Chapter 48
“What?” Midge sputtered in disbelief. “Strathmore claims our data is
wrong?” Brinkerhoff nodded and hung up
the phone.
“Strathmore denied that
TRANSLTR’s been stuck on one file for
eighteen hours?”
“He was quite pleasant about the whole thing.” Brinkerhoff beamed, pleased
with himself for surviving the phone call. “He assured
me TRANSLTR was working fine. Said it was breaking codes
every six minutes even
as we speak. Thanked me for checking
up on him.”
“He’s lying,”
Midge snapped. “I’ve been running these Crypto stats for two years. The data is never wrong.”
“First time for everything,” he said casually.
She shot him a disapproving look.
“I run all data twice.”
“Well…
you know what they say about computers. When they screw up, at least they’re consistent
about it.”
Midge spun and faced him. “This isn’t funny, Chad! The DDO just told a blatant
lie to the director’s office. I want
to know why!”
Brinkerhoff suddenly wished he hadn’t called her back in. Strathmore’s phone call had set her off. Ever since Skipjack,
whenever Midge had a sense that something suspicious
was going on, she made
an eerie transition from flirt
to fiend. There was no stopping her until she sorted it out.
“Midge, it is possible our data is off,” Brinkerhoff said firmly. “I mean, think about it–a file that
ties up TRANSLTR for eighteen hours? It’s unheard of. Go
home. It’s late.”
She gave him a haughty
look and tossed
the report on the counter.
“I trust the data. Instinct
says it’s right.”
Brinkerhoff frowned. Not even the director questioned Midge Milken’s instincts anymore–she had
an uncanny habit of always
being right.
“Something’s up,” she declared. “And I intend to find out what it is.”
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