The Wall

92

“I’ll be right there,” Warren Kramer had said as he left the control room.

Happiness had been working at Meyer Investment for only a few months, but she was already well-versed in her supervisor’s language. The boss had to go somewhere. Translated as: See, I have everything under control.

That was fine with her. She now had one less gated community to supervise. She was in the process of following a couple of young men in overalls in Paradise on Sea in Nahoon. They were on foot in the newest subdivision in her monitor group. Some of the houses there had views of the ocean, others were located on the golf course. One of the two men was carrying a ladder over his shoulder, and both of them were carrying empty backpacks. There was no white boss anywhere in sight who was telling them what to do. It was quite late to start a new job. The digital clock on the monitors read 2:52. Where were the two of them heading? A ladder could mean roof work, tree cutting, or burglary. She was now switching between the cameras in Paradise on Sea to try to find them again.

There they were. Three o’clock in the afternoon. That was definitely too late to start a job. She was now certain that the two men were wandering around all on their own. What should she do?

Call Warren? He was in The Pines, and it was a real mess over there. Old van Lange and his son were both there already, so maybe she should call someone at Central Alert. Or the police.

She was picking up the receiver from the desk phone when her eyes fell on the monitor on which the words “The Pines” had been written in marker. A large group of people had gathered near an intersection, and they were waiting on something. Central Alert, the police, others. She recognized the two van Langes. The camera was shooting the group from the side, and straight down the road on which it was trained stood that guy Warren Kramer was always griping about. What would he say if he saw him now?

Right: recreational security. The white man was standing a bit apart from the group, and somehow she had the feeling that all the others were watching him.

Happiness typed in the code that gave this camera priority status. She had to look closely to verify that the video stream hadn’t crashed. Nobody in the group seemed to be moving. She now noticed one of the cops leaning down slightly. She couldn’t tell what he was doing, because he was partially blocked by some of the others. Then a collective shiver seemed to go through the group, and something shot out of it.

It took Happiness a moment to realize that the thing was a dog. He was sprinting toward the white man Kramer was always making fun of. The dog then launched himself at the man as everything happened simultaneously. The young van Lange, who was standing closer to the white guy than most of the others, was suddenly holding something in his hand. A little flash of lightning shot out of the end of it. The dog then collided with the white guy. The young van Lange crumpled, as the dog took down the white guy. She recognized old van Lange as he dove onto the pavement. A female cop also collapsed. Another police officer bent over van Lange, and the Central Alert boss convulsed a few times.

The phone fell from her hand.

At the same time, the monitor for Paradise on the Sea was showing the two men in overalls climbing out of a second-floor window. Their backpacks were practically exploding.