Chapter Six Beginning of May

Wednesday afternoon at one forty-five p.m., McDonald’s car pulls up before the National Security Agency’s headquarters. Inside, she approaches a guard, M. Malden, according to his ID badge, who dutifully checks his list of expected arrivals, but fails to find her name there.

“I have a two o’clock appointment with the director,” she states coldly.

M. Malden goes to check with his fellow guards, then returns to his station and informs her that none of the guards have her on their lists. McDonald feels her blood begin to simmer.

M. Malden picks up the phone at his station and calls the director’s office.

“That’s odd,” Janet says, flustered. John Walker rarely lets her in on his intended insults and manipulations, and she hates getting drawn into one of them. “It must be an oversight. Please tell the director I’ll be right down. I’ll escort Ms. McDonald to the conference room personally.”

M. Malden repeats Janet’s words verbatim. Gee,wonder why I have a bad feeling about how how this meeting’s going to go, McDonald’s brain mutters darkly.

Janet stays with her in the conference room until her boss arrives. McDonald’s brain’s mutterings grow darker with every minute she sits ignoring Janet’s minute-by-minute apologies for his delay. She finds herself looking at the clock’s second hand to see if her apologies actually spaced a minute apart, and smiles to herself when she finds that she’s right. Where do they find these people, she has to wonder