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I’ve used WordPress for years. Since back in the 2.x days, even. I love it, still recommend it, and generally support everything they’re doing, but it’s quickly outgrown what I need. Truth is, y’all, I’m really not doing enough with the site to call for a dynamic php-based solution. Fact is, WordPress plugins have a rather hilarious number of vulnerabilities; as a cybersecurity professional, minimizing my attack surface is an ongoing .

One of those days. It was one of those days. I should have realized I was in for it when my boss asked me to do something right at the beginning of the titular track, a song by Morton Lauridsen so beautiful that it almost never fails to bring me that nice, centering comfort, that general “at ease” feeling that can so often be important. It is one of the few songs I have on a physical disk these days for that reason.

So yeah, pushed myself too hard the first half of the month it seems. The compounding goals are tough, especially when you have things to do too. Taking a few days off from writing it to rejuvenate, then going to push through the story as I can. No worries about the 50,000 words in November - too far behind to get that this year. Well, I suppose I could, but that’s like 5,000 words just to catch up and yeah, pushing for that deadline is stressful enough that it’s hurting the creative process.

The shrill ring of the alarm clock comes far too soon for Jill. As one might expect, she was not a fan of the modern approach to trying to wake up naturally even with an alarm clock; rather Jill had one of the old-fashioned ones complete with analog bells on the top. It was a particular point of pride for her - even if the power went out overnight she would be able to get up on time as usual.

Her Bureau-issued Dodge Charger waited outside the hotel. Apparently this Hilton is in the corporate pilot program for a predictive valet service. The hotel’s systems, in other words, knew that Jill had finished for the evening before she had even said her goodbye. One benefit of the automated driving mode that was now a national standard in cars was that parking was almost a non-issue. Cars could - and would - park wherever the network felt was a good spot.

Mikhail leaves Megasys Corporation in a daze. He has been through the ringer, and the evening light gleaming off of the surrounding buildings only compounded his headache. Megasys more or less dominated everything within a few square blocks of its headquarters and it showed. As he walked the five blocks to his hotel, Mikhail thinks that they should have just renamed the town after Megasys rather than calling it Bellevue. At the very least, if the company ever found itself in dire straits it could probably keep itself afloat just be getting rid of some of the extra real estate.

Outside the house, the crowd has only grown. Mikhail notices that a silver Toyota sedan is parked just beyond the caution tape. The street was seriously getting crowded by now, and there was a uniformed officer talking to the driver of the sedan. The officer waves Mikhail and Jill over. The driver is introduced as a Mrs. Tien Dang, the owner of the home that they had just emerged from. Apparently on arriving at her job at the Port of Seattle, Tien had been informed that the police had converged outside her house.

Special Agent Jill Tamano flashes a badge as she parks the car off to the side of the scene. The pair duck under the caution tape as it seems like the entirety of Clyde Hill watches the proceedings. Even Channel 5 News was on the scene. The police have been busy placing those little markers near anything and everything that might be important. Mikhail can find a number in the thirties, and that is just outside the house.

Scott Mitchell rolls his chair back over toward Mikhail. “No, no, go ahead. This could be an important item for us. Besides, you look like you could stand to get out of the office. I think we can hold out without you for an hour, and I’d rather have my money going toward something that gets us closer to resolving this.” Mikhail positively leaps from his seat, causing Jill to roll her eyes at his eagerness to join on what was to her a routine call.

Back at Megasys, the leadership team has created a war room of sorts. Scott Mitchell and Kaseem Soni have taken over one of the larger conference rooms in the building and made it their temporary focal point for responding to the news. People were frenetically moving about the room, trying to keep on top of the support queries coming in at a blistering pace. The situation was made even more hectic than your typical meeting due to the need to have someone in the game as a virtual representative of Megasys Incorporated and the Webwar developers.