by Farley Dunn
“Hi, Garik,” Kevin called. “We’re old friends, Mr. Bruni. No problem.”
“Well, then.” Mr. Bruni cleared his throat, obviously not happy, and began pulling flowers from a refrigerated glass case.
“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Garik was suddenly aware of his rumpled appearance in contrast to Kevin’s neat black turtleneck. He wondered if Kevin now liked Marisa. He would be devastated. “It’s good, though,” he said, not entirely convinced.
“We were talking about you.” Kevin grinned. “You remember, from at the food court.”
Mr. Bruni had edged closer, glancing at the young people from time to time, and Marisa called, “Father, this is private. Mr. Lee has already selected an arrangement. Maybe you could assemble it in the back. Please.”
“I’m sorry.” Garik squirmed as her father collected several blooms and a small pair of snippers and disappeared through the plastic curtain. He felt out of place with this unfamiliar situation in this very familiar place. “I don’t want your father to be upset.”
“He’s just nosy. He doesn’t need to overhear this. Tell him, Kevin.” Marisa had a gleam of anticipation in her eyes.
“I was just thinking last night about Marisa’s question to Ms. Sunchaser.” He dropped his eyes, looking almost embarrassed. “It doesn’t feel right to call her Halo outside of our lessons, though she insists there.”
“About Marisa’s, um—” Garik hesitated.
“My sister. You can say it. I opened the can yesterday, and it’s not closing anytime soon. It’s why my father doesn’t need to overhear. It will upset him.”
“This is about your sister?” Garik saw no way this could be good.
“See,” Kevin said, “I know Ms. Sunchaser, and she seemed very interested in you two—”
“And too informed about who I was, but that’s not the point—”
“The point is,” Kevin jumped back in, “what if I talk to her, tell her how interested you two are in learning about the Tower? Just perhaps that might get Marisa through the door.”
“You don’t need me for that.” It was exciting, imagining pushing the elevator button, seeing the up arrow light up, knowing it would be him getting on. Garik wanted, but he could hardly dare hope for something so impossible.
“But you see, you doofus, we do need you.” Marisa put her hand on his forearm, sending a tingle through Garik. “If it’s just me, that will sound like I don’t trust her to inquire about my sister. If it’s all of us, then we’re doing nothing suspicious, simply being curious. See, Gari, you’ve got to be part of this.”
“If it works,” Kevin cautioned. “Maybe this Hollywood thing will turn into something good, after all. People might open doors to me because of it.”
“Sunchaser, you mean. Ms. Sunchaser will open doors.” Inside Corona Tower. Wow! Garik could hardly think it.
“Not just Ms. Sunchaser.” Kevin grinned, his face flushing.
“Can I tell Garik?” Marisa looked like she intended to, anyway. Kevin shrugged. “His flowers are for Callie. He’s ordered the biggest arrangement we make. My father is very pleased.”
“And probably very busy.” Kevin smiled broadly in his high-energy, tightly tuned way. “So, should I ask Ms. Sunchaser? We have a lesson this afternoon, and I can mention it then.”
Garik searched Marisa’s face, and her eyes pleaded with him. How could he say no to that? “I’m in. I might need to wear something better, though.”
“You are a bit of a mess,” Marisa agreed.
Garik didn’t even mind. It was the way she said it that warmed him inside.
― 10 ―
GARIK TUGGED at the cuffs of his jacket.
Well, at the cuffs of Kevin Lee’s jacket. He didn’t own one, and Kevin had brought one for him to wear. Garik stood in front of a full-length mirror in the changing room at Ai Kee! and could see Kevin behind him, seated and tying his shoes. Kevin had called the previous evening, excited that Ms. Sunchaser had seemed pleased that the three youths were interested in Corona Tower.
“How did you, I mean, what did you say that she agreed?” Garik had been beside himself at the news.
“Well,” Kevin had admitted. “It’s only the hotel portion, the lobby, which really almost anyone can visit, but she said she might arrange to get us into the actual hotel.”
“And the pool? We can see that?” Garik had pictured the scenes from the screens in the food court, the shimmering water, the glass atrium, everything that always looked so rich to him.
