Covering local news on a cable station was one thing; mentoring a newbie would require extra time outside of normal working hours—time she’d earmarked to spend with hermom.
“Max said you’d be a terrific coach.” Sapphire leaned forward. “Stacy’s prettygreen.”
With the message delivered, the coworker introduced her around the office. They grabbed a quick lunch, headed to the Metro, and boarded thetrain.
Alexandra was determined to move past the disappointment and focus on the job at hand. “Who are youinterviewing?”
“I’ve been working on a piece for our annual contest,” Sapphire explained. “We pick a topic—this year it’s technology—and turn to our viewers for nominations. Not only is it our biggest ratings draw, the community loves the local angle. We whittled down the several hundred nominees to twenty. Then, our viewers vote and the top three are featured in a special program. This one’s calledDC’s Brightest Tech Star. I’ve interviewed the third-place winner. We’re meeting with the second tech genius today. The gentleman who won first place has been ignoring me, but I’m persistent.” Sapphire waggled herbrows.
The two women exited the train station, headed into the office building and completed their interview with the least-talkative person Alexandra had evermet.
Later that afternoon, while Alexandra sat with Sapphire at her desk, Max entered the newsroom with a busty redhead. Though he shot Alexandra a cool glance, he headed straight for his office and shut the door. The young woman bounced over and dropped her handbag on the desk next toSapphire’s.
“I’m Stacy B-L-U-N-K. Pronounced like the wine.Blanc. Max said I need a mentor.” She rolled her eyes. “I hear you’reit.”
Gritting her teeth, Alexandra extended herhand.
“Shaking is for old people. I’m a fist-bumper.”
Oh, great.Alexandra dropped herhand.
After providing her entire journalism history—which took all of thirty seconds—Stacy explained that Max had personally selected her for the fast track. She was slated for the next available on-air position, even if the meteorologist slot opened up before the news magazine showaired.
Up until that moment, Alexandra had been under the guise that meteorologists were trained professionals who could speak proficiently about the plethora of weather systems.Welcome back to Max’s fucked-up world where his dick reignssupreme.
Though Alexandra envied Stacy’s position, she didn’t envy Stacy. She lacked the critical experience needed to survive in the cutthroat world of broadcast news. Given Stacy’s inflated ego, Alexandra got the impression she didn’t want help. She wanted cameratime.
Stacy trotted off and Sapphire pushed slowly out of the chair. “I need a quick biobreak.”
When she returned, she grabbed her cell. While waiting for the person to answer, she whispered to Alexandra, “My water broke.” Sapphire spoke softly into the phone, then hung up. “My husband will be hereshortly.”
“You’re so calm. What can Ido?”
“Finish my tech story.” Sapphire handed her afolder.
Alexandra helped Sapphire with her coat. Five minutes later, Sapphire’s husband arrived and theyleft.
After grabbing a cup of stale coffee from the break room, Alexandra settled into Sapphire’s chair. She opened the folder, read her notes and preliminary news copy. Scanning the page markedCompetition Winner, her eyes poppedwide.
The winner ofDC’s Brightest Tech Starwas the thirty-three-year-old founder and CEO of Wilde Innovations—CrockettWilde.
9
Rogue Bird
Crockett skimmed the in-housereport,smacked his laptop shut, and shoved out of his chair. After spending the holiday week with his parents and extended family in Texas, he was ready to jump back into the fray, headfirst.
What he hadn’t expected was a shit-ton of problems right out of the gate.This is the biggest load ofcrap.
Crockett had anticipated a few viable conclusions as to why Moth hadn’t flown during Round One of the FBI Demo, but the results staring back at him catapulted his frustration to a whole new level. The extensive testing led all three of his teams—Hardware and Software Engineering along with Quality Assurance—to conclude that Moth failed due to human error. In this particular case, they cited him as the individual responsible for the error.No fuckingway.
Like a pilot completing his pre-flight checklist, Crockett always performed the same exact series of tasks to ensure each demo went off without a hitch. Over the years, he’d honed that list and could recite it in his sleep. Turning on a goddamn surveillance device was at the top.Jesus, this pisses meoff.
Muscles running the length of his shoulders felt like stone and he rubbed the back of his neck. Norelief.
Decker tapped on his open office door, strolled in, and set down the cardboard tray of coffees. “Happy New Year. How was yourholiday?”
Forcing down the surmounting anger, Crockett lifted out a coffee and sipped. A thick sugary taste coated his tongue and he fought the urge to spit out the hotdrink.
