There was a change in his posture; the teeth were coming out. “I’m not in the game anymore, Steel. Trust me.”
He stood. “We talk about how you couldn’t hack it. Some guys can’t hack it, and that’s what we tell the new recruits. That’s why your name comes up.You’rea warning, Chip. Not me.”
“You’re right, I couldn’t hack it. I’m not trying to.”
“Yet you come to my office and start making declarations about my ruin?”
He shrugged. “I had to get your attention.”
Steel set his empty glass down. “I thank you for your concern, but I’ve got a lot going on today.”
He sure did – the lobster was just rolling in on a cloth-draped cart. Steel waved the server off without looking at him.
Chip wasn’t going to budge. He knew he was getting somewhere, especially with Steel’s angry reaction. “They sold you a lie. The program isn’t ready. It can’t predict anything. Not yet. It might in a year or two, but not yet.”
Steel shrugged. “That’s not for you to decide.”
“It hasn’t been applied to a single fire season,” Chip continued. “Don’t you want to be fully developed before you deploy it?”
Steel sat down. “I consider myself an early adopter.”
“I’m all for early adopting,” Chip said, leaning forward. “The problem is that the alertsdon’t work. There are going to be headlines all across the country: Steel and Steal Causes Hundreds of Deaths.”
He sat back, putting his feet up on the desk. “It’s been really nice catching up with you, man. I’ll have the company car sent up. They’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Go back to your fire-scorched home, maybe. Is it true that ash falls from the sky?”
“They’re overcharging you, too. It’s not ready, they know it, and I can prove it.”
Steel stiffened. “Overcharging me? How?”
“It comes down to the technology,” Chip said. “It takes time to get all of these factors into the program, to test them, to make sure they’re right.”
“I know that,” Steele said.
There it was. Bravado. “Exactly. You’re a smart guy. I know that from working with you. I’m going make a call to one of the first programmers of SureFired, and you can decide for yourself.”
Chip waited as Steel seemed to debate this.
“Unless you don’t want to hear it,” Chip added.
Steel sat back and waved a hand. “I don’t care. Call him.”
Chip nodded, dialing his home number and setting the phone on the table between then.
Marty answered as instructed. “Hello?”
“Marty, it’s Chip. I’m here with Steel Montgomery. Have you two met before?”
“We’ve had phone calls twice before,” Marty said.
Chip looked at Steel, who nodded. “Nice to hear from you again, Marty.”
“You too, sir.”
Chip suppressed smile. Smooth move on Marty’s part, calling him “sir” – Steel loved that kind of stuff.
“Marty, tell him what you told me.”
It was like releasing a herd of bulls into the office – facts, figures, differing values. Marty was convincing, even without his pictures, and on top of that, he managed to keep it brief.