“Here’s the thing,” Kevin had said, clearing his throat to break the news. “I kinda suggested the two of you might be interested in a job . . . well, more than kinda. But this isn’t an interview. More like a pre-interview, so that makes it okay.”
Garik had been less sure, but Marisa had no reservations. This was her chance, however slim, to find out something about her sister. She would go under any conditions.
They had met at Ai Kee! Kevin had two classes that morning, but he would bring Garik a jacket, and Garik only needed to wear pressed jeans, clean shoes, and a plain tee. Kevin would change into fresh clothes after he showered, so they could come dressed or plan to change, also. Their appointment was for twelve.
The pressed jeans had required a trip to see Mrs. Waggoner for an iron, and she had made him a cup of tea while she pressed his jeans.
Garik’s hair was something else. He turned sideways to see it in the mirror, unsure if it was better than before or worse. Marisa had pulled it to the back of his head and knotted it at the base of his neck. Small tufts had refused to be trapped, and they curled at his temples and ears, shouting the truth, that Garik was a wild boy at heart, a denizen of the concrete jungle that was his home, and no amount of effort was ever going to polish that out of him.
“Ready?” Kevin stood, brushing down his black turtleneck, and clapped Garik on the shoulder. “You look fine. The jacket suits you. Maybe a little loose, but it’s always been tight on me. I like the look.”
“Sure, I mean, thanks. Do you think Marisa will like it?”
“Dude, she hangs out with you. Yes, Marisa will like it.”
Marisa was in the lobby, dressed simply, a flowered summer jacket over a yellow tee and tan pants. Unusual for her, she wore flats rather than sneakers, giving her petite frame a daintier look than usual. She smiled when she saw Garik, and her eyes seemed to open to her soul.
“Hi, there. Don’t you two look the part.” She ran one hand through her dark hair, letting it fall back in the exact same place, before looking out the window. “It’s almost noon. If we’re doing this, let’s get started. Ten blocks.”
“Only fifteen minutes.” Kevin pulled out sunglasses, two tight round circles, and set them on his face. “And a beautiful day.”
If you like sunshine and heat, Garik thought, and wearing other people’s clothes and going in the admittedly intimidating Tower, all while not being exactly honest about why they were visiting.
Yeah, it was a beautiful day.
They followed Ninth the two blocks to Central Park, around the curve leading along the duck pond, where a visiting daycare class tossed bread into the water for their winged patrons, and then four more blocks to Forest, turning right toward the Corona Tower by Swizzel’s Shoes, across Forest from The Luncheon Lady, a boutique deli that catered to the City Hall crowd just across Ninth. From the steps of City Hall, it was a straight shot to Corona Tower. They would pass Masti’s Deli on the way, except four blocks over on Sycamore, but Forest was the most direct route. From City Hall to the Tower, the elevation dropped sharply. Several blocks beyond the Tower, the marshy area bordering Harbor Shipyards and the water beyond stood out as a pointillist backdrop to the towering structure claiming the nexus of power in Bay City, both politically as well as financially.
Corona Tower, their destination, and the cause of the pit in Garik’s stomach.
Everything he had heard about the Tower was lodged in his throat: the electrified s
word; Jantzen Hefferly and his mysterious mist; Halo Sunchaser and her hawk-like gaze; the engaging Airman Wu Han; and most of all, the rumors of the head of it all, Weston Rodheimer, the man behind the super-secure Corona Tower and the strange lightshow that entertained the city each night.
If they were caught, Garik was certain that Boris Lindemann would be proved right, and the thing going on in the basement would be them, in security lockup, answering to Weston Rodheimer for entering the city’s most secure and private building on falsified purposes.
It was almost more than he could bear.
KEVIN LEE pushed the big, round circle beside the Corona Tower elevator, and he turned and smiled. “First time for you two.”
Garik grinned weakly. He was surprised to see there weren’t separate buttons for up and down. The up light came on, and a few moments later, a speaker dinged. The doors slipped silently aside to reveal Ms. Sunchaser standing smartly on the other side.
“Very prompt.” Sunchaser nodded approvingly. “A very good trait here at the Tower. Step in. You’ll note first of all that the air in our elevators is fully conditioned. Our filtration systems are next to none in providing the purest and most odor-free environment possible.”
