The Templar Key, By Number One Author (Peter Sparke Book 3) by Chapman Scott

Author:Chapman, Scott [Chapman, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Publish Nation
Published: 2014-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Munich

“You want to see my office?” Sparke was genuinely surprised by Tilly’s suggestion that she should come to see where he worked.

“Well, not desperately, but it seems like a reasonable idea,” said Tilly. “I mean, it sounds like an interesting job that you do, and people do tend to invite people to visit them. They say things like, ‘come over and see me if you are in the area’, and I’m in Munich, so I thought you might want to invite me over. Since I am in the area.”

Sparke, who never thought of his job as much more than a series of engineering projects, couldn’t think of any reason why he would want to say, ‘no’, so he said ‘yes’.

“Tilly, since you are in the area, why don’t you come over to the office for a coffee some time.”

“How about tomorrow at ten?”

“Let me check,” said Sparke.

He lifted his head and spoke towards his computer.

“Screen, diary tomorrow, please.”

The wall screen glowed briefly with a pulse of light, and then responded.

“Peter, you have a 7.30 call with Singapore, then nothing until your 14.30 HR meeting with Lynne on the topic of Paternity Leave Policy,” said the Screen.

“Ten looks fine,” said Sparke. “You know where we are?”

“I’ll GPS you.”

Seeing Tilly in his office the next day was one of those strange experiences where two, normally separate, parts of life start to overlap, a bit like wearing beach clothes to the office. The office that Sparke’s firm occupied was a renovated industrial building, about a hundred years old, with large windows, polished-timber floors and the relaxed, but busy feel of a thoroughly twenty-first-century workspace.

Tilly waved at Sparke through the plate glass that separated the foyer from the main office, where he stood. He opened the sliding door smiling.

“Good to see you,” he said. “You bring your passport?”

“Certainly did,” she said, waving it. “Pretty tight security for an office.”

“Hmm, probably overkill,” agreed Sparke. “Can you put your hand, palm down, on that little screen for me?”

“You take finger prints?” said Tilly, now incredulous.

“Ah, well, we need to make sure that we know who is in the place,” said Sparke, apologetic. “All kinds of things are on people’s screens.”

“Secret stuff?”

“Secret to some people. Come through to my office and we can get a coffee.”

People working at their desks looked up as Tilly walked through the space. Not many people made casual visits to the office and Sparke had never, as far as anyone could remember, shown any evidence of life outside work.

“Where is your famous big computer?” said Tilly.

Sparke pointed to the wall she was standing next to.

“That’s it.”

“What’s it?” said Tilly, seeing a blank wall.

Sparke closed the door to his office.

“Screen, good morning,” he said.

The whole wall glowed into life. Recognizing the relaxed tone in Sparke’s voice, the Screen adopted a similar manner.

“Good morning, Peter. Can we help you in any way today?”

“Screen, guest access, username Pink,” said Sparke, then turning to Tilly, “Say something to the big computer.”

“Good morning, Screen,” she said.

“Good morning, Pink,” said the Screen.

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