her own. It surprised everyone but Lucie, who had suggested it to her. Anyone else would've called Rosalind a quiet geek with too much love for the safety of corporate structure, not an entrepreneur who would be comfortable as someone else's boss. But Lucie understood that Rosalind's desire to test herself went beyond the academic. Lucie's perception hadn't failed Rosalind. It never had.
That was why she was ready to listen when Lucie was on her death bed and suggested that Rosalind try on yet another experiment. Lucie was not what anyone would call a hopeless romantic, but compared to Rosalind she was Percy Shelly. She understood that her sister was not a woman who needed a man in her life, but she suspected that Rosalind wanted one. Think of it as learning a new skill, she'd said. It was her dying wish, not that her sister fall in love with Dale or anyone specifically, but that she find a victim and make a go of it.
And now here they were, she and Dale, standing before the greatest threat to their careers. Lucie had died before Rosalind and Kevin struck their deal with Polymath. Rosalind had been certain that it was the right thing to do, but a part of her now wondered if she had gone astray. She wondered if she could really take those leaps without Lucie. What was she going to do now? Follow the Sorter's advice?
“So it's true.” said Nagel, pointing a finger at them. “About the two of you.”
Dale ignored the comment. To Rosalind he said, “I have something for your birthday.”
He let her go, crossed the common area and ducked into one of the cubicles. He returned with a wooden cube, six inches on a side. He handed it to Rosalind. When she opened the box, she found a brass sphere with engraved pictographs resembling hieroglyphs.
“A Horus Adventure.” she said.
She lifted the ball out of its box and it responded to her touch by lighting up curved bands made of willow glass. Images dances across these latitudinal arcs, making Rosalind tilt the sphere back and forth to watch them.
“And it's warm to the touch.” she said. “Interesting. Is this the newest one?”
Nagel said, “What is that? Are we really doing this now? Here?”
Dale nodded, saying, “It was just released yesterday. You may be the first to solve it.”
Kevin was still trying to pry into their conversation.
He said, “It's a kid's game? Is that what you're going to do in our company's final moments?”
“It's not a kid's game.” said Rosalind. “It's the most difficult puzzle series ever created.”
Dale said to Nagel, “I'd like to see you solve it.”
“Thank you.” said Rosalind. “It's the best gift anyone's ever given me.”
“I could solve it if I had your help.” said Kevin.
“You're talking about this thing I have in my brain?” said Rosalind, tapping the side of her head. “Do you think it makes me everything that I am? Long before I got this implanted in my skull, I was playing Chopin at Jordan Hall.”
Dale said to Kevin, “Were you precocious at anything as a kid besides jerking off?”
Nagel walked off in a huff, saying, “I'm going to look for George.”
When they were alone, Rosalind said, “Today isn't happening.”
“No.” said Dale. “We'll have some free time though.”
“I can live with that.”
“One thing. I should call my daughter. She was going to meet me later.”
Rosalind nodded. Dale went through the door leading to the reception area and disappeared. Nagel returned a few minutes later and then Reggie came storming out of the conference room. Marianne was standing behind him, a silhouette in the door. There was silence.
Then Reggie said, “I want everyone in the conference room.”
“For what?” said Rosalind. “There's nothing to discuss.”
Reggie swept back the sides of his blazer. There was a holster there, and a gun. He slipped the pistol out and turned off the safety. He gestured at Kevin and Rosalind.
“Don't worry. I'll do all the talking.”
TWENTY TWO
Dale left the office suite by the main entrance and stood by the big letters spelling POLYMATH. The place was quiet as death before an air conditioning vent came to life above him. Dale, however, was so preoccupied with what had just happened that he didn't stop to think about how the expansive atrium had gone still. As he walked to the edge of the balcony, he retrieved his cell phone and selected Lorie's name from his contacts and held his finger above the call button. He hesitated for a moment and then his phone rang. It was Lorie calling him.
As Dale raised the phone to his ear, he noticed something that stopped the voice in his throat.
“Dad? Dad?” said Lorie.
