Free Rift by Richard Cox Page A

seven fifteen, but here in Mountain Time it is actually one hour earlier. The parking lot is mostly full now.
    â€œSo how often do you come here?” I ask him.
    â€œAbout twice a month.”
    â€œDo you come alone?”
    â€œSometimes alone, sometimes a couple of us go. Why?”
    I’m trying to stall him, of course, to see if Mystery Man will burst out the front door looking for me. We get into the car.
    â€œJust curious. I kind of like this place.”
    Tom starts the ignition.
    â€œYou like that girl,” he says.
    He’s about to put the car into gear. No sign of Mystery Man.
    â€œTom, look at me for a second.”
    This finally stops him. “What?”
    â€œDo I look any different to you?”
    â€œDifferent how?”
    â€œYou tell me.”
    â€œI haven’t seen you in a year and a half, Cam. How am I supposed to remember what you looked like then? Maybe you’re a little heavier.”
    â€œHeavier?”
    â€œYeah, a little in the face, I think. Hell, I don’t know. Why do you ask?”
    â€œThat girl in there, she knew about transmitting. Can you believe that? A corporate secret so obscure that I didn’t have a clue about it, and
she
knew.”
    He looks at me strangely. Like he has something to say but isn’t sure how to begin.
    â€œHow?” he asks finally.
    â€œRead about it on the Internet.”
    â€œThe
Internet
?”
    â€œThat’s what she said.”
    He just looks at me again.
    â€œWell, I have to admit that’s kind of weird. Still, what does it have to do with how you look?”
    â€œCrystal said that she’s heard weird stuff about the transmission machine. Like some of the animal test subjects came through pretty fucked up.”
    â€œI think she was playing games with you,” he says. “What would a stripper know about transmitting?”
    I’m about to answer him when the front door opens. A tall, sturdy man with a black goatee steps out. His eyes appear to scan the parking lot, and I try not to stare as his gaze heads our way. After a moment, he turns around and goes back into the building.
    Was that him?
    â€œYou’re right,” I say to Tom. “She wouldn’t know anything about transmitting. I guess she just got me curious.”
    He puts the car in gear and heads for the street.
    â€œShe’s a beautiful woman, Cameron. We should come back tomorrow. She invited you, after all.”
    I look back at the door again, watching for the man with the goatee.
    â€œYeah,” I answer. “We should definitely come back.”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 
    When I call Misty from Tom’s house, she is surprised to hear from me a second time. When I ask why, she gives me a one-word answer.
    â€œTom.”
    â€œYou know him well,” I say.
    Everyone says total honesty is the key to a successful relationship, but I don’t want my paranoia to needlessly worry Misty, so I don’t tell her about Mystery Man. Instead we talk about everything else, which is to say nothing at all. It started raining an hour or so after I left Houston. Her mom is coming a week early this Thanksgiving. She saw another roach in the house again, so we better hire a different exterminator. The building blocks of life.
    Our conversation winds down, and I promise to call her again tomorrow.
    â€œAnd don’t worry about me,” I tell her. “I’ll be back so soon, it’ll be like I was never gone.”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 
    When we were younger, Tom and I both wanted to be professional golfers. He played a year in college and then quit because of a personality conflict with the coach. I didn’t even make the team.
    You have to work your ass off to be good at anything, but you really have to work your ass off to be good at golf. After college we spent our weekends competing in local tournaments, won a few, and drew the attention of club pros around