They got back into her car, and she drove out of the garage and across a large part of the downtown district, parking on the street in front of another office building. She got out of the car and Noah followed her through the front door, and to yet another elevator. This one only went to the fifth floor, and he followed her down the hallway to a door marked Davis and Johnson, Accountants.
“We’re here to see Mr. Johnson,” Allison said to the secretary, who looked absolutely terrified when she walked in. The woman was heavyset, and Noah wondered for a moment if she was going to have a heart attack as she fumbled with the phone to tell Mr. Johnson that he had a visitor. A moment later, she managed to stammer out that Mr. Johnson would be happy to see them if they would just go through the door to the right. Allison smiled, and Noah wondered why the secretary looked even more frightened.
Allison led the way through the door, and a tall, balding man appeared in the hall ahead, obviously waiting for them. He ushered them into what appeared to be a conference room, with a large table and many chairs.
Allison pointed at Noah. “This is him, Russell,” she said. “Noah Wolf.”
Johnson let his eyebrows go up a bit as he looked Noah over. “Mr. Wolf,” he said. “I have heard so much about you, sir. Some of it, I’ve got to say, is downright unbelievable.”
Noah looked him in the eye. “Then don’t believe it,” he said. “After all, that’s your choice.”
Johnson smiled, and looked at Allison. “Okay, so he’s every bit as brassy as you said he was. What are we up to, today?”
Allison had seated herself in one of the chairs around the table, and she leaned back and locked her fingers across her stomach. “Russell, I’m going to speed up Noah’s training. He doesn’t need all this crap—he’s ready to go just about anytime. Let’s go ahead and set up his team, now. Bring them in so he can meet them.”
For a moment, Noah thought Johnson was going to argue, but he seemed to think better of it before any of the words that were forming behind his forehead could make it out of his mouth. “Certainly,” he said, and then he got up and walked out of the room.
Noah looked at Allison, and his left eyebrow managed to go up half an inch above the right. “He doesn’t seem too happy about your plan,” he said.
“Of course not,” Allison said. “He’s a bean counter. His job is to make sure that everything we do here pays off. That doesn’t just mean monetarily, since we don’t actually make any kind of profits, but every expenditure we make has to be justified, and that’s his job. If I overrule him and say you’re ready to go when his bookkeeping doesn’t show that he’s gotten his money’s worth on your training, then it leaves open the possibility that something could jump up and bite him in the butt. That scares a bean counter, trust me on that.”
Noah shrugged. “I’m just here to do what you tell me,” he said. “If I have to listen to him, or anyone else, then you’re going to have to point that out to me. One of the first things I learned when I began taking jobs was to find out who the boss is, and then do what the boss told me to do. As far as I can tell, you’re the boss, so if there are any other bosses around here I need to know about, please make sure I do.”
Allison laughed. “No, I’m your boss,” she said. “That’s not anything you gotta worry about. Johnson just likes to make sure his own ass is covered, that’s all. He does his job, though, which is why he’s still here.”
Johnson returned a few moments later, and announced that Team Camelot would be assembled in the conference room within a few minutes. “Do you need me to stick around for this introduction?” he asked Allison.
“Not particularly,” she said. “This is out of the ordinary, I know, but it’s the way I want to do things in this case. They all know me, so I can handle this.”
Johnson nodded, then turned around and left the room. A moment later, a tall, thin young man stuck his head into the room.
“Ma’am? I was told to report here?”
Allison smiled at him. “Yes, Neil, come on in. We’re having a little get together, and you’re part of it.”
The young man came in and took a seat, and Noah looked him over. He barely looked old enough to be out of high school, and was probably a star on his high school basketball team, to judge from his height. Noah guessed him at around six foot five, but he was thin enough that a best guess of his weight put him around one fifty.
Neil was looking him over, as well. Noah wondered if the kid knew that he was looking at his new team leader.
Another man suddenly opened the door and poked his head inside. This one was not as tall, but he was definitely bulkier. He saw Allison, grinned and walked in. “Well, it looks like I’m in the right place,” he said. “Johnson called and said I was supposed to be here, like ten minutes ago.” His eyes flicked to Noah, but then he looked back at Allison.