From the balcony he could see the entire atrium below. The trees rustled in the AC, the waterfall babbled, and the tink tink of faint piano music spilled from a speaker somewhere. There was no one but him inside the building. On the outside, however, a crowd of hundreds stood near the mall's glass wall. The wandered to and fro and cast anxious looks into the street.
“Dad, please answer.”
The scene continued to unfold in Dale's head as he took in what was happening on the other side of that three story window. There were a dozen police vehicles around the outside of the crowd. They were all parked along an empty Atlantic Avenue. The cops had blockaded the street. There was something wrong with that.
“Lorie.” said Dale. “What's going on?”
“Dad, I can see you. Can you see me?”
Why are those people still there? thought Dale. The police had stopped traffic from moving into the area, but they were doing nothing to evacuate people out. Dale noticed a few people trying to leave and the cops forcing them back.
“You're out there?” said Dale.
“Dad, they won't let us leave. I've heard a rumor that the bomber said if they let us go, he will detonate the explosive. They're saying its a white van parked under the building.”
“Bomber?”
“Dad, how are you still in there? You didn't here the alarm?”
“No.” said Dale. “I had no idea about this until I stepped out here.”
“Oh god.” said Lorie. “You're the target. Dad, what did you get yourself into?”
The blue light. The fire suppression and security system inside Polymath were offline. George had explained that while Marianne was singing to Reggie. George had disabled the system. Dale didn't think that was a coincidence. Polymath or someone inside the office was the target.
He said, “What kind of a white van?”
“Someone said it had a funny name. Judge Network Solutions.”
Dale had seen that name before. The man he'd met outside Flour drove that van. He smoked Camels and had a kid with him. Dale remembered the strange looking container in the back of his truck, the way that Camels was ranting, and his anger with the Sorter.
“Lorie, you've got to find a way out as soon as you can.”
“I'm not leaving here until you do. Can you stay there where I can see you?”
With the phone held against his ear, he turned his head back to see the office door. He stared at it for a long time. Then he looked back at the crowd and scanned it for his daughter. He couldn't find her.
Lorie said, “Marianne's still in there, isn't she?”
She was, but Dale was worried about more than her. Lorie didn't know about Rosalind. Dale wanted to tell her that there were two people inside who needed him, but something stopped him. He'd told Lorie that he had not cheated on her mother and that was true. Though Dale and his wife had never been divorced, his relationship with Rosalind had started long after Lorie's mom had moved out. Besides, Lorie had said she would've forgiven her father. Dale had to admit to himself that what he was afraid of was letting her on to yet another lie. It was a strange little thing, but sometimes the strange little things are the hardest to let go.
He said, “There are a lot of people in there.”
“They aren't your responsibility.”
“What if you were here? Could you forgive yourself if you left everyone behind?”
“Sometimes,” said Lorie. “You have too much guilt to think straight.”
Dale shook his head. “It's not as though I have the opportunity to leave anyway.”
“Promise me you will take the chance if you get it.”
Dale turned his head back again. Then he turned his entire body, showing his back to the atrium and the crowd. He heard Lorie breath as if about to speak, but then she hang up. Dale put his phone back in his pocket and entered the office once again.
TWENTY THREE
You thought I was a lion
Oh but you swept me off my feet
Now I catch you making me sick
Feasting on my insides
I hope it's sweet
I hope it's sweet
To you
John pulled the headphone bud out of his ear and looked around. He was standing at a network rack and rearranging the fibers in an optical patch panel so that he could make room for new cabling. He saw Jason in another part of the room, tooling away with who knows what. While he was trying to do his job and keep an eye on Jason, another scene distracted John. He watched it unfold through the window in the door.
There were no words, but John didn't always need words. He was good with faces and hands. He saw three people, an attractive woman a few years older than Ruth, an old man and a fat man. He'd seen the old man before. It was Dale Benedict, the guy John has seen outside the building where his dad has worked. Dale and woman were in love. He gave her a gift and she lit up. John could tell that she often on the