“So did you get a car?”
"I did eventually, yes."
"Where was it you saw him?"
"Dealership at Western and Belmont. Place called Moonlight." A thought occurred to him. "You know it?"
But she shook her head. "I'll have to check it out, though. And Roy. No last name?
Landon shook his head.
She went back to the couch, sat down and typed a few things out for notes. "I'll add them to the background summaries."
"How has that been going?"
"Fine. Back to Roy. What about him made you decide to disappear? Why were you worried in the first place?"
His nostrils flared, but he held it together and motioned toward the couch. She returned his gaze and moved over. He sat down on the leather couch and turned to her.
“How much do you need to know?"
“Clients typically want me to do the best job possible, and to do that I need to have as full an idea as possible. With that in mind, it's up to you."
He laughed. She cracked a small smile, but kept her eyes trained on him.
"Why don’t you start with what made you draft this protocol in the first place?”
He sat back. She was right. It was time to give her the full story. “I guess in order to do that you need to know a bit about my company. How much do you know about how I got started?”
She shrugged. “It was just out of school, right?”
“Right. So my thesis at the end of college was about a method for interface with nanos in the bloodstream that I’d discovered. Basically, it was a cheaper, more efficient way to work with the little nanos that had just been developed to go in the bloodstream. Instead of just being able to gather vitals, pH, all that, we could interface fast enough to network that across the body.”
She looked at him doubtfully. “Which was important?”
“Which opened up a huge field of possibilities. It was technical as much as chemistry.” He could see he was losing her, so he sped it up. “The point is, it was a huge breakthrough. I went from a promising chemistry student into the head of a company with serious investment.”
“I see. That sounds like you needed a lot of advice."
“There were a lot of people trying to screw me.”
She nodded. This was apparently something she understood better. "So what did you do?"
“Thankfully, I had an advisor at U. Chicago who I trusted. Dr. Robert Oliver. He put me in touch with people he trusted.”
“One of whom was bad and might be after you now?”
He scoffed. "You have worked on a lot of these problems, haven't you?”
She shrugged and continued to look at him expectantly.
“Well," he said after a moment, "none of them seemed bad, no. I could still be proven wrong.”
“Of course. Is Dr. Oliver still alive?”
“No, he had a heart attack almost five years ago.”
Her red lips—now that he really took it in, that was a bold lipstick—pressed together. “Sorry to hear it.”
“He was a great man.”
Landon let the room sing silence for a moment.
It wasn't often that he missed his mentor, but when his name bubbled up, the grieving hurt. Dr. Oliver had basically been a second father. Without his guidance, that first breakthrough may never have happened.
Seconds ticked by. He felt her watching him, her face very still.
“Anyway," he said, gathering himself. "He introduced me to both Fordelli and your firm. And Ms. Bruman.”
Kristina's face was somber. Did she see that he'd been upset? He couldn't be sure.
“So how does this connect to the current situation?” she asked.
Landon grimaced. She'd noticed. “Just that he introduced me to all these people, and he also told me that there might be a time where I couldn’t trust anyone and needed to burn it all down.”
“Burn it all down?”
“Change the people around me. Start over. He was paranoid about betrayal. Something about his wife he never talked about.”
“Okay.”
Landon swallowed. His mouth was nearly dry. “Anyway, I had been thinking about it ever since we started seeing results with the Phobos
"I did eventually, yes."
"Where was it you saw him?"
"Dealership at Western and Belmont. Place called Moonlight." A thought occurred to him. "You know it?"
But she shook her head. "I'll have to check it out, though. And Roy. No last name?
Landon shook his head.
She went back to the couch, sat down and typed a few things out for notes. "I'll add them to the background summaries."
"How has that been going?"
"Fine. Back to Roy. What about him made you decide to disappear? Why were you worried in the first place?"
His nostrils flared, but he held it together and motioned toward the couch. She returned his gaze and moved over. He sat down on the leather couch and turned to her.
“How much do you need to know?"
“Clients typically want me to do the best job possible, and to do that I need to have as full an idea as possible. With that in mind, it's up to you."
He laughed. She cracked a small smile, but kept her eyes trained on him.
"Why don’t you start with what made you draft this protocol in the first place?”
He sat back. She was right. It was time to give her the full story. “I guess in order to do that you need to know a bit about my company. How much do you know about how I got started?”
She shrugged. “It was just out of school, right?”
“Right. So my thesis at the end of college was about a method for interface with nanos in the bloodstream that I’d discovered. Basically, it was a cheaper, more efficient way to work with the little nanos that had just been developed to go in the bloodstream. Instead of just being able to gather vitals, pH, all that, we could interface fast enough to network that across the body.”
She looked at him doubtfully. “Which was important?”
“Which opened up a huge field of possibilities. It was technical as much as chemistry.” He could see he was losing her, so he sped it up. “The point is, it was a huge breakthrough. I went from a promising chemistry student into the head of a company with serious investment.”
“I see. That sounds like you needed a lot of advice."
“There were a lot of people trying to screw me.”
She nodded. This was apparently something she understood better. "So what did you do?"
“Thankfully, I had an advisor at U. Chicago who I trusted. Dr. Robert Oliver. He put me in touch with people he trusted.”
“One of whom was bad and might be after you now?”
He scoffed. "You have worked on a lot of these problems, haven't you?”
She shrugged and continued to look at him expectantly.
“Well," he said after a moment, "none of them seemed bad, no. I could still be proven wrong.”
“Of course. Is Dr. Oliver still alive?”
“No, he had a heart attack almost five years ago.”
Her red lips—now that he really took it in, that was a bold lipstick—pressed together. “Sorry to hear it.”
“He was a great man.”
Landon let the room sing silence for a moment.
It wasn't often that he missed his mentor, but when his name bubbled up, the grieving hurt. Dr. Oliver had basically been a second father. Without his guidance, that first breakthrough may never have happened.
Seconds ticked by. He felt her watching him, her face very still.
“Anyway," he said, gathering himself. "He introduced me to both Fordelli and your firm. And Ms. Bruman.”
Kristina's face was somber. Did she see that he'd been upset? He couldn't be sure.
“So how does this connect to the current situation?” she asked.
Landon grimaced. She'd noticed. “Just that he introduced me to all these people, and he also told me that there might be a time where I couldn’t trust anyone and needed to burn it all down.”
“Burn it all down?”
“Change the people around me. Start over. He was paranoid about betrayal. Something about his wife he never talked about.”
“Okay.”
Landon swallowed. His mouth was nearly dry. “Anyway, I had been thinking about it ever since we started seeing results with the Phobos
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