“You mean to tell me you managed to smuggle three close-to-hatching eggs out of the…what period, Ruby?”
“Late Cretaceous.”
“Out of the Late Cretaceous period, and you weren’t smart enough to get some fresh ones? I’ve got to tell you, that’s some sloppy work.”
“I know the difference between eggs,” he says. “These were fresh.”
“Ruby, what’s the incubation period on raptor eggs?”
“Four months.”
“Clearly,” I tell Shou, “you don’t math good.”
He shifts in his seat. “They were fresh when I picked them up fourteen hours ago. And then I brought them here. And I was taking a shower and came out and found them tearing up my room.”
“So you let them out?”
“I was trying to get out of the room,” he says. “But I panicked and they got past me.”
“Nice,” I tell him.
There’s a knock at the door, and a sharp-faced man in a suit barges in. He looks at me like he wants to light me on fire. “Bracken Abrams,” he says. Then to Shou, “Not another word until we’re alone.”
I put my hands up and stand, clear out of the room while the two of them huddle up. Truly and frankly I do not care. I mean, I do a little. My whole job used to revolve around chasing down pricks like that. But right now the hotel is my job and I have enough to worry about.
* * *
—
It’s not surprising the first person I see when I step into the main security room is Allyn Danbridge.
And as per usual he looks like someone answering a casting call for the role of TEA director in a made-for-TV movie, the exact kind of buttoned-down WASP who plays great at a congressional hearing. His lean figure is wrapped in a government-gray suit, and he’s clearly keeping up with his Pilates. Tight shoulders and strong back to accentuate his stupidly handsome face. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him, and his dark hair is showing a bit more gray. It’s also getting long, so it’s curling a little around his ears. His face is covered in stubble. I’d put his stress level just edging up on “coronary event.”
But his eyes light up when he sees me.
“January,” he says, and Tamworth appears at his side. Before I can say anything, the doctor has got my hand in his, examining the bite.
“Minor puncture wound,” he says.
“Think I caught anything from them?”
“Probably not,” he says, leading me to the darkened hologram table, and an open first aid kit. He disinfects the wound and bandages it so tight I can feel my pulse in my fingertip. He promises to follow up shortly. Allyn nods to him, then holds the door open for me.
The lobby is quieter than it was before, most guests having retreated to their rooms, or probably upstairs getting a drink. Grayson is standing at the edge of the room, talking to Reg, as well as an older woman with immaculate makeup and a black bob that looks like a helmet. Senator Drucker. As they talk they throw stray glances at me, so I figure I know who the subject of their conversation is.
“I think I figured it out,” I say to Allyn.
“What’s that?”
“You went to Boston U right? I looked it up, they have an exchange program in Germany. That’s where you learned to speak the language?”
He laughs hard and deep at this. The running gag between us. He speaks fluent German, with no apparent Germanic ancestry, and I know he was born and raised in Wisconsin. For years I have been trying to figure out where he picked it up. For some reason, he has refused to tell me, and he gets a kick out of the fact that I can’t let it go.
“Wrong again,” he says. “So what did Shou say? How’d he get them in?”
“He insists they were fresh eggs and they hatched here.”
“He must have misjudged.”
“Must have,” I say. “How’s Mary?”
“Mary is at her sister’s. Giving me some space while I handle all this.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“That all it is?”
He shrugs. “You know how it gets. Long hours. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing the best I can with a plate full of shit,” I tell him.
“January, if I had any say in this…”
“I get it, I get it. Above your pay grade. Listen, I don’t have a good feeling about this. There’s a hole in the security somewhere. Whether it’s here at the Paradox or over at Einstein. You have to postpone the summit. At least give me another day while we sort this out.”
Because it kills me to admit it, but that meathead Grayson was more right than he knew. I’m losing my grip on this. Between the snow, a smuggler waltzing in here with three velociraptors, a corpse that shouldn’t exist, and issues with our video surveillance, I’m getting some serious Hindenburg vibes.
I’ve got no idea what to do about any of it.
And if I told Allyn everything, maybe he’d listen, or maybe he’d get me fitted for a pretty new white jacket with arms that go all the way around.
He purses his lips and shakes his head. “Everyone is coming out, and the weather is complicating things. It’s easier to hunker down here than it is to leave and come back. And of course everyone’s time is more important than ours. I think they see it as a bonus. If word does get out, it’s not like anyone is going to be able to make it out here to mess with the proceedings.”
“Snow supposed to be that bad?”
“Three to four feet,” he says. “We’ve got cleaning crews ready. We keep moving forward. How’s Nik working out?”
“He’s sharp.”
Allyn comes to a stop and braces himself. “Okay, give me the rundown. I’m ready.”
I lay out the basics, including the dinosaur chase, which earns a few chuckles, but not at my expense, which is why I don’t feel compelled to pop him in the jaw. The way the hotel is filling up and how that’s putting people on edge. I don’t include the part about the body. But when I’m done he can see I’m holding something back. We have enough trust built up over the years that he lets me have it.
We’ll see how long that lasts.
“So what are the next steps?” he asks.
“I’m hungry. I need to eat something. Then we need to figure out what to do with three dinosaurs, which is not the kind of question I ever thought I’d have to ask. Maybe we should…”
In the corner of my eye I spot Cameo, standing about ten feet away from us, staring at the clock in the center of the room. They’re entranced and, it seems, slightly confused. Which sets off my alarm bells.
“Hold on a second,” I tell Allyn. I walk over to Cameo and ask, “What’s up?”
Without moving their eyes, they ask, “Is the clock supposed to be doing that?”
It takes a few seconds to figure out what’s happening. But then I see it. The minute and second hands stuttering and whipping.
12:32:22
12:32:23
12:30:44
12:29:14
12:33:09
12:32:44
“Because I’ll tell you something, darling,” Cameo says. “I’ve been working next to that thing since this place opened, and I’ve gotten used to seeing a second slip here and there. But I’m sure I have never seen it do that.”
EVENT SYMMETRY