Page 24 of Violet Spark
“Oh.” Why was he giving me this weird sales pitch? The smile was bad enough. “I just need an assistant or something. For contact information.”
Mr. Alling cocked his head toward the waterfall. “Why don’t you come with me, and I’ll see what I can do to help you.”
“Really,” I took a step backward, “I don’t want to be any trouble. I just need to know where Brayden is on his business trip. The name of his hotel maybe?”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Mr. Alling said. “Come on. We’ll see if together we can locate him.”
Well, this was awkward. But I followed.
Behind the waterfall was the outline of a set of double doors, keypad to one side. He swiped his card through, and the doors slid silently open like something fromStar Trek.
The interior of the building was an oasis, surrounded by crisp modern rooms with glass walls. It smelled like green, growing things and dirt, but in a good way. The light that diffused though the space was warm. Energizing.
Mr. Alling took me to a lounge, if you could call the cozy futuristic coffee shop with its integrated media screens a lounge.
I sat in the most comfortable chair of my life. And Mr. Alling sat opposite me.
With an expansive gesture, he summoned a good-looking young guy in an apron. “I’d like a cappuccino, and for you, Ms….?”
“Taylor,” I supplied. “Just a water for me.”
“And a water,” Mr. Alling repeated, as if the waiter hadn’t been able to hear me. Then he looked over at me with another one of those big white smiles. “Well, it is so good to meet you, Ms. Taylor. Brayden is one talented guy! Your boyfriend is on the fast track here and an indispensable part of my team. I’m sorry for the long hours he’s been putting in—I hope you can forgive me for keeping him late so often—but it will be worth it. He knows it’s worth it.”
Yeah yeah yeah. “He told me he was going away on business,” I said, picking nervously at one of the bandages on the back of my hand. “And I’ve been trying to get ahold of him. Ineedto get ahold of him.”
“When did he tell you about his trip?”
Um. “Last time I talked to him, a couple nights ago.” It was sort of a matter of public record now.
“Ms. Taylor.” Abruptly, he dropped the smile. “The reason I brought you back here is because Brayden had no travel planned—none related to BantaMatrix.”
“Oh.” The breath went out of me like a deflating car wash tube man. This was bad.
“Like you, I’ve been trying to reach him with no luck,” Mr. Alling went on. “And that is particularly unusual because my team members are on call 24/7. We are in the final stretch of a big, important development here—very big, very important, it’ll blow the socks off our industry—and it’s all hands on deck. A couple of my guys have even taken to sleeping under their desks. I’m hoping that together we can find a way to locate him.”
“Oh,” I said, standing. “Well, I’ve tried just about everything I know.” Barring hospitals and morgues. I crossed my arms over my chest to ward off a sudden chill. “If he gets in touch though, I’ll be sure to tell him to contact you. I’m sorry to have bothered y—”
“Hey now, that looks like an awful cut!” His gaze was fixed on my left hand clutching my other arm.
I smoothed down the bandage where the corner had peeled up to show a flash of purple. “Oh, it’s nothing.”
“We have a physician on staff. He could pop right over here. It looks like it needs an antibiotic ointment.”
I covered the curling bandage with my good hand. “Really, it’s okay.”
“Sit down,” he said. “You’re white as a sheet. Wouldn’t want that to get infected. I’m a dad, too, with a daughter about your age. I have to do the dad thing here and get that looked at. In the meantime, we can strategize how to track down Brayden.”
Maybe someoneshouldlook at the cut. It was still kinda numb. And I really needed to talk to Brayden. Right then, the waiter returned with our drinks, sort of crowding me, and reluctantly, I lowered myself back into the comfy chair.
“We need cookies with this too, I think,” Mr. Alling said to the waiter, waving him off then glancing at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if daring me to object.
I gave a half-hearted laugh. This place was a fucking wonderland.
“Now,” Mr. Alling said, turning his full attention back to me, “while we wait for the doc and the cookies, why don’t you tell me how you met Brayden.”
“Oh.” I hated chit-chat. “Online. Gaming. We’d go on quests together. And then we got to talking.”
“So that’s what Brayden has been doing when he ignores my calls.”
