Borderless Deceit Read Online Free Page A

reply:
Wonderful, sweet. Inspiring. Thirty-five years…I’m still loving it
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    Yes, Heywood had fought. And he would fight some more, so as to get to the good times ahead.
    But
good times ahead
was scarcely the issue at the High Council session. Claire Desmarais’s absurd notion – to request outside assistance – had put the Czar’s dignity on the block. Outside assistance? Good God! Good times ahead are nothing if the voyage there brings with it a sullied reputation. When Claire made that suggestion, Heywood’s fight at the High Council session turned into one not so much for a better future as for an honourable past.
    Deftly changing his bearing, discarding the veneer of authority, taking defiance off the table, placing clasped hands humbly under his chin, the Czar morphed into the role of supplicant. His comeback line to Claire was an invitation to the whole High Council to ascend to a higher level, to the one where charity begins.
    We were caught unprepared, sure. And there was no antidote – a mistake from which to learn. But let’s be realistic. We’ll weather it. We’re resourceful. For a while we’ll communicate by telephone, as we always did. We can also start using the fax machines again. And let’s not forget, everything is backed up on tapes. Reports, records, letters, memoranda – it’s all still there. Even our schedules. We haven’t lost that much. We’ll rebuild the network, make it better. With a push it could be done in weeks. I’ll find who’s responsible too. I’ll get an explanation. I’ll make sure we’ll fathom this. I swear it. If you want, I’ll swear twice
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    This was Heywood’s last shot, his ultimate lunge. Would he now stand or fall? Everyone waited for des Étoiles, but he showed no sign that he had made up his mind.
    Harry Berezowski, the kid on the block, young enough to be able to spend a dozen years recovering were he ever to have a slip-up such as Heywood’s, stepped courageously into the void. “What Irving says is wise,” he said. “The world hasn’t ended. Let’s get over it and on with it.”
    More silence, but of a different colour. Étienne des Étoiles continued reflecting. Heywood stopped his squeaky rocking. Hunt began a methodical cracking of his knuckles.
    Suspense built.
    Des Étoiles, took a deep breath and…came down on Berezowski’s side.
We have faith in Mr. Heywood’s ability to get things done
. Then he summed up. He wanted a full explanation for the meltdown: who was behind it, how the virus had entered, where defences were lacking.There were still more crisp orders to the Czar.
You believe you can find the authors. Do what you have to. Keep me in the picture. Report daily
.
    Ron Hunt immediately winked at Claire. Report daily!
    Des Étoiles was not finished. He also wanted an operational plan for mitigating the disaster’s impact.
By breakfast tomorrow. And, ensure reasonable communications are restored worldwide within, shall we say, 48 hours
. He next demanded detailed design plans for a new network
– to be sanctioned only upon completion of a full peer review
. Finally, he dictated an entire overhaul of network operating rules: “If it’s true,” said des Étoiles without emotion, “that blinking lights can’t distinguish between system overload and a debilitating virus, then lights are useless. Sorry, Abbie, but there’s no excuse for doctors that can’t tell malaria from the flu.”
    Heywood made a point of getting in the meeting’s final comment. Once more rocking back and forth, he said, “Sounds reasonable to me.” He couldn’t have made it sound more bland.
    With a final short bow and a single knock on the table, his way of dismissing the session, Étienne des Étoiles got up and disappeared through the door in the wood-panelled wall. Harry Berezowski and