The Meeting, Part 3

What a relief! I had hung back this whole time, just in case Davis made a dash for the door. If he had, my job was to prevent it, even if it meant tackling one of the world's richest and most influential men. What ever it took, he couldn't be allowed to crack open the door with a working link in his head.

The Boss had picked this room for the meeting because it was electrically shielded. The walls, door, ceiling and floor were all lined with copper sheeting. Once the door was latched, the room was completely isolated - no signals of any kind could come in or go out.

According to the Boss, rooms like this once existed all over the country. When links first came out, a lot of businesses didn't trust them, and school's considered using one cheating. Even the early linkers wouldn't give them up, though, so rooms like this sprang up over night. The resistance didn't last long, of course, so a lot of the rooms were dismantled just as quickly. Somehow this one escaped that, though… and somehow the Boss knew it. I can't say I was surprised.

Meeting in a shielded room was important to us for two reasons. First, since it kept the reset signal inside the room, the Boss could us his little reset box without worrying that it might be detected on the outside. Second, once he was inside, Davis's link was cut off from the net.

If Davis had come here trying to catch us, he could have pre-loaded his link with the ID characteristics of a possible matches. If we had been among them, his link would have instantly told him our names. That's why we kept the lights off, and use a tape recording to speak – we couldn't let him hear us or see us until after his link was erased.

But even if Davis wasn't a bad guy, we couldn't let him out of the room wearing a working. We didn't even want him wearing one inside the room. Networked or not, a plugged-in link can still see what you see and hear what you hear. If it was plugged in when it came back up, Davis's link would automatically record and analyze our voices and faces – and once the door opened and it could reconnect, it would immediately spew those characteristics to the first ID service that it could find. That's what links do.

None this should matter. We shouldn't be in any ID databases anywhere. We work hard to stay out. But that doesn't mean that we wanted to take any chances.

But now that Davis had given up his link, we were all friends and I could finally sit down. I did take a few steps before I remembered to use "my" cane, but fortunately nobody seemed to notice.

"You're right," Davis admitted, "I do have a problem. A big one. And yes, I have already exhausted every other option I can imagine." His paused, then continued, but with a suspicious tone. "How much do you know?"

"I am familiar with you, your corporation, and your background – those facts that are in the public record." The Boss was downright breezy. "Few people wish to be investigated, and that includes my clients." He shrugged. "Bad for business."

Which is true, as far is it goes. He didn't say that he didn't snoop, just that people wouldn't like it if they knew.

Davis, however, seemed to accept it. Maybe he was too preoccupied with his own problem, which he seemed to find hard to talk about. "This matter… it does not involve me personally. Though I am concerned, of course. Nor does it involve the company, as such…"

"But…," the Boss gently prodded, "this does concern someone connected to you… and to the company?"

"Yes." Davis sounded grateful. "Yes, that's right. Are you familiar with the Doctor Ahmed?"

"Richard Ahmed? Yes, of course. I imagine most people are. CEO of General Genetics, is he not?"

Davis nodded. "Richard has... had… has a daughter. A beautiful young woman named Sonia." He took a deep breath. "She's missing. It's been six months now."

"I see," replied the Boss. "And the mother?"

Davis registered surprise. "Her mother? Why?"

"Mr. Davis," the Boss said sternly, "you did not say 'kidnapped'. You did not say 'ran away'. You said 'missing', which that her disappearance is the central mystery, and that you do not know what happened."

The Boss took a breath, and lowered his tone. "You are a lawyer, sir. Do you question your witnesses, or do you just let them talk? Surely you question them, because you know what would happen if you did not. They would fill their stories with irrelevances, and gloss over the uncomfortable and the unknown. That is simply human nature."

The Boss waited, but Davis did not respond. "Answer my questions, Mr. Davis," urged the Boss, the very Voice Of Reason. "It gives me the best chance to help you."

Davis didn't like it – he sat with his head bowed, looking at the floor – but he didn't object. After a moment, the Boss continued, as if nothing had happened. "Now, about the mother?"

"Dead," said Davis. "Died in childbirth, sixteen years ago last April."

"There have been no step-mothers since? No live-in girlfriends?"

Davis shook his head. "Richard has raised Sonia alone." He sat back, beginning to accepting his role as witness. "Richard is married to his work. Aside from Sonia, it's his one true love." Davis looked at the Boss, a little amused. "Before you ask… yes, I'm sure there have been other women. But nothing serious, and nothing that lasted long. And nothing that involved Sonia. Richard was very protective of her." Davis flipped his hand. "The truth is, Richard simply doesn't have the time to get serious with anyone. He's much more than CEO, you know. He's also Chief Scientist, which is more than just a title - that's really his role. Plus, as you suggest, he's also the face of the company - the man whose name is known around the world."

"And that is why you are here pursuing this… and not him."

Davis frowned, and shook his head empathically. "No, you misunderstand. It's not like that at all. Richard is devastated by this - completely destroyed. He can't sleep, and barely eats. He's thrown himself into his work, but only because he cannot face this. He's moved out of his home and into his lab, and he won't come out for anything – not for meetings, not for publicity work…"

"And not to find his daughter."

