“You—” she started. “You’re insufferable.”
“But you like me anyway,” said Thomas.
Chapter 19
Vanessa
The crisp, clear fall sky would have been a joy to behold, if the election deadline weren’t bearing down like a hurricane.
A hurricane would have suited Vanessa’s mood better.
She went over the plan in her mind, one more time, but could find no fault.
The opening move: to get Dirk out of the way.
She tracked him down in the underground break room.
He sat at one of the wobbly tables with a pile of papers and a pen—which was strange, because there were perfectly good desks in the Legacy office.
She approached the table. “Dirk.”
He scrabbled the papers together and rested his arms on top.
Vanessa caught a glimpse of blank and completed fields on the top paper. “I need you to cover the parade today.”
“Sure, sure,” said Dirk.
She could tell he was eager to acquiesce and get rid of her. Fair enough. It’s mutual.
With Dirk taken care of, she removed her nametag and ran upstairs to the Coffee Garden. Two Vietnamese iced coffees in hand, she retreated to the Legacy office.
“I got us some coffee,” she said to Charlotte in a sing-song tone. Vanessa held out one of the iced coffees and wiggled it from side to side as if it were dancing in midair.
“You know what I like,” said Charlotte. She reached for the coffee.
Vanessa pulled it back slightly. “Come in my office.”
“What are you on about?” Charlotte looked at Vanessa with amused suspicion.
Vanessa said nothing, but brandished the coffee one more time, with a slight smile.
“Fine,” said Charlotte. “Be mysterious.” She stood up and followed Vanessa into her office.
Vanessa closed the door and handed Charlotte a coffee. “Things are about to—how shall I put this?—hit the fan. I can’t explain exactly what’s happening, but I need you to just roll with whatever happens. It may get weird before it’s all over.”
“You’re asking me to trust you and roll with it without knowing what’s going on?”
“Yup,” said Vanessa.
Charlotte stirred her coffee. “And you’re compensating me for this with an iced coffee?”
“No, the iced coffee is because I need someone to share my bad habits.”
Charlotte laughed. “All right. I’m in. Promise me something, though.”
“Anything,” said Vanessa.
“Someday, you have to tell me the whole story,” said Charlotte.
“Charlotte, if I make it through this in one piece, I’ll spare you no detail.”
“You promise?” said Charlotte.
“Cross my heart,” said Vanessa. She checked the time. “And now I must go. I need to walk through the attractions.”
“Have fun out there,” said Charlotte. “Try not to get fired! I’d miss you. And the free coffees.”
Vanessa went to Ghost Factory first. She made a show of inspecting each station, from the front entrance to the unloading area, before moving on to American Dream. At American Dream, she confirmed that Dirk was in place for the parade while performing a walkthrough of the entrance, the lobby, the theater, and the break room.
Her hands felt cold and her heart skipped the occasional beat as she departed American Dream for Gold Rush.
She walked to the overlook.
The mine trains dove and swerved just as they always had.
Vanessa remembered her training day with Thomas and smiled to herself. Once more unto the breach.
There was no turning back now.
She forced herself to walk at a normal pace down to the attraction entrance, where she made small talk with the crew member stationed there before following the inner hallway to the break room, and then, at last, to the loading area.
Thomas stood at the controls, his Gold Rush hat rakishly tilted as usual.
She gave the control tower a cursory inspection, carefully avoiding eye contact with Thomas.
A train filled with visitors returned to the station with a roar. One crew member triggered the mechanism to open the gates to allow the visitors to exit the train. Another crew member directed visitors to the exit. A third crew member began filling the empty train with visitors.
Three witnesses. Here we go.
She approached the train with a fist aloft, the signal to “hold” the train. The gates swung closed in front of her. She leaned slightly over the gate as if to check a safety bar and let her fist drop slightly.
The train launched.
Vanessa whirled around. “Why did you send that train?” she shouted at Thomas. “I was signaling to hold!”
The crew members stared.
Thomas, eyes wide, stuttered his response. “I thought you dropped the hold signal.”
“I most certainly did not. You could have killed someone,” she said.
The next train came in, but none of the crew members moved—they were too busy watching the show.
Vanessa looked around, as if realizing for the first time that their exchange took place in full view. “Wait for your station replacement, then come to my office immediately,” she said, then stormed out.
Alone in the stairwell leading underground, she leaned against the wall and felt tremors ripple up her stomach. Her knees shook involuntarily. The brief but intense scene had sent adrenaline coursing through her.
At least it’s over.
Thomas would report to her office, she would alert Mr. Destiny, and it would be done. She took a deep breath and resumed her walk downstairs.
Thomas
The Voice of Destiny floated through the underground halls as Thomas walked up the corridor to the Legacy office.
Goodbye, Voice of Destiny. You only said what you were told to say.
He ran his hand along the wall.
Goodbye, strange underground maze.
He shifted his gaze ahead.
Goodbye … Dirk?
Thomas and Dirk traveled a collision course, both en route to the Legacy office. They arrived at the office door at the same time.
“Dirk,” said Thomas.
“Thomas,” said Dirk.
They both reached for the door handle.