Transparency by Charles Royce (children's books read aloud txt) 📕

there; the system would’ve alerted us to any movement.”

“Looking at the logs,” Manny says, “West pressed the elevator button for Sublevel One, but he never exited, never entered Sublevel One at all. He closed the doors and went to his office level.”

“He must’ve changed his mind,” Josh adds.

“Despite the chaos we’d incite, we should err on the side of caution here, and proceed with a manual evac,” Pillsbury says. “We’re talking a whole city block. In Manhattan. This building was designed to blend in with the structures around it. If it explodes, no telling how many would die.”

“See, you know about this building too,” Josh says to Agent Pillsbury.

She points to her head, makes a clicking noise.

Josh turns to her head-on. “Look, if you know West like I know West, he’s not the type of guy who would just wait around while his building explodes. He’d have someone else do it, and he’d be far, far away.”

“He’s not wrong,” Manny adds. “West is a wuss. Common knowledge.”

Agent Pillsbury gets a phone call. “It’s one of my agents at West’s condo. Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

Josh watches her walk to the corner of the room. She’s talking softly with a concerned look on her face.

“She has a point, you know.” Manny walks to Josh’s side. “We should manually evacuate the towers.”

“Is there a manual evac plan?” Josh asks.

DonDon and Manny look at each other with blank expressions.

“God, people!” Josh exclaims. “It’s a grand opening. Everything is fully open and functional. Tens of thousands are roaming around in the hotel, the shopping mall, the party, even the office towers and condos.”

“Which is why we don’t need to start a panic,” DonDon says. “I worked 9/11. Panic is real, trust me. Lots of folks got stuck in those towers because they got crunched by the crowds on the way down.”

“But most of them died because they were stuck in the building.” Manny shifts his gaze from DonDon to Josh. “If they could be evacuated peacefully, we could save everyone.”

“ArchEngine knows everything, we’re fine,” DonDon says. “Look, if it’ll help calm your fears, the Pillsbury lady said the bomb squad is coming. It looks pretty simple to dismantle. I say one of us should go downstairs and guard it until the bomb squad gets here.”

“I’ve got the key to that room in Sublevel One.” Manny says. “I can run down there.”

“Agreed,” Josh says. “I’ll come with you. Let me notify Pillsbury, looks like she’s wrapping up her phone call.”

“Meanwhile,” Manny begins to talk to the air, “ArchEngine, show me Sublevel One, utility room 3-B.”

The room with the box comes up right in the center monitor. The room on Sublevel One is dark, untouched. Everything is perfectly still.

“You even have cameras and sensors throughout the sublevels.” Josh views the box in real life. “It looks just like the simulation. See the box with the wires? The display is dark. Thank God.”

Agent Pillsbury returns, looks up at the monitor. She breathes a sigh of relief. “Josh, could I see you a moment?”

The security guards walk away so they can speak in private.

“What’s up?” Josh asks Pillsbury. “You don’t look too good.”

“The agent we left behind in West’s lobby says the doorman got an anonymous call that someone had been killed in the condo. They found my second agent in West’s pantry. Bullet wound to the neck.”

“Jesus,” Josh says.

“The limo driver,” they say in unison.

“That bullet was for me,” Josh says.

“I’m arresting West right now.” Agent Pillsbury starts to walk away.

“You’ll need a pass. Here, take mine. North Tower. Top floor.”

“Somebody needs to make sure the box on Sublevel One stays dark,” Agent Pillsbury says. “Guard it with your life until the bomb squad gets here.”

“We’re on it,” Josh gets out of his chair. He looks at the security guard. “You ready?”

“I was talking to my agents.” Pillsbury takes her hand off her ear. “You’re all staying right here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Josh says. “After all this?”

She turns to the security guards, flashes her FBI credentials. “Fellas, your VIP badges. Let’s have ’em, I need them for my agents. I’m leaving, but I need you to guard this man with your life. I don’t want Josh Harrison out in the open. We have reason to believe that someone is on their way to this building to kill him.”

“Wait!” Josh says. “If the limo driver is coming here, he might not be coming here for me. Since West chickened out, he might want to follow through with Fallback.”

Agent Pillsbury grabs her ear, spouts an order to her agents. “I’m heading out with VIP badges. You guys need to get to Sublevel One. Now!”

C h a p t e r   6 1

“I’M HERE, SIR.” Billy Donovan speaks on his phone while placing West’s business card back in his wallet. He stomps a cigarette into the fresh grass.

Billy Donovan stands in front of a door marked UTILITIES, embedded on the side of Élan’s three-tiered stairs. The door has no handle, no means of getting in, only out.

“It’s over, Billy.” West says. “I couldn’t do it.”

“The FBI is in the building, sir. So is Josh. I can take care of all of them.”

Billy shifts the phone to his other ear, waits for an answer, then holds the burner phone up to the sky, hoping he didn’t lose the signal in the strong winds. He ducks into a concrete corner.

After a few moments, West speaks.

“It’s over. The assassination. The backup plan. I’m turning myself in.”

Billy shields his other ear from the howling gusts. “Sir, I’m right here.”

“You don’t have access.”

“I can find a way.”

WEST SEES SOMEONE walking past the glass wall of his office. The woman pulls out her badge, shows it to him.

The badge reads “FBI Agent Patsy Pillsbury.”

West covers the mouthpiece of his cellphone and mouths to Agent Pillsbury, “Sorry. Wife.”

Agent Pillsbury nods, sits down across from him, folds her arms.

“I’m worried about the kids,” West says into the phone, looks away from Agent Pillsbury.

“What?”