Page 48 of The Law of Attraction
He turned out to be a big bear of a guy named Kurt, whose office was inside the control shack. He was built like a mountain made of muscle. His biceps were the size of honey-baked hams under the long sleeves of his blue work shirt, and he had to be at least six foot four. He made Adam look small, and Olivia feel positively Lilliputian.
“We were starting to worry you two weren’t gonna make it.” Despite his intimidating size, Kurt had a warm, friendly smile that got warmer as he shook Olivia’s hand in his huge bear paw.
Adam’s eyes seemed to narrow as he watched them. “We had a few setbacks on the road.”
“All that matters is you’re here now, safe and sound,” Kurt replied with Zen-like congeniality. He gestured at the empty room around them. “You can set up at any desk you like.”
The control shack was simple and spartan, dominated by an open area filled with desks and monitors displaying status messages and stats on the various parts of the plant. There was a break room area off to one side with a vending machine and a Bunn-o-matic coffee maker that looked like it dated from the eighties, and next to that a single unisex bathroom.
Across the room was the building’s only office, belonging to their new friend Kurt. It was separated from the main space by windows affording a view of everything. Next to that was an open door leading to a utility closet containing all the networking equipment.
“You let me know if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here.” Kurt’s bluff, hospitable smile settled on Olivia again.
“She needs head and eye protection,” Adam said, scowling like he’d tasted something bitter. “It’s her first time at a plant.”
Olivia pinned him with a sharp look of displeasure as Kurt headed into his office. They’d only just gotten here and the last thing they needed was to alienate the perfectly nice plant manager.
Adam’s sour expression melted into bemusement as he mouthed a silent What?
Be nice, she mouthed back. Honestly, how did he do this on his own all the time?
“I got you covered,” Kurt said as he emerged from his office and presented Olivia with a hard hat and safety goggles. “Make sure you wear these anytime you leave this building.”
“Got it, thanks.” She tried the hard hat on for size. It swamped her whole head, tilting forward into her eyes.
Kurt reached up to adjust it for her, grinning as he tipped it back out of her face. “Works better if you can actually see. There’s a strap inside you can adjust.”
“Don’t suppose these come in child-sized?” she asked, tightening it to the smallest size.
“’Fraid not,” Kurt said as she tried it on again. It was a little loose, but workable. He gave her an approving nod. “I think it suits you just fine.”
Adam was looking annoyed again. “We should get to work. We’ve got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in.” He’d already claimed a desk and unpacked his laptop.
Olivia followed suit, choosing the desk directly behind his. A cool calm settled over her as she sat down and logged into the VPN. She might be a nervous wreck before a job started, but once she had a concrete task in front of her, everything clicked into place and her focus was absolute.
The RTU at the plant turned out to be over twenty years old. In fact, Kurt told them proudly, it had been installed by his father when he’d been plant manager.
The outputs weren’t compatible with their newer system, but Adam had already shipped a brand-new RTU to the plant, which was waiting for them in Kurt’s office. While he went out to install it, Olivia went over the site’s run book, familiarizing herself with the standard operations and procedures for stopping, starting, and debugging the plant’s systems.
They spent the rest of the day making sure the new RTU was picking up data from all the sensors, eating out of the vending machine, and drinking pot after pot of scorched coffee from the ancient Bunn-o-matic. From time to time, one of the workmen on shift would come into the control shack for a bathroom or coffee break, or to shoot the shit with Kurt, but mostly it was quiet, and they were able to work uninterrupted.
Hours after Kurt had bid them goodnight and been replaced by the swing shift manager, Adam spun his chair around and tapped Olivia on the shoulder.
She’d been concentrating so hard on the telemetry data on her screen, she started at the unexpected touch. Adam smiled in response, and the fluorescent lights overhead seemed to glow brighter. It was the first time he’d smiled since they’d gotten here, and the sight of it was like laying eyes on an old friend after a years-long absence.
“We should take a break.” He stifled a yawn, his shoulders slumping with fatigue. “We’ve been at it for hours.”
“What time is it?” she asked, stretching her arms toward the ceiling until her vertebrae popped. She’d been hunched over her computer so long her body had tried to fuse itself into the shape of a question mark.
Adam glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was one of those big round ones with lots of tiny dials set into the face. With his shirtsleeves pushed up, it emphasized how muscular his forearms were. “Nearly seven. We need to check into our hotel before they give our rooms away.”
“Yeah, okay.” She put her laptop to sleep and shoved it and the power cord into her purse. No way was she letting it out of her sight, even for a second.
“I’m thinking we’ll grab some dinner while we’re out and then come back here to work for a few more hours.” Adam already had his laptop packed up, and he lifted his messenger bag onto his shoulder, grabbing his hard hat as he headed for the door.
It was raining when they stepped out of the control shack, and the two of them blinked at the masked glow of the late-day sun like a couple of mole rats emerging from the bowels of the earth.
“How long’s it been doing that?” Olivia asked, pulling her borrowed hard hat down to shield her face from the rain.
