Nine-Tenths (8 page)

The bus turned onto Interstate 225 and Leonard’s stomach lurched. He had managed to avoid that stretch of pavement for over thirty years. Now, here he was, soon to be back at the scene of the crime. To add insult to injury, that very location gave birth to the series of events that led Leonard to an alternate reality from hell — a totalitarian state with dozens of acronyms representing government organizations, the functions of which he did not fully comprehend.

Intently scrutinizing everything but the names of the exits, Leonard hoped to slip by the scene of the accident without registering it. The mission was not difficult, as he did not recognize anything. Government housing projects loomed on either side of the road, sending a wave of claustrophobia through Leonard’s already battered psyche.

Did they have a population explosion?

Leonard’s dismal thoughts dissipated when the bus driver called out “Transfer Station Number Five.”

He disembarked and wandered over to the schedule posted on the side of the bus shelter, trying to appear like a veteran public transportation rider. He examined the schedule for several minutes and glanced at his watch. Bus number forty-nine was due in twenty minutes; bus number fifty in ten. Contemplating his next move, Leonard nearly fell backward when he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder.

“Tramer, are you deaf? The shuttle’s here.”

Leonard turned and found a middle-aged, red-haired man staring at him with a look of exasperation on his face.

“I’ve been calling you,” the man explained.

Over the man’s shoulder, Leonard caught sight of an unmarked, light-blue van.

“Come on.” The strange man pulled on Leonard’s arm, leading him to the van. He pushed Leonard through the door. All spaces were taken except two in the back, making the choice easy.

“Hey, McGinnis. What’s the holdup?” a burly man in the front row asked as Leonard and the redhead shuffled past.

“Just picking up stragglers.”

McGinnis.
Leonard tucked the information in his already cluttered brain and settled down on the seat next to the window. McGinnis sat down beside him.

“When we get in, I’ll take you to the coffee pot straightaway,” McGinnis said cheerfully. “You’re clearly not on your game this morning.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I guess I’ve been in my head a lot lately.”

“No shit.”

Leonard looked out the window as the motley collection of housing developments and multistory apartment buildings gave way to fields of grass.

McGinnis cleared his throat. “Do anything fun this weekend?”

If you include traveling in a supposed time machine to an alternate reality, it’s been a blast. Otherwise, I’ve spent most of my Sunday searching for the stupid pass.
“Oh, not really. How about you?”

“I went to the game. Got great seats.” He seemed quite pleased with himself.

Football?
“How did you score the tickets?”

“Many hours of shameless ass-kissing, which you rightly observed I’m famous for. But it pays off, man. It pays off. You need to come out of your quiet little engineering hole sometimes.” McGinnis chuckled.

“Who won?”

“What? Please don’t tell me you missed the game. What the hell were you doing?”

“Uh…helping Alina clean the house.”

“You got to be kidding me. Are you that pussy-whipped?” He covered his heart melodramatically. “The shame, the shame.”

“She’s been very busy and frustrated at work. So many CARS cases, you know. I just thought if I helped her it might…ease the burden.”

McGinnis regarded him skeptically. “That’s very thoughtful of you. And I always thought you were an inconsiderate bastard.”

“Thanks,” Leonard said, really disliking the Leonard who walked in his shoes before he arrived.

McGinnis laughed.

Changing the subject, Leonard asked, “So what are we doing today?”

McGinnis stopped laughing, scrunched up his brow, and stared at Leonard in disbelief. “The same thing we’ve been doing for the past three years. What’s wrong with you, Tramer?” He gazed at Leonard with concern. Then he grinned. “Ah, I get it. Now I know why you were taking Alina’s woes away. I get it, man. Hoping for the payoff. From the looks of you, I’d say you hit the jackpot, because you are definitely a man who had his brains fucked out last night.” He slapped Leonard’s thigh and burst out laughing again.

Leonard winced but forced a smile.