A sales pitch or a warning? Garik felt a shiver down his back.
Marisa’s eyes were taking in everything, as Kevin replied, “Thank you, Halo, for letting my friends have this opportunity. They still have another year in school, but it never hurts to consider your options in advance. Otherwise, how will you know where you want life to take you?”
“Quite right, Kevin.” Sunchaser smiled. Her headwrap was in a shimmering black today, and it complemented her gray and black formal suit. When the door opened to the lobby, she touched an icon on the panel beside the door, and a small metal passkey with a thumb-size screen on one side ejected. She removed it and dropped it into a pocket at her waist. “Let me introduce you first to our Front Desk, Charity Cellers.”
The three visitors followed Sunchaser into the lobby. Across the marble-tiled, brightly lighted space, a wide doorway revealed the glass-walled atrium. Low sofas and broad tables were arranged in an artful and inviting manner, and at various locations, oversized artworks burst from the floor, sweeping shapes that seemed to cry, “Notice me!”
“Miss Cellers, here are the young people I told you about. They will be with me for a partial tour of our facilities. You know Kevin, and this is Garik and Marisa. Do you have their passes ready?”
“Certainly, Ms. Sunchaser.” Charity, slender and super-chic in an A-line dress in a bright geometric pattern with matching hoop earrings, sported long, straight blonde hair.
“I believe I should have a packet of tour materials, something to send home with our visitors.”
“I have that right here.” Charity handed a leather satchel to Sunchaser, pulled open a shallow drawer, pushed aside several passes, and selected three with long lanyards attached. She lifted them out and smiled. “Will there be anything else?”
“A tablet and a stylus. The passes go to our visitors. Thank you, Charity.”
“Of course.” She set the passes down, retrieved a small tablet and a stylus from a rack behind her, and held them out for Sunchaser. Sunchaser slipped them into the pocket with her passkey. Charity laid out the passes on the counter one at a time. “Slip these around your necks. Here’s yours, Kevin. And Garik.” She paused at Marisa’s, looking at her and back to the pass. “Have you visited with us before?”
“Charity.” A shadow passed over Sunchaser’s smiling face. “The pass, please. We have limited time.”
“My apologies. Marisa?” Charity slipped the pass to her, before turning to her screen and seeming to intentionally occupy herself.
Sunchaser invited them to step into the atrium. Several guests milled around, two idly enjoying a drink in front of the massive windows that opened to The Docks and the blue expanse of water and sky reaching to the horizon. A smaller desk was off to the side, black granite, one Garik had never seen in real life but recognized instantly. Above, recessed into the wall and backlit in warm, golden tones, black granite letters spelled out Stamford Suites, and underneath that, in smaller letters, Exclusivity Is Job #1. Just to the side, a set of elevator doors said: Private. Stamford Suites Guests Only. An adjacent set of double glass doors led to the upper floor of the Corona Towers parking garage.
Gunther Diehl stood behind the desk, his eyes down, focused intently on some unseen job. Occasionally, he moved a hand and tapped something, and he glanced up with a smile as the party approached his desk.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Sunchaser. I see our guests have arrived.” He nodded at the three visitors as if he knew them intimately. “Will any of you be wishing to swim after your tour? Mr. Lee, I believe you’ve enjoyed our athletic facilities on occasion. May I encourage you and your friends to join us today?”
For the first time, Kevin seemed flummoxed. He glanced at Sunchaser, who seemed to consider the question, and with a slight frown, she nodded. She leaned slightly toward Gunther and spoke in a voice too obviously loud to be a real whisper, “For a short time, Gunther. I suspect you will need to provide suits.”
“Very well. Three suits for the pool. During your time in the hotel, please keep these with you.” He laid three passkeys on the granite surface of the desk, looking very much like the one Sunchaser had removed from beside the elevator door. “Your thumbprint on the screen will activate them for twelve hours—”
“Twelve, Gunther?” Sunchaser interrupted, clearly considering twelve hours excessive.
“It is the default setting.” He shrugged. “I can assign Jerry as a chaperone, if you prefer. He is on duty until midnight.”
