Four - Oversight

Tom had successfully avoided Stacy since their argument.  He was a little embarrassed by the way he had acted and a little because Stacy's criticism hit a little too close to home.  He did feel threatened by her, but not without good cause.  While he had not gotten the call to HR that he expected, Stacy had also not backed off of her 'comfortable' attitude with Doug.  If anything, she seemed to be pushing it even further.  It seemed to Tom that she was perpetually in Doug's office, using any pretense to stop and chat with him.

Tom decided to keep his head down and just do his job.  He had always hated office politics, believing that it was mostly a waste of time and that hard work would always pay off more than brown-nosing and scheming.  But it irritated him that Stacy seemed to so blatently get away with it.


Tom was sitting at his desk working on the Tuesday following the fire drill when Will stopped by.

"What are you doing?"  Will asked.

"Just working on my report.  I never did get it done after the fire drill last week.  Doug's gonna..."

"What are you talking about?" Will interrupted.  "We are going to the hill today.  We should be walking out the door right now."

"What? It's not on my calendar. It's this morning?"

"Yeah," Will said, "Stacy sent around the meeting invite last Friday."

Tom's blood ran cold.  Stacy had left him off the meeting intentionally so that he would be unprepared.  Luckily, Tom was wearing his standard Presidential suit, so he was dressed appropriately.

"'That bitch," Tom said under his breath.

"What?" Will asked. "Is there something going on with you guys? I've gotten a weird vibe ever since the fire drill.  What's the story?"

"Don't worry about it," Tom said, "do you have a copy of the report I can review on the way over? I need to brush up on my section."

"Yeah," Will replied, "we better hurry, though, Doug and Stacy already left."

"Figures." Tom said as he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

Tom wasn't worried about the presentation, but he couldn't get over Stacy's attempt to undermine him. Since she had helped prepare his section of the report, she must have figured that she would just step in and present his portion to the committee and look like a superstar employee in front of Doug.  He fumed the whole trip over to the Hill. When he and Will arrived at the committee room, Doug and Stacy were already inside. Will and Tom took their places at the witness table that faced the committee. Tom glanced over at Stacy - she was smiling at him.  They held eye contact for a moment and then Stacy winked.

Tom looked away. This was what she wanted, he thought to himself. She wants him to be upset and to be careless in front of the committee. He decided that he wouldn't take the bait. He knew this information cold and he was confident in his presentation. He wouldn't let her push him to make a mistake.

Tom performed well.  His presentation was flawless.  In fact, the whole team did a good job, including Stacy.  They didn't leave the Oversight Committee any openings to draw blood, which must have irritated the politicians greatly.

The team was filing out of the room when Tom heard a voice from behind him.

"Mr. Shields?" a woman's voice said.  "Mr. Shields, may I have a moment?"

Tom turned and saw a woman in her late 20's wearing a grey business suit.  She had shoulder-length brown hair, pulled back away from her face, and dark eyes. Her exotic looks came from an ethnic background that was a mix of Spanish and Navajo. 

Tom's satisfaction at the result of the hearing disappeared completely.  For a moment he might have even forgotten where he was.  He felt like his heart thumped a little heavier in his chest for a moment.  Then, he quickly regained his composure.

"Yes?" he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"My name is Andrea Martinez, I'm an attorney in Senator McCallum's office.  I wanted to follow up with you on some of your testimony about Project Oboe..." she paused, stifling a smile at the name.

"Did you want to ask me where I learned to play?" he asked, playfully, suprising himself at his tone with a lawyer from a Senator's office.

Andrea dropped the pretense and smiled broadly.

"Why do they use these goofy names?" she asked with a grin.

"I don't know," Tom said, "I don't come up with them.  We have a whole creative staff for that."

They briefly discussed some details of his testimony, then, even though he knew it was unnecessary, Tom reached in his wallet for a business card.

"Here's my card," he said, "feel free to call if you have any more questions."

Andrea took the card, opened her portfolio and pulled out one of her own.

"Here," she said, smiling and handing him her card, "feel free to call me anytime."

Tom felt a wave of heat pass over his face. 

He took the card and said "Thanks, I'll, uh, see you later."

He suddenly felt like an idiot.  He had felt so good about the conversation and then he ended it sounding like a complete moron.  Andrea, though, didn't seem to notice.  She smiled and walked back towards the other aides that were milling around the committee tables. 

Tom watched her for a moment, smiling and then turned to the door.  He saw Stacy standing in the doorway watching him with a grin on her face.  Tom's smile faded.