Fifty Degrees Below. Kim Stanley Robinson
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on his doctoral committee and then running the panel judging his proposal. He had impacted Yann’s career in ways he hadn’t even intended, by sabotaging his application so that Yann had gone to Torrey Pines Generique and then Small Delivery Systems, where he was now.
Possibly the futures market had taken notice of that.
Caroline was now looking more relaxed, perhaps relieved that he was not outraged or otherwise freaked out by her news. He tried to stay cool. What was done was done. He had tried to secure Pierzinski’s work for a company he had ties to, yes; but he had failed. So despite his best (or worst) efforts, there was nothing now he needed to hide.
‘You said MIT,’ he said, thinking things over. ‘Is Francesca Taolini involved with this?’
A surprised look, then: ‘Yes. She’s another subject of interest. There’s about a dozen of you. I was assigned to surveil most of the group.’
‘Did you, I don’t know … do you record what people say on the phone, or in rooms?’
‘Sometimes, if we want to. The technology has gotten really powerful, you have no idea. But it’s expensive, and it’s only fully applied in some cases. Pierzinski’s group – you guys are still under a much less intrusive kind of thing.’
‘Good.’ Frank shook his head, like a dog shaking off water. His thoughts were skittering around in all directions. ‘So … you’ve been watching me for a year. But I haven’t done anything.’
‘I know. But then …’
‘Then what?’
‘Then I saw you on that Metro car, and I recognized you. I couldn’t believe it. I had only seen your photo, or maybe some video, but I knew it was you. And you looked upset. Very … intent on something.’
‘Yes,’ Frank said. ‘That’s right.’
‘What happened? I mean, I checked it out later, but it seemed like you had just been at NSF that day.’
‘That’s right. But I went to a lecture, like I told you.’
‘That’s right, you did. Well, I didn’t know that when I saw you in the Metro. And there you were, looking upset, and so – I thought you might be trailing me. I thought you had found out somehow, done some kind of back trace – that’s another area I’ve been working on, mirror searching. I figured you had decided to confront me, to find out what was going on. It seemed possible, anyway. Although it was also possible it was just one of those freak things that happen in D.C. I mean, you do run into people here.’
‘But then I followed you.’ Frank laughed briefly.
‘Right, you did, and I was standing there waiting for that elevator, thinking: What is this guy going to do to me?’ She laughed nervously, remembering it.
‘You didn’t show it.’
‘No? I bet I did. You didn’t know me. Anyway, then the elevator stuck –’
‘You didn’t stop it somehow?’
‘Heck no, how would I do that? I’m not some kind of a …’
‘James Bond? James Bondette?’
She laughed. ‘It is not like that. It’s just surveillance. Anyway there we were, and we started talking, and it didn’t take long for me to see that you didn’t know who I was, that you didn’t know about being monitored. It was just a coincidence.’
‘But you said you knew I had followed you.’
‘That’s right. I mean, it seemed like you had. But since you didn’t know what I was doing, then it had to be, I don’t know …’
‘Because I liked the way you looked.’
She nodded.
‘Well, it’s true,’ Frank said. ‘Sue me.’
She squeezed his hand. ‘It’s okay. I mean, I liked that. I’m in a kind of a bad … Well anyway, I liked it. And I already liked you, see? I wasn’t monitoring you very closely, but closely enough so that I knew some things about you. I – I had to monitor some of your calls. And I thought you were funny.’
‘Yes?’
‘Yes. You are funny. At least I think so. Anyway, I’m sorry. I’ve never really had to think about what I do, not like this, not in terms of a person I talk to. I mean – how horrible it must sound.’
‘You spy on people.’
‘Yes. It’s true. But I’ve never thought it has done anybody any harm. It’s a way of looking out for people. Anyway, in this particular case, it meant that I knew you already. I liked you already. And there you were, so, you know … it meant you liked me too.’ She smiled crookedly. ‘That was okay too. Guys don’t usually follow me around.’
‘Yeah right.’
‘They don’t.’
‘Uh huhn. The man who knew too little, watched by the spy who knew even less.’
She laughed, pulled her hand away, punched him lightly on the arm. He caught her hand in his, pulled her to him. She leaned into his chest and he kissed the top of her head, as if to say, I forgive you your job, I forgive the surveillance. He breathed in the scent of her hair. Then she looked up, and they kissed, very briefly; then she pulled away. The shock of it passed through him, waking him up and making him happy. He remembered how it had been in the elevator; this wasn’t like that, but he could tell she remembered it too.
‘Yes,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Then we did that. You’re a handsome man. And I had figured out why you had followed me, and I felt – oh, I don’t know. I liked you.’
‘Yes,’ Frank said, still remembering the elevator. Feeling the kiss. His skin was glowing.
She laughed again, looking off at her memories. ‘I worried afterward that you would think I was some kind of a loose woman, jumping you like I did. But at the time I just went for it.’
‘Yes you did,’ Frank said.
They laughed, then kissed again.
When they stopped she smiled to herself, pushed her hair off her forehead. ‘My,’ she murmured.
Frank tried to track one of the many thoughts skittering back into his head. ‘You said you were in a kind of a bad?’
‘Ah. Yes. I did.’
The corners of her mouth tightened. She pulled back a bit. Suddenly Frank saw that she was unhappy; and this was so unlike the impression he had gained of her in the elevator that he was shocked. He saw he did not know her, of course he did not know her. He had been thinking that he did, but it wasn’t so. She was a stranger.
‘What?’ he said.
‘I’m married.’
‘Ahh.’
‘And, you know. It’s bad.’
‘Uh oh.’ But that was also good, he thought.
‘I … don’t really want to talk about it. Please. But there it is. That’s where I’m at.’
‘Okay. But … you’re out here.’
‘I’m staying with friends tonight. They live nearby. As far as anyone knows, I’m sleeping on their couch. I left a note in case they get up, saying I couldn’t sleep and went out for a run. But they won’t get up. Or even if they do, they won’t check on me.’
‘Does your husband do surveillance too?’
‘Oh yeah. He’s much further up than I am.’
‘I see.’
Frank didn’t know what to say. It was bad news. The worst news of the night, worse than the fact that he was under surveillance. On the