“Jerry?” She considered. “Is Kang Song available? No, I remember, she has the weekend’s event on the mall coming. Song is out of the question. I do not think Jerry Lantana is suitable, either. He has maintenance duties that he must attend to.” She cut her eyes toward the lobby. A tall man, wider in the shoulders than it seemed possible, stepped from the elevator. As he moved forward into the lobby, his presence was magnetic, and everyone within eyesight shifted their attention to him.
“Who’s that?” Marisa whispered.
Both Garik and Kevin shrugged.
Halo Sunchaser provided the answer. “No one informed me Mr. Rodheimer was making an appearance today.” She placed the satchel on Gunther’s granite counter, the movements of her hands revealing her flustered condition, and before walking off, she emptied the tablet and stylus from her pocket and hurriedly put them with the satchel. Something clattered, metal on stone, and she moved the satchel aside. A metal passkey appeared, and she swept it up and slipped it back into her pocket. “Gunther, I’m leaving this in your hands.”
“Ms. Sunchaser, you can count on me.”
“My apologies, children.” Sunchaser smiled. “I have other duties to attend to.” She turned, letting the smile fall away, and was gone to attend to her boss.
“What have you seen so far?” Gunther reached for the passkeys, found only two, and frowned.
“Here,” Marisa said, slipping one from underneath the satchel. “I moved mine. I hope that’s okay.”
“Ah,” he smiled. “Now we’re ready. What have you seen so far?”
“Just the lobby,” Garik ventured. “We only just arrived.”
“So, we need to see everything, well, everything that you can see.” Gunther chuckled. “I can’t accompany you to everything, but I can take you on a short tour and give you a map for the rest. Your passkeys will keep you out of anyplace that’s off limits. Now, if each of you will take one and press your thumb to the screen. When you’re ready, I’ll hit accept on my computer, and you’ll be all set.”
Garik noticed Marsia’s smile when she placed her thumb on the screen of her passkey. He was pleased she was having a good time.
And the pool? To actually swim? That was a special bonus that he hadn’t even thought to dream. What a day this was going to be!
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― 11 ―
GUNTHER DIEHL was more than good to his word.
They met Choi Bak as they entered the Stamford Suites “Guests Only” elevator. Mr. Choi was liveried in the Corona Towers cream top and tan trousers, with a microfiber cloth dangling from his back pocket. They waited as he pushed a polished brass cart loaded with two oversized suitcases from the elevator. Gunther called his attention to his visiting guests.
“Bak, meet our visitors. They are with us for a short tour. Kevin, whom you may know, and this is Garik, and—”
“Ah, yes.” Mr. Choi took Marisa’s hands in both of his. “Miss Bruni. I am glad to see you again.”
“But we’ve never met.” Marisa glanced at Garik and Kevin, then back to Mr. Choi, questioning.
“No, no, we have met, many times. I do not forget a face.” Mr. Choi smiled, removed his microfiber cloth from his pocket, and held it for a moment. “Is okay, Mr. Diehl?”
“That is all, Bak. Thank you.” Gunther nodded in dismissal.
Mr. Choi ran his cloth over his gleaming cart handles, returned it to his pocket, then moved toward the parking garage. The doors opened automatically when he approached.
“My apologies, Marisa. We have many returning guests, and Mr. Choi is wonderfully friendly to all of them. I’m sure he has mistaken you for someone else.”
“I’m sure,” Marisa murmured. She pulled her passkey from her pocket, frowned and rubbed it a moment before returning it to her pocket.
“All right, everyone aboard.” Gunther moved them ahead with a wave of his hand. He inserted his passkey, and the elevator doors sealed them in. With barely a sensation of movement, the numbers beside the door began to change.
BY THE time they reached the pool area, they had crossed paths with Jerry Lantana carrying a red, metal toolbox labeled CT Maintenance Only. He wore tan coveralls in the Corona Tower colors with the Tower logo on the breast of the coveralls and JERRY stitched in a cinnamon color just below. When they were introduced, Jerry removed the disposable gloves he was wearing, pulled a new pair from a package at his waist, and slipped them on before reaching to shake hands.