Nickels (8 page)

“Hey, I was about to grab some lunch.  You wanna come?”

“No.”  She didn’t hesitate.  There was no way she was going
to lunch—or anywhere—with him.  Most people would have couched that statement
with a “maybe next time,” but not Niki and not with him.  She wanted that door
closed, locked up tight, and key thrown away.

“Well, maybe some other time then.”

Really?  Could he not take a hint?

“Anyway,” Kyle continued, “I was coming to see you about
something I found in the spec, before heading out for lunch.  I think it needs
adjusted and wanted to get your take on it.”

“I was on my way to help Doug, who by now has grown worried
thinking I’ve been kidnapped by aliens or something.  Can you stop by later? 
Or just email me?”

Kyle muttered something under his breath.  Sounded something
like:  any man would be glad to wait for her.  She really hoped she heard him
wrong.  If this sort of thing kept happening, she might have to deck him.

She didn’t wait for his answer before leaving the break
room. 

When she stepped into Doug’s cube, he commented again on her
appearance.  “Oh, look, lilac and coffee brown go so good together.  You might
just have hit on a new fashion trend.”

“Shut it.”

“I agree.”  Kyle’s voice sounded from behind her.  “You
could make a fortune with that.”

Was he stalking her now?  Had she not made it clear she
would talk to him later?

“Have you seen my coffee?”

She pointed to her shirt with a furious look and raised
eyebrow.  “I’m pretty sure I am well acquainted with your coffee.  Now, if you
don’t mind, I have some work to do.”

“I meant my coffee cup.  I thought I set it down somewhere
around here.”

“Go look in my cube then.”  She shooed him away.

Turning her attention back to Doug, she asked, “What’s up?”

“Take a look at this algorithm here.”  He pointed at his
screen.  “Just want to see if I’m reading this right.”

Niki stared at the code on the screen and asked a few
questions to make sure she understood what part of the program she was looking
at.  As the light dawned, she widened her eyes and looked at Doug.

“That’s what I thought.  You see this part here.”  He
highlighted it with the click of his mouse.  “It almost looks like it is right,
but…”

“Is the circus in town again?” she asked.

“Why?”

“Cause it looks like someone’s drunk monkey wrote that!”

Doug snorted.

“That’s bad.  Real bad.”

“I know,” he replied.  “Especially if you look up here.  If
these two circumstances happen, then this helicopter would take a big nose
dive.”

Niki tapped a finger on her lips, still looking at the
screen.  “Scroll up.”

He did as she asked.

“Did you see this,” she said pointing at the screen.  “This
would always be true.  That is not right.”

“Yeah, that’s why I wanted you to see it.  This is the
second little gem I’ve found in this section of the program.  Lots of really
bad coding.  Didn’t Brian say they were scheduled to load this to the
simulations at the end of this month?”

Niki’s throat constricted at the implications of what she
saw before her.  “Yes.  And judging by this code, they were rigging the
simulation for certain scenarios.  If this would have made it out…”

Doug nodded at her unfinished thought.  One thing the Elite
team knew—mistakes like what he just found in the code could cost lives if they
ever made it into the helicopters.  The worst part was that this particular bug
may have never been caught in simulated tests.  It was a pretty rare case.

“Guess you earned the title, oh fearless Bug Masher.”  The
seriousness of the situation killed the humor in her tone.

Her stomach growled as she walked back to her cube.  She
couldn’t believe she spent nearly an hour looking over the code with Doug.  She
didn’t feel right leaving for lunch—not with so much work left unfinished. 
Hopefully she still had an extra granola bar in her purse.

As she turned into her cube she stopped short.  A salad with
three different kinds of dressing sat on her desk with a bright yellow sticky
note.

Sorry I threw my coffee on you.  Here’s lunch on me.  K.

She spun around.  Sticking her head out of the cube she
looked one way then the next.  She half-expected to see Kyle standing nearby. 
No one.

She took a step back into her cube and sat down in the
chair.  Staring at the salad, she recalled one of his pranks from high school
where he put a roach in her lunch.  Lifting up the salad, she shook it and
waited to see if there was anything moving.  Nothing.  She opened the lid and
pushed the contents around with her fork just to be sure.  Still nothing.  She
shook it again.

“It’s safe,” Kyle said.

She squealed.  Her hand flew over her heart.  He was like a
ninja, sneaking up on her all stealth-like.

He nodded toward the salad.  “I wasn’t sure if you were a
French, Italian, or Ranch gal.”

She smiled at that.  She picked up the ranch dressing and
poured it on the salad as her stomach growled again.  Lifting the fork, she
stabbed some lettuce and turkey.  Kyle still stood at the entranced of her
cube.  She chewed the bite of delicious rabbit food, glancing up at him.  He
leaned against one side of the cube opening, making her think he would not be
going anywhere soon.

Swallowing, she asked, “Can I help you with something?” 
Then she quickly shoved another forkful of salad in her mouth.

“I’m glad you asked.”

Did he always have to be coy?

“I’ve come to talk about the spec.”

She glanced at the clock.  It was mid-afternoon.  She spent
more time with Doug than she thought.  Mumbling through a bite of food, she
said, “Grab.  Chair.”

He disappeared for just a minute, returning with a chair
from an empty cube nearby.  She picked up the salad and held it in her hand as
he tossed the spec document on her desk.  As he sat down, Niki noticed his
stiff posture.  He shifted in the chair for a minute before flipping to a
flagged page in the document.

