It bounced and rolled onto the floor. ‘I’m less than useless at this. I’m wasting my time and yours.’ ‘You can stop that kind of talk, right... now.’ I used my teacher voice to get her attention, and then continued in a softer tone. ‘You’re not useless, Sophie. Just under-confident. All you need is some encouragement and a little push in the right direction every now and then.’ ‘Easy for you to say, you’ve got brains and the certificates to prove it. What do I have? A bunch of ‘F’s, that’s what.. " There's no need." I gave her a sinister little smile. "Mr. Barrington and I have reached an understanding. He won't be harming anybody."When we arrived in Greenwich, I drove straight to Barrington's house, parked the car in the driveway, and walked up to the house with Carol. She clutched at my arm as we walked. As soon as I rang the bell, a very large man whom I recognized at once as Barrington, opened the door. He stepped back so that we could enter.I said, "I have the contracts. Let's go. The question is always going to be there; is a weapons system now programmed to fail when you need it the most? In some cases complete systems may be down months while the programming is rewritten and tested or they may simply have to be replaced. The DOD has a tremendous job ahead of it now.”“I think that is about all the time we have. Any of you gentleman and ladies have a closing statement?”When no one did the VIPs scattered.I saw Hanna was off to the side giving a report to her station for. She settled her chin atop one hand on the window sill, and I did the same. She said in a hushed tone, "Listen. Be very, very quiet, and listen." Okay," I said loudly, smirking."Shh!" she said, and we giggled again, and then we sat very still. Soon I whispered. "There's so much snow comin' down, but it's so quiet." No," she whispered. "You can hear it falling. Listen."We stayed perfectly still. In the night outside the window the entire project was covered in a thick, globby blanket of white..