Out of the Black - Lee Doty [46]
"Kelley. Go."
"Anne, I need you in 1003 when it's convenient... I need a complete panel and a tumor screen." Dr. Wyler's friendly voice crackled from her tablet. "No hurry though, I'm headed downstairs for a shift in the ER. I won't get a chance to look at the results until after that's over... hey, you feeling better?"
"Doing great. Thanks." Anne said, staring into her broken locker. "I'll be there in five."
"Great. Thanks, Anne."
Anne clicked off her tablet and holstered it. After a few more seconds of anxious thought, she picked up the locker door and tried unsuccessfully to wedge it in place. She thought she had it once, but it fell off as soon as she turned away, clattering noisily on the tile floor. She tried several more times with increasing speed and frustration, only managing to further deform the door.
She gave up and leaned the bent locker door against the wall. She then tried to arrange her jacket so that it covered the contents of her locker. Finally, she threw the candy bar and the Slim Quick shakes in the trashcan and hurried out of the lounge.
There was silence for several seconds in the empty lounge, but then the door opened again and Anne rushed back in, even more flustered. She tried adjusting the coat to better cover her remaining stash, but eventually she threw the Diet Coke in the trashcan and hustled back out the door.
Amplification
Ping left his car in visitor parking and walked the three blocks to the library. Night had fallen and the evening was cool. The air was fresh and the world seemed clean and full of promise. The full moon lent a silver sheen to the cobblestone walkway and the surrounding grass. He walked forward clearing his mind, making room for inspiration. A strange anticipation filled him, a quickening of the heart not unlike the anxiety before a first date. He should have brought flowers, he thought as he hurried down the path.
Logic told him that he was about to spend a few hours waiting in a college library. It told him that he would leave disappointed- it told him he should use his time there with self-help books. Of course, logic told him that he was nuts. Ahmed had probably enjoyed the irony of sending him to the psychology section of the library. But in his heart he knew that something would happen. He'd always been the cockeyed optimist, but like all optimists, he had a high tolerance for disappointment.
He entered the library's bright foyer. It was Sunday night so the place was fairly busy with those cramming for Monday tests or completing projects due in the morning. There were perhaps fifteen students in varying stages of desperation, each moving with frenetic pace in the circle of hell reserved for procrastinators. Ping smiled; some things never changed.
He moved through the jumpy, disheveled crowd. He passed the elevator bank and found a less-used stairwell in the corner of the building. He checked his watch again: eight-thirty. He wanted to make sure that he was the first to arrive, just in case he wasn't on a snipe hunt.
He moved up the stairs two at a time. The second and third floors were fairly crowded as they contained the bulk of the library's research stations and presentation rooms. He arrived at the glass door to the fourth floor. The color-coded guide on the door indicated that this floor contained tutoring resources for the Math, History, Psychology, and English Departments.
Ping paused to switch his tablet into private mode, disconnecting from the building's network. He then set it to continuous scan, hoping to pick up clues or record evidence that wouldn't be instantly available to his Federal friends over the net. He then collapsed the tablet and placed it in his jacket pocket so that his hands could be free in case of surprises.