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Finally, he waved his hand toward the door. “We’ve got a team meeting. Let’s go.”
She nearly sagged in relief. Joey glanced back at the workstation as she followed him, wishing she had more time. Maybe she could stay late and dig some more. What would she find in those emails and call logs from Kensington’s personal phone and email? It seemed the key to everything about him was somewhere in this room, stored in zeroes and ones. It was up to her to find it.
They walked past Ben’s cube, and she paused to clip his ID card back on his jacket and return to her desk. “Let me just grab my notebook,” she said to Patrick to cover the delay.
When Joey sat down in the meeting, she tried to disguise the deep breath of relief she took. It was stressful being covert. Even if she had the boss’s permission. At least for most of it.
“Ben, can I get an update on the system updates for the RT800x system?”
“Raven Tech has scheduled the update for third quarter, if we approve of that time frame. It will be a phased implementation. They estimate the upgrade will take four weeks from kickoff to closeout.”
Joey tried not to let her surprise show. Ben could carry on a conversation? And he was spearheading a project as major as the security system overhaul. Maybe she’d underestimated him.
Ben continued. “During this upgrade, Raven Tech will be upgrading all of our encryption technology for secure access points and badges, server security, and confidential network communication.”
Patrick nodded. “What encryption are we using now?”
“We currently have 128-bit AES,” Ben replied.
“Are we moving to 192 or 256?” Joey asked. Her curiosity and her desire to prove herself a valuable team member played equal parts in her jumping into the conversation.
Ben raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Patrick. “We’re moving to 256. The executive team wants us to spare no expense in making our building and data as secure as possible.”
“Do we have concerns that the loss of efficiency will be detrimental?” another team member chimed in.
Patrick gave a bewildered look and turned to Ben for the answer.
Ben shook his head. “Raven Tech has assured us there will be no loss in operational efficiency with the upgrade.”
“Good, thanks, Ben. Good work. Keep us posted as the kickoff gets closer.”
* * *
Cole raised his eyebrows as he approached his office to someone wheeling a dolly stacked high with boxes into the room. Bright-blue labeled Best Buy boxes, to be exact.
What on earth was going on? He glanced at his employee nametag and then reached for the packing slip. He tried to remember. Had he ordered something and forgotten about it? It was one of his biggest fears. He knew the odds, and he knew the early signs of the disease he was working so hard to prevent. Was it just forgetfulness? Or something more?
“I think there’s been a mistake, Thomas. I didn’t order–”
He looked at the labels, and the words died on his lips.
The broad-shouldered mailroom worker shrugged. “I just go where the paper says, Mr. Kensington. These have your name on them.” Thomas stepped aside, and Cole took in the view of his office, stacked with close to thirty giant Best Buy boxes.
The corner of his lips twitched, and he shook his head. This woman was going to be the end of him.
“Take them downstairs, fourth floor.”
“Seriously?” Thomas’s voice took on a small whine, and Cole felt the twinge of sympathy for the man.
He clapped the young man on the shoulder. “Fine. Leave them here. This wasn’t your fault. I’ll have the culprit take care of it.”
The relief was palpable on Thomas’s face. “Thank you, Mr. Kensington. This already put me way behind on my rounds for the day.”
Irritation flooded Cole once more. Joey might think she was funny, but this was interfering with not only his day, which was unacceptable as it was, but she was also inconveniencing his other employees.
He turned to speak to Janet, his personal assistant. “Call Ms. Rodriguez in ITS and have her come to my office immediately.”
Janet raised her eyebrows at the clipped command but reached for her phone. At least some people listened to him. He hadn’t forgotten what Joey said last night about being summoned like a low-paid assistant.
