“Exactly.” I pulled my phone out and called up Google again.
“What’re you looking for now?” Curtis said.
I held my hand up and continued looking. After I found it, I turned my phone toward them. “How many stories does it say it is?”
“Doug frowned. “A hundred and ten?”
“Exactly,” I said. “Except when I went in there, the lift only went as far as the 108th floor.”
Curtis stood up, shock on his face. “That must be it. It must be somewhere on the two top floors. And it makes perfect sense. Who in their right mind would ever suspect that a time-travel portal is in Glixima Tower? It’s the perfect hiding place.”
“Hold on, guys,” Doug said. “Aren’t we getting a bit excited here? Listen to how ridiculous this all sounds.”
“That’s exactly why it makes so much sense,” Curtis said. “Because it’s ridiculous to even consider.” He shook his head. “If it is there, dead or alive, Michael must be involved. There’s no way he wouldn’t have known about it. And yet when I first mentioned the different portals, he acted like he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.”
I stood in front of Curtis. “But what do we do?”
He headed for the door and turned toward us, a hint of excitement on his face. “First we find out more, and if we’re right, the three of us will go there and blow the master portal up.”
Doug shook his head and took a step forward. “Hold up. You expect the three of us to go to the master site and do this? For God’s sake, it took six of us to hit the regional facility, and we hardly made it out. We also had Mandy and all her gadgets as well.”
“We’ve still got weapons, haven’t we?” Curtis said. “Our earpieces still work, too. Look, I’m not saying we’ll all come out alive. Hell, we might all die, but we either go all out or we start running. And if we run, they’ll eventually find us.”
Doug shrugged. “Okay, fine.” He turned to me. “You sure you want to do this?”
I wasn’t sure of anything. He was right. It was a dangerous idea, but I’d seen what was coming in the future, and each day that went by led closer to the extinction of the human race. “We have to.”
“I’ll be right back.” Curtis rushed out the room and returned a minute later with the weapons bag. He threw the assault rifles and pistols onto the bed and moved them to the side. Then he pulled out some of the C4.
I stared at the four blocks of plastic explosives on my bed. I picked one up and stared at it. It wasn’t as heavy as I’d thought it would be. “So this is what will do it? This is what’ll set Earth free?”
Curtis took it from me. “It sure is.” He looked at Doug. “You okay with this stuff?”
Doug nodded. Curtis looked at me and set the block of C4 back on the bed. “Now I need to show you what you need to do.”
I shrugged. “But you two will be with me, right?”
Curtis gave Doug a quick glance and returned his gaze to me. “There’s also a chance that we might not make it. If that happens, we need you to complete the task.” He returned to the bed and pulled out spools of wire, digital timers, three remotes and a long metal rod with metal wire around it.
My eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right? You expect me to put that together?”
“You did fine with the guns,” Curtis said. “And it’s not all that difficult.” He took a step back. “Right, Doug?”
Doug smiled and approached the blocks of C4. “I know what you’re doing, but fine, I’ll do it.” He faced me. “First thing you need to do is know what you’re working with.”
I looked at everything on the bed. Then I pointed to the metal rod. “What’s that?”
“The blasting cap,” Doug said.
“What’s it for?”
Another smile formed on Doug’s face. Then he picked up a block of C4 from the bed and banged it against his right knee.
I screamed and reeled back. “What’re you trying to do? Kill us?”
“No chance,” Doug said. “These blocks by themselves can’t do anything. It’s only with the blasting cap they become deadly.”
“Okay,” I said. “And all this other stuff?”
Doug arranged everything in a neat pile on the bed. “I’ll show you everything you need to know. By the time we’re finished, you’ll be able to build a working bomb in your sleep.”
Curtis chuckled and sat on the couch. Doug began the lesson.
We heard loud knocking on my door at 9 p.m. From the bed, I asked who it was.
“It’s the manager,” the voice came back. “I have the food you asked for.”
I looked at Doug, and he nodded. “I guess you’ve learned enough for now.”
“I agree.” Curtis rose from his seat and put everything back into the weapons bag. After the bag was behind the bed’s headboard, I opened the door.
The manager flashed his yellow teeth at me and picked a tray up from the floor. The young girl was a few inches behind him, a tray already in her hand. The food this time was steak and fries. I gave them a twenty-dollar tip and we ate.
We sat watching the TV for the next hour without speaking once about Michael, the master portal or Shriniks. Instead, Doug and Curtis took turns asking me questions about rigging plastic explosives. I got better with my answers as time went on, which felt good, although I hoped to have them both by my side when the time came to set the charges. It wasn’t until nearly midnight that the conversation came up.
“So we need a plan, right?” Doug said.
I stood up and paced around the room. “First we find out everything we can about every building surrounding Glixima Tower—office space for rent, companies in the vicinity, everything.”
Curtis nodded.
“And then what?” Doug said.
I pulled out my phone and browsed the Internet. I stopped on a picture of another tall building in L.A.’s office district. “We start here.”
Chapter Forty-Two
“We’re here,” the slim cabdriver said to me, “633 West Fifth Street. That will be twenty dollars, please.”
