Cloud to Cloud

Episode 58: Victim, Scapegoat and Hero

Evan rushed through the hallways of the ITower building. His meeting with Linus had given him the information needed.

"And, why hadn't you told me anything, Linc, my friend?" Evan grumbled as he slipped into his office.

Evan laid the tablet on the desk. Data pinged on his monitor.

"That's quite a power surge." The words slipped into the silence of the office.

Evan rummaged through the drawer of the desk in search of some analog means to note the information on the screen.

"That's south of here." Evan searched the GPS coordinates offered by the search.

"You need to leave." Linc's face filled the monitor.

Evan lurched away from the screen.

"I'm not supposed to help this much, but shit, man." Linc's eyes were wide. "You have to get it together and get out of Dodge."

"Why?" Evan frowned.

"You gotta go." Linc insisted. "Look. I'm about to give you way more intel than I'm supposed to, but time is-"

"A funny thing." Evan finished.

"Not so funny in this case." Linc shook his head.

Linc's image gave way to footage from the ITower CCTV cameras. The man with the military haircut strode through the lobby towards the elevators. As the doors closed, Evan could see the man reveal a small black box from the folds of his jacket.

"What the fuck." Evan cursed. "What good will zapping the office do?"

"It will make your death look like an accident and probably mark you as a terrorist in one stroke." Linc exclaimed.

"I'm going. I just need to find some files first." Evan upended a file box leaving the contents strewn across the floor of the office. "I need some hardcopy info on the sites and the core."

A sudden smile spread across Linc's face. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Hardware versus software." Evan quipped gripping the file box and making for the stairwell.

As he turned the corner, Evan slid into the alcove leading to the emergency exit as he caught sight of the man with the crewcut approaching his office.

Evan took the stairs two at a time as he descended to the lower floors of the office building. He emerged in a windowless hallway.

He scanned the ceiling before turning his attention to the door he had come through.

"I must be too far under to get a connection."

He wandered down the hallway. Doors lined the passage, though few were marked.

"I should've written down the damn door number or something." Evan grumbled.

He glanced again at his watch. He hoped Jeremiah would hold off on frying the office until he was certain Evan was in the building.

Evan scanned the ceiling again. If not, he might still be safe so far under the building. He wandered deeper into the basement of the structure.

The sticky note with the GPS coordinates suddenly fluttered from the bottom of the file box. Evan caught it as it floated toward the floor.

Hannah first.

The voice rang in Evan's ears. For a breath he wondered how long it had been since he had taken his meds.

"Great. Sure." His voice echoed in the vacant hallway. "But how?"

Evan waited for the voice to come again. Instead he felt as though a wall had brought him to an abrupt halt in the hallway. He frowned and attempted to continue to the next door but found his feet all but frozen in place.

His eyes ran the length of the hall. On the opposite wall he caught sight of an aging poster advertising one of ITower's ancient handheld devices. The screen of the device was half the size of a modern phone to allow for an analog keypad to occupy the lower half.

Suddenly struck by Hannah's words of the past, Evan's eyes grew wide. "Just a tool to connect. Like a tarot card... or a phone. Just a means to focus and connect."

Evan removed the poster frame from the wall. With another glance down the hallway, he dropped the corner against the solid metal of the doorframe shattering the glass that protected the image.

Evan shook the poster free from the broken glass. He tore the image of the phone free from the advertisement.

"So now what?" He turned the paper in his hand. "Dial? Call."

As Evan stared at the paper phone, his mind shifted the screen. The numbers seemed to take on a three-dimensional feel.

"Yes." Evan subdued his excitement. "Call. Um, call Hannah."

He burned his gaze into the coordinates on the sticky note.

***

Linc waved his hands at the image of Evan in the hallway.

"He's trying to call her?" Linc paused. "With a paper phone?"

"Of course he is!" Fred crossed his arms and allowed a broad grin to spread across his face.

"He may not be strong enough to get through directly," Coach noted.