Chapter 25
“Get us out of here,” Murphy shouted to Summa when she saw two of the men who were outside of the black SUV at Stone’s building. “They work for McGowan.”
Summa thought for a minute about confronting them, but decided against it. He turned the car around and quickly left the men behind.
“They must be after Stone,” he said.
“No kidding.”
“We’re screwed. The ‘invention’ we have is worthless, and we have no leverage, nothing to make us players in this game,” he added.
“No kidding.”
“What are we going to do about it?”
“We’re going to leave town. We’re not safe here.”
“Bullshit. If McGowan is after Stone, then he knows what we have is of no value. We’re not a threat to him, either. I say we go back, force McGowan to let us in on the deal he’s making with Stone, and get our share of the pie.”
“You said a minute ago that we have no leverage. McGowan’s going to cut us in because… why?”
“I’m mad now, that’s why I say go back. Stone left us with a worthless pile of shit. We’re entitled to our share, and goddamn it, we’re going to get it.”
“How? My good looks or yours? No wait. Let me guess. You’re going to bring your gun. That will make McGowan see the light. Why do you think his men didn’t come after us? You think they are the least bit worried about us?”
“Will you make up your mind about me bringing my gun? First you tell me yes, now it’s no. I won’t bring it in to the meeting, okay? But we have to meet with him and show him what we have and how Stone can’t be trusted. He’s betraying the people who worked with him. I think we can convince him that Stone will betray him as well.”
“Do you really think that unless we go see McGowan, that Stone will be able to fool him? Do you think Stone will show McGowan a version of the invention that doesn’t perform?”
Straight answered, “No, but one more thing… what if Stone has no intention of meeting with McGowan? What if he has another buyer? He can screw all of us out of our money.”
Murphy had considered that thought as well but dismissed it as being too risky for Stone to cut McGowan out of the deal. Still, who knew what he was planning?
“Wish I was wearing the invention and was sitting near Stone right now,” she mused.
“Stay focused.”
“They say that God hates a coward. Let’s pay McGowan a visit.”
Stanley Lewis was unhappy. Murphy and Summa never showed with their invention. He tried calling Summa several times but got no answer. Fortunately, the tracking device he put on Summa’s car was continuing to send signals. Lewis got in his car and began the trip to Brassville.
Jeremiah Long hadn’t heard from Murphy for several hours and was becoming concerned. His phone rang. Excited, he answered.
“Hey, how you two doing? Where are you?”
“Jerry, it’s Stanley. You with Becky?”
“Stanley? No. I thought she was with you.”
“No, she never showed. I am heading to her now. Should I pick you up?”
“You’d better. Where is she? She doesn’t answer my calls.”
“Her car is heading towards the wealthy section of Milford, the beach area.”
“How do you know where she is?”
“I have a GPS tracker on her car.”
“You’re always a step ahead. How long before you get to me?”
“Five minutes.”
Stone wasted no time getting to an estate owned by one of his shell companies. He used it to get away from everything, bringing only a special friend and a laptop. The first and only time Danders had been here was one week ago when he helped Stone soundproof the basement.
Straight and Cueball were removed from Stone’s Navigator and stored in the basement. Both lay on beds, shackled to the wall, in one corner of the room. Neither minded; they were heavily sedated and would be for at least the next twenty-four hours. Stone made sure that all the basement cameras were working, then set the security system and left the building with Danders.
“Their absence should reduce McGowan’s strength and give us more of a chance to deal successfully with him.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me last week why you own this place, Jon?” Danders wanted to know.
Stone bought it as an investment two years earlier because there was a chance that the state of Connecticut might need the land for now nearly completed interstate highway improvements in Brassville. It wasn’t needed. Turned out that Stone needed safe havens, not only where he worked, but someplace away from work. He told Danders it was an investment and changed the subject to McGowan’s men.
“Can you stay here and keep an eye on the place? I can’t underestimate McGowan’s ability to find things out. I don’t think he knows about this place but he’s McGowan. I have to leave. The guys downstairs aren’t going to give you any trouble. Call me if anyone shows up or anything unusual happens. Okay?” he asked.
