* * * * *
The line clicked and went dead. Derrence put the phone down, carefully.
He rubbed at his eyes, then wiped them with a handkerchief. "I'm going
to be dismissed." It was a promise, a hope, now that the horror of
something else, something insane and impossible, something infinitely
worse filled his brain and chest and stomach. "I'm going to be
dismissed."
He went to the door. He didn't stop to listen; just opened it. He
stepped outside.
Mercy was at her desk, sitting quietly. She looked at him.
"It's all right, Mercy. I know. You were doing a job. It's all right."
His voice rang in the silence of the 36th floor. Mercy didn't answer.
Mercy just looked at him.
He turned from her and walked up the hall. He passed Miss McCarty's
office. He stopped, moved back, stood in her doorway. He would
apologize for deceiving her.
She sat at her desk, looking at him. He said, "In a short while you'll
learn I abused...."
His voice was a squeak in an empty cavern, a footfall on a dead planet.
And Miss McCarty just looked at him, unblinking, unmoving.
He hurried up the hall, passing secretaries, writers, executives. All
sat at their desks quietly; unblinking, unmoving. All looked at him.
He put his head down. He ran, and held back the screams rising in
his throat. Tzadi would explain everything. Tzadi would laugh at his
insane fears. Tzadi would fire him, and then he would ride down in the
elevator and go home and have a drink.
* * * * *
He reached Tzadi's office. The door was open and Tzadi sat behind his
desk, unblinking, unmoving. Behind him stood three men; taller, better
built men than Tzadi. The middle one was looking out the window,
his back to Derrence. The man to the right of Tzadi said, "Come in,
please." He had a long, lean face. It looked sad.
Derrence moved forward, slowly, until he was right up against the desk.
He looked down at Tzadi. "What's it all about, Ed?"
Tzadi said nothing.
"What did you try to do for me?"
The man to the right of Tzadi said, "He tried to save your life. He'll
be dismantled for that. It's a sad thing, of course, him being one of
the original hundred, but most have been dismantled anyway."
"Dismantled," Derrence said, the fear was immense now.
"You mean you don't know? You didn't guess anything, and Tzadi didn't
tell you?"