Soon he caught sight of a massive building in the distance. As they drew nearer, Leonard distinguished three buildings about ten stories high. Surrounded by a chain link fence topped in razor wire, the buildings seemed ominous yet oddly attractive. The structure in the front looked like an office building; a series of blue glass windows graced the upper floors, catching the sun and throwing splashes of turquoise on the vehicles already behind the gates. The two structures in the back, on either side of the main building, had no windows. They appeared to be longer and wider. Beyond the trio, acres of paved land and two landing strips became visible, as well as about a half dozen small jets and three helicopters.

At the front gate, the van had to pass through a guard station. Even though the van presumably entered the same gate every weekday, they waited for several minutes. One guard peeked in and inspected the passengers before giving the driver an okay to proceed.

Along a circular drive, vans pulled up to the entrance of the main building. The queue operated like a series of taxis dropping guests off at a hotel. Three revolving doors greeted the employees as they disembarked. Leonard followed McGinnis closely, hoping not to slip into the throngs of people. When they emerged on the other side of the revolving door, they immediately encountered a security area. McGinnis walked up to a station, swiped his pass through a card reader, and leaned over a six-inch circular device. Presently, Leonard caught a faint beep and the gate flipped open.
Retina scan?
he wondered as he neared the gate and repeated the steps. Beep. The arm of the gate popped up.

McGinnis was nearing the end of the security corral. What came next looked like a typical airport metal detector. Leonard proceeded to pass through.

“Briefcase,” a large woman with a nasal voice muttered in monotone.

Leonard looked down and noticed that he was clutching his briefcase, knuckles white. “Oh, sorry,” he stammered as he placed the briefcase on the conveyer belt. When he passed through the metal detector, a red light popped on, causing him to hesitate. A puff of air assailed Leonard and it took him a moment to regain his composure. Then a green light flashed and he continued, grabbing his briefcase on the other side. His new friend was waiting for him.

The inside of the main building had a large, open lobby; spacious but currently overrun with newly arriving DID employees anonymously bumping into one another, each trying to navigate the drowsy maze of humans. The ceiling rose thirty feet above them, and two floors overlooked the atrium. On the left, lushly carpeted stairs led to the second and third floors. On the right, a three-story portrait covered an entire wall.

Leonard took a step back in alarm. A woman cursed and shoved him aside. He struggled through the crowd, never taking his eyes off the absurd display.

The striking man in the portrait seemed to be studying the DID employees as they made their way through the lobby. His haughty expression and dark gray goatee reminded Leonard of someone, but he could not place him. Goose bumps darted up Leonard’s arm. Never, not even in the alternate reality thus far, had the world seemed this surreal.

Looking forward, he searched for McGinnis. He found him standing in front of three crowded hallways that contained six elevators each.

“Get a hold of yourself, for Christ’s sake,” McGinnis said. “You should’ve stayed home.”

“Sorry. I’m a little dizzy.”

“Let’s go.” The redhead turned and rushed to the bank of elevators on the right.

“McGinnis,” a man called as they approached. A couple dozen people mingled in the hallway. “Tramer,” the new man said, nodding at Leonard. Leonard inclined his head in greeting.

“Hey, Wilson,” McGinnis cried. “Did you see the game?”

“It was awesome.”

“Guess who was there?”

Much to Leonard’s relief, McGinnis dominated the rest of the conversation, bragging about his football tickets. This gave Leonard a chance to compose himself and observe the behavior of his coworkers.

Several elevators opened simultaneously. Leonard, Wilson, and McGinnis entered the closest one, along with five others. Leonard made his way to the back so he could follow McGinnis. Since his new friend had offered to usher him to the coffee pot, Leonard assumed they were headed to the same floor. If McGinnis could lead him off the elevator and past any security checks along the way, it would make Leonard’s journey a lot easier.

A woman near the front pressed nine and swiped her card. The man next to her pressed three. He also swiped his card. McGinnis chose floor five and did the same. Leonard stood back. Wilson did not swipe his card, so presumably he would get off on one of the already selected floors.

They reached the third floor. Three people exited and the doors closed swiftly, barely allowing them to pass through. Leonard wished he could linger in the elevator, riding it up and down until the end of the day.

The doors flew open regardless of Leonard’s fantasy, and he exited along with McGinnis and Wilson, hoping it was the right thing to do.

