'Certainly, Mr. Weatherby,' Tarissa said.
'Be careful if anyone comes to the door. We'll be there soon.'
“Thanks,' she said. It was stranger and stranger, more and more frightening. 'We'll be careful. Thanks for all your help.'
'That's our job, ma'am.'
The T-1000 rode past the Dyson house one more time. After a few minutes, there was a call on the radio for a squad car to park here and wait, and another one to check out Cyberdyne. The T-1000 turned a corner and dumped the bike in the parking lot half a mile up the road. It was becoming a liability. The policeman's body had been found. Anybody using this bike would be questioned.
Retaining its default facial anatomy, the T-1000 changed its copied clothing from police uniform to casual wear—sneakers, jeans and a two-tone sweatshirt— as it walked back to the Dyson house. Then it blended into the trunk of a tree across the road, and waited.
Soon a marked car pulled up out the front. Not long after, another car arrived, unmarked this time. Two men in plain clothes and two uniformed officers got out of the second car, and went to the front door. Within another ten minutes, Miles and Tarissa Dyson had left, with their son, in the back of the marked squad car. One of the police moved the unmarked car moved round the corner, then returned. There were now four officers waiting inside the house in case the Connors appeared at the scene. That was a good trap.
Miles Dyson rang Oscar Cruz, Cyberdyne's president from the hotel and briefed him quickly about the police stakeout. Oscar was in bed when the phone rang, and he sounded tired and grouchy at the other end, but he soon gained his normal composure. He was always smooth with employees, or anyone else he had to deal with. He got his way subtly—always a good manipulator, a social engineer.
'Okay, Miles,' he said. 'I'll talk to Charles Layton and some of the others.'
'Ring the cops as well,' Miles said. 'The tip-off specifically mentioned me, but you'd better be careful.'
'All right. Look, come to my office in the morning, there's something else we need to talk about. I need to get your views.'
'On this?'
'Not just this. But it's all connected.'
'Sure, whatever you want. Just be careful tonight, Oscar.' To Miles, the main thing was that his family was safe. Danny was playing with his radio-controlled truck,
guiding it all round the hotel room, zooming past the bed, then around Miles's feet. He really shouldn't be up this late. Tarissa sat up on the bed, leaning against two pillows and watching Danny play. She looked drawn, but at least she was all right. No one would find them here.
'How close do you think you are with the new processor?' Oscar said.
The question seemed to come out of nowhere—it was a funny time to be discussing business. 'You sure you want to talk about that stuff, right now?' Miles said.
Oscar sighed into the phone, but then gave a laugh. 'I'm sorry, Miles. I have my reasons for asking, I'm not just being a heartless boss. I'm worried about your safety—nearly as much as you are.'
Miles laughed along tensely, glancing across at Tarissa and raising his eyebrows at her. 'I kind of doubt that, right at the moment.'
'Yeah, yeah, point taken, but your call has got me thinking. Look, we'll talk about it in the morning. Take your time getting in, but come straight to my office.'
Next day, Miles arrived at 10:00 a.m., feeling tired as hell, but wanting to know what was on the president's mind. They met in Oscar's office, on the seventh floor of Cyberdyne's black-glass building. Oscar wore a light sports jacket over a plain black shirt. His office walls were hung with Brazilian expressionist paintings—wild splashes of freeform color suggesting
'It looks like we're both in one piece,' Oscar said. 'How's Tarissa feeling?'
'Shaken up, but she'll be okay.'
'Good. Take a seat, and I'll get to the point--it was time to bring you in on this anyway '
'Yeah? What's the big mystery this time?'
Oscar sat on the edge of his desk. 'We've been worried about security at Cyberdyne--I mean me, Charles, the board. There's nothing wrong with our staff or our processes, but we're developing a profile that could attract psychos like Sarah Connor. That's not going to change, either. If II only get worse.'
'Yeah, that's probably right.'
'You can count on it. I was worried when Connor broke out of prison--or whatever you call it where they had her locked up---but I hadn't heard of any threats until you called me Thanks for doing that, by the way.'
'Hey, no problemo.'
'Yeah, well, it was appreciated. I'll get us some coffee and take you through the issues.' Oscar called out to his secretary to bring cafe lattes for both of them He stepped over to Miles, sitting down and bending forward as if speaking more confidentially, though there was no one else to hear. 'I asked you last night for your opinion on the new processor.' He waved away any attempt at an answer. 'I know, I get your reports, and I probably understand them as well as anyone.'
'Right.'
'Don't sound so skeptical,' Oscar said. 'Okay, there's Rosanna.' That was Dr. Rosanna Monk, maybe Miles's best subordinate. 'Anyway, I need a frank overall assessment right now. Are we as close as the reports say we are?'
'I was working on it last night,' Miles said. 'It's frustrating. We're so close to solving the problems.'
'All right, but let's be realistic. You say we're so close, but what does that really mean? When will the problems be solved? Look, I'm not pressuring you, Miles, just trying to get some data.'
'Uh-huh?'
'We've got some management decisions to make and this is vital if we're going to get it right. It's May now —do think you'll crack it by, say, August?'
'I'd say we're either nearly there now, or else we're totally beaten. If it can be done at all, we'll have a prototype nanoprocessor ready for testing in two weeks. Yeah, I'd bet we could make an announcement by August.'
Their coffee arrived, and Oscar said, 'That could make a big difference.'
'It's been bugging me, though. The damn thing's been a bitch to wrestle with, but we've almost got it licked.'
'Okay, I appreciate it.' Oscar sipped his coffee thoughtfully, then put the cup down, half empty. 'There's someone I want you to meet. His name is Jack Reed and he's high up in Washington, working in the Defense Department.'
'Uh-huh. That figures.'
'It's about time I introduced you to Jack. The North American Aerospace Defense Command is looking at building a new facility in Colorado, something smaller and even more hardened than its HQ in Cheyenne Mountain. NORAD is very interested in the idea of radical new computer hardware, if we can deliver it. You've been saying for a long time that the new nanochip will make ordinary computers look like desk calculators. Well, Jack and his people like the sound of that.'
'Right. So why does something tell me there's a catch?'
'It's not necessarily a catch, but it may help us deal with fanatics like Sarah Connor. Jack's people are talking about including a top-secret facility for advanced defense research. Cyberdyne and some of the other contractors would be given space within the new facility. In a place like that, our most sensitive projects would be invulnerable. Naturally, I'd want you involved.' Having said that, Oscar sat back in his chair, relaxed, and quickly finished his coffee.
'You mean that's the catch? You want me to move to Colorado? I'd have to talk that over with Tarissa. That could be a problem for us, Oscar. I'm not sure we want to move Danny to another school, just now, if that's what you're suggesting.'
'That's okay, it's not a problem.' Oscar held up both hands in a temporizing gesture. 'We could base you here, but you'd still be overall supervisor of Special Projects. You'd probably have to live in Colorado for a few weeks a year. I'm sure we could work something out, arrange for Tarissa to go with you for some of it, or whatever.' He laughed. 'I'm not trying to break up your marriage. Okay?'
