Page 339 of Every Almost

EARTH YEAR 1996 / COALITION CYCLE 506

SIX YEARS LATER

? PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES ?

January 1, 1996, 03:18AM

The shrill ring of her phone in the middle of the night was not on Katie Wickett's new year's bingo card.

She popped one eye open, looked over at her nightstand, and groaned at the time.

The clock showed 03:18 AM.

The phone rang again, and Katie whispered expletives she was glad Helen couldn't hear her say. She turned over slowly and grabbed the receiver.

"Hello?" Her voice worked, barely.

"Katie?!"

"Emma?" Katie began to creep up her pillow, trying to get into a sitting position. "Are you okay? Wait, where are you?"

"I'm at work."

"At three in the morning?!"

Katie heard rustling through the phone. "Yeah, well, the promotion comes with obstacles."

Katie listened to Emma say the word 'promotion' with her British accent. It always gave Katie a little boost to hear how Emma pronounced things just a little differently with certain words. "Did you even go out tonight?"

"Out? Why?"

Katie raised her palm to her forehead.

"New Year's Eve?"

"Was that today?"

"Yeah, Emma, that was today. Or, rather, yesterday. So, happy fucking new year."

"Ah, there's the eloquent anthropologist I know."

"Emma," Katie said, her voice settling. "Why did you call me at three in the morning?"

There was a pause on the other end.

"Katie, I found something."

Suddenly, Katie was wide awake. She switched the receiver to her other ear.

"What is it?" Katie's heart rate skyrocketed which, truthfully, was something she was used to when she was around Emma. But she could unpack that later.

"Well, see, that's where this promotion comes with benefits as well. Benefits like access to classified files?" Katie could hear the slight tease in her voice.

"Classified, you say?"

"That’s what I said." Katie heard more rustling. "Such as access to a particular file, numbering a particular box, that just so happens to have been decommissioned and placed in the highest classified level on one particular day in 1990."

Katie's heart stopped. She pretty much forgot how to breathe.