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She’s already dressed in a prim and proper black suit and pencil skirt. I step aside to let her in.
“Sleeping in?” Cheryl asks me with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow.
I groan. “It’s 7:30 in the fucking morning, Cheryl,” I manage to say as I walk over to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
“They say the early bird gets the worm,” she replies back, following me.
“My worm gets enough fucking bird, thank you,” I tell Cheryl as she rolls her eyes at me.
I pour my coffee as Cheryl sets down her tablet and turns it on.
“Would you like to go over the plans so far for the launch?” she asks me.
I look at Cheryl. “It’s 7:30 in the morning, Cheryl…” I begin, but if she cares, she doesn’t show it.
“We are three months away from releasing the one product that will revolutionize the pornography industry in ways that dwarf what the VCR did, Ethan,” she tells me sternly. “7:30 in the morning means absolutely nothing to me.”
She’s got a point. I need to not go soft.
“Let’s go to the living room,” I tell her, and grab her a cup of coffee and take it with me. I sit down on the sofa and she remains standing.
“Like I said, we’re launching in three months, and we’re going directly out to 192 countries,” she begins.
Now I’m in work mode. “How many retailers have signed on?” I ask. I’m not hopeful. I mean we’re talking about a virtual reality porn product.
“We’ve gotten commitments from Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon, and CostCo for superior product placement,” Cheryl says and I do a double take.
“Really? Holy fucking shit,” I exclaim. She nods her head.
“They all see the intrinsic value in this,” she tells me. I shake my head. A lot has certainly changed since I was a fucking kid.
“We’re working with other major retailers such as Dollar Tree, Sears, as well as independent retailers to take us on, and we’re still waiting to hear from Google and Apple,” Cheryl finishes.
I nod my head. “Press?” I ask.
“Generally favorable so far, and I think the announcement we did in Times Square got us on the front page,” Cheryl says. “It has also attracted a fair amount of unwanted attention,” she finishes.
“Unwanted attention?” I ask her, cocking my eyes.
Cheryl nods, looking glum. “Our cyber security people have stopped 18 attacks designed to compromise our internal networks in the last week alone,” she tells me and I start looking over a report that she places in front of me. “Mostly it was attempts to get at the plans or the strategy behind the I.E.” Cheryl says.
“Who was it?” I ask her.
She looks at me. “Who do you think?”
There’s a moment of pause between us.
“He’s still out there, Ethan,” Cheryl says. “And he wants the plans for this device. He’s not going to stop and he’s going to spend as much money as he needs to until he gets it. And just hacking into our systems isn’t all I think he’s doing.”
I look at Cheryl in alarm. What the fuck is she talking about?
“How else is he going to get it?” I ask her sharply. “He’s going to rob me?”
She shrugs. “He would if he could, but I think he’s trying to get someone on the inside. He’s trying to put in a mole.”
“Who?” I ask.
Cheryl looks at me. “You know who I’m talking about,” she tells me.
