Things are spiraling and I know what Allyn is doing. Tightening the huddle so we don’t have to deal with pricks like Teller.
We all sit awkwardly in the pews—Popa at the front, then me and Allyn, with Reg and Nik in the last row. Popa is twisted around, listening with his eyes closed as I recap the whole kitchen thing—again—and when I’m done he turns his head, gazing out the window. Then he picks one foot up and drapes it over his other knee, trying to get comfortable on the hard wooden surface. A look on his face like he’s contemplating what topping he wants on his pizza.
“Earth to smart guy,” I say, snapping my fingers. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you paid to know?”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “There’s not exactly a rulebook here. I would love for it to be an Occam’s razor thing. The stove malfunctioned. But based on what you’re saying, I have to allow that, yeah, we’re getting time leaks.”
It seems like there’s supposed to be more than that, so I raise my hand and prod him to keep going.
“We’re pretty far from Einstein,” Popa says. “Two miles, at least. We’ve got sensors on the hotel exterior, and on the surrounding land, to watch for exactly this. This place is built to keep radiation out. Two-foot-thick concrete walls with three inches of lead sandwiched in the middle. The windows are made of lead glass. Nothing is making it through that.” He clears his throat. “And even then, we’re getting some weird data from Einstein, but no spikes.”
“So if radiation isn’t leaking over, why is time acting like a drunken sorority girl?” I ask.
Popa leans forward, clasps his hands together. “I don’t know.”
“Great,” I say. “Great thing to hear from the smartest guy in the room.”
“Technically, as an artificially intelligent construct, I’m the smartest thing in the room,” Ruby says, from its little floating spot in the corner.
I take off my boot and throw it at the drone. It glides out of the way and my boot smacks against the eggshell-painted wall, leaving a little scuff. As I retrieve the boot and put it back on, Allyn says, “We need to figure this out. Get as many people here as you can.”
Popa nods and gets up to leave.
Then Allyn zeros in on me. “The rest of you, give us the room.”
Reg and Nik exchange a look, but now I don’t want to break Allyn’s stare. The two of them get up and follow Popa. We wait for the door to close, and then we wait a little longer, next to each other, turning to look out the window. It’s so quiet you can hear the flakes hitting the glass.
“John Westin,” he says, breaking the silence.
Ah. So he flagged the file.
“Person of interest,” I tell him.
“In what?”
I wonder what I would say, if I didn’t know that at some point in the near future I’d be in a cell and Allyn would be there and I would suddenly find myself questioning his allegiance. We had that relationship, once. I could find it again. But right now I know the safest thing to do is keep this close. The first half of the story.
“He was in the lobby,” I say. “No luggage, not the usual vibe I get from the clientele. I told Ruby to pull a face scan and tell me who he was. That was before we found ourselves in the middle of a hurricane of dicks, so my interest in him has waned. Who is he to you?”
“A person of interest.”
“Go on.”
“In an investigation.”
“Stop being cute,” I tell him. “Something is going on.”
“Understatement,” Allyn says, with no inflection.
“I’m serious,” I say. “Someone went after Osgood. At what point are you going to admit that we need to move this thing?”
“January…”
“And Kolten. Someone tried to kill him.”
“That was an accident,” Allyn says.
I pull out my phone and sit next to him, queue up the video of Warwick. After the jacket flutters I rewind so he can see it again. “What does that look like?”
Allyn shrugs. “What am I looking at?”
I rewind and let it play again. “Right there. His jacket moves. Like someone is reaching inside. He said the EpiPen was missing. Whoever tried to poison Kolten also tried to make sure that he couldn’t be saved.”
“January…”
“Look, I know it’s weird, but given how things are playing out right now…”
“January, they found the pen. It was under the table. The thing fell out of his pocket.”
My mind goes blank. “Wait…what?”
Allyn gets up and moves toward the window. “You know who I just got off the phone with?”
“Who, the president?”
He turns and raises an eyebrow at me. “Yes, actually.”
“Oh,” I say. “Shit.”
“Yeah. And he was very insistent that this go forward. As in, I will lose my job if it doesn’t.” He pauses and sighs. “I’ll be taking lead on this, starting now.”
“Allyn…”
He sits down next to me. “As your friend, I’m asking you to not show that video to anyone else.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to do everything I can to protect you. And that doesn’t help.”
My stomach drops out. I suddenly want to hide my face from him.
He doesn’t believe me.
That one actually hurts.
What if I’m seeing what I want to see? What if it’s just a trick of the light? Why would someone steal the pen to drop it at his feet?
I’m starting to not believe myself.
“How about this,” I tell him. “You had a German nanny. So you were raised in a bilingual household. That’s how you know the language.”
“January…” he says. And there’s a weight to it that makes me think now was the wrong time to make a joke. But then he gives a little laugh and says, “Wrong again.”
* * *
—
At the elevator bank I punch the button and close my eyes and feel a little spark across my brain and look up and watch as the doors explode outward, flames and debris flooding around my feet, and within the carnage I see mangled bodies, Eshe and MKS among them.
The slip doesn’t last long. Once it’s done and the hallway has returned to normal, I ping Chris on my watch. He comes back, “Yeah?”
“Take elevator five out of service.”
“Why?”
“Because I told you to. Give it a safety check.”
“The elevators were just inspected a month ago…”
“Do it,” I say, cutting him off and ending the call.
I consider paging Allyn to let him know, but I’m pretty sure at this point he thinks I’m crazy. Still, I’m getting real tired of saving people’s lives and getting no goddamn recognition for it. It makes me want to march up to whichever luxury suite MKS is staying in and tell him, You know what I just saved your ass from? I don’t even need a hug. Just a high five.
“Well, hello there, Miss January.”
I turn to find Osgood ambling my way, flanked by two TEA agents, following at a respectful distance. He’s changed into a fresh suit and has a neat, white bandage on his temple.
“Making some new friends?” I ask.
He glances over his shoulder at the agents. “Since I’m the only one without a crew, Danbridge decided I needed one. Especially after what happened.”
“Speaking of, how’s that noggin?” I ask.
He touches the bandage softly. “Could be worse. Thank you again.”