Chasing the Dime Read Online Free PDF

investment must be safeguarded.’
    He was alluding to the reason he was there. Charlie Condon had hired him as a showpiece. Vernon was there to placate potential investors who needed to know that the company’s projects were safe and secure and, therefore, that their investments would be safe and secure. Vernon’s pedigree was impressive and more vitally important to the company than the actual security work he performed.
    When Maurice Goddard had made his first trip out from New York to be shown around the place and receive the initial presentation, he had also been introduced to Vernon and had spent twenty minutes talking about plant security and personnel with him.
    Pierce now looked at Clyde Vernon and felt like screaming at him, letting him know how close they were to running out of significant funding and how inconsequential he was in the scheme of things.
    But he held his tongue.
    â€˜I understand your concerns perfectly, Clyde. But I don’t think you have to worry about Nicole. Everything is cool.’
    Vernon nodded and finally conceded, perhaps sensing the growing tension behind Pierce’s eyes.
    â€˜I think you’re probably right.’
    â€˜Thank you.’
    â€˜Now, you said you were selling the house.’
    â€˜I said she’s selling it.’
    â€˜Yes. Have you moved yet? Do you have a number where you can be reached?’
    Pierce hesitated. Vernon had not been on the A-list of people who had gotten his new number and address. Respect was a two-way street. While Pierce viewed Vernon as capable, he also knew what had gotten the man the job was his FBI pedigree. Of his twenty-five years in the bureau, Vernon had spent half in the L.A. field office on white collar crime and corporate espionage investigations.
    But Pierce viewed Vernon largely as a poseur. He was always on the move, charging down hallways and banging through doors like a man on a mission. But the bottom line was that there wasn’t a whole lot to the mission of providing project security to a firm that employed thirty-three people, only ten of which could get through the mantrap and inside the lab, where all the secrets were kept.
    â€˜I’ve got a new phone number but I don’t remember it,’ Pierce said. ‘I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.’
    â€˜What about the address?’
    â€˜It’s over in the Sands on the beach. Apartment twelve oh one.’
    Vernon took out a little notebook and wrote down the information. He looked just like a cop from an old movie, his big hands crowding the small notebook as he scribbled. Why do they always have such small notebooks? It was a question Cody Zeller had once posited after they’d seen a cop flick together.
    â€˜I’m going to get back to work now, Clyde. After all, all those investors are counting on us, right?’
    Vernon looked up from his notebook, one eyebrow raised as he tried to gauge whether Pierce was being sarcastic.
    â€˜Right,’ he said. ‘Then I’ll let you get back to it.’
    But after the security man had retreated through the mantrap, Pierce again realized he could not get back to it. An inertia had set in. For the first time in three years he was unencumbered by interests outside the lab and free to do the work. But for the first time in three years he didn’t want to.
    He shut down the computer and got up. He followed Vernon’s wake through the mantrap.

4
    When he got back to his office Pierce turned the lights on by hand. The voice-recognition switch was bullshit and he knew it. Something installed simply to impress the potential investors Charlie Condon walked through the place every few weeks. It was a gimmick. Just like all the cameras and Vernon. But Charlie said it was all necessary. It symbolized the cutting-edge nature of what they did. He said it helped investors envision the company’s projects and importance. It made them feel good about writing a check.
    But