The Crystal Bridge

Chapter 23 - Cookies with the Boss

Rough hands shoved James into a chair, his face still covered in a black canvas bag. James felt certain torture would soon begin, but the chair felt softer than he expected and what he could smell of the room through the sweat-soaked bag smelled like lemon and vanilla. He held his breath, listening through the thick fabric.

“Easy there, Captain. While I appreciate your enthusiasm most of the time, was the bag entirely necessary?”

James recognized that voice. He remembered his first interview with the strange man. Vander Carlson’s voice had chilled him even then, when he wasn’t being kidnapped and threatened.

The guard answered back with the snap of a military man. “Sir, yes, sir. He put up a struggle and we were forced to restrain him.”

“Did you encourage the struggle?”

“I may have, sir.”

“Oh, just as well. You and your team are dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir.” Heavy boots shuffled out and a solid door closed behind them.

James sat stiff in the chair, still blind. He heard soft movement and then a click as the zip tie was cut from his wrists. The black bag slid off and Vander Carlson grinned at him.

“That was over the top, don’t you think?” Vander’s voice sounded older than he looked, full of wind and gravel. “Want a drink? I also have some freshly baked cookies.”

James didn’t know what to say. He’d expected torture, not re­freshments. “What?”

Vander returned to his desk across from James and laid the black bag on the smooth surface as he sat.

“Here, try one. They’ve just a hint of lemon and really are quite good.” Vander slid a silver dish full of cookies over along with a bottle of water.

James eyed the cookies with suspicion. He took the water and opened it slowly, listening for the cracking noise that meant the water was safe, unopened. Though they could’ve injected it with something for all I know. He took a chance and sipped the water. Doesn’t taste weird.

“That’s better. I’m sure the bag was stuffy. Sorry about that. I asked them to bring you in and wasn’t as specific as I apparently needed to be about how.” Vander’s grin hadn’t disappeared. He’d also not taken his eyes off James since he’d sat down.

James felt uncomfortable under the gaze. He looked down. “Yeah. Not the usual way I get invited to have cookies with the boss.”

Vander laughed and it sounded genuine. “Yes, but you have been making a mess of things haven’t you? Holograms running up and down the halls. Screaming, breaking things. I have an estimate of dam­ages here, over six hundred thousand dollars. Some very expensive vials were broken that have no set value, but are priceless. Years of research down the drain.” Vander laughed again.

James looked up. “You don’t sound too broken up about it.”

Vander met his eyes and they twinkled with mirth. “Ah, such is the way of progress. Sometimes you break a few eggs, or vials as it were.”

“So, are you going to bill me? Take it out of my salary? It’s your chip in my brain that’s malfunctioning. Maybe I should be billing you.”

“No, no. There’s nothing wrong with the chip. It’s doing its job perfectly. You, on the other hand, seem to be doing much, much more. You’re unusual, James.”

James nodded. “So I keep hearing. What happens now?”

“You go back to work, of course.”

James shook his head, stunned. “Really? Just like that? Not dis­appeared, sequestered, quarantined, fired, or snuffed out? I thought that’s what happened to people around here who don’t behave.”