“Why do I get the feeling that all of a sudden, you don’t trust me? In the unlikely event that McGowan knows about this place, how will he know the guys are downstairs? The room is nearly impregnable. It’s not like he can free them even if he does know.”
Stone pretended to give Danders’ remarks some thought, but what he was thinking about was how to separate himself from Danders. His concern was that no harm came to his friend. Finally he said,
“True, unless he brings thermal imaging equipment, he won’t know they’re here, and even if he did, he would not be able to free them. I need to know if he comes here, however. Can you stay behind and set up some cameras so I can see if he does? We can catch up with each other after that. Listen, sorry for giving you the impression that I suddenly don’t trust you. The stress of the situation must be causing me to become insensitive to the fact that you are experiencing the same stress as I am. We’re still a team, you and I.”
I want to believe that Jon, but I don’t.
Danders agreed to set the cameras up. They shook hands and Jon left.
Stone drove back to the farm behind his building, parked the Navigator, worked his way back through the woods, checked for Straight’s men, and, not seeing them, entered his safe room through the hidden rear entrance. The cameras showed no activity either inside or outside the building, although the black SUV was still parked in front.
Stone had been secretly working on adapting to contact lenses the software used by the eyeglasses. If he perfected them in time before meeting McGowan, he’d have the best chance of keeping McGowan unaware that he was reading his mind. Stone had four unresolved issues that he was dealing with.
How to get the audio feed included in the lenses without needing earbuds Making the lenses safe to wear How to display the thoughts of a person on the tiny surface of lenses How to hide the display so that it won’t be seen, as they are on the Apple AR eyeglasses.
Using nanotechnology to do what the eyeglasses did by housing a low voltage power source in the frames that received the information from the neural impulses and sent it to the eyeglasses software, Stone designed a battery-powered circuit that would withstand the heat of the lens sterilization and that sat inside the contacts without harming the wearer’s eyes. The battery-powered circuit was also used to send the audio input as waves to the zygomatic bone, then the temporal bone, and then the tympanic membrane, setting it in motion. To minimize the possibility of infection to both eyes, he opted to make only one lens.
Stone had tried different materials and tints in an effort to resolve the display issue, before deciding on tinted hydrogel. That done, he carefully sculpted the lens, leaving a pocket and flap for the circuit and its tiny power source. Once he determined the focal length needed to place the words on the pupil, he put a dye that matched the color of his iris on the outside of the lens that would hide the words from anyone looking at him and cautiously inserted the circuit into the pocket and folded the flap over it. Gingerly he polished the lens, and sterilized it.
He knew that what he was creating was possibly dangerous to his eye, especially without more testing. He was also confident that if anyone could design this to work safely, it was he. He put the lens in his left eye. Except for a few tears, there was no initial irritation; after ten minutes, he felt comfortable enough to proceed.
He needed someone to test the lens on, but the building was empty. He checked the outside cameras again and saw the two men Straight ordered to stay behind standing by the SUV sharing a joint. Stone didn’t want to take the time to check the film of the past hour to see what the men had been doing; he concentrated instead on what they were thinking and saying.
“How long does Straight want us to hang around here?” one wondered.
The other man thought about getting stoned with his lady friend, and was wondering why Straight hadn’t been in touch, before saying so to his partner. Stone smiled broadly and pumped his fist. The thoughts displayed on his new lens before they were spoken. The lens felt comfortable. He decided to leave it in to see how long it did.
McGowan impatiently waited for word from Straight. Pacing in his office, barely containing his anger, he snatched his ringing phone from his desk and shouted into it,
“You better have some good news, goddammit!”
One of two of Straight’s men posted at Stone’s building wasn’t thinking about his lady friend any longer. Shakily he answered,
“Mr. McGowan, Straight told us to stay put until he got in touch, but we’ve been here for a while now and we haven’t heard from him and don’t know where he is. What do you want us to do?”
McGowan forced himself to calm down before he responded. Almost pleasantly, he answered,
“I want you two to go to a spa and get a treatment, on me. I know you must be tired.”
Before the guy could respond, McGowan, now unable to contain his anger, exploded.
