Free Nine-Tenths by Meira Pentermann Page B

not swipe his card, so presumably he would get off on one of the already selected floors.
    They reached the third floor. Three people exited and the doors closed swiftly, barely allowing them to pass through. Leonard wished he could linger in the elevator, riding it up and down until the end of the day.
    The doors flew open regardless of Leonard’s fantasy, and he exited along with McGinnis and Wilson, hoping it was the right thing to do.
    “I’ll see you then,” Wilson said as he headed down the hallway to the left. McGinnis turned right and Leonard followed him. No incredulous reaction. Things looked promising.
    “Wilson is such a wimp,” McGinnis said, laughing. “I mean, I like him and all, but he’s one of those guys that never presses the envelope.”
    “Like how?”
    “Oh, you know. He goes straight home from work. He stays home every weekend. He refuses to meet women. I feel sorry for the guy.”
    “Oh.” An unusual feeling of shame passed briefly as Leonard considered his friend’s comment.
    “You’re a bit of a wimp today yourself, Tramer.”
    Trying to go with the flow, Leonard punched McGinnis on the arm. Suddenly, he realized that he had not maintained a male friendship since college. In fact, he hardly cultivated any relationships. Picking up women on-line and meeting them in bars did not exactly qualify as nurturing a relationship. Even though Leonard was not the crass jerk that preceded him in this world, he was also not an honorable person in his real life by any stretch of the imagination. Mulling this over, he nearly missed the appearance of a security station. He focused on McGinnis just as the man leaned toward the retina scanner. When the machine beeped, the gate did not fly open. Instead, McGinnis reached for a numeric pad and punched in a five-digit code.
    Crap. This is it.
    McGinnis passed through the gate and it quickly closed behind him. As Leonard stepped up, he noticed McGinnis standing and waiting on the other side. Thankful that his friend was available to rescue him, Leonard leaned in for his retina scan. After the beep, his fingers paused momentarily over the keypad. He suddenly had an idea. At lighting speed, he entered five numbers. A loud buzz indicated that he had entered an incorrect code. No shit. He raced his fingers across the keypad a second time. Buzz. And a third. Buzz followed by a soft beep, beep, beep .
    “What the hell did you do?” McGinnis hollered.
    “I…uh…I don’t know.”
    “You’re hung over, aren’t you?”
    Leonard shrugged sheepishly.
    McGinnis pulled out his cell phone, still glaring. “Keep a low profile today,” he said. “Interrogation is our middle name.” He grinned.
    “Hey, Mitchell, I need a favor. Numbnuts Tramer’s fingers are a little cramped this morning. He spent too many hours clutching a beer mug last night. He screwed up his pass code.” He laughed and waited for a moment. “Can you reset it? Okay. Okay. Got it. Thanks.”
    McGinnis ended the call and leaned toward Leonard. “You owe me now, buddy.” He chuckled with glee. “See? This is how ass kissing pays off. Thomas McGinnis has many IOUs in his possession. People in high places.” He paused. “And lowlifes like you.”
    “Very funny. What do I have to do?”
    “Do another retina scan. Then enter 1-2-3-4-5. You’ll hear three beeps and you need to enter a new code. Three more beeps and then verify. After that, it should let you in.”
    Leonard paused for a moment. He needed to come up with a code he would remember. Natalia’s birthday. September 17th. And she’s turning thirteen.
    “Come on, for Christ’s sake. We’re going to be late.” McGinnis looked at his watch. “You just lost us time to get coffee. Ugh. You are really, really going to owe me.”
    Leonard proceeded as planned and the previously impenetrable gate swung open. Smiling triumphantly, he marched through.
    “You’re starting to creep me out, you know that?” McGinnis said.
    They