Henri moved in on the other side of me and looked. He used a blunt finger to scroll from one room to another to find a back way in or out. Margot turned, heaving a sigh, disappointed. She began to work through her bag.
Henri looked at me, at her, and then quickly typed his own name in the search box.
Henri’s info came up, and I saw the layout of his apartment, not so different from mine, but all that space was only for him. He lived alone, mid-ring, not too far from me, but in a better section, and on the twelfth floor.
Margot snorted out a disapproving breath and dropped her bag. She turned. Her eyes were narrowed. With a nervous flick, Henri wiped the information away and pulled the McMorse info back up. Why had he shown me his home? His face burned bright red.
“What are you looking at?” Margot asked. “You both look guilty.”
I flipped the screen up and scanned through the building. I was dying to type Carol Amanda Harving’s name.
The floor above McMorse was assigned to a Lawyer named Gale Krii. There was no note as to whether Gale was a man or a woman. The map was a blank outline. Most names had dropdowns full of information about habits, income, preferences and proclivities. This name was suspiciously devoid of content. He or she appeared to own the whole floor.
Margot scooted on her butt over to me. “Some people do not wish for their personal data to be revealed, so they pay to have it blocked.”
She leaned in and looked at the screen with me, taking Henri’s place.
I examined Rupert McMorse’s apartment for a bit and couldn’t learn much from it. We’d already been in his home. The difficulty was in getting into his room without waking him, and that problem would be solved with sleep gas.
“It will take Kel twenty minutes to get back,” Margot said in a singsong voice. Her finger circled the screen. “Are you done?”
I looked at her. Did she want time with the Pad? She pulled up a map and pointed.
“She keeps the sleep gas in a locker on the Forty-Third Radian. She thinks I don’t know. Anyway, the plan is simple: Rupert McMorse will sleep. We will take back our gear. Voilà.”
Voilà. I didn’t know what that word meant, exactly.
“You should explore,” Margot said. “You must be curious.”
A moment passed between us. Did she know? She waited, her shrewd eyes looking me over. I felt a small tingle of excitement and fear.
“I see how it is,” she said, giving in to something I had not said. She stood up and pulled Henri along with her.
“What?” Henri asked, looking back at me.
“She doesn’t want us to see,” Margot said. “Maybe it is too much like communication. How big is your biceps, Henri?”
Henri looked pleased to be asked, and his attention snapped to Margot.
My finger drifted up to the search icon where Henri had just typed his name. My heart began pounding harder. What if Carol Amanda Harving lived somewhere far away? In another dome? What if my search turned up nothing? She could have paid for that privacy.
“Don’t look me up, though,” Margot said. Her hand was on Henri’s arm as he flexed for her. This was my moment. I paused. Did Kel know I needed this? What did I hope to accomplish?
I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to explain the dire situation Carol Amanda Harving had put us in. I wanted her to listen and agree to desist, but how could I make that happen if I didn’t speak? And, even if I did speak, what made me think she would care?
It didn’t matter. I had to know. I needed a place to start. Carol Amanda Harving, I typed.
The display moved off to a building not so far away, Malvika Place. My breathing grew a little faster. Hers was one of the few buildings in the city that extended out above the dome. Her apartment was listed on the eighty-ninth floor, just outside. The apartment was one of two enormous spaces that showed up blank inside. The Pad provided no information about her, not even her alleged birth date. All it listed was her name and that apartment.
I stared at the block of shape and tried to control my outward reaction. The skin on my back bristled. What else could I learn from this? I scanned the building for a way in.
Just then the door slid open; Kel had returned.
“That was fast,” Margot commented.
“Let’s go,” Kel said, tossing a green pony bottle of sleep gas each to Margot, Henri and me. Margot turned hers over with a grin.
“Be careful with it,” Kel said, then she warned, “Margot, if yours goes off accidentally...”
“Where did you go for these, your house?” Margot asked, grinning.
Kel ignored this and held out her hand for the Pad. Margot grabbed it on her behalf, before I could clear Carol Amanda Harving’s name. Margot peeked and cleared it quickly for me.
My hands were shaking.
Now that I knew where she lived, would I do something foolish? Probably.
Carol Amanda Harving. Her name kept repeating in my head. I couldn’t concentrate. Could I bring Sam to reason with her? He was a good talker. Maybe he could charm her.
Margot placed her gas canister in her bag, and I did the same, sliding it into a small loop that held it tightly cushioned inside. She caught my eye and gave me a look I couldn’t read. I micro-shrugged in return.
Kel moved ahead of me, covered from head to toe in black, and led us to work. In the psychopath’s apartment, I scarcely paid attention. Henri gassed the room, and a moment later, I found he was staring daggers at me for my loss of focus. He had thrust a face mask into my hands, and I had barely noticed.
Rupert McMorse snored away in his bed. His ex-girlfriend’s portrait faced him in mock adoration. I peeled the frame from the platform and gathered our equipment. Afterward I placed the girlfriend’s photo back so it faced him. I thought he would like that. I pitied him, in a way.
I felt a little lightheaded as I turned away from the nightstand. Out the bedroom window, there was a clear view of Malvika Place. I stopped and looked for a moment, considering my options, and then moved on.
The sleep gas had worked like a charm. Suddenly I was exhilarated, not by the job, but at the thought that I could finally do something.
When we were finished I was escorted home. They brought me to my roof and, seeing I had safely arrived, they all took off in opposite directions. I assumed they each went home to sleep and rest for the next night’s Placement.
For half a minute, I considered going straight to Malvika Place, but I needed time to plan. I gathered myself together and prepared to go back home and, hopefully, sleep for a few hours before school. But before I arrived at the stairs, Margot zipped back into view.
Margot? She gestured, and it took my brain a moment to catch up and understand. She wanted me to follow her.
I hesitated. What did she want? Did she know about Carol Amanda Harving, and the notice to desist? Did she have a plan for me?