“I want you to tell me how in hell the four of you were unable to find Stone when we all know he was in his building when you got there, and how come you can’t keep in touch with Straight? Four guys with phones and nobody knows where Straight is? I want you to go to every place Straight hangs out when he’s not working, track down any broad he screws, or divine his whereabouts through an oracle, but find him! Report back to me in an hour.”
“Mr. McGowan, don’t all our vehicles have GPS in them? Why can’t you…”
McGowan cut him off again.
“Because Straight had it removed against my orders. One hour or I come looking for you.” He disconnected.
“We’re not gonna find Straight in an hour, unless he finds us,” the guy said to his partner. “Let’s look at the bar on 5th, and check with the call girl who lives on West Main. Oh, and Straight’s wife. I don’t think she’ll know where he is but we better ask. Ain’t our fault Straight is missing, so screw McGowan if we can’t find him. Let him get his ass out here and see how easy it is.”
Tough-sounding words, but the guy’s partner knew they’d be the ones getting screwed if they had no luck finding Straight’s whereabouts.
McGowan, as powerful as he was, was concerned. Straight had never failed an assignment or fallen out of contact before. Stone’s whereabouts were also unknown, and he was supposed to be coming soon with the invention that would give McGowan worldwide unassailable power. He was certain that their disappearances were not a coincidence. He thought of three possibilities. 1, Stone and Straight were working together and were going to sell the invention to someone else; 2, Straight was holding Stone and was working on his own; 3, Stone was holding Straight and was working on his own. He thought the third possibility was the least likely. Stone, while sinewy, was primarily a scientist, an inventor; Straight was a former FBI agent, police chief, war veteran, and a nasty person. There was no way Stone had an upper hand over Straight and his loyal lieutenant Cueball.
McGowan had his aide call the office of the chief of police, who happened to be his brother. Chief Bert McGowan picked up on the third ring.
“Chief McGowan.”
“Chief, please hold for your brother,” instructed McGowan’s pleasant-sounding aide.
“Tell him to hurry up, I have a lot going on.”
McGowan didn’t keep his brother waiting long.
“Bert, I need your help. Straight and Cueball are missing. A guy who is supposed to be selling me something is also missing. I need you to find them.”
Bert McGowan, unlike most people, was not at his brother’s beck and call. He reminded him.
“Kinda busy. Someone was shot, and a motor vehicle accident on West Main, several people hurt bad. I’ve got no bodies to spare. Straight is missing? Don’t you know where his car is, at least?”
“He disabled the GPS. Think I’d waste your time if knew where his car was? Can’t your people be looking for it while they’re driving around? Maybe someone will spot it.”
“Yeah, all right. Give me a description and plate.”
The Evan McGowan estate in Milford was private, well known, and secure. It was rumored to have Tomahawk Missiles on the grounds to defend against air and sea attacks. A tour company operated in the summertime and part of the tour was a walk along the public beach that ended at a fence designating the start of McGowan’s. The guide made it a point to mention the “rumor” about the missiles to add to the mystique.
It was easy to get directions to the estate by asking in town, which Murphy did from the car window as she and Summa drove down Ocean Drive.
Summa then found a parking spot outside a restaurant and they went inside to get a drink and discuss their plan.
Lewis met up with Long at the visitor’s center shortly after Murphy and Summa had parked their car.
“They’re in there,” he told Long, pointing to the restaurant.
Long eyed Lewis carefully. He didn’t look upset, but Murphy and Summa chose not to meet up with Lewis in Massachusetts and Long didn’t know if he’d harbor a grudge. Long didn’t see Lewis as a physical threat; he seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the invention, though, and something in his eyes said “don’t underestimate me.” A look of quiet resolution as well warned the observant the same.
“How do you think they will react when they see you?” Long asked him.
“I think they’ll be wary. They seemed to want to help me by letting me use the invention, then they blew me off, and now I have tracked them down. How did I do that so quickly they will wonder. They think that eventually the police will find my friend’s killer. I do, too. But I’m not going to wait for ‘eventually’ and so my presence here now will make them wonder if I am a threat.”
“Are you?”
Lewis smiled.
