McKenzie Barber Redux

Carmello Sanchez appeared in the doorway of Room 4008 at 1:15 p.m. There was a tap on the door and it opened to frame a tall, full bodied woman clad in a blue sweater jacket, plaid skirt, and black leather boots that reached her knees. Grunwaldyt's first impression was that he was facing a physically attractive Hispanic Amazon. Her dark hair was bound with combs and her skin was the color of orange cocoa.

"Jon Grunwaldyt?"

"You must be Carmello," Grunwaldyt rose from his chair and stepped forward with his hand extended in greeting. Her grip was strong and she appeared to be his equal in height. She closed the door behind her and scanned the room with a stoic face.

"I've been looking forward to meeting with you.  I understand you have been assigned to work with me on my Executive Office Project."

Carmello carried a large canvas bag in her free hand which she planted on the desk facing the Apple Computer. "It looks like we're stuck with each other for a while,"she replied with a slight sigh that betrayed disappointment in her surroundings.

"May I get you a refreshment?"Grunwaldyt offered.

"I brought my own," Carmello produced a small container of bottle water from the large canvas bag. She seated herself in the swivel chair facing Grunwaldyt, uncapped the bottle, and crossed her legs. Carmello appeared to have the body of an athlete.

"Have you been briefed on our project?"   Grunwaldyt began the conversation. 

"I was told you had a project for Ranglinger that needed an IT Consultant with HRIS background. So here I am."

"The project is for Chairman Carmichael. Dr, Ranglinger will participate in the interface. You seem to be displaying a limited amount of enthusiasm in an initial meeting, Carmello." Grunwaldyt decided to get matters out on the table. He had spent the better part of his career motivating unmotivated consultants.

Carmello took a short swig from her water bottle. "Are you familiar with the term, 'whistle blower'?" 

"It generally means that someone has witnessed wrongdoing in an organization and has taken the matter to the authorities," Grunwaldyt commented.

"I'm a whistle blower. I was on a project that was padded with fraud and certain to fail. I blew the whistle. I can't share any specifics. Ranglinger has all the details and I've signed a confidentiality agreement. I'm in limbo around here and Ranglinger has sent me in to work with you.

I spent yesterday researching you and found out you just got out of the litigation penalty box on some big job with a food company that invited the attention of a bunch of lawyers. I lifted your bio out of the files. Looks like  you used to be a hot shot with the old McKenzie Barber bunch and took a fall. Here's my resume. You can have it for commuter train reading." Carmello retrieved a four page page stapled document printed on bond paper. She spotted the one page bio that Grunwaldyt  had pulled laying on his desk.

"That's all Robson Barber bull shit. This is how I've really spent my career. I have two skills that aren't listed on my resume. I can read upside down and I can hack my way into into most systems and never get caught."