Page 27 of Anarchy Missing

CHAPTER ELEVEN - CASE

Lulu Lightly started out as a family responsibility and ended up a missed opportunity.

My parents weren’t bad people. They just did bad things.

That’s how I ended up in the Prodigy School. I was payment on a debt that was long overdue. But they helped us Alphas when we decided to end the program and leave, so giving into my father’s request to take Lulu Lightly to the Debutante Ball seemed a simple enough thing at the time.

Of course, they didn’t tell me about the months of dance lessons I’d need. Or the rehearsals. But it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was a terrible dancer but it made Lulu smile. And after about a month of that, I realized I actually made her happy. Even if she showed up for the dance lessons tired and not in the mood, just a few minutes with me could turn her whole day around.

I stare at her from under an awning as she makes her way towards me. Carefully trying to avoid puddles of slushy ice as her boss chats with her excitedly.

I’ve decided he’s a dick.

Neither of them look at me as they make their way into the pub for lunch and I won’t be following them in. But was nice to see her in person again. To know she’s OK, at least. Since she did leave town and not contact me again.

Of course, that was Thomas’s doing.

Whatever.

I stick my hands in my coat pocket and the heat pouring out of them warms my whole body up as I tuck my head into the wind and make my way down the block to catch a cab back to my car, which is parked at SkyEye.

When I get there, the doorman says, “Mr. Reider?”

“Yeah?” I answer.

“Mr. Brooks would like to see you before you go home.”

“Sure,” I say, letting out a long breath. I feel… I’m not sure. Not exactly sad, but… melancholy, I guess. That’s the word. An old-fashioned way of saying depressed.

Thomas rehabbed this cathedral to house his corporate office last winter and the main cathedral has been turned into a huge lobby with glass meeting rooms, a large reception desk, and elevators that lead up to the glass bridge on the third floor, where you can cross over to the auxiliary buildings.

That’s where his office is.

On my way across the bridge I can see the main cathedral out of the corner of my eye, but I don’t look at it. It reminds me of Lulu and our perfect night, and that—I sigh heavily—is not what I need right now.

When it comes to office arrangements Thomas isn’t as pretentious as he appears. He has an unassuming corner space that faces east, of all things. East. The direction of nothing, really. Unless you count the asylum in the north. It’s just mountains with no interesting buildings.

I take that back when I peer inside his office. Because I can see the new East Boundary Tower he’s building. One of four directional towers we’re going to use, in conjunction with the smaller corresponding towers that flank each side of City Square, when the time is right.

But it’s not pretty and it’s not interesting. It’s just a tower made of steel and most of what I can see at the moment is the giant crane being used to build it.

“You wanted to see me?” I ask him, walking in and slouching down in the chair in front of his desk.

He’s looking at his computer. Doesn’t acknowledge me at all, but speaks to someone on the phone with him. “I need that completed in six weeks, Jim. Make sure we’re on track.”

“Yes, sir,” Jim says from the speaker.

Thomas ends the call by punching a button and then turns to me. “So what have you decided to do?”

I shrug.

“That’s not an answer, Case. This is a problem and you’re the only one who can fix it.”

“What do you want me to do?” I ask, uninterested.

“Take care of her,” Thomas says, annoyed. “What the hell do you think I want? We can’t have a single interruption in our plans, Case. Not one. I’m doing my part with the construction. Linc is doing his part with the program, and we need you to do your part with the distribution or it’s all for nothing.”

“I’m ahead of schedule, Thomas. I’ve got 1.1 prototypes up in every bus stop shelter and subway station in the city. Plus, the 1.2 version software is already in place in the new jail. Version 2.0 will be ready on time, no problem. None of my plans are affected by any of this.”