I glanced out the window at the huge building. Then I looked at my watch. It was dead on 9 a.m. “You sure this is the U.S Bank Tower?”
He looked back at me with a frown. “I’ve been dropping people here for the last twelve years, dear. I think I’m pretty sure.”
I got out of the car and handed him twenty dollars through his window.
“Have a nice day,” he said before speeding off.
I looked down at my gray suit. It was cheap, but not everyone knew it. Having my hair tied back made me look more professional, though, I thought, and I kept the makeup light. I’d seen how subtle but elegant could work wonders on unsuspecting people. Streams of workers poured into the building. There was a short line outside the revolving doors, but the security guards soon opened the two side doors to let everyone in. It was now ten past nine and almost time.
I walked behind a middle-aged woman and through the revolving doors. “I’m in,” I said through the earpiece.
“Okay,” Curtis said. “Doug will be there in a minute. Go toward reception, but don’t speak to anyone yet.”
I went into my purse, pretending to search for something. A man brushed past me, turned back and smiled. I reciprocated but kept it brief. The last thing I needed was someone hitting on me. My hand shuddered. I’d been afraid of this. I’d now gone two days without my medication. I stared at it inside my purse. How I wanted to just gulp the last remaining drop down. But I knew it was wiser to leave it until my body was on the verge of shutting down.
The line at reception was lessening. I walked forward, looking around like I was inspecting the place. Two attractive blond women sat at the reception desk with huge, beaming smiles on their faces. They flirted with the male visitors and laughed and joked with the women. I walked to a corner of the desk, turned around and scanned the foyer, a forced look of disappointment on my face. It was now nine-fifteen.
“Two
minutes,” Curtis said through the earpiece.
I continued looking around, occasionally sparing glances at the receptionists. One of them saw me after a while and tapped her colleague. They stopped laughing and joking almost immediately. I smiled to myself. It’s worked.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” one of them called out to me.
“When?” I whispered into the earpiece.
“Thirty seconds,” Curtis said.
I turned and smiled at the woman but didn’t speak. She glanced at her colleague and shrugged. They both stared at me, a hint of worry on their faces. I saw one looking in the direction of the security guard.
“Now,” Curtis said.
I walked over to them. “Hi there.”
They looked at me as if desperate to know who I was.
“Meredith Brass, SEC.”
I saw the worry on their faces. I’d read that people from the SEC had a reputation for being hardball and thorough, not taking any nonsense.
“How can we help you?” one of them said.
“I’ve got an appointment with Keith Adams of Cipruno.”
The woman closest grimaced and pulled out a sheet of paper. The other one spoke to a chubby man who had just arrived.
I leaned forward. “Can you help me?”
Nervousness covered the receptionist’s face. She continued going through sheets of paper with trembling hands.
“Well?” I said.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t find any Cipruno here. Or anyone called Keith Adams. You sure you have the correct building?”
I squeezed out a thin smile that must have looked more like shock than anything else. “You kidding me?”
She licked her lips and turned to her colleague, who only shrugged. The chubby man glanced at me but looked away when I met his gaze.
“Listen, I don’t care who does, but one of you needs to tell me what floor Cipruno is on or I won’t be impressed.”
The one dealing with me grimaced and went back to the company listing. She glanced at me every other second. I felt a bit sorry for her. All she knew was that a woman with enough influence to get her fired was asking for a company she knew nothing about.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, “but there’s nothing—”
“Meredith,” someone shouted. I turned and saw Doug approaching. His black suit and red tie looked good on him, along with the glasses he wore. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Traffic was murder.”
I glared at him for a moment and then angled it at the two receptionists. “Well, they’re telling me they’ve never heard of you or your company. What’re you trying to pull here, Keith?”
He smiled and faced the women. “They’re only messing with you. Karen knows me, don’t you, Karen?” He kept his gaze on the one who was dealing with me.
She looked at him in confusion, her eyes moving everywhere. “Yes … yes, sir.”
He looked at me again. “See, told you.” He put his arms around my waist and led me toward the elevator. Then he turned back to them. “I’ll just take her up to my office.”
“Your office, sir?” Karen said.
“Yes. You know. Mica’s old office.”
“Oh, yes.” Karen smiled like she had just realized who Doug was, but I could see she was lying through her teeth. She just wanted the entire situation to go away. “I’m so sorry, sir. I just didn’t recognize you.”
I wanted to burst out laughing. She was actually furthering the lie. It’s so funny how people lie to make complex situations easier.
We’d started walking to the elevator again when Karen called out to him. “But I’ll need to see her ID, sir.”
Doug smiled and waved a dismissive hand. “That’s okay. You know she’s with me, right? Where could she possibly go? Besides, she’s with the SEC.”
Karen giggled nervously. Then Doug led me to the elevators.
“Nicely done,” Curtis said through the earpiece.
“I know,” I said. “For a second there, I was buying the whole thing.”
The elevator door opened. “We’re going up now,” I said.
“Okay,” Curtis said. “I’ll make the call.”