“I don’t make threats, but I do point out how wise it is to work with me. Like everyone else, I have an agenda. And I’m focused. I never give up. As for me being a threat, I leave that determination to the beholder.”
“Shall we?” Long asked as he pointed towards the restaurant.
Summa and Murphy were engrossed in a conversation and didn’t notice Lewis and Long heading towards their booth.
“Becky,” Long said. “This is Stanley Lewis. Mr. Lewis, this is Becky Murphy, and Roy Summa.”
Murphy’s reaction was a look of concern for not meeting with Lewis as she said they would and was he mad at them? Summa smiled for the same reasons.
“Mr. Lewis, we’re sorry for not meeting up with you but something came up that we had to take care of. Won’t you sit down and we can talk about it? Jerry, how did you find us?” wondered Murphy, sliding close to Summa both to make room for them and for protection.
Summa stood and offered a reluctant Lewis his hand, saying,
“We don’t have good news about the invention. Please, do sit.”
Long seated himself next to Murphy while Lewis remained standing and did not shake hands. Instead, he stood next to Summa.
“This is a disappointment, meeting here instead of where we agreed. I told you I need the invention, and here you sit, talking about what, the weather? That was my first thought; but I know you are intelligent and must be discussing something important. What is it?”
“The version of the invention we have does not function. We won’t bore you with the details; if we’d brought you what we had, we’d have been wasting time and giving you false hopes. We’re going over what we’re going to say to McGowan because we’re on our way to see him and let him know that Stone can’t be trusted. He doesn’t know we’re coming,” answered Murphy.
Lewis said, “Once McGowan gets his hands on the invention he won’t care if Stone can be trusted because by then, it won’t matter. How is forewarning him helping us?”
Summa interjected. “Us? You are a possible user of the invention, Lewis, not one of the partners who created it and who stand to make untold trillions when it is sold. We don’t need you interfering in our business. When we take the invention from Stone, maybe we’ll contact you. Go home.”
“Your position is too weak to go to McGowan without me. If you were important to him, you wouldn’t be sitting here, you’d be with him now, planning how to get control of the invention from Stone. I, however, am someone he doesn’t know. I can offer him the opportunity to join forces and track Stone down, if he and Stone haven’t already joined forces. Like you, I am temporarily blind to what those two are doing now. We may all be too late.”
Murphy and Summa nodded in agreement. Maybe they were too late, but Summa needed clarification on a couple of things.
“You want to join forces with McGowan? Like he needs a novice team of one helping him. And how was your “team” able to find us, anyway?”
Long felt that the meeting was becoming counterproductively confrontational and was about to say something when Lewis spoke.
“I have a small group of loyal people who work with me, and a ‘sponsor’ supporting me. How do you think I know as much as I do about the invention and the players? We can supplement McGowan’s staff. As for finding you, I’ll take the tracking device off your car when we leave. I won’t be needing it anymore.”
Murphy understood the inference that Lewis had no reason to associate with her or Summa after today. She was not feeling sorry now that she wasn’t able to help him; she instead forced herself to think about ingratiating herself with McGowan.
“Let’s go visit McGowan. The four of us,” she said.
Long decided to ride with Murphy and Summa, leaving Lewis alone with his thoughts in his car. Driving behind them, he came to a conclusion he presumed McGowan had: Stone had a place to hide and possibly a different identity he could use to avoid detection. The question was, what was Stone up to? Was he going to sell to McGowan or sell out to someone else?
“Two cars are approaching the property, Mr. McGowan,” one of his security guards reported. “It looks like Ms. Murphy and Mr. Summa in the first car, and some old man with them. I don’t recognize the man in the other car.”
“Let them onto the property, search them, then escort them into the meeting room.” Irritated by the unacceptable performance of his trusted men Straight and Cueball he added, “See if you can keep them under control until I come down.”
When Summa’s car arrived at the gate, the guard came forward with two additional guards. Pointing at Long he barked,
“Who are you? Let me see identification.”
“He’s my co-worker,” Murphy said. “He’s harmless.” Having no use now for Lewis, she added,
“The man in the car behind us may have a gun.”
