4

Stanley was a little worried about what that might mean when he did his visual inspection and inventory of the network and systems equipment which he would have to rely on without the documentation.

He turned to look into her lovely dark eyes as she pushed the drawer closed. "Can you get me an org chart? I n-need to know the size of the c-c-company and how many wuh-workstations I can expect we'll be su-supporting." He looked away with a scowl.

He felt a hand on his arm and looked back in surprise.

"You don't have to be nervous around me. I'm here for you one hundred percent," she said gently, her compassion showing in her eyes.

He did feel himself calming a little and smiled at her gratefully.

She bit her plump lip and pulled her hand back from his arm reluctantly. "What do we do now?"

He cleared his throat and nodded, feeling his nerves settle down. Now he was in his comfort zone. "We do an inventory manually. We start at the bottom and work our way up!" She smiled at his enthusiasm and her eyes sparkled at his lack of stuttering. She gave him a firm nod.

He led the way back out to her desk where she sent a quick request to HR to get a new org chart sent to them and to get her tablet.

"I'll keep notes of your findings," she said and he smiled in return.

They made their way back down to the basement and Paloma showed him the code to manually access the server room until he had an access card. Once inside they got to work.

It took them hours to record every piece of equipment in the room but they made an excellent team. Paloma's enthusiasm never waned and Stanley was in his element. He truly felt relaxed around this beauty and that was a first. He kept his thoughts professional as while he longed for a girlfriend he knew he would be working closely with her and had to keep this relationship professional.

Once they were done he had a much firmer grasp on the scope of the company's current equipment and the scope of just how much danger it was in. He began to have doubts in his ability to achieve his goal. He felt Paloma's hand on his arm once more.

"Don't let the size of this task intimidate you. I know you can do it! I can see you understanding everything you found in here and that's amazing to me! You know what needs to be done! That's far ahead of what most people could achieve so quickly.

He felt his confidence returning.

"Can we do a quick inventory of the equipment in use on each floor on our way upstairs?" he asked and she gave him a happy smile.

Paloma led him to the main floor. "Reception and Security are the only departments with terminals. It's my understanding that the two reception terminals have minimal access. Let me introduce you to Mr. Duncan, our head of security." She opened a locked door and led him down an access hallway to the security offices. He'd noted the cameras in the lobby and the camera in the hallway as well. When they reached the door to the security office they had to buzz to be admitted.

Once inside Stanley quickly made note of the terminals they had and the vast number of screens they had to review. Most seemed to be picking up feeds from external cameras but a surprising amount were internal.

They had a small array of servers in a corner of the office and he squatted down to take in their make and model.

"Ms. Villamor! What are you doing bringing a stranger into the Security Office!" growled a thick Scottish accent.

Stanley stood and turned to face the source of the voice and had to crane his neck back to see the eyes of the speaker. He was as tall and intimidating as the two men guarding the top floor elevator lobby. Flaming red hair and a red beard dominated his features but he had pale blue eyes and freckles over a nose that looked many times broken and reset poorly. He was wearing a black suit but looked like he'd be far more comfortable in combat gear.

"Mr. Duncan, this is Stanley Garin. VRL's new CIO."

Bushy red eyebrows rose up then his eyes hardened as he closely examined the small man standing before him.

"Aye, Ms. Gunderan sent me an update on a new employee. Your mum also sent me a note," the man said, not taking his eyes from him.

Stanley held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, sir."

The security chief gripped his hand hard and pumped it a few times then released it with a smile on his face. "It's nice to meet you as well. Are you going to fix the mess that bastard Hokensev left us in?"

"Uh, yes sir. That's the plan. Your servers are going to be on the list of replacements. They're much too slow to keep up with the load you're putting them under. I'm only seeing regular cameras. Are you intending to add some with thermal imaging capabilities?" He got a nod and raised eyebrows from the man. "These servers won't do it." Stanley said looking back at the machines in the corner. "The power backup is a joke and that wall of monitors, they're old school CRT's aren't they. Everything has to be replaced." His expression showed his frustration. How had these systems been left to rot for so long?

Mr. Duncan smiled at Paloma who grinned back at him. "Mr. Garin, come with me and I'll get you your security access set up.

They went to the man's office and soon Stanley was set up with his own access card to the building. The card gave him access everywhere including the elevators up to the executive level but did not open the other executive offices and the Security Office door.

Stanley looked at Paloma. "Am I going to find antiquated hardware on every floor?"

"Not in the Accounting Department," the Security Chief growled.

Paloma glanced at Stanley and nodded.

They moved on, going floor to floor until they reached the second to top floor where each workstation was relatively new and each monitor was a wide aspect 27 inch LCD flat panel. They'd reached the Accounting Department. Stanley looked around in surprise. This was the technology every floor should have been using.

They were approached by a slim, older man who had to be at least 6' 2". Stanley wondered if there was an unspoken HR prerequisite for being tall he had somehow bypassed. He picked up Paloma's unease and looked a little closer at the approaching gentleman.

"Ah Ms. Villamor, is this the new CIO I've been hearing about?" the tall man said with an odd hiss behind his words.

Paloma nodded and unconsciously moved slightly behind Stanley as she turned to address the CFO. "Mr. Pfister, may I introduce Stanley Garin."

The man eagerly held his long fingered hand out to shake. Stanley noted he wore a variety of rings on each finger, some being quite ornate. Just as the young man slid his hand into the larger grip a static spark shot to Mr. Pfister's hand striking three of the rings causing the old man to yelp and yank his hand back.

"Wow! That was quite the static shock! Are you alright?" Stanley asked as the older man didn't look well at all. He was looking at Stanley in dread. Then he looked at his rings.