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He drew a deep breath. Unclenched his hand and spread his palm on the couch. “Can we go over the Saturday schedule now?”
“Of course,” she said, still a little irritated with him.
“What time is the workshop you’re giving? And what room is it in?”
Zoe slid off the couch and pulled her laptop out of her briefcase. Sat down beside him again and opened it up. Found the conference program and opened that. Scanned the workshops and found hers.
“There it is.” She tapped the screen.
Spence leaned over. “Two p.m. Flexibility and Adaptability. The key to success in the always-changing world of corporate software security.” He looked at her with a hint of a smile. “That’s a mouthful,” he said.
Zoe’s lips twitched. “For the record, that wasn’t what I called it. I think my original title was ‘Writing and testing security software -- fast and dirty is the way to go’.”
Spence smiled. “I think your title would have garnered a bigger crowd.”
She shrugged. “For most of these sessions, it doesn’t really matter what the session is called. The speaker is the draw.”
“Okay. How big will that room be?” he asked.
Zoe sucked her lower lip into her mouth. Glanced over at Spence, then looked away. “I don’t want to sound braggy, but it’ll probably be in one of the bigger rooms,” she finally said. “Melbourne Solutions is well-known in the computer world, and we have a number of successful security programs.”
“So there’ll be a lot of people there,” Spence said in an even voice.
“Probably.”
“Will Nico and I be able to cover it?” he asked.
Zoe drew in a breath. “I think so. Even though there’ll be a lot of people at the session, there’s only one door. Everyone will come in and go out the same way.”
“So, again, I stay with you and Nico stays at the door.”
She nodded.
“Are you up on a stage? Or just at a podium on the floor?”
“I’m not sure. No one told me. But I think there’ll be a low, temporary stage. Two or three steps up from the floor. A platform just high enough that everyone can see. No exits off to the side, like in a theater. Anyone approaching the stage would be very obvious.”
Spence leaned back against the cushion. “Again, if I’m in the first row, directly in front of you, I can watch anyone getting close. Anyone edging toward the front of the room. And Nico would notice that, as well.”
“I think so,” she said.
“Your session is an hour long,” he said, studying the grid on her computer. “What will you be doing the rest of the time?”
“I’ll be in meetings. I’ve got a schedule. There’ll be meeting rooms on the third floor of the facility. I’ll be moving from one of those to another all morning and the rest of the afternoon.”
Spence scowled. “Can we make it so that you stay in one room and everyone comes to you?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I’d rather not do that. I don’t want to answer questions about my security problem, and I don’t want them to think I’m being a diva.”
“Okay, what are Nico and I supposed to do during your meetings?”
She frowned, lost in thought. “The space will be made into separate meeting rooms with temporary partitions,” she said. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s how it worked at the conference last year. A long line of small rooms, on both sides of a corridor. Doors on each of them, with numbers on the door. There’ll be someone in charge, telling everyone which room they’re in. You go to your room, take your meeting, then step back into the corridor. Find out which room your next meeting is in.”
“So I could handle it alone?” Spence asked.
After a long moment, she nodded. “Yes, I think so.”
“What about the back wall of the rooms? Is there a door back there? Do they lead into another corridor?”