As she munched on the salad, Kyle explained his
recommendation on a few sections.  “In a combat situation the responsiveness
could mean the difference between life and death—not just for the pilot, but
for his entire crew.”

Niki nodded as she swallowed the last bite of her lunch.

“I’ve already run these past Alan and he’s working on a
change request for you.  Todd wanted me to give you the low down and see if you
could send him a quote on how much longer it will take to program this way.”

As he turned to face her, she caught a whiff of his
cologne.  Smelled good.  Blinking, she tried to clear her brain.

“Sure.  Once I have the formal change request, I’ll work up
some numbers.”

Her phone rang from somewhere deep in her purse.  She
reached down to grab it, nearly hitting her head on the desk.  She wished her
stupid cube had drawers so she didn’t have to toss her purse at her feet.

It was Brian.

“Hello,” she said, swallowing her trepidation.

“Niki, I’m pulling you from the Helitronics project.”

Chapter 9

“What!”  Niki shouted into the phone.

“Well, at least I’m considering it,” Brian said.

“Why would you pull me?  If it’s because of the Kyle thing,
don’t.  We’re getting along just fine.”

A throat clearing brought heat to her face.  She forgot he
was still sitting there.  She looked at him, pointed to the phone, and mouthed
“give me a minute.”

“No, it’s not that.  Remember Global Axis Systems?”

“Yeah.”  She snickered.  Who named their company something
that could be shortened to GAS?  They had a lot of fun with that one.

“Well, they are asking for you by name.”

“So?  I’m booked.  You’ve never pulled someone for another
client before.  Why now?”

Silence.

“Brian?”

“They are willing to pay additional for you.”

She frowned.  “I’m flattered and all that they’d pay extra
for me, but I don’t think so.”

“I’ll give you a bonus for it.”

She threw one hand up in the air, as if he could see her,
hitting Kyle’s arm in the process.  Why was he still here, eavesdropping on her
whole conversation?

“I don’t care how much money you offer me to bail.  I just
sat through three days of meetings, including a humiliating opening meeting. 
I’m just getting into the code and it’s a mess.  Would you really wave a bonus
in front of me and ask me to jump ship?”

“It would mean you wouldn’t have to work with Kyle.”

She rolled her eyes.  She would put up with Kyle and no
bonus just to stay at Helitronics.  It was her dream client.  She couldn’t
leave now.

“I told you, I’m fine working with Kyle.  He’s not half
bad.”  She said that for his benefit seeing as he refused to leave.  “He even
was kind enough to throw his coffee on me this morning.  Said something about
me looking so tired, drinking it wouldn’t work.  Wearing it would be better.”

That got a chuckle from Brian and a smile from Kyle.

“Seriously, I’m not leaving Helitronics.  Don’t force me
to.  This is the project I’ve been waiting for.”

“Niki—”

“I’m serious.  Do you want to keep me at Elite?”  She never
threatened him before.  But, she still wanted this project more than anything.

“Yes, I still want you at Elite.  I just don’t get why this
is so important to you.”

“I’m woman.  I never make sense.  Only my code is logical.”

“Ha!  If it’s that important to you then stay there.  Just
don’t come crying to me if things go bad, cause I might remind you of this
conversation.”

“Thanks, Brian.”  She hung up the phone.  Turning towards
Kyle, she asked, “Did you need something else?”

He smiled and pointed to the floor.  Her chair wheel had a
few pages pinned beneath it.  “I really wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.  When you
went to grab your phone…”

She scooted her chair back to let him retrieve the papers. 
He braced one hand on the desk and slowly bent down.  Stopping part way, he
sucked in air quickly and his face went pale.

She reached down to get the papers instead.  Handing them to
him, she asked, “Are you okay?”

He laughed nervously.  “Almost.  Thanks.”

He stood and wheeled the chair back to the empty cube before
heading back down the hall.  Niki stood and peered around the cube.  His back
was to her.  He stopped a few cubes down, bracing his arm against the cube
wall.  She heard him exhale loudly.

Her heart softened at the sight.  He was obviously not well
and in a lot of pain.  Judging from his suggestions about the spec, he
approached this job with a great deal of dedication, despite the pain.  Did
this have something to do with why he was no longer in the Air Force?

Kyle looked at the pill bottles on his counter.  The
over-the-counter pain killers barely did anything to dull the pain in his
back.  It was Friday evening.  He could nuke some dinner and pass out and no
one would care.

As he started to reach for the prescription pain killers,
his phone rang.

“Hey, Marcella.”

She groaned.  “Hello Kyle Dean.”

He smiled.  He loved picking on his little sister.  Even
though she tried to get him back, he usually won.  Her use of his middle name
didn’t bother him in the least.

“Come to dinner with me and Chad.  I want you to meet him.”

He hesitated, looking at the pain killers.  If he stayed
home, he would get the rest he desperately needed.  The full week at work left
him more worn out than he thought it would.

“I don’t know.”

“Come on.  Niki will be there too.”

“That’s not fair.”

“You said you were looking for some way to reconnect with
her outside of the office.  Here’s your chance, all nicely gift wrapped by me.”

“When and where?”  He conceded.  Marcy knew him far too
well—even though he had done a terrible job of staying in touch with her over
the last several years.