Read Online Executive Dirt: A Sedona O'Hala Mystery by Maria Schneider - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Maria Schneider
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made the flowers for me?”
“I only have one mom, so yes.”
He must have sensed my fear. “You have to meet her anyway because Steve hired her to infiltrate. Before you go undercover on this one, it might be a good idea if she tells you all the right things to ask and gives you a few sewing pointers. I’ve been wanting you to meet her anyway.”
My heart stuttered. “You have?”
“She’s been asking to meet you for even longer.” His eyes softened with affection, a rare expression for him.
I fingered the ruined material. It wasn’t budging from the machine. “Maybe it’s best if we not mention the sewing right away. I’d rather make a good first impression.” And a second and third. And anything to do with sewing would make me look like an incompetent idiot.
He laughed and pulled me to my feet for a mind-numbing kiss, the kind that drove my brain from “meet his mother” to “Who cares?”
It was going to be a long time before my head cleared. Maybe never. Mark was firmly under my skin and lodging more securely in my heart every day. Meet his mother, indeed.
Chapter 11
Tuesday I delved deeper into the server where the code was stored. Each engineer checked in his own segment. Once compiled and built, we loaded the newest code onto the phones for testing. I’d been a “build master” in the past. There was a lot of recordkeeping involved with the job, and there was always at least one engineer who managed to either load the wrong code, not be ready, or not have his piece working.
Being the build master was a lot like herding cats; the cats don’t care and no matter how many times you put a cat where you want it, it’s going to go elsewhere. The code, nevertheless, had to be assembled eventually. Like a giant puzzle, all the pieces had to be in the right place.
I had access to all the directories. The modules had archaic names, but there was no indication that Joe had ever written any of the code. Most of it had been written by Roscoe or Kovid. There were a few earlier modules written by Kevin, but he quit after a few months to become a snake charmer. Some of the basic phone functionality had been purchased from another company. That code covered phone calls, camera and non-unique functions.
Joe had probably had access to the modules, but would he have bothered to put the Pig Latin back in? And could it have been just for his ego?
Kovid worked in a line of cubes on the other side of mine, two down from Doll Baby. She was on the phone when I walked past. She had been talking to the same person for at least an hour.
“Hey, Kovid,” I said.
He looked up.
“Did you take the Pig Latin out yet? I need to request another phone or two for testing, but I want the latest stuff before I bother to load the code.”
The thunderous frown on his face stopped me from inventing more random excuses that were merely a ploy to obtain information from him. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He wants it left in.”
“Joe?”
The frown vanished, replaced by astonishment. “Joe? He’s dead.” Kovid waved his hand in dismissal of our expired co-worker.
“Then who are you talking about? I thought Joe must have put the Pig Latin back in after you took it out.”
Kovid sighed. “Cary demanded I leave it in.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I lowered my voice, but only because Cary’s cube wasn’t very far away. I was starting to wish it were in Siberia.
Kovid nodded. “I did the Pig Latin thing as a joke after Cary hired Joe. It was easy, quick. The translation worked with almost no failures because Pig Latin is merely a matter of rearranging letters. It was stupid, but something management could play with while we started the real language translations.”
“And Cary really thinks that Pig Latin is enough to earn him a spot on the patent?”
Kovid shrugged. “I don’t know if the Pig Latin was really his idea or not, but he’s not letting us
“I only have one mom, so yes.”
He must have sensed my fear. “You have to meet her anyway because Steve hired her to infiltrate. Before you go undercover on this one, it might be a good idea if she tells you all the right things to ask and gives you a few sewing pointers. I’ve been wanting you to meet her anyway.”
My heart stuttered. “You have?”
“She’s been asking to meet you for even longer.” His eyes softened with affection, a rare expression for him.
I fingered the ruined material. It wasn’t budging from the machine. “Maybe it’s best if we not mention the sewing right away. I’d rather make a good first impression.” And a second and third. And anything to do with sewing would make me look like an incompetent idiot.
He laughed and pulled me to my feet for a mind-numbing kiss, the kind that drove my brain from “meet his mother” to “Who cares?”
It was going to be a long time before my head cleared. Maybe never. Mark was firmly under my skin and lodging more securely in my heart every day. Meet his mother, indeed.
Chapter 11
Tuesday I delved deeper into the server where the code was stored. Each engineer checked in his own segment. Once compiled and built, we loaded the newest code onto the phones for testing. I’d been a “build master” in the past. There was a lot of recordkeeping involved with the job, and there was always at least one engineer who managed to either load the wrong code, not be ready, or not have his piece working.
Being the build master was a lot like herding cats; the cats don’t care and no matter how many times you put a cat where you want it, it’s going to go elsewhere. The code, nevertheless, had to be assembled eventually. Like a giant puzzle, all the pieces had to be in the right place.
I had access to all the directories. The modules had archaic names, but there was no indication that Joe had ever written any of the code. Most of it had been written by Roscoe or Kovid. There were a few earlier modules written by Kevin, but he quit after a few months to become a snake charmer. Some of the basic phone functionality had been purchased from another company. That code covered phone calls, camera and non-unique functions.
Joe had probably had access to the modules, but would he have bothered to put the Pig Latin back in? And could it have been just for his ego?
Kovid worked in a line of cubes on the other side of mine, two down from Doll Baby. She was on the phone when I walked past. She had been talking to the same person for at least an hour.
“Hey, Kovid,” I said.
He looked up.
“Did you take the Pig Latin out yet? I need to request another phone or two for testing, but I want the latest stuff before I bother to load the code.”
The thunderous frown on his face stopped me from inventing more random excuses that were merely a ploy to obtain information from him. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He wants it left in.”
“Joe?”
The frown vanished, replaced by astonishment. “Joe? He’s dead.” Kovid waved his hand in dismissal of our expired co-worker.
“Then who are you talking about? I thought Joe must have put the Pig Latin back in after you took it out.”
Kovid sighed. “Cary demanded I leave it in.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I lowered my voice, but only because Cary’s cube wasn’t very far away. I was starting to wish it were in Siberia.
Kovid nodded. “I did the Pig Latin thing as a joke after Cary hired Joe. It was easy, quick. The translation worked with almost no failures because Pig Latin is merely a matter of rearranging letters. It was stupid, but something management could play with while we started the real language translations.”
“And Cary really thinks that Pig Latin is enough to earn him a spot on the patent?”
Kovid shrugged. “I don’t know if the Pig Latin was really his idea or not, but he’s not letting us
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