We walked in and Doug pushed the button for the sixty-fifth floor.
The elevator stopped at least five times on our way up. By the time we arrived on the sixty-fifth floor, it had reached capacity. We squeezed through fifteen people, stepped out and just stood there as if waiting for someone. The receptionist at the front desk was on the phone and looked agitated. Curtis must have been giving her a pretty hard time. She rose after a minute and walked into a back room. Doug and I dashed past the front desk and headed right.
“We’re in,” I said through the earpiece.
Nothing came back, so we kept walking. A number of men and women dressed in suits walked out of a large office, smiling and joking. The name on the glass was Revolto. I’d heard of them from my time. They were a big law firm. We continued down the corridor until we reached an empty office. Mica was written on top of the door. Our research the previous night showed that it had been vacated only a week ago. We’d guessed right and all the furniture was still intact.
“I’m back, guys,” Curtis said through the earpiece.
“Good work,” I said. “We’re here now.”
Doug walked in and I followed. The room was quite large, maybe the size of two large five-star hotel suites. A large table was to the left, beside a door. A huge plaque bearing the company’s name was on the wall to the right, along with another door. We went through the door on the left and saw an office with a desk and chairs on either side. Empty filing cabinets were to our right, with a flat-screen TV on the wall.
We glanced around the room before checking out the other one. I thought they looked the same, but Doug was convinced the first one was bigger.
We returned to it and Doug shut the blinds. Then he put his briefcase on the table. After opening it, he pulled out the binoculars.
“Okay,” he said to Curtis through the earpiece, “we’re in the western room.”
“Glixima Tower is to your right,” Curtis said.
Doug held the binoculars to his eyes and twisted the knob on top right a few times. Then he kept shifting his gaze right until he stopped cold. “Got it.” He remained still for a few minutes. “I can’t see anyone we know on this floor. I’m going higher.” He tilted his head up and kept going.
“Anything?” Curtis said.
He didn’t answer but kept shifting his gaze higher. Then he stopped. “Gotcha.”
I leaned into him, excited. “What is it?”
He grimaced. “I see Carrie. … That guy Lorenzo is there, too. And … Hang on … Jarrod.” He faced me. “They’re all there.”
“But no Michael?” I said, disappointed. I didn’t know if I’d hoped he’d be there just to know he was alive or so I’d be able to say he was the Orchestrator.
Doug nodded. “We may be wrong.”
“Which floor?” Curtis said.
Doug looked through the binoculars again. “Seventieth, I think.”
“What’re they doing?” I asked.
He held his hand up. “They’ve just sat down. Some sort of meeting, I guess.”
“Fine,” Curtis said. “What about the top two floors?”
Doug tilted his head up, and another grimace formed on his face. “I can’t see through them.” He wound the knob a number of times, but the frown never left his face.
“What do you mean?” Curtis said.
“The binoculars can’t get past the walls. It’s fine everywhere else but the top two floors.”
“Let me see.” I took them from him and looked. He was right—I could see through every other floor like I was there, but the top two floors were blocked by some sort of thick metal wall. I turned the knob on top of the binoculars three times, but the wall remained. I sighed in frustration and handed the binoculars back to Doug. “He’s right,” I said to Curtis. “We can’t see in there at all.�
�
I could feel Curtis thinking. “It’s looking more and more likely that the portal is in there.”
“I agree,” Doug said. “Or something they want to hide at least.”
“Okay,” Curtis said. “Let them have their meeting. We’ll wait till they leave and then we’ll go in.”
“Is that a good idea?” I said.
Doug looked at me as if I were crazy. “What, you want to go in with them there?”
“No. I was thinking about the innocent people in there. Isn’t it better we go just before end of business? At least that way most of the workers will be out of there before the madness starts.”
There was silence for a few seconds, and then Curtis spoke. “Okay, fine. But you can’t stay up there till then, Rachel. They’ll get suspicious downstairs.”
“It’s fine.” Doug nodded at me. “You go back to the car. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on them.”
I nodded and walked out of the room. The receptionist on the sixty-fifth floor was too busy talking on the phone and doing her makeup to notice me. I rode the elevator back to the ground floor. The receptionists there stopped their chitchat when they saw me.
I walked toward them with a smile this time. “Thank you,” I said.
They looked surprised for a moment, and then they beamed at me. I smiled back and walked out of the building. I stood outside for a moment to catch my breath. I couldn’t believe I’d pulled off the deception. I guess I’m more of a liar than I thought. I laughed to myself and headed toward South Olive Street. I tapped on the window of the SUV and Curtis let me in.
We didn’t hear much from Doug for most of the morning. Curtis and I took a short walk to a small diner on West Fourth Street at noon for lunch. I had chicken salad. Curtis had a half-pounder and a big portion of fries. He was smiling every time I eyed him shoving the huge burger into his mouth.
“So, what’s it like in 2086?” I said. “Are there any free humans left?”
He shrugged. “Are people free here in 2013? Some people will say they’re not. With mobile technology and the Internet, I think it’s fair to say the world is already under martial law.”
The Children Who Time Lost Page 41