Robert Smith - The Planner

“Well… are you around… like this evening? For drinks, perhaps?”

“Maybe tricky. Blame the Jerks and the games people play. But here’s my card. As long as my cell phone battery isn’t flat, I’ll take your call. Or if you have a card then I’ll call you?”

Planner made a poor impression of searching his suit for a business card, “I don’t seem to have any cards on me at the moment. I’ll call at seven”.

Katherine wobbled her hand uncertainly and she walked away backwards.

“Ok. Every half hour after seven,” suggested Planner.

Katherine waved, turned and hurried away.

* * * *

Planner walked across the windy World Trade Center Plaza towards the shimmering skyscraper at the north end, WTC7. While it would have been the tallest building in most cities, the tallest building in 30 US states, in New York it was only the 28th tallest and standing next to the Twin Towers, was positively dwarfed by its huge neighbours. With its glossy, brown facade WTC looked business-like but completely unobtrusive. Planner noticed, probably for the first time, a list of organisations within the building on an unobtrusive board. It announced that the “Security Exchange Commission” was located there. Of course, the Department of Defense and CIA were not mentioned. Planner wondered how often Katherine had meetings inside WTC7.

Once inside the building, to reach his office, Planner needed to navigate an escalator, elevator, stairs, the security tube and also multiple swipe-card controlled doors. He unloaded his hefty laptop computer, hooked it up and was soon lost in the in-tray of work provided by email; Even covert operations have plenty of paperwork.

Bates knocked on the door. “We have ten minutes before the meeting with Operation Eagle. They’re just down the corridor,” said Bates. And then as an afterthought added, “They’ve moved from Washington last week. They are not happy.”

“So obviously not military?” said Planner amused.

“No. Lawyers. Legal Eagles,” he said with a nod.

Planner groaned at another awful code name. Planner saved the file and pressed the CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys, the three fingered salute to secure the computer from casual prying eyes.

“I was thinking, Bates,” said Planner while he secured the documents on his desk, “Can you get me some business cards?”

“Sure. I’ll get Turq onto it,” said Bates.

“Spare Turq, I’m sure someone more junior can do it,” said Planner mindful of the stress he had already caused her. “I need them to give out to Muggles.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to mix with the non-magical?” said Bates with amusement. “So what title do you want? Chief Wizard, perhaps?”

“Cute. Chief… Planner,” Planner said as they walked out the office. “For an aerospace company. Make it TSAC. I know some people there that might be useful. The name should read Robert Smith.”

“Smith. Original. Ok,” said Bates sarcastically.

“I like to keep it simple,” said Planner.

As they walked down the corridor, Planner said, “Perhaps I should have a color name. Everyone here has a color code name except you and me.”

“We were running short of snappy code names so I volunteered an alternative. Bates is a nickname I had when I was young, so I’m comfortable with it. I didn’t want Puce. I toyed with Wheat, which were a couple of the rejects. You could have a color code name if you want,” said Bates, as they stood outside a featureless door.

“I wonder which ones have already been used?” asked Planner.

That’s easy!” Bates recalled from memory, very fast, “Amber, Auburn, Beige, Blue, Burgundy, Charcoal, Chestnut, Copper, Crimson, Cyan, Green, Indigo, Ivory, Lavender, Lemon, Lilac, Lime, Magenta, Mahogany, Maroon, Mint, Ochre, Olive, Orange, Pearl, Pink, Purple, Ruby, Scarlet, Sienna, Silver, Tangerine, Taupe, Teal, Turquoise, of course, Vanilla, Vermilion, Violet and Yellow. Black, Brown, Gold and Gray were already used in Operation Eagle. They started before us. Hey, we don’t have a White. How about that?”

“That was some magic! You have some sort of photographic memory going on there?”

“Eidetic, yes,” said Bates. “It saves on the note taking. It’s liked by the agency, of course; I get some plum jobs because of it.”

“Like this one? Not what I call plum,” said Planner.

“It pays well,” said Bates with a lop-sided smile. Bates knocked on the door.

“Did you mention Plum on your list?” asked Planner.

“No. Not used. It could have been a rejected color name,” sighed Bates. “Either that or I’m slipping. So do you want to change the name on the business card?”

“No, has to be Smith. I like White as a code name though: the sum of all colors. Basic Physics.”

“Phah. Physics! Such trickery will never be useful in Hogwarts,” mocked Bates as the door opened.

* * * *

Planner and Bates were introduced to two lawyers who called themselves Mr Black and Mr Brown. They both looked in their late sixties, gray haired, creased and wrinkly skin. They both wore immaculate charcoal suits and ties, matching color to their names, with an eagle motif. Planner and Bates also looked like brothers, being the same height, hair color, wearing similar dark blue suits. Bates, however, was noticeably slimmer than Planner.

They entered a large office with clear views of Manhattan to the north, looking over to the Empire State Building and Deco-style Chrysler Building. In the foreground was the famously uncontrollable Devil’s Kitchen area now favoured by artists and fashion stores.

“People would pay to see this view,” observed Planner.

“Oh, yes,” replied Black blandly. “I haven’t really had the time to look at it much, though.”

They sat around a desk with two large folders in the middle.

“We’re behind schedule,” Black sighed. “This move from Washington hasn’t helped.”

“I presume most of your stakeholders are in DC?” said Bates sympathetically.

“Right. This is really most inconvenient for us. But I stopped my complaining when I was woken up at midnight from someone-I-can’tmention, telling me: sort it out. He mentioned in no uncertain terms, the JFDI methodology.”

“JFDI?” asked Bates.

“Just Fucking Do It”, said Black with a tinge of a smile.

“So can you outline your brief?” asked Planner to the lawyers, with a knowing sideways glance to Bates.

“We’ve been working with Ashcroft, Chertoff 41and Viet 42for the passed year on the legal response. But you have to realise, this is not, and will not be, a complete bill,” said Black

Brown interrupted with his first contribution, “We’re working on bits of legislation that will er… come together, organically, after BE2.”

“We have ten different sections,” continued Black as he opened one of the folders on the table to show Planner and Bates. “Covering everything from surveillance to banking, border controls to computer security. Worked on by separate teams — all specialists in their respective fields and not all indoctrinated into the wider objectives. This is a major undertaking and there is only a close knit group that can review the whole amount.”

“So,” Planner backtracked. “This is one of the desired outcomes from BE2? To enable new legislation?”

“Oh, yes,” stated Black calmly. “This is one of the BE2’s main goals. It is so difficult to change the law. We need the catalysing event that you will be providing. We need it for the Programme for the New American Century 43.”

“Yes, I see,” Planner stated.

Brown seemed slightly irritated, “But we found we had a problem.”

Black added, “We workshopped the scenarios. We brought politicians and psychologists together and walked them through the art of the possible.”