“I’ll see you then,” Wilson said as he headed down the hallway to the left. McGinnis turned right and Leonard followed him. No incredulous reaction. Things looked promising.

“Wilson is such a wimp,” McGinnis said, laughing. “I mean, I like him and all, but he’s one of those guys that never presses the envelope.”

“Like how?”

“Oh, you know. He goes straight home from work. He stays home every weekend. He refuses to meet women. I feel sorry for the guy.”

“Oh.” An unusual feeling of shame passed briefly as Leonard considered his friend’s comment.

“You’re a bit of a wimp today yourself, Tramer.”

Trying to go with the flow, Leonard punched McGinnis on the arm. Suddenly, he realized that he had not maintained a male friendship since college. In fact, he hardly cultivated any relationships. Picking up women on-line and meeting them in bars did not exactly qualify as nurturing a relationship. Even though Leonard was not the crass jerk that preceded him in this world, he was also not an honorable person in his real life by any stretch of the imagination. Mulling this over, he nearly missed the appearance of a security station. He focused on McGinnis just as the man leaned toward the retina scanner. When the machine beeped, the gate did not fly open. Instead, McGinnis reached for a numeric pad and punched in a five-digit code.

Crap. This is it.

McGinnis passed through the gate and it quickly closed behind him. As Leonard stepped up, he noticed McGinnis standing and waiting on the other side. Thankful that his friend was available to rescue him, Leonard leaned in for his retina scan. After the beep, his fingers paused momentarily over the keypad. He suddenly had an idea. At lighting speed, he entered five numbers. A loud buzz indicated that he had entered an incorrect code.
No shit.
He raced his fingers across the keypad a second time.
Buzz.
And a third.
Buzz
followed by a soft
beep, beep, beep
.

“What the hell did you do?” McGinnis hollered.

“I…uh…I don’t know.”

“You’re hung over, aren’t you?”

Leonard shrugged sheepishly.

McGinnis pulled out his cell phone, still glaring. “Keep a low profile today,” he said. “Interrogation is our middle name.” He grinned.

“Hey, Mitchell, I need a favor. Numbnuts Tramer’s fingers are a little cramped this morning. He spent too many hours clutching a beer mug last night. He screwed up his pass code.” He laughed and waited for a moment. “Can you reset it? Okay. Okay. Got it. Thanks.”

McGinnis ended the call and leaned toward Leonard. “You owe me now, buddy.” He chuckled with glee. “See? This is how ass kissing pays off. Thomas McGinnis has many IOUs in his possession. People in high places.” He paused. “And lowlifes like you.”

“Very funny. What do I have to do?”

“Do another retina scan. Then enter 1-2-3-4-5. You’ll hear three beeps and you need to enter a new code. Three more beeps and then verify. After that, it should let you in.”

Leonard paused for a moment. He needed to come up with a code he would remember.
Natalia’s birthday.
September 17th. And she’s turning thirteen.

“Come on, for Christ’s sake. We’re going to be late.” McGinnis looked at his watch. “You just lost us time to get coffee. Ugh. You are really, really going to owe me.”

Leonard proceeded as planned and the previously impenetrable gate swung open. Smiling triumphantly, he marched through.

“You’re starting to creep me out, you know that?” McGinnis said.

They entered a long hallway. Noticing that the passageway had no doors or windows for at least fifty yards, Leonard wondered if it might be some kind of bridge connecting the main building with the windowless building on the right. Presently, they came to another security station.

How could anyone break into the middle of a tunnel?

“You remember your new pass code?” McGinnis asked. “I mean it’s been almost two minutes.”

“Ha ha ha,” Leonard said dryly.

McGinnis performed the ritual. Leonard followed, beginning to feel like a veteran.

On the other side of the security gate, they encountered a bank of elevators.

McGinnis pushed the down button and whistled. After a moment, he grumbled, “I’m going to hate you when my lack-of-caffeine headache starts.”

“I’m sorry.”

McGinnis tapped Leonard on the shoulder. “We all have bad days, but just remember—”

“I know. I know. I owe you.”

“That’s my boy.”

The elevator door opened and Leonard rushed to the back, forcing McGinnis to take the lead. The redhead pressed number one and slid his card.