BEg2 ch26 Darren the “gongsta” at the window

[Michael Bailey]

“The back exit happens to be near Darren’s cubicle. Maxine glances in and
finds him standing by a window, turned away in quarter profile, looking,
sighting, down fifty stories into New York, down into that specific abyss,
with an intensity she recognizes from the DeepArcher splash screen. Should
she run in, break his concentration with questions like, Do you know
Cassidy, did you pose for the Archer, provoking him into who knows what
don’t-be-in-my-face-bitch gongsta displeasure . . . Is she that   desperate
for a literal link between this kid and some screen image?”


Chandler just revealed that Darren is also (likely mainly) a bodyguard -
assuring Maxine that her inquiry hasn’t gotten him in trouble with whomever
he called:
“Even if there were to be unpleasantness, I could rely without hesitation
upon young Darren, who’s board-certified in everything from nunchaku up
through . . . well, Stinger missiles, I’m sure, and beyond.”

(Board-certified! - well, in 2001, everybody was cert-crazy anyway)

But she’s still directed to a stealthy exit, so he’s not totally confident.
Plus the “Praetorian Guard” factor is non-negligible, one would think -
explaining much of Darren’s leeway & Chandler’s politeness to him.

But then he’s also calling on Darren for regular office work: more
role-fluidity.

All this is no doubt affecting her adrenaline levels, so the sight of
Darren intensely staring down 50 stories gets her speculations going.

She wants to connect him to Cassidy’s work on DeepArcher - but recognizes
this as a likely paranoid delusion of “hyper-connectedness.”

Also, newly wary of Darren, she hesitates to ask him to confirm or deny
knowing Cassidy, loath to incur “gongsta” (-;  displeasure.