After searching for weapons and finding none, the guard motioned to one of the other guards to accompany the three of them to the meeting room. Wisely, Summa left his gun in the glove box.
The guard waved Lewis forward; when the car stopped, he drew his weapon and ordered a startled Lewis out, having him place his hands on the hood of the car. The remaining two guards searched the car for weapons while the guard searched Lewis. They found none.
“Your friends said that you had a gun. You can go in now,” he told Lewis as he was escorted to the meeting room.
The four of them were seated at an impressive looking mahogany table, the sun striking and setting the glass light fixtures on the ceiling ablaze. The pale green walls served as a counterpoint to the brilliance of the light; the minimally padded seat cushions seemed to be an ally of the bright light, as one’s eventual discomfort from sitting in them wasn’t going to let the occupant become drowsy. Right now, they could have been lying on the most comfortable beds without any danger of that. All except Lewis, who was calm.
McGowan entered the room. He appeared to be irritated but at the same time, intrigued, by their presence.
Long arose and spoke before anyone else had a chance.
“Mr. McGowan, I’m Jeremiah Long. Why are we here, you’re wondering.”
“I know who you are Mr. Long. You’re the man who proclaimed the “worthless principle.” I need to know why you are here, yes, and I hope for your sake that it won’t be a worthless use of my time. We have such precious little time.”
The four of them expected him to say words to that effect, but the coincident, silent appearance of four guards at that moment, unnerved all of them, except Lewis, whose face remained inscrutable, to the dismay of McGowan.
If I had the freaking invention I’d be reading his thoughts now. Why don’t I know who he is?
Murphy attempted to move the conversation into a productive tone. “Mr. McGowan, we don’t have our invention with us. The version we have does not work. The reason for that is because Stone has taken control of the invention. By himself, he further developed the software and also designed eyeglasses to work with it, which we had no involvement in. We were, are, his partners. He deceived us. We came here to tell you he will try to do the same to you.”
“How can he possibly deceive me? I know he has a product that works, and that it is ready to be sold. If he thinks it will be sold to someone other than me, he’s deceiving himself.”
Summa spoke for the first time.
“Mr. McGowan, I notice that your head of security, Mr. Straight, and his lieutenant, Cueball are not here. That is odd. Purchasing the invention, I believe, is the most important acquisition you can ever make. Don’t you agree? They both should be here for your protection at this critical moment. The fact that they are not tells me that the something is amiss. Where are your men, sir?”
“Quite an imagination you have, Mr. Summa. Straight and Cueball are protecting my interests elsewhere at the moment. You needn’t concern yourself with them. If you have any more stupid questions that are none of your business, I suggest you keep them to yourself.”
McGowan nodded to one of his guards.
“Another suggestion, Mr. Summa. In the unlikely event that we meet again, do not bring a weapon.”
The guard produced Summa’s unloaded gun, walked over to him and struck him in the face with it, creating a bleeding gash. Summa cried out in pain; Murphy screamed in horror; Long rose from his chair; Lewis looked on, expressionless and without movement.
McGowan looked only at Lewis, who had yet to speak.
“Are you not offended, scared, affected somehow, Mr. Lewis?”
“Intimidation is generally successful on people who can be intimidated. I cannot be. I have suffered a loss too great and I will not be intimidated. I’m here to prove the identity of a killer. These people are here to salvage their egos and tug on your heartstrings in hopes that you will cut them in on the invention pie. A worthless endeavor on their part; they bring you nothing of value and you have no heart. I on the other hand have resources that can help both of us find Stone and take control of the invention. I don’t want the invention or any of the riches it will bring. I want to use it to identify a killer. Let these people go. Join forces with me. Do it now while there may still be time,” Lewis answered.
McGowan did not know what to make of this young, handsome, wiry man who spoke to him as if they were equals. He liked that he had balls; he didn’t appreciate him having balls. He did agree with him, though, on two things; the other people were of no value, and there was not much time left before Stone was going to do whatever he was planning.
Nodding to a guard, he said,
“Show these people out. Give Mr. Summa some ice for his face.”
Then he had some advice for Murphy, Summa, and Long as they left.
“What happened here today did not happen. Stay away from the police and live long, happy lives.”
