A few minutes later, there was a tap at the door. She lifted her head from her hands. “Come in.”
Joey came in, closing the door behind him. “Whew. Nash is a talker. Hey, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine. Just another day at the office.” Stefanie forced a smile, doing her best to wipe the traces of stress from her face. This might be a little different than her usual stress, but she’d presented her work in front of large crowds without appearing nervous. She took a moment to change her disposition before facing the CIA officer.
Joey studied her for a moment. “Wow. That’s impressive. For the record, I’m not fooled, but I respect that you don’t want to talk about your feelings.”
Stefanie cleared her throat. “What’d you find out?” She was proud that her voice didn’t wobble, even a little.
“That Nash loves his job and is happy you’re here. He said the company has a handful of submarines – all remotely operated.” He turned his head. “What do you call that? A drone? A drone sub?”
“We usually call it an ROV. It’s short for Remotely Operated Vehicle: ROVer 1, 2, 3…you get the idea. We have a couple we ship all over the world as they are needed, but we keep ROVer 1 and ROVer 2 here with us. And our local research vessel is called The Dog House.”
“Cute. And you know where the other machines have been?”
Stefanie turned her head to the side. “Theoretically, I guess? All of our subs have GPS, but I don’t think they record a history of their location. We have manual logs for when they’ve been taken out. It would be pretty easy to fake the location if you wanted to; they weren’t designed to be tracked. We’re lucky we own them – if we had to rent them, it’d be a logistical nightmare. Fortunately, the person who started the company began by working in research labs, so she understood the benefit of full ownership.”
“Hm. That’s a nice arrangement.” Joey crossed his arms. “Anything special about the subs?”
Stefanie nodded. “Oh yeah. Everything’s special about the subs. They’re crazy expensive. And the ones the OEG owns are better than any commercially available tech I’ve ever seen.”
“Can I take a look at one of them?”
Stefanie frowned. “I mean, you could, but it won’t be subtle. They’re kept in a storage building at a local harbor. Locked, with security cameras. They’re way too expensive not to monitor carefully. Someone would know for sure if we went there.”
“Hm. How many people work here? The only people I’ve talked to are Nash, Peggy, and you.”
“A couple of hundred, maybe? It’s why I was so happy to get the job. They’re next-to-impossible to get into.” Stefanie took a sip of coffee. “Luckily, they’re growing quickly.”
Joey held up his hands. “I’m not trying to offend you, and I get that we didn’t start off on the best foot, but if Nash is the only one working for you in the lab, why do they need a middle manager?”
Stefanie’s stomach flipped. A part of her had wondered the same thing, but she’d been so excited about her dream job, she hadn’t questioned it. “Cole said it was because management was ready to grow the company. Hiring me allows him to spend more time with customers.”
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Joey gave her a look and lowered his voice. “I can stop by tonight if you want to keep talking. Don’t have conversations like this outside your office. I only swept in here this morning.”
Before she could respond to that little surprise piece of information, Joey walked over to the door and opened it. Cole gave him a curious look and stuck out a hand. “Ah, you must be the new intern. I’m Cole Davidson. It’s great to have you here.”
“Thank you, sir.” Joey straightened his back. “It’s great to be here. Stefanie was just telling me about your submarines and your research. It’s all very impressive.”
“Thank you. Is that why you chose to come intern with us?” Cole looked Joey up and down.
“Yes. Nash has been walking me through all the work you do. I think the donors to my scholarship will be impressed.”
Stefanie stood. “Joey is helping us build the prototypes Nash and I have been working on.”
Cole studied Joey for another minute. “Good. Actually, that reminds me of why I came in here. I know it’s sudden, but I could use some help. Would you be willing to talk with a team of consultants about the company on Monday? I am out of town that day, and my management is insisting I keep my prior commitments. Still, we’ve got to have someone important to do the shake and howdy with them. They’re a multinational consulting firm. They represent customers who do a lot of work in the ocean. I think I’ve almost convinced them we are the right company for the right price. However, before signing the check, they wanted to meet the team, get a little office tour.”
Joey’s fingers twitched, but he didn’t give her any indication that she should accept, probably because Cole was watching them both carefully. Stalling, she made a show of going back to her computer to check her calendar. When Cole looked down at his phone, Joey gave her a slight nod behind Cole’s back. Stefanie looked up from her computer
