Virtual Perfection by Jason Bourn

Author:Jason Bourn [Bourn, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-07T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

It had taken a bit more than a week to set up the face-to-face meeting with Hope. Calaes’ candidate interviews were winding down. He had more and more gaps of two or three days between interviews. Again, Randy said that he would ensure that the candidate would decide not to break out of VR so Calaes would have several hours of free time to meet with Hope. Calaes had asked Randy how he could ensure this would happen, but Randy had begged off of telling him in the name of security. “Not knowing what you don’t need to know will keep us all safer,” he had said.

Calaes had used the time well. He had gone over the tactics forwards and backwards and now he felt prepared to “win” his conversation with Hope. He had felt that he had not performed very well during their last meeting, so he was determined to do much better. If he thought about it, he knew that he was trying to impress her so he intentionally refused to think about that part of it. He had solidified in his mind the tactics that he felt confident would stand up to any level of scrutiny.

Feeling fully prepared, he set off to meet Hope at the agreed-upon location. As he approached the building, he saw that it had a large lobby. In looking inside the lobby, off to the side, he saw Hope. She nodded quickly to him and walked rapidly to the elevator. Without speaking, she waited for him to enter then pushed the lowest floor button – three floors below ground. Hope silently led him to a large room with solid-looking doors containing a large table and chairs, but not much else.

He closed the door, turned and saw Hope had settled down comfortably into the closest chair. Again, she wore the standard stretch suit – but for some indefinable reason Calaes thought she looked great.

She started out by saying, “My father said that this room is safe for talking without anyone eavesdropping in on our conversations.”

Calaes nodded. He really hadn’t considered checking the security of the room himself, but he saw the wisdom of doing it.

He settled down in a chair across from Hope. Her long golden-brown hair flowed down her back, unencumbered by pins, clips or bands. Calaes felt that this was very much in tune with her personality. She looked at him oddly, turning her head to the side and asked, “What are you looking at? You haven’t taken your eyes off me since we sat down. Do you even know what color the walls are or what is hanging on them?”

She smiled at his look of discomfort. He realized that she was right. He hadn’t noticed anything but her. And there was something else. Not just how she looked. He thought about it, but couldn’t place it. It was there, just outside of his comprehension. She looked back at him, then exhaled loudly shaking her head.

That’s when it hit him. It wasn’t what she looked like that held him.

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