Chapter 172

Sarah POV

“And at this point in the report,” Zane said, “we are introduced to Christine Tedley, whom I understand is a data cruncher extraordinaire.”

We turned to look at her, and her alpha-blue eyes gazed back calmly. She was somewhere in her late forties, I guessed, though like many people of color, her face was without a wrinkle. She sported an almost severely slim figure accentuated with straightened black hair, a close-fitting tan sheath dress, and a huge multi-hued wooden necklace with hooped earrings to match.

“I appreciate the title,” she said in a cultured yet warm voice.

“I appreciate that you came all the way from Michaelson Territory to help us and the members of my household,” Zane said smoothly.

“Yes, but the Pack Alpha will be expecting a state visit in return,” she said just as smoothly. I hid a smile.

“As soon as I know my family and household are safe, I’ll set things in motion.”

“Thank you, Alpha Zane.”

“And again, thank you for coming, Alpha Christine.”

She laughed. “Please, everyone just calls me Ted.” She reached into her briefcase, which was almost the size of the girls’ randoserus, and pulled out a sleek-looking laptop. I wondered what else she kept in there.

“So yes, I’m a data cruncher for want of a better term, and Lainey’s told me about what you’re after.” She typed for a second. “Do you want to ask me any particular questions before I get started?”

Zane seemed to size her up for a moment, then inclined his head. “It’s fine for you to dive right in if you don’t mind being interrupted for questions.”

“Not at all. So, first, Lainey and I are old friends from when she went to first-level school in Michaelson Territory, and I assure you I’m not scheming to hurt or undermine you or your household. I have more money from my various jobs than I know what to do with, and the idea of being a public figure who gets recognized on the street makes me want to crawl out of my skin.”

“Good start,” Zane said.

She smiled, and smirked, perhaps. “My first thought about your proposed plan of action is that you are not in for a landslide of data, but rather a tsunami. No matter how many lieutenants or minions you gather for this, you’re going to be drowning in information about twenty minutes after your first post.

“So, that’s where I come in. ‘Data crunching’ is sometimes mistaken for data truncation, but that’s a different matter. My algorithms are not about getting rid of data but about automatically pre-analyzing data before a human looks at it so it can be used in decision-making. Now, pertinent decisions here are about whether the information has any validity, whether the source has ulterior motives, whether the platform can be trusted to convey the data on it accurately, and basically all the other things involved in judging the information of value or worthless.”

She broke off and looked at me quizzically, but her voice was without hostility as she asked, “Something amusing, Miss Sarah?”

“I was wondering if you might want to tutor the girls when they start studying computer science.”

She obviously held back a smile. “No, but I can get you some names.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, the ‘girls’ in question are Chloe and Grace, both just shy of six years old and attending first-level classes at Chelsea H. Saradon Elementary School for Alphas and Betas. Chloe is showing great promise at wood carving, and Grace’s voice coach is none other than Miss Carmen.”

“You’ve done your homework,” Zane said with a slightly unimpressed smile.

Her eyes narrowed just slightly.

“Grace shows signs of being able to sing in The Voice, Chloe is currently planning a wood carving out of teak to place in Miss Mavis’s poppy garden to commemorate its fire and recovery, Miss Sarah over there was made to bathe in the Luna Temple, and you, Alpha Zane, closed a deal last night on a small vineyard in West Cavendish worth roughly $14 million.”

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.

“How do you know that?” Zane asked, and his voice was colder than the room.

“Because I live online, and pretty much everything finds its way there eventually.” She raised her hands slightly in a placating gesture. “I told you that not as a challenge but to demonstrate your vulnerability.”

Zane nodded, his face tight.

“I’m more than happy to help you with your plans to harness the power of the internet to find out who’s been coming after your family, but there’s an aspect of my job that I must absolutely be allowed to dictate, and it’s both highly personal and intrusive.”

“You want to control what gets out online about us,” I said, trying to divert everyone’s attention, even though it was to me.

She nodded and looked somewhat approving. A lot of werewolves do that to me.

“Well, to borrow a phrase from your publicists, I want to manage what information I can.” She looked at Zane again. “You aren’t just a Pack Alpha, you’re Pack Alpha Cavendish from arguably the most powerful territory on the continent and one of the most powerful on the planet.

“But more than that, the kidnapping and subsequent return of your daughter played into the sympathies of wolves and humans everywhere. People are rabid for information about you and about the people you have in your life. I’ve seen people cull information for days just to see what kind of juice your housekeeper gets at the grocery.

“Now, there are things I have no interest in silencing, such as the information you purposefully leak through Mr. Whitfield or ‘let slip’ at a public speaking engagement. But if I can silence you on certain data points, I can then zero in on users who still use that information.”

“What sort of people would those be?” Zane asked.

“Household staff, people at the girls’ school, others who have at least some access to you.”

“And what would “silencing me on certain data points’ mean?”

“Well, everyone in the household needs burner phones, and they are to be used only once for certain kinds of calls.”

“You mean, like setting up a playdate for the girls?” I asked.

“No, that already involves too many other people. I mean calls to each other about medical issues or sharing other personal information.”

I was glad to see Zane was relaxing in his chair. He still might get up any minute and kill someone, but it no longer seemed to be the very next minute.

She looked over at Travis. “You will need some of these for your people as well.” She looked at Wilson and added, “And for yours.”

She looked down at her laptop, and only then did I realize she had been typing away the whole time she had been talking. “I will be providing a detailed list of just what sort of calls we’re talking about her, and this is a list I will ask you to memorize and destroy. I don’t care if you have a safe the size of a house, don’t be keeping it anywhere.”

Then she seemed to catch herself and looked at Zane. “I know I can get snappish and bossy sometimes, Pack Alpha. Please understand it’s only because I care about my work, just as you care about your children.”

Zane nodded a little less stiffly this time.

“So,” she asked with a smile. “Am I hired?”