Page 65 of Cocky Tech God

My excitement grew, as did my anxiety. A spotlight in the quarterly newsletter would put LMS on the world stage. That could be our foot in the door to getting international clients. My focus returned and my adrenaline surged. I was ready to give it my all.

When it was my turn, I was a ball of nerves, made worse by all the caffeine I’d consumed. The crowd cheered, and I could have sworn I heard Brett scream my name. But from where I stood, the faces were a mesh of flesh and colors. I wirelessly connected my computer to the projector, and once my slide show popped up, for better or worse, I began.

When I was done, sweat dripped down my back, and my legs shook like jelly as I walked back to my seat. I did it. I really did it. And I hadn’t fallen or tripped over my words or gone blank. I’d nailed it. But when I faced the table, I snapped out of my high. Hansen still had not arrived.

I turned back to the moderator who whispered with Graham. He nodded and made his way back to the podium. He said, “Lucia Mendez with LM Software concluded the presentations. Mr. Holte with Holte Cyber Solutions has pulled his presentation.”

The crowd silenced, the confusion growing seemingly in all of us.

The moderator continued. “On the way out, please make your electronic selections on the iPads on the tables outside this door. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.”

Why had Hansen pulled out? My mind reeled.

Oh God. Had he done this for me?

I grabbed my laptop and sliced through the crowd, trying to be polite while racing out of the room to find Hansen. All down the corridor, I’d not spotted him. Neither at the main hotel lobby bar, nor the tiki bar. Wait, I still had the keycard to room 811. Could I dare go inside the room?

Step by torturous step, I made my way to Hansen’s room. The elevator ride was slower than ever, while everything inside me double-timed. My heart. My breath. My thoughts. They all thrummed with intensity, making me dizzy.

At room 811, I held my fist up, ready to knock on the door until he opened it. But what if he didn’t? What if he was as done with us as I claimed I was? I needed to find out.

The room was empty. Not even his designer suitcase was on the luggage stand as it had been. I raced to the bathroom. Empty. No tiny expensive toiletry bottles he’d had. No electric razor. No box of condoms he’d had open and ready for use. I slumped against the wall.

Hansen was gone.

I went to my room on the sixth floor, my mind sorting through my emotions that wouldn’t diffuse—that only grew more intense. As I walked down the corridor, which I noticed was the wrong one, per the plaques on the wall directing to room number blocks, I rammed right into Brett, who’d come around the corner holding a plate of food in one hand, and a glass of iced tea in the other.

“Lucia! Smashing job on the pitch.” A tiny muffin fell off his plate to the carpet. “What are you doing on my floor?”

“Thanks. This is my floor too. Since last night. I had a change of rooms.” I glanced in the opposite direction.

“Oh…” His eyebrows lifted. “Too bad Hansen didn’t present. I was looking forward to it. We briefly discussed it at our meeting last night. He didn’t mention pulling out, though. I assumed he’d be there.”

A stream of pulses rushed through my body at the mention of his name. “Yeah. I wonder what happened.” I hated this. I hated acting as if I didn’t how Hansen intimately.

He bent over to pick up the rogue muffin, with careful precision not to drop everything else.

Just then, Calista came trekking around the corner sans Joy. She met my eyes immediately.

“Lucia, you alright?”

“Yes…” A feeling of dread came over me. I sensed she knew something by the concerned look on her face.

“You did a really good job at the presentation. Enough to get my interest,” she said. “I became aware this morning of an appeal from your company. Just so you know, I will investigate it personally. I didn’t know you had pitched to us. You will also have to go over the breach details with me.”

A wave of relief came over me. “Yes, thank you, Ms. Everette. I appreciate that, and I will be completely transparent with you regarding the breach we recently had.”

“This is not a guarantee, of course. But you have my attention.”

“I understand.”

Calista moved her gaze to Brett. “Hello.”

“Good morning, Ms. Everette. We’ve not met officially, but I’m Brett.”

“Lovely to meet you. Officially.” She glanced at me. “Do you mind giving me and Lucia a moment?”

His eyes widened. “Of course. Not a problem.” He nodded to me and continued his way down the corridor.