At that moment, Albert from security arrived holding three laminated security passes. “Sorry for the wait,” he said.
Sidney grabbed the passes from Albert’s outstretched hand and dragged us into the elevator.
Once inside, she scanned her security pass and then pressed the PH button.
“Let’s start at the top and work our way down,” she said.
I nodded. I thought about telling them what was waiting up there, but they’d find out soon enough.
I hoped I’d see Emily Connors again. I had a lot of questions.
Once we reached the penthouse level, the doors opened and we stepped out of the elevator. Sidney led us down the long hallway, through the glass doors, and into the small empty lobby. She took a quick look around, and, just like I’d done earlier, went directly for the wooden doors with the security panel. Something had been bothering me since we’d arrived at the penthouse, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Before I could tell her that the doors were unlocked, Sidney waved her pass in front of the panel, there was a click, and she yanked open the door.
At that moment, I figured out what had been bothering me. It was the air. The atmosphere was different. The temperature and humidity had changed, and as the three of us stepped through into the penthouse proper, it was clear that something else had changed as well.
We were standing on the same mezzanine looking over the same room, but it was completely different.
The high ceiling was there, along with the three skylights, and the view through the windows was identical. But there was nothing left of Crow’s high-tech lair—no bookshelves, no furniture, no rugs, and no obscure music from the 1960s.
The entire room was filled from floor to ceiling with computers—each machine much larger than the regular black server boxes that filled those mysterious top secret government buildings in Hollywood movies.
A few minutes ago, this room had been a beautifully furnished high-tech–meets–steampunk James Bond–villain library, and now it was nothing more than some kind of generic server farm.
As I stood there staring at wall after wall of black computers where bookshelves had been just minutes earlier, the gray feeling hit me like a wave of cement, and I passed out.
24
YOU LOOK LIKE YOU MIGHT NEED MORE THAN A COOKIE
I woke up in the lobby of The Tower staring into the eyes of Sidney Farrow.
“Welcome back,” she said.
“Are you okay?” Chloe asked.
“I’m fine. Low blood sugar,” I lied.
“Are you sure?” Sidney asked. “You look like you might need more than a cookie.”
“No, really, I’m good,” I said, sitting up.
I took a look around. They’d laid me down on one of the wooden benches. Sidney and Chloe knelt on the floor in front of me.
“Sidney checked it out,” Chloe said. “From the sixth floor to the penthouse, there’s nothing but endless rows of stacked servers.”
“That’s a lot of computing power,” I said.
I was having a hard time focusing on Chloe’s words. I was still coming to terms with what had just happened. Did I really just meet a man named Crow? Was Emily Connors there? As I continued to gather my senses, I looked past the two reception desks, through the windows, and into the courtyard. There was a circular fountain out there that I couldn’t remember seeing earlier. Surrounding the fountain was a group of large stone birds, all staring up at the sky, wings spread, waiting to take flight. I found myself wondering what had been going on in the mind of the sculptor. Why were those birds poised to escape such a beautiful place?
“Hey,” Chloe said softly, snapping me out of my reverie. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m good,” I said.
“You don’t look so good,” Sidney said.
* * *
—
“That’s an insane amount of computing power for gaming,” Chloe said as the three of us stepped outside.
“What do you think is going on up there?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Sidney said. “Floors one through five are dedicated to Byzantine Game Engine personnel. The elevator won’t stop at any of those floors, and security says they don’t have access. There’s no way we’re getting in there.”
“Security doesn’t have access?” I asked.
Sidney shrugged. “That’s what they told me.”
“Do you know a man named Crow who works here?”
Sidney shook her head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”