw the drawers were left open and empty, same with the closet. He closed the closet door, closed the dresser drawers and stood there until the coffee quit gurgling to turn to see Paige standing at the loft door.
"Walter, I am sorry," she said.
"For what? For leaving me, taking Ralph away? For the destruction of my business? For telling me I am less than a man?" Walter asked quietly, went into the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, and returned to the roof.
Walter remained on the roof or in the loft until the twelve hours passed. At nine that evening everyone was long gone when he went downstairs to see the place emptied except for desks, only his desk having its computer still in place, the Scorpion Explosives sign, his toolbox in the back bay, and assorted things left behind unwanted. Whiteboards remained but Sylvester's chalkboard was gone. The deal was done and reality sets in as he closed and locked the roll-up door, walked through the common area to close the front door and set security. While he had consciously known it, looking around at the empty garage the reality of it truly hits him- they all are really gone and out of his life. He sat down at his desk, elbows on desktop, put his face in his hands and wept.
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