Page 18 of Cocky Tech God
A year ago, the World Tech Conference had been in Sydney, Australia. I should have remembered more about our week, but I couldn’t. In fact, I hadn’t given her a second thought at all after the conference ended. She’d gone back to London, and that was the end of it. Instead, images of kissing Lucia came hard and fast. I could hear her moan my name as she had last night when she touched herself. When she came. My body responded immediately.
In the midst of my musings of Lucia, I looked up from the table into the audience and made eye contact with her, as if I’d conjured her with my thoughts. A humored smile curled her pink lips. And then she looked away. Damn. I didn’t want her to look away.
“I had a baby,” Calista went on, her fingertips moving across my sleeve. “A baby girl called Joy.”
My gaze snapped to hers, the air suddenly dense and suffocating. “You did?”
She chuckled, her fingers falling back on the table. “Don’t worry, dear, it’s not yours.”
Relief came over me. Not that I wouldn’t be there for Calista had we conceived a child. I nearly was a father once, and still longed to be a father someday.
“Congratulations, Calista.” I squeezed her hand.
“I’ve brought her with me here. I still can’t believe I’m a mum now.”
“I hope to meet her before the conference is over.”
“Perhaps tonight? My nanny is with me, watching her whilst I’m on panels and such.”
The moderator tapped on the mic before I could respond, demanding our attention. He introduced the seminar, naming each panelist and our contribution.
When he came to me, he said, “Mr. Hansen Holte, owner and CEO of Holte Cyber Solutions and 2H Cloud Services, will offer his thoughts on cybersecurity software support and implementation.” The moderator waited for the audience to finish clapping.
I watched Lucia, but her eyes were elsewhere. On someone else?
“Thank you,” I said into the microphone. “It’s a pleasure to be a panelist again. So please, give me your best and worst questions.”
The crowd laughed. Lucia didn’t. Her attention was directed toward a man seated next to her. I didn’t know him…and I didn’t like him.
The moderator continued to introduce Calista, and Lucia suddenly became interested. She listened intently to every word Calista said.
Thirty minutes later, we’d started the Q and A segment of the workshop. The audience had question after question, all of them intriguing, but I couldn’t focus. My head just wasn’t in the game. Too many distractions kept me from being fully present. Actually no, just one distraction: Lucia. But when she raised her hand, I suddenly broke through my fog, the exhilaration of her attention on me giving me life.
The moderator pointed at her. “Yes, please state your name and question?”
She stood with all the confidence I’d seen her have in every meeting we’ve ever been in together. “Good morning, everyone, I’m Lucia Mendez with LM Software, and my question is for Calista Everette.”
Calista leaned in, taking the microphone from me. “Hi, Lucia. What’s your question?”
Lucia glanced down at her cell phone. “As a corporation wanting to implement cybersecurity software, what is your expectation for on-going support?”
Holding my breath, I waited for the answer. I suspected this was about LM Software’s lack of tech support. Therein lay her main issue with securing major clients, in my opinion. Did she want to secure Calista’s company as a client, as well as Graham’s? Lucia was bold, indeed. Morgan Financial Holdings and NuvaTech were most definitely the prize this year.
“My expectations are high,” Calista began. “If I am going to implement new software that costs beyond six figures, I expect twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week tech support.”
Lucia kept a straight face, though a flicker of distress darkened her eyes. “Even if the software has proven stable in simulated high-threat environments?”
Calista considered her question a moment. “In the biotech field, we have laws that require a certain level of security. I wouldn’t implement a software that is relying on stability in a simulation. What was stable could quickly become unstable because of the changing environment and more advanced hacking techniques. I want to be sure my cybersecurity software package comes with a team ready to correct breaches in real-time. Any time of day and night.”
“Thank you for your response, Ms. Everette.” Lucia met my gaze finally, a small smirk on her lips. “Mr. Holte, to date, how many breaches have your support team troubleshooted and corrected?”
My heart throbbed. Lucia had put me on the spot, and I couldn’t respect her more. I grabbed the microphone from a surprised Calista. “Good question, Miss Mendez.” Two could play that game.
Lucia’s eyebrow lifted, the smirk still on her lips.
“To date, we’ve only had to correct one breach with the latest version of our software, Halt 2.1.”
“Are all your clients automatically upgraded with each new release?”