Page 74 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
His face went a little gray.
“If R&D doesn’t get what they need,” I continued, “Ms.Crenshaw will descend on this department like a hurricane, and the first person taking early retirement will be you.” It was my turn to crowd into him, forcing him to fall back a step. “Everyone who’s crossed me is dead, Sunil, except you. Be smart. Keep your mouth shut, do your job, and maybe you’ll survive what’s coming.”
His lips writhed. “This isn’t over.”
“Sure it is.” With perfect timing, the elevator arrived, opening with a cheerfulding. I stepped inside, and as the doors began to roll shut I asked, “Who’s the ten now, bitch?”
Twenty-Seven
I was still flying highon adrenaline when I settled behind my desk and looked down at my hands. They weren’t shaking. That was a surprise. Putting Sunil in his place was something I’d imagined for a long time, and the reality…well, the reality had been infinitely sweeter than any imagining. Theswearing, though. I was starting to sound like Lex.
“How did things go in HR?”
My head jerked up. Ms.Crenshaw stood in the doorway to her office, shrugging on her suit jacket. “Challenging,” I replied, “but—” My computer chimed softly and an email from Sunil appeared in my inbox. Clicking it open, I found the numbers I’d requested. “But they’re complying,” I finished, unable to suppress a smile. “I gave them until COB to send R&D what they need.”
“Good.” She adjusted her lapels and tugged at her sleeves. “I have a meeting with the rest of the board. It shouldn’t take more than an hour. When I get back, you and I will visit Investor Relationstogether. I want you to see how we’re framing current events for our high-level partners.” Then she was gone.
I was debating whether to wander down to the boardroom and examine the Chief of Security’s smeared remains—I was kind of curious—when my phone buzzed with a text from Lex.
Come to repository now
I stared irritably at those four little words. That was it? Muttering darkly, I stalked back to the elevators.
When I reached the Repository, I found its usual silence positively funereal. Maybe a half dozen people sat at the long tables that filled the center of the atrium, diligently researching, but the only sounds to break the deep quiet were the whisper of pages turning and the occasional cough. As usual, Lex was hard to miss. The sides of their head appeared freshly shaved and their mohawk now glowed a brilliant magenta. Hands in pockets, they slouched several yards away from the elevators, looking bored.
“Why didn’t you text me back yesterday?” I whispered furiously as I marched up to them. “I thought you were dead. Or worse!”
“I was in the stacks.” Lex waved a hand dismissively. “The haunts were never going to get me there.”
“There was an Abomination in the building!” I shouted. My words, amplified by the atrium rising overhead, echoed until every single person in the Repository probably heard them. Heads came up among those reading, concerned faces swiveling in our direction.
“Be quiet,” Lex growled, seizing my arm and pulling me across the marble floors.
“I willnotbe quiet,” I snarled back, shaking free with someeffort. “You get that I care about you, right? You understand that I don’t want you to die?”
Lex looked away and sullenly played with their hair. “Don’t be weird,” they muttered.
I moved closer so I could scowl right into their face. “The next time I tell you there’s an emergency, yourunto safety and then tell me you’re okay. Is that clear?”
They snorted but still refused to meet my gaze. “What’s gotten into you today?”
“People keep pissing me off. Why am I here?”
Lex shot me a sidelong glance before turning in place. “It’s this way.” I followed them across the atrium and through a stone archway that led into a series of well-lit hallways. After a couple of twists and turns, we stopped at an ordinary-looking wooden door. On the wall next to it, a bronze plaque readThe Museum of Company History.
“You’ve brought me to a museum,” I observed, a hint of a question in my voice.
“I found something in here that you’ll want to see.” Lex opened the door and ushered me inside before closing it behind us.
The museum was small and rather quaint, with wood-paneled walls displaying colorfully illustrated exhibits and the floor crowded with glass-enclosed display cases. The air was cool and smelled primarily of dust. Peering into one of the cases, I found a neat jumble of human bones surmounted by a grinning skull, all of them heavily scorched. “ ‘Incinerated remains of Agatha McMann, first employee to encounter the Deep Ones,’ ” I read from a small card affixed to the case. “Oh my god,” I added, revolted.
“I know. Pretty neat, huh?” Lex admired the bones from the opposite side of the case. “The whole museum is filled with artifacts related to the company’s history.” They pointed to another case.“Like the architectural sketches for the first branch office in Mesopotamia or, over there, the contract signed by Judas Iscariot. You know, sentimental stuff.”
“Yeah, wow, I’m welling up just thinking about it.”
They shot me a hard look. “How can you not appreciate how cool this is?” Then they sighed. “Never mind. The thing I wanted you to see is over here.”
The small, neglected case Lex led me to, sitting by itself in a poorly lit corner, looked distinctly uninspiring. Inside stood a piece of dark gray stone, its smoothed edges maybe a foot long on each side, and carved into its surface were row upon row of short vertical columns, each containing four or five symbols stacked on top of one another. “Am I supposed to know what this is?” I asked as I leaned in to get a closer look.
