A compliment, but not exactly what Blair was looking for.She forced her spine straight even though every ounce of her deflated.“The whole point was to try and make the citizens feel like we’re on the same team.Like they can trust the Key and, by extension, they can trust me.”
Cath gently folded her slender arms across her desk.“I thought the point was to let citizens know that the city is safe, and that they don’t have to worry about infection or aboutEos.”
“Well, yeah.I mean, yes, of course.That was definitely the main point.That goes without saying.”
Black.
Cath cocked her head.“Youweretold that the city is safe now,weren’tyou?”
Did Cath not know for sure?Or was this a test?What if Cath was fishing?What if the powers that be had given Cath information they hadn’t given Blair?Or what if they had told Blair something they hadn’t told Cath?Maybe the corporation was trying to pit them against one another since a new position was opening up soon.Maybe they wanted to see if Blair was able to keep from spilling Key secrets to a person as close to her asCath.
Well, Blair had never failed a test before, and she wasn’t about to start now.
With deliberate absentmindedness, Blair brushed back a few curls that had freed themselves in front of her eyes.“I hear Holbrook is being put down.That’ll mean his MediCenter Director title will be up for grabs.”
Cath’s gaze fell to her hands.“I can’t imagine what he’s going through.Having the date of your death set, each second ticking by, bringing you closer to the end.”She shook her head.“His heart has been bad for a while, but the whole thing is...sad.”Her eyes glistened when she finally looked up.
Cath cared so much.Blair needed to try to care more too.It might make people warm up to her, and it would be easier to do her job if her employees’ loyalty rested on the fact that they truly likedher.
Blair slumped her shoulders slightly, a mirror image of Cath’s sadness.“Mrs.Holbrook is probably broken up about it.”
“I’ve spoken with her.She understands that it’s time, but that doesn’t make it any easier.To survive the virus just to be put down fifty years later...”Cath plucked at the air with her fingers as her thoughts swallowed her.
Blair studied the ragged edges of her nails.She should contact the old bag’s wife; she was on the MediCenter board, and if Blair had any hope of being nominated for Director Holbrook’s job after they finally put him down, she needed to make nice with whomever she could.
Message to Maxine.Blair thought, blinking long and slow.When her lids lifted, the transparent gray messaging box appeared, only slightly blurring the vision in her left eye.Find Holbrook’s address and send his wife whatever I’m expected to send to a person whose husband is on the bullet train toward death.The bold text appeared as quickly as she thought it, and sent just asfast.
“Blair, you should cometoo.”
“Sorry, I can’t.”She’d missed what Cath had been saying, but she knew without hearing it that she didn’t want to attend.She loved Cath, but she didn’t particularly like spending time with her.Cath was always doing things that bordered onstrange.Okay, to be honest, they were frickin’ weird.Canoeing and running and hiking all out in the real world like some kind of Zone Six dip who couldn’t afford a new VR kit.It was gross.
Cath frowned.“He’s the director of the MediCenter.You really should make time to come to his funeral.Everyone will be there sharing stories, memories.If it makes you feel better, we can go together.I know it would be easier for me if I had you by myside.”
Blair sucked in a breath and nodded.“Oh, the funeral.Yes, I’m definitely attending.And weshouldgo together.”If what Cath said was true, andeveryonereally was going to be there, it would only make Blair look better to arrive with theever-popularDr.CathScott.
Ever-popular.Blair kept herself from rolling her eyes like a petulant child.She could be loved and admired too, if she really wanted.
Blair cleared her throat and shook away the sudden spike of jealousy heating her stomach.“I have the perfect outfit for a funeral.However, it’s deep navy, not black.Do you think that’s appropriate?”
Sunlight streamed in through the wall of windows behind Cath, framing her in an ethereal glow.“Perhaps you should focus on the meaning of the proceedings and less on your attire.Don’t you think that’s more important?”
Blair bit the inside of her cheeks.“Yes, of course.”
Black.
And I’ll be dressed innavy.
It wasn’t her fault Cath didn’t understand that the funeral was going to serve as the firstin-personinterview for Holbrook’s position.Andthatwas really the most important thing.
Holbrook would be dead.He wouldn’t need their regurgitated memories or their tears.But Blair, who was very much alive, did need his title.It was what she’d been working toward since she’d begun her career.A career that was taking off unlike any other.She was the MediCenter’s rising star, and she wouldn’t burn out because of the death of some old man.No, she would be a phoenix and rise from that old bastard’sashes.
VIII
Aiden was only slightly late for the first morning of his new career assignment when the elevator doors slipped open and he shuffled, heavy footed, into thelight-soakedhallway.The small rectangle of paper listing his roomforty-fourreassignment stared up at him, its bold text washed out under the glare of thebulbs.
He shielded his eyes and squinted as he reread the room number.“Remember never to come in hungover.”
Aiden didn’t bother to look through the hazy, Violet Shield–covered doorways that lined the hall.There’d be plenty of time to investigate his surroundings when he made the exact same walk every morning of every day for every year of his life until he retired.And by that time, he might as well bedead.
