VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [85]
“Sounds like a production nightmare already,” said Murphy.
“Which is why you’re here,” said Sarah.
“Now, ordinarily,” said the project manager, “we would go out to a consultant at just about this point to come up with manufacturing recommendations. But since you’re on the payroll, we’d like you to take a crack at it.”
“Be glad to,” said Murphy.
“Good,” said Sarah. “So first of all, let’s go over the report we’re going to present to the client next week.”
In front of each of them at the table were comb-bound copies of a report with the single word “Cobblestone” on the cover.
“Let’s all turn to page two,” said Sarah, “and have a look at the lab test summary … wait a minute. Where the heck is page two?”
“Mine starts with page five,” said the engineer.
“I’m sorry,” said the project manager, “I forgot to tell you. Sanjay hasn’t written it yet.”
“Why not?” asked Sarah.
“Because Sanjay hasn’t gotten everything he needs from Joe. That’s what he told me yesterday.”
Sarah jutted her jaw forward and blew through her mouth, causing her bangs to rise from her forehead.
“All right,” she said, “let’s move on. Let’s look at the cross-section analysis. Is it in here? Oh, good! It is!”
They made it through the cross-section analysis, only to find that two of the mechanical tests that were supposed to be included were not. They were missing.
“Crap!” said Sarah. “How come they’re not in here?”
“I have no idea,” said the project manager.
“You know, we’re supposed to present this to the client next week!” said Sarah.
“Well, there’s still time,” said the engineer.
“Not much! And I’m wondering, what else is missing?” asked Sarah, flipping through the pages. “Where’s the environmental section?”
“It’s in here,” said the project manager, “I just saw it.”
“I saw it too, but I hate to tell you,” said the engineer, “it’s outdated. There is newer environmental data, and what’s in here is from six months ago. But I don’t think Joe has signed off on it yet.”
“Who put this report together?” asked Sarah.
“I don’t know,” said the engineer. “But Joe Tassoni was supposed to approve it.”
“Where is Joe Tassoni?!” asked Sarah.
“Um … I just got a text message,” said the project manager, checking his cell phone. “Joe’s not coming. He’s in a meeting with Viktor. He says it could go on for a while. He says to go on without him.”
Sarah flung her small body back into her chair, then sighed and said, “We can’t! We cannot go on without him.”
That evening, Murphy had to stay late at work to participate in a conference call involving people on different continents. The call was scheduled for 7:00 p.m Eastern time, but at 6:55 it was postponed until 8:00 p.m. Murphy had put off dinner in order to prepare for the call, but by now he was seriously hungry. So he went to the vending machines on the third floor, which were just down the hall from the thermodynamics lab.
Murphy stood in front of the vending machines, looking at an array of bad choices. As he deliberated, another man walked up, and put money into one of the machines to buy a bottle of water. Murphy was just about to purchase a packaged sandwich, which he suspected might have been in the machine for days, when the other man said:
“You don’t want to do that.”
Murphy turned. The man was in his late forties, portly and rather large in all dimensions, had a broad face, a curved nose, dark brown hair that had receded from his temples, and a well-trimmed thick dark mustache.
“You’re right, I really don’t, but I’ve got to eat something,” said Murphy.
“You like-a pizza?” asked the man.
He had a slight accent.
“Excuse me?” asked Murph.
“Pizza. You like pizza?”
“I sure do.”
The man nodded toward a door nearby.
“You come with me.”
He led Murphy into the thermodynamics lab, past