time or – if I’m going to be completely honest with myself – ever, but talk is often meaningless, especially in this avenue of work. People make idle threats every other week, from burning the building to the ground – a much more difficult task than their temper realizes – to swearing that their design for an invisible tracking chip – something closer to impossible than improbable at this time despite the other science fiction like advances we’ve managed to make in this community – will have them on top instead of me. So much shit is spouted in anger in high-pressure jobs like this that if I didn’t take it with a grain of salt, I would’ve never finished college let alone as early as I did.
Data says more than their irate mouths ever could.
And rarely does the data ever present me with a real reason to allow fear or the response it triggers to enter my system.
“The intel we’ve managed to gather concludes that there are already plans in place to execute this action.”
“That’s the what.” I retrieve a stick of gum from my pocket and begin to unwrap it. “Give me the rest.”
“We aren’t certain of the who at this point. Two different teams are operating on their separate theories. Both are equally probable and possible. One is a rival organization that is known for conducting physically innocuous stunts such as making a dramatic production that they’re planning to do something extremely dangerous to shake up whoever it is they feel needs to be shook while never following through with the implied arrangement. Most of the time, their real goal is to throw someone or something off balance. For instance, having you too frightened to give the keynote speech at the conference would create notable consequences for us as a company. How weak would we look if the individual that’s head of our tactical tools was too terrified to do her job? You miss the conference out of fear, what else could you possibly not be doing out of the same emotion?”
“I would be in the wrong business if all it took to throw me off my game was a breakroom style rumor.”
“Perhaps, but a rumor followed by a phoned-in attempt to prove it isn’t just a rumor could change a person’s mind.”
I see his point.
I, unfortunately, can also see how their tactic could be effective.
More importantly, it would create an inconvenience I don’t need.
There are too many projects to evaluate and some funny anecdotes I want to test on those I see daily to measure their worth of humor. If it’s high enough, I may work one or two into this year’s speech.
“In fact, Blake, that type of shit would change a normal per-”
“I’m not normal,” the interruption is accompanied by me shoving the stick between my teeth. “And for the scientific sanctity of this conversation, it’s better not to use what is considered average or commonplace to predict my personal actions or responses.”
My brother momentarily concedes.
“You’ve explained that who and their why. What about the other?”
“The alternative threat possibility is a low-level criminal organization.”
“Because the high-level ones actually use our services?”
Brandon sneers at the statement prior to having another sip of his Wilcox whiskey.
Haworth is a private company. Private military. Private security. Private technology. Pretty much anything you can put the word private in front of they have a branch for it. And they use that one little word to shield themselves from direct ties to any one side of anything. They are not in it for the “right” or to battle “the wrong”. They are not in it for “pride of country” or “to protect their nation”.
No.
Services provided by this enterprise are given to those that can afford the contract.
End of moral conversation.
“Personally,” Brandon casually begins again, “I think that one has less merit. While coming after one of our higher-ranking team members-”
“Oh, good, Professor Pep Talk is back.”
“-would be a powerful flex for them and a devastating blow for us if they got away with it, it seems…too risky for a group at their level. Someone with better reach, ranking, or clout – say a branch of the Synful Syndicate as an example – I could believe; however, if they were up to something of this nature, I believe that would be a declaration of civil war considering who holds the number one spot in our company.”
The desire to ask more questions involving how everything is run is non-existent.
Less I know of said