The company he was interested in had changed its name years back. It was now

known as CB Excelon Corp. Chris Ballard had founded and run the eponymous

Ballard Enterprises. When he tracked the man down online, Rogers found that he

was still the chairman emeritus of Excelon, but had turned over the day-to-day

operations to others. And Excelon’s focus was now cyber security.

 

Thirty years ago it’d had an entirely different focus.

 

Rogers rose and left. He had printed out a picture of Ballard. It wasn’t a

recent one. The man was still in his fifties in the photo, the age when Rogers

had known him. He wanted to know what he looked like now, but he had not been

able to find a recent picture.

 

Rogers hoped the man hadn’t aged well.

 

Like I haven’t.

 

But he wasn’t chiefly interested in Ballard. There was someone else. A woman. He

had not found her name in any of the materials.

 

That did not unduly surprise him. Back then she liked to stay in the background.

He imagined that hadn’t changed.

 

He was hungry so he found a place to eat a block over from the library. Eggs,