When the elevator opened, Kai stepped into another sleek white room. This one had a high ceiling and a vast field of slight round openings in the floor. In the center of the room, a series of interconnected pipes ascended from the openings to form a monolithic jungle gym. Though Kai had never seen one before, he understood that he was supposed to climb it. As in the last chamber, he could not pinpoint the source of the white glow which lit the floor and walls. And now, even more troubling, he could not locate a new elevator or door to pass through once the task was accomplished. His head still throbbing, he padded across the floor to take a closer look at the looming structure.
Some of the bars extended to nowhere, others branched into multiple paths or jutted toward the ceiling at impossible angles. These arms were of different thicknesses, textures, and shapes. It looked to Kai like a giant maze tilted on its side, or treetops frozen in metal. He pressed his foot against a low rung, testing its strength. It bent underneath his weight and crumbled apart.
Startled, Kai grabbed for a bar above it, which came unhinged and swung inward, causing him to fall. The boy’s chest brushed against another bar dotted with small studs, sharp enough to pierce the front of his shirt and graze his skin. As he fell backward onto the floor, the sound of pistons began to stir beneath him. Kai saw the bars begin to move. They twisted, fused, and separated seemingly of their own accord. Some extended from and retracted into the floor, weaving in and out of each other in a way that mesmerized Kai as he scanned the dancing configuration for any predictable pattern. He squinted and tried to shut out the noise, to slow down the motions before him by focusing on every detail. In less than a minute, he thought he had spotted a way through the labyrinth. Kai knew that he would need strategy and quick reflexes to maneuver to the top of this puzzle without injury, yet wholly believed that he could, he would, do it.
However, as soon as he asked himself what lay at the top, and how he would eventually gain the exit, his concentration broke. Fear won out. Kai gulped in air, trying to scramble backward and away from the sea of moving parts. Once he had reached a safe distance, he curled on the floor and grasped his head. Sweat flooded over him and he felt he was slowly losing control of his eyelids, his tongue, his whole face. He began to grunt in pain. In the back of his mind, he again sensed the voices of two men and one woman.
“I told you it was too quick,” the woman’s voice snapped. “Even for a child of his caliber. He only had the chip implanted last night. He’s barely off the operating table, for—.”
“He’s resilient,” one of the men cut her off. “Was moving fine this morning, and he’s taken his pills. This was necessary. We had to gauge him, to know where to start.”
The other man shushed them. “Quiet, it’s not over. Let’s see what he does.”
The woman groaned softly. “No, it’s a seizure. Get him out. Now.”
The metal whirring above Kai’s head came to a halt. He stared blankly upward. The boy pitched forward, his back arched. Then blackness.
***
Ryan’s alarm sounded. He rolled over and peeled off the sheet, feeling rested but uneasy, as if he’d had troubled dreams. His first move was to return to his computer. A message from Cohen would be helpful right about now. I don’t even know how to get to that woman’s office. Ryan had hoped his supervisor might have contacted him to shed some extra light on Sciarpa’s assignment. Instead, his inbox only yielded more riddles from the detective herself.
Kesseler,
I trust you have viewed the file I sent.
An additional note: When you report tonight, please bring the item you recovered from 217’s house. Use discretion while transporting it.
Start by going to Cohen’s office at your usual hour. He will direct you to my building, where I will give further instructions.
-Sciarpa
.
Ryan scoffed and headed toward his shower. He would have just enough time to re-examine the stolen object before bracing himself for a long night with the detective.
No comments:
Post a Comment