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“I should have checked,” Jesse said, guilt slumping his shoulders. “I should have realized Charlie was here when it started.”
“It’s not your fault, Jesse.” Simone’s fingers lightly skimmed Jesse’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You’ve been doing all you can and we all appreciate it.”
“But it’s not enough, is it?” Arthur snapped.
The nurse practitioner cradled his head in his hands, either because he was still woozy from the assault, or in despair. Or maybe both.
“Shut up, Arthur,” Simone said, sounding more tired than angry.
Studying Ava’s eyes, Minji wondered if the little girl and the other were both listening. Could they both see her? “We’re all doing our best,” she said, more to the entity than Arthur.
“Whatever,” Arthur grunted in reply.
“I’m going to check the video,” Alec announced, clearly done with the argument.
Alec shuffled into the security room, which looked nothing like the ones on television. To Minji, it looked rather low-tech. There were three computer monitors set up on a long desk and each one had six small scenes playing on them. Once seated at the array, he pulled up a program and set about searching for the recorded video.
Arthur slipped into the room to sit on a computer chair next to Alec while the two women lingered in the doorway. Meanwhile, Jesse remained seated on the floor near the guard. Minji wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to see the footage or if he was just too overwhelmed by the loss of his co-worker to move.
“How do you know how to do that?” Simone asked.
Studying the screens, Alec answered, “I worked security at an office building after I retired.”
“Sure,” Arthur muttered.
Alec ignored him and continued to work. “The attack last night had to have been around six-thirty. That’s when I had my accident. So this is the footage from about that time. You were in the downstairs hallway, right?”
Jesse joined them and squeezed past the women to lean over Alec’s shoulder. “Yeah. That’s about the time we all saw Minji disappear.”
Alec dragged a window containing a paused video across the screens onto the largest of the monitors.
“Then let’s watch,” Alec said, clicking PLAY.
From where she stood, Minji watched the black and white feed of her and the others in the hallway. It was disconcerting to see herself responding to Ava calling out for help while the others froze in place. It was very apparent that Minji had been oblivious to the condition of the others as she excitedly tried to communicate with Ava before realizing what was occurring. Alec paused the feed when Minji stepped out of camera view. Rubbing his chin with his long fingers, Alec stared at the screen.
“Well?” Arthur asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“She’s completely immune.” Though he still appeared incredulous, Alec confirmed what had been evident on the screen. He replayed the scene again, leaning toward the monitor. “She didn’t even flinch.”
“So what does that mean?” Arthur demanded, eyeballing Minji with renewed mistrust.
“It simply means she’s immune.” Alec swiveled on his chair to look at the women in the doorway.
At first, Minji thought he was studying her, then she realized his attention was directed at Ava. Minji fully expected him to question her about what had transpired with Ava during the attack, but he remained silent.
“So what now?” Jesse asked.
“You get ready to leave,” Alec answered. “And so do I.”
“You’re just going to follow the mesmerized?” Simone eyed him doubtfully. “With a cane and your head all stitched up?”
Alec shrugged. “Yep.”
“Okay, then I’ll need Arthur to go get the shuttle and bring it to the front of the building,” Jesse decided. “Simone and Minji, you can help me with supplies.”
“I’m not going out there by myself!” Arthur frowned at Jesse. “What if they’re...you know...not peaceful anymore? That guard kicked the little girl around!”
“He stumbled over her,” Jesse retorted.
