The Tower

Chapter 22

The children finally dozed off, their palms stuck together by their sweat and the duct tape. Since comfort was nowhere to be found, they retreated to the anesthetic of dream. The boy shivered occasionally as his eyelids flickered. His cheeks were a shade of red that normally would have been described as cheerful.

Allander watched the two children sleeping side by side on the bed, tape still covering their eyes. They had found a way to escape their physical bondage, and Allander was proud of them.

Leaning forward in his chair, Allander shook their knees gently and the children jerked from his touch as if they'd been burned. Robbie immediately began sobbing, and Allander moved next to him and placed the boy's head on his chest.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. Only to serve as an informant into the little world of your mind, the world that lies beneath your thoughts. The world of your wishes."

His voice was soothing, and the heaving of Robbie's chest lessened. Allander sat the children up on the edge of the bed and returned to his chair opposite them.

"Why can't you take this off our eyes? Why can't you let us see?" Leah asked. Now that Robbie had calmed down, she was stronger, more defiant.

"I will let you see. That's precisely the purpose I serve. I came to your house in need of only the barest essentials." He started to say something else, then stopped as a new thought grabbed him. "Your parents would have stood in the way. Parents create, but can't see the barriers they erect. They pretend to serve and protect but, in reality, they do neither. They can't see, and it's better." Allander's voice trailed off. "If they could, they wouldn't be able to endure the vision."

"What'd you do to them?" Leah asked timidly, not really wanting an answer.

"I spared them the pain of visual catharsis."

"I don't know what that means," Leah said.

"That's all right," Allander said. "Neither do they."

He leaned over and picked a tray up off the floor, sliding it onto his lap.

"Now, I cut up some fruit for you, to replenish you in this"-his hand circled as if trying to pluck the right phrase from the air-"time of exhaustion."

At first, the children resisted being fed, but Allander waved the ripe fruit beneath their noses, and the smell became too enticing. Their small mouths opened and he patiently lowered the tidbits in, one at a time, occasionally feeling the brush of their soft pink tongues against the sides of his fingers.

This was his time, he thought. His perverted communion.

"Now revitalize again, little ones," he said, then giggled uproariously as he pushed them gently on their backs. "You must sleep. You have a learning experience before you."

Noise from the bustling workers outside carried into the building and echoed up and down the hallways. The administration building was adjacent to the cell blocks within the Maingate grounds. It attempted to be more inviting than the prison that surrounded it, but there was something unpleasant about it, an odor that couldn't be scrubbed away, even from the shiny floors. The smell of discomfort.

Jade hooked a quarter into the pay phone and punched in a number, followed by a seven-digit code. "McGuire."

"Goddamnit, Marlow, we told you to check in every-"

"Why don't we just drop that misconception right now. I'll check in for information when I need it. I don't have time to fuck around calling in like a sixteen-year-old girl on a first date."

"You will stay in correspondence with us."

"I will check in for updates when I need them, McGuire. If you have a problem with that, take it up with your superiors and get back to me. Until then, I'm calling the shots."

Such an aggressive attitude was a slight gamble, but Jade figured that someone pretty high up was pushing for his involvement. For the first time, it occurred to Jade how fortunate it was that he had not met his high-ranking FBI proponent. Given his track record with bureaucrats, Jade probably wouldn't like him very much. And he was fairly certain that the feeling would be mutual.

"All right, Marlow."

"Now what'd you get me for a reporter?"

"Alissa Anvers. Channel 5. Had a relative on the force."

"Father?"

"Mother, actually. She can get you on the news tonight. Piece together some old clips and run a special story-whatever they call that shit. She was actually glad to get an edge on the report. Press blackout so far. They're only being allowed within helicopter range."

"Well, information is our only weapon right now. Let's be careful with how and when we give it out."

"We'll consult you. Where are you right now?"

"At Maingate. Took a look at the Tower already. I'm waiting for a printout. They're getting Atlasia's library list together for me."

"They keep track of all the books he read there?"

"Of course."

"All right, Marlow, I want to… I'd like to hear from you within the hour if that's at all possible."

Jade dropped the phone back onto the hook.

An attractive secretary walked over to him with a messy sheaf of papers.

"Sorry that took so long to print out. He was quite a reader, I guess," she said.

Jade took the pile and started leafing through it. The woman continued to stand beside him, waiting for him to look up. She tapped a pencil against her full bottom lip as she waited.

"There's a psych institute near here. A college, I think. Where they analyze the prisoners' drawings," Jade said, his eyes still glued to the papers.

"Yes, the Ressler Institute."

"How do I get there?" he asked flatly.

She glanced at her watch. "Well, they'd be closed by now. You'll probably have to try tomorrow."

Jade continued to page through the book list. "What's the name of it?"

"The Ressler Institute," she repeated.

He nodded without looking up.

She watched him tentatively. "Got it?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jade said slowly, his finger tracing down a page. He walked up the long corridor mumbling something to himself.

"Uum. Sir. Sir. SIR!"

Jade snapped his head around, visible annoyed. "What?!"

The woman's forehead wrinkled as she frowned. "The door's that way," she said, pointing to the other end of the hallway.