The Second Sphere

“That’s fantastic,” Quincy Laslow said after I presented the good news to him.

“So, I think, sir,” Bryant said, “that we can easily flip this terrible situation into something positive. We get Newberry on our team. Keep him in the game and get him feeding us.”

“I like the way that sounds, Bryant. I like the way you’ve worked this.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“And where’s Rosie this fine morning?” Quincy Laslow asked suddenly. “I’d think she’d be up here sharing the good news with you.”

Bryant stuck a finger in his collar and fondled his neck. “Well, sir, that was something else that I wanted to bring up with you later.”

“Yes?”

And so Bryant told him about Rosie, leaving off a bit about the Love and emphasizing the amount of time that she worked recently. There was no reason to throw her out. Not yet. Bryant would give her another chance.

“Well, that’s too bad. I hope she can come back to work refreshed.” He cleared his throat, paused a beat and then said, “I think you’re going to need some help on this one. You’ve got a lot on your plate right now with the auditors and the New Mumbai investigation, and now this.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’m going to need some help with logistical work,” I said. “You’re right, everyone else in my unit is swamped. I can’t throw something else at them.”

“What do you need?” Quincy asked.

“Someone who’s got some field experience, someone who doesn’t mind getting in Newberry’s head.”

“What’re you thinking, Orion?” Bryant asked.

“I’m thinking I put a Source trace on him tonight. We have someone watching him once it starts and we see what happens.”

Quincy stroked his chin. “This sounds like a PI job. We’ve got a lot of good people down there, some of them who might be interested in making the switch to Intelligence sometime in the near future.”

“I like the sound of that,” I said.

“I’ll set something up for you,” Quincy said.

We left Quincy’s office. There was an air of certainty surrounding the day. For the first time in a while, things seemed to be going right.