“You think they’ll have done batches like this more than once?” Ariadne asked, skeptical.
“This isn’t the sort of thing most people are going to pick up on,” J.J. said. “The Department of Homeland Security doesn’t even have the resources to come up with this unless they knew specifically what they were looking for, and this is...it’s too good. These are legit passports, and they’ve probably got legit I.D. to go along with them. They’ve got people in the UK government getting them into the system the same way we have access to the U.S. systems, and because of it, they’re invisible to anyone who’s not looking specifically for them.”
“Which is pretty much us and no one else,” I said, feeling glum again.
“To work, J.J.,” Ariadne said with about as much enthusiasm as I had for it. “How long will this take?”
“Depends on how long he’s been in the country,” J.J. said. “If he’s entered in the last twenty-four hours, it’ll be fast. If he’s been in the country a week or less, I can have this done in a couple hours. Two weeks will take the rest of the day. Longer than a month...” He cringed. “Could be a while.”
Ariadne waved her hand. “Get to it.” She hesitated. “Can you set it to run and do your work from off-site?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, nodding. “Our servers are pretty much set up for me to do just that, so I can push data wherever it needs to be. I usually use it to work late from the computer in my apartment. Why?”
“Because I want you to do this from the computer in your apartment,” Ariadne said, taking off her reading glasses. “Can you do that?”
“Yessum,” he said, mostly serious. “And you want me back here when?”
“I’ll let you know,” she said.
“Shore leave approved,” he whispered to me, then turned and vanished out the door. I watched him go and I didn’t feel bad about it at all. The campus was no place for humans right now. I felt the tension in my stomach pick up as I pondered that.
Ariadne leaned back in her chair, studiously ignoring Eve, and then looked back to me. “I’m glad you’re here. I had something to tell you, anyway.”
“Oh?” I said with exaggerated brightness. “You’re approving my vacation to Bora Bora, all expenses paid?”
“Hah,” she said with no mirth, head resting on the back of her chair as she tossed her glasses onto her desk. “I’d pay for your trip myself right now if I thought you’d go to Bora Bora. No, I wanted you to know I had Scott Byerly sent home.”
I felt a tingle of loss I couldn’t define. “Yeah, I know. I caught him on his way out.”
“Wait, you let the waterboy leave?” Eve looked down at her. “Why?”
“Dr. Perugini said he couldn’t form enough water pressure to wet an envelope,” Ariadne said. “He’s emotionally distressed and completely wrecked at present. Per her recommendation, he is to take two weeks of emotional leave.”
“For a breakup?” Eve said with obvious disdain. “If only my employers had been so generous with paid time off every time I had a difficult relationship.”
“If only,” Ariadne said. “He’ll be out until further notice. He’s back to his parents’ house in Minnetonka. And you,” she said, looking to Eve, “could show a little sensitivity to his plight.”