Mark Greaney - Full Force and Effect

Jack knew the beautiful blonde sitting across the room would not have been able to hear any of the conversation, but she had certainly seen the entire exchange. He glanced over in her direction and saw her staring intently back at him. He gave her a tiny smile, but she did not return it, nor did she shy away from his eyes.

Jack decided this was as good an opportunity as any to make an introduction. But just when he was about to start walking over to her, she stood and headed in his direction.

Okay, he thought. I can work with this.

“Hello,” he said with a friendly smile.

She did not smile back. Instead, she looked at him with unabashed curiosity. “I asked Ralph who you were. He said you were an accountant with an investment company.”

“Sort of, yes,” Jack replied. He found himself taken in by her strong but feminine voice.

“Then obviously I must ask the question. What accountant gives autographs to swooning women?”

Ryan had prepped for a lot of different ways to bump the French agent, though discussing his own notoriety hadn’t made his list.

But he came up with something quickly. “Your accent. French, I take it?”

“French-Canadian.”

Bullshit, Ryan thought, but did not say. “Very nice. What department do you work in?”

“I’m with an outside vendor.” He felt like her smoky eyes were burrowing into him. He knew what it felt like to be running an op and then find yourself curious about another person’s presence. She must have been wondering if this was some sort of a play, although she had been the one to initiate the conversation.

Jack reached out and shook her hand. “Jack,” he said.

“Élise,” she replied, but while she spoke she eyed his visitor’s badge. Jack was in large letters, but below it were smaller letters. She read them aloud.

“Ryan.”

She looked up quizzically, and then she rolled her eyes. “Oh, I see. That woman thinks you are the President of the United States.”

“Actually, she thinks I’m one of his kids.”

Another eye roll. And then the woman’s eyes widened as she caught up with what he was saying. “Oh . . . Is she correct?”

“At your service, Miss Legrande. Or Mrs.?”

—

Veronika Martel did not answer the question; she was still working this through in her head. She remembered hearing about President Ryan’s family. He had a daughter who was close to Veronika’s age, and he had two young kids. She knew something about another son, but she couldn’t remember many details about him. She had only a vague recollection of seeing the entire family in a magazine spread many years ago.

She asked, “Are you the one they used to call ‘Junior’?”

“That’s right. I’m surprised anyone in Canada has ever heard of me.”

Élise just nodded slowly. “I am vaguely aware, yes.”

—

Ryan saw the mistrust and concern in the woman’s eyes. Spies learn quickly to be suspicious of chance encounters. This must have looked like a coincidental meeting, and she had to have been deeply confused about how it could have been anything else. She also must have been mulling over how a relative of the American chief executive could possibly threaten her or her mission.

“How fascinating,” she said now.

A minute later Jack realized he and Élise were sitting down. She asked him what he was doing here at Valley Floor.

“I’m a financial analyst. Not really an accountant. My company is buying into the mine. Or at least we are considering it. I am here looking things over, meeting with the CFO and others. If the numbers crunch the way we want them to, I’m sure we will purchase an interest.”

The woman seemed to be taking it all in. Jack actually enjoyed watching her think about what this all meant to her operation.

He asked, “How about you? What brings you here to California?”

She said, “I’ve been in the mining industry for some time. In Canada.”

It wasn’t an answer, but it was supposed to have been enough. Jack assumed she was going to try to deflect the conversation back on him, but he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He just nodded and said, “Go on.”

“Oh, yes. Well, we’ve developed some exciting new techniques for solvent extraction processes, and NewCorp has adapted their machinery to the new changes we’ve come up with. I’m simply watching how the new ideas are executed in a real-world setting.”

Ryan nodded appreciatively. She was good. No, she was great. She almost had him buying it. He decided he needed to play his part, so he asked her a few questions about the research, he even took some notes about the study she referred to, ostensibly so he could research it as part of his due diligence into the investment opportunity here.

“This is terrific,” he said finally. “I wonder if I could see some of the work in practice.”

She nodded. “You should contact Hydrometallurgy Quality Control. I’m sure they could show you the chemical dissolution equipment.”

“I’ll do that. Will you be there?”

Élise hesitated. Jack felt sure she was still sizing up the situation, trying to determine if she was in any danger with him being here. It was so utterly random and odd that he knew there was no way she wouldn’t be very confused and even wary.

She said, “If you come tomorrow I’ll be there all day. After that, no. I head home the day after tomorrow.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

The two of them headed out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the elevator bank. He’d wanted to ask her out to dinner, but he fought the urge for two reasons. For one, he didn’t want to overload her brain’s synapses trying to determine if this was some sort of a play. If he worked it too hard it would tip her off there was nothing coincidental about his being here. Only by backing away from her now could he possibly convince her their meeting was happenstance.

And the second reason he would disengage now: he knew Chavez and Clark would be apoplectic. From an operational standpoint, Ryan getting even closer to the woman made no sense and only subjected the President’s son to compromise.

At the elevators Jack pushed the up arrow to return to his office, and Élise the down arrow to head downstairs and then back to her building. They shook hands and went their separate ways.

Just as the door to Jack’s elevator started to close, he heard someone running up the hall.

“Can you hold it, please?” a man shouted.

Jack held open the door, a little annoyed because it was a long drive back to the hotel and he knew he had to talk to Clark and Ding about Élise Legrande before they could break for dinner.

A young, fit Asian man in jeans and a polo shirt stepped quickly into the elevator. He held a backpack over his shoulder, and at first he faced away from Ryan.

“Appreciate it,” he said as he turned and looked forward.

Jack let the door go, pushed the button for his floor, then glanced up. “Not a prob—”

Jack cocked his head. The one other person on the elevator did the same.

“Yao?”

“Ryan?”

They shook hands, both men keeping the confused looks on their faces. Ryan said, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Uh, yeah. Likewise.”

“Can I ask what brings you to Valley Floor?” Ryan asked.

Yao replied, “Only if I can.”

Neither man spoke for the rest of the ride up to Ryan’s floor. They just faced each other, each man trying to simultaneously figure out the relevance of seeing the other here.

Finally, shortly before the elevator doors closed on the two silent men, Jack said, “You want to grab a beer?”

Adam reached out and held the doors open. “I’ve got to go by Personnel, then I’m free. Meet in the lobby in twenty?”