“Quality? You don’t think I do quality work,” Laura said, her neck and chest were starting to show red blotches.
Sarah immediately realized that her choice of words was wrong, “Laura. Calm down. You’re working yourself up and you don’t want to say or do something foolish. If I didn’t think the quality of your work was excellent, I would be looking for a replacement for your position. I’m not.”
“Don’t do me any favors,” Laura spat out.
“You don’t realize it but I am doing you one right now. As the Assistant Director, I have all of the same powers and duties as Eller when he is out of the office. All of them,” she said, letting it sink in.
“This just isn’t right. I have the right to protest this. I want to file a formal objection.”
“You are certainly free to do so. Your complaint should be directed to Eller and after that to the President. Sorry, but that’s all there is. Raymond will not be back in Washington for several weeks so you will have to wait until then,” Sarah explained.
“Why can’t I see him or talk to him now?”
“I told you. He is out of Washington on an assignment from the President. I will be more than happy to pass along your desire to meet with him when he checks in with me next time. I have no idea when that will be.”
“You can’t contact him?”
“I cannot.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Laura, let me make a suggestion. You march your butt out of my office and down to yours and cool off before we talk again. If you don’t like answering to me you can always go work someplace else. I am not about to debate who should be in this position. I am, and you can either accept it, or hit the road Jack,” Sarah said, standing up.
Laura spun around and stormed down the hall to her office. Well, that could have gone better, Sarah thought. Before she could give it much thought her phone rang.
“Sarah, or should I say Assistant Director?”
“Don’t you start in on me Willis,” she said, trying to get back on track.
“I just got a call from the Metro Police. They found a body and one of our cards was in the pocket.”
“Body? Whose body?”
“George Snapp.”
It was like a blow to the stomach. It almost took her breath away. She had placed a hand over her eyes without even realizing she had done it.
“When?”
“About an hour ago. It was the crime scene investigation team that found the card,” he told her.
“Did they say how he died?”
“His car exploded. The only reason they found the card was that the explosion threw his upper torso out of the car.”
“God. That’s more than I needed to know.”
“Sorry. What do you want me to do?”
“Get whatever people you need and put surveillance on both Lake and Barnett. I want 24/7 until further notice. Total coverage. No need to be subtle about it either. Let them know what we are doing.”
“Taps? Transponders?”
“The works. Use the new IKONE system on the phones,” she said.
“Got it boss. I’ll have everything in place by the end of the day.”
“Thanks Willis.”
“No problem.”
The IKONE system had been developed to keep anyone from taping into a land line or cell systems. If someone did attempt to tap in, it would trace the tap and then direct the authorities to the person or place. The system had originally been developed to stop crooks from getting information over the airwaves but with a few modifications it had proven to be a useful tool for the Department of Homeland Security.
Sarah spent the rest of the day reviewing the files submitted by the other station heads. It was the first time that it dawned on her just how many files were created in total. She wondered how Eller found the time to do all of this and be at the beck and call of both the President and Congress. She had a new found respect for the Director. She was considering quitting for the night when her phone rang.
“Sarah Steel, Assistant Director of Homeland Security.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Raymond. I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon.”
“Actually, I haven’t left yet. I fly out in about an hour. How did your meeting go?”
“The meeting itself was good. Afterwards was a little more tense,” She said.
“Laura?”
“Well yes. How did you know?”
“I just figured if you had trouble with anyone, it would be her.”
“You were certainly right. It wasn’t a big knock down drag out, but rather unpleasant nevertheless,” she said.
“How did you handle it?”
“Told her the truth and then told her she could either accept it or go someplace else to work.”
“Good. I would have done the same thing. Laura gets the work done, no doubt about it, but at a cost. She takes up too much time whining and complaining. Her reports are seldom on time. When they are, she does an excellent job but it just takes her so damn long. I honestly don’t know what she does with all of her time,” Raymond said.
“Sorry to have to report this but she wants a meeting with you.”
“She will just have to stew. I don’t know when I will be back and the outcome will be exactly the same. She can accept it or go someplace else,” he assured her.
