Chapter 28

                Jordan Keller was studying the screen in front of him when his personal secretary knocked on his office door.  He had tried without success to get Maggie to use the interoffice communications system but she never could bring herself to trust it.

                “Come in,” Jordan said never taking his eyes off his work.

                Maggie Pierce, saddled early in life with a nick name she hated, Mag Pie and on occasion Maggs, had been the only secretary Jordan Keller ever had.  Friends since college, she had helped and supported him throughout his many business ventures over the years.  Maggie thought at one time that Jordan was her sole mate and told herself that was why she had never sought out a path or career of her own.  When Jordan married, only a few years after graduation, she put ideas of romance aside and remained his closest friend and confidant.  Now after almost 30 years the two of them had an almost symbiotic like relationship.  At times they could even finish each others sentences.

                “Reports have come in about the damage to the Center Complex.  You should take a break and look them over.  There are decisions to be made about repair priorities and several department heads are whining to be the first back in service.” Maggie talked to Jordan more like a brother than a boss.

                “I’ve just been studying a run down of everything the Center has on Davis’ Death, the missing Probe and all the suspicions coming to light through the incident investigation.  I never should have sent Davis out by himself.  Rare as it might be, there have been other missions that required another operative be sent along with a Probe/Director paring.  A second living mind might have sensed the danger Davis was in and by protocol would have been consulted before Davis’ repair module was jettisoned after this mysterious OIA message was received.” Jordan had put his grief aside, concentrating now on making the responsible party pay. “I will… get to the bottom of this mess.”

                The office building Jordan occupied was a fortress.  Though nondescript by design, it held every conceivable form of technological wizardry and his security team could defend it from the deadliest of attacks.  Jordan also maintained a staff of the best scientists and researcher’s money could buy but if you asked any of his employees, many having followed him through life just as Maggie had done, they couldn’t think of working for anyone else.  Loyalty was given and received by both boss and employee alike.

                Jordan kept his hub of operations secret and was glad he had not given into his desire to work out of the Center’s Penthouse Suite, at the top of the building just violated.  He learned a long time ago that others would always want what he had worked so hard for, the money mostly but money brought respect and ultimately power, irresistible to those who were unsuccessful at earning it for themselves.  He suspected that in the end Davis’ death and near loss of a Probe, the attack on the Center and the discovered time wave, were all going to be linked somehow.  The deviant or deviants behind this would be uncovered and he was finally making some headway.

                “You’ve been at this for hours.” Maggie said sternly, “You need some rest.  Let all your minions looking into the problem have a little more time.  What good will working to exhaustion, do you?  If you miss something because you’re tired, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

                Jordan had received a message just before Maggie had interrupted him, from the command bunker below the subfloor of the Center.  He knew that a critical meeting was about to take place.  Enough of the pieces to the Probe puzzle were now available to study and if anyone could connect the dots, it was these four men and their dossiers revealed competence and the proven track record he demanded of his employees.  A teleconference link was being established so that he could join the meeting as soon as it began. 

                “Have the research department go back over the data on the time wave.  I need to know how much time we have before another mission must be initiated.” Jordan realized he would need to act soon and tried to keep the angst out of his voice. “I’m aware that our problem Probe has reinitiated communications and is waiting for orders.  Instruct the Directorate to advise me immediately when they are ready to proceed.  Nothing is to be transmitted until I have been briefed.  As I understand it, this particular Probe’s programming has saved it from extinction and has amazingly found and trained a new Director.  We desperately need to bring it in safely and study its entire mission history.”

                Jordan’s desk com chimed and he noticed it was the security line only available to the Center’s Directorate Manager Andrew Kenfer.

                “Yes? Jordan Keller here.” Jordan expected to be in communication with Kenfer soon over the teleconference connection from the Center’s Command Center and wondered why the advance call.

                “Mr. Jordan, thank you for taking my call.  As you probably know, I was shaken up a bit during the attack on the Center.  I have been treated and although in mild pain will be joining my associates shortly for our crisis meeting.  I wanted to tell you that even though I trust my team implicitly, I may find it necessary to hide by exclusion some of the facts I have become privy to in this matter.  Your files have absolutely everything I know about the situation and I didn’t want you to question me if you notice I have left out information during our meeting. I may also alter information and want you to understand and trust that I have a reason for altering any facts for the moment.” Kenfer was hoping Mr. Jordan would go along with him for now. “I’ll explain later if my theory pans out but I can tell you I know for sure we have a spy in our midst.”

                Jordan thought to himself that this was not really an unexpected development.  Commercial espionage was not uncommon and he had people investigating along those lines himself.

                “Ok,” Jordan said, “I respect your authority in this matter and will defer to your plan.  As you say, I’ll expect an explanation after the meeting and rest assured I will not comment on your actions.”

                “Thank you, I’m not yet sure exactly what path our meeting may take but I knew you would have done your homework and recognized any variation from the information I sent over to your office.  I want to have free reign over the facts hopping to smoke out our spy.”

                Kenfer had immense respect for Mr. Keller and suspected that if he wasn’t challenging his plan the same idea must have also occurred to him about the internal spy.

                “The Meeting will begin in about thirty minutes.” Kenfer said, “You will have full audio and video access right at your desk comp.  Until then, I’ve got to get down to the bunker.”

                Jordan was glad Kenfer was in charge on the Center’s end and greatly anticipated the meeting to come…….