Free A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes Page B

sensors were locked on Tabitha’s face. It gave her the creeps. Finally Tabitha said, “You can go clean up somewhere else now, Ophelia. I’ll just be a second.”
    But the robot still didn’t move. It occurred to Tabitha that Ophelia was connected to the CloudNet, which meant she might have been alerted about the situation.
    As if reading her thoughts, Ophelia said, “You have a message to report right away to the Senior Director.”
    Tabitha fought another wave of panic. She wanted to run, but she had to stay and do this. She needed that suit.
    “Yes, Ophelia, I know,” she said calmly. “Like I said, I just have to grab one quick thing. Let me by, please. It’ll only take a second.”
    “No, Representative Bloomberg. The message is marked Urgent. You are instructed to go upstairs and report to theexecutive office
without delay.”
There was something in her voice that made Tabitha take another step back. Normally she would never have been afraid of a cleaning robot. It was just a piece of equipment, like a toaster. But suddenly Ophelia seemed intimidating. Her glowing green eyes and blank stare sent a prickle across Tabitha’s scalp.
    Then the robot started moving toward her.
    “Okay, okay,” Tabitha said, taking yet another step back, this time into the hallway. She forced another laugh. Giving up the suit meant exposing herself to toxins and facing the elements unprotected, but what choice did she have? “I didn’t realize it was marked Urgent. I’ll head upstairs right now.”
    “I will let the office know you are on your way.”
    Under Ophelia’s spooky gaze, Tabitha moved toward the suite door. She tried her best to appear relaxed and cooperative. They’d just had a misunderstanding, that was all, but everything was cleared up now. Once she was out of the suite and in the main corridor, though, she was out of Ophelia’s sight.
    She started to run.
    They know. They’re coming for you
.
    She dashed past the elevator this time and went for the stairway.
    If only Ben were here. He would have ideas. Nothing ever seemed to faze Ben. Oh, how she wished she were holding his hand right now on one of their long, slow walks through the park. But the image felt painful now, something she wantedbut couldn’t have, maybe not ever again. And where
was
he? Was he all right? Should she try to contact him? She couldn’t use his com-code, of course. That was another thing the Friends had taught her: handwritten notes only. Anything electronic could be traced. How about if she tried to leave a message at the regular place?
    No, there wasn’t time.
    Besides, if they knew about her, then maybe they knew about Ben too. And if so, then he was in as much danger as she was.
    Ben! The thought tied her stomach in knots.
    She reached the stairway and scrambled down the steps. At the window at the bottom of the first landing she came to, she stopped. What was she planning to do, saunter into the lobby? She’d never make it past Reception. Her breath was coming in short gasps now, but she realized what she had to do. She forced the stairwell window open. Despite her terror of heights, she swung herself out onto the fire escape. Trying not to look down, she descended the remaining six flights to the alley below.
    Her first impulse on the ground was to run, to get away as fast as she could. But again she stopped herself. Better to move calmly. If she dashed headlong through the streets of St. Louis, somebody would notice her.
    A hovercraft passed overhead. She had to get going or they’d spot her here. She walked down the alley and turned left onto Delmar to avoid walking in front of her building. InfiniCorp signs were everywhere—on every billboard, every street pod, every briefcase.
    DON’T WORRY!
INFINICORP IS TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING!
TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING!
EVERYTHING!
DON’T WORRY!
    Tabitha kept her head down. The company had eyes everywhere. The closest dome exit was at the Gateway Arch, maybe twenty blocks