Davis just shook his head again. "He doesn't have to." It was his turn to be patient. "You must understand – Richard and I go back a long, long way. We started our company together, built it out of nothing. We don't always agree on everything… but he's my partner. I support him. If he needs something done, I see that's done."

The Boss nodded sympathetically. "I'm sure he would do the same for you."

Davis stared, then actually laughed. His laugh was still cold and bitter, but I thought maybe I heard a hint of real amusement. Or maybe I was getting used to the sound. "That was clumsy," he scolded.

The Boss started to protest, but Davis stopped him with a wave of his hand. "No, I understand. You want to know if I have… feelings. Jealous, inferiority, that sort of thing. Because Richard's name is world renowned, and mine is not."

Davis settled back in his chair. "Well, you're looking the wrong direction. Don't misunderstand – I have a healthy ego. I play my part, and do it well. But… but I'm not a Richard Ahmed. Not even close. No one is. Being jealous of Richard would be like… like being jealous of a bird. It can fly and I cannot. Jealousy doesn't factor in to it."

"My apologies," said the Boss, stricken. "It was worse than clumsy – it was useless."

"And irrelevant," replied Davis. "Richard is my friend and partner. I've known Sonia all her life. I'm only here to help them both."

"Then let's return to relevant topics," agreed the Boss. "The doctor summoned the police?"

Davis hesitated. "No," he said at last. "Richard called me. I called them."

"You called them immediately?"

"Yes, immediately." Davis's was getting impatient.

"I intended no offense," the Boss quickly. "I ask only because none of this is in the public record. I examined it in preparation for this meeting. No missing girl, no distraught father."

Davis sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Of course. No need to apologize." He dropped his hand. "I suppose I may be sensitive. It wasn't my idea, but I went agreed with it, and encouraged Richard to cooperate."

Davis looked at the floor, his unhappiness obvious. The Boss waited silently for Davis to go on. When he did, his voice was softer. "We didn't know what happened. All anyone could imagine is that she had been kidnapped." Davis voice became flat, almost emotionless.. "We hoped we had been kidnapped. We were willing to pay the any ransom to get her back." He looked up. "It was the police who suggested we keep everything quiet. They said that if word got out, we risked frightening the kidnappers. There was nothing to gain but releasing the story, and everything to lose."

"But no ransom note ever appeared."

Davis nodded. "That's when we began to hope that she really had run away after all. Ridiculous, really – her running away was unimaginable - but how do you stop hoping? Again, we decided not to inform the public. All we could imagine was some over-zealous buffoon, dreaming about getting a big reward, chasing her down the street somewhere, scaring her away or even causing her harm." Davis sighed again. "You've got to understand - it's different for the very rich. The whole world seems like a threat."

Even more softly, he continued. "We really thought that she would come home on her own." It sounded almost as though he was speaking to himself.

I had expected the Boss to say something about other considerations, like the effect that news like this would have on share prices and personal fortunes. But after that, how could he? So he went in another direction all together. "How have you kept it quiet?"

Davis took a deep breath. He seemed glad to change topics. "As useless as they were at finding Sonia, the police were surprisingly helpful with that. To this day, they haven't had any leaks as far as I know. They also suggested a cover story for the neighbors – that that foundation of the house was cracked. That provided an excuse why Sonia and Richard had moved out, and why strangers started coming and going."

Davis smiled. "The police disguised their vehicles and wore workman's clothes while they were at the house. Even our closest associates believe the story. The consensus opinion, one we've encouraged, is that the problem gave Sonia an excuse to go abroad and study – apparently Indian Buddhism is the current rage - and that Richard is using Sonia's absence as an excuse to get some work done." The smile faded. "That won't stand up much longer, of course."

When Davis finished, the Boss seemed lost in thought, leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed. Davis gave him a minute, but quickly became agitated. "What on earth are you thinking about? None of this is relevant. You haven't even asked about the disappearance yet!"

The Boss opened his eyes. "You object to my line of questioning, Mr. Davis?" he asked innocently. "Very well. You've been living with this for a long time - I understand your impatience." The Boss spread his hands. "I had thought that a few minutes to provide context would be negligible, weighed against those six long months. But let us proceed as you suggest." The Boss sat up, looking alert. "You said her father discovered her missing. Tell me about that."

Davis seemed confused, possibly by the vagueness of the question. "I wasn't there, as I told you."

"But he called you. What did he say?"

Davis moved around a little, making himself more comfortable. "Oh. Yes, well he said that Sonia wasn't home, and he couldn't find her. That she was missing."

"She had a link, didn't she?"

"Of course... Oh, I see. Yes, he tried to call her. When he called me, I tried as well."

"And her friends? The places that she liked to go? Did you call them too?"

"No. You see…"

"No?"

"No, he didn't contact anyone else - he didn't have to. Because, according to the security system, she was already home!" Davis had risen a few inches from his chair, but now settled back. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. The security system said she was home – had come home hours before. When he couldn't find her, he checked the surveillance video. It showed the same thing. She came in just after 3 pm. She looked into the retina scanner, and it let her in. And that was the last anyone has seen of her."