Turning he asked, “Mr. Lewis, what resources are those that can be brought to bear?”
Before Lewis could answer, a guard approached McGowan and quietly told him,
“Stone and Straight were at the hospital. We’ve got a copy of the video, but it doesn’t help us figure out where Straight is.”
McGowan nodded, realizing that Lewis’ arrival might indeed prove to be fortuitous, for none of his sources had any clue where Straight, Cueball, and Stone were.
“As you were about to say, Mr. Lewis…”
It was hard to tell what hurt more, Summa’s face or his ego. He cursed all the way to the car, swearing revenge on the guard and destruction of McGowan. Murphy was marginally concerned about Summa’s face; it looked nasty now but it would heal. She was livid, however, at the thought of losing out on a fortune. Long was pissed that McGowan seemed to have made fun of his “worthless principle.” Three smart people were sitting in a collective putrid stew of their own making. Their intelligence was pushed aside by their inability to concentrate on what was going on around them. Stone could never have fooled them if they had.
“What the hell are we gonna do now? Summa wanted to know.
“Shut up and let me think,” Murphy told him.
“You okay Jerry?” she asked.
“Nothing a little revenge can’t cure. He thinks we’re worthless, that we are intimidated and will slink away. Based on our performance in there, he’s pegged us well. Let’s fool him.”
“Great idea, Jerry. Let’s go back and beat the shit out of him and his goons. Then we can work with our pal Lewis and find Stone and beat the shit out of him and take possession of the invention and live happily ever after. Don’t you get it? We lost. The game is over,” Summa said.
“I told you to shut up, Roy. Jerry, what did you mean ‘fool him’?”
“He needs Stone; so do we. There must be a way for us to get in touch with him. If we can’t get what we’re due by helping McGowan then let’s get it by helping Stone. McGowan thinks we’re out of the picture, so we fool him by staying involved.”
“Stone doesn’t give a shit about us. You think if we call him, he will answer? I don’t. Besides, we don’t know if he will sell the invention to McGowan. And if he does, he won’t care about Lewis. Why would he? I bet he knows nothing about Lewis. Face it, we’re useless appendages. We’re beat.”
Murphy was listening to this exchange as she was thinking. Summa was probably right but she wasn’t ready to give up.
What is Stone up to, cashing in on the invention while selling out his friends? That was her first guess. If so, is he cutting out McGowan and bringing in Straight? Then again maybe he’s not including his friends in what he’s doing in order to protect them. Ownership of the invention puts that person in control of the future. Perhaps evil people who want the invention and will kill to get it have contacted Stone. With the three of them on the defensive and out of the picture they won’t be bothered. Has he shifted the focus entirely onto himself?
Thoughts flowed quickly, memories as well. Summa was carrying on with his vocalized thoughts when a memory jumped out at her.
“Roy, remember when the two of us were working on the project and Stone used to tell us when he left during the day that he was working with his team developing the eyeglass interpreting software in the other building? When we saw his car in the lot he’d say one of that team picked him up. When that happened, it’s possible that he never left the building. Maybe he has a secret room that he went to instead. I can’t think of any other option other than to take a look. I know what you’re thinking—that someone, sometime, must have seen him enter this room. Still,….?”
Summa stopped talking to listen to the sound of her voice; he was sick of hearing his own. He looked at both of them, and burst out laughing.
“A secret room? You’re nuts. He disappeared during every day of work for months and no one saw him go in or out of this room?”
Seeing the look of disappointment on Murphy’s face, Summa decided to bring some of his analytical skills into play instead of carrying on in his chaos. A moment later he spoke.
“A panic room; let’s consider that. I suppose it’s possible that he had one built next to his office. All he’d have to do is slip into it when no one was looking. He’d spend a fortune on security for the room, with cameras, sensors, alarms, and all kinds of crap. He probably could close the door to his office from inside it and let himself out unseen.”
Murphy appreciated that Summa was focusing on her thoughts. She had been mentally groping for an explanation of where Stone was. A secret room jumped into her head, but she felt sure that Summa’s vision of a panic room seemed to be more than plausible, it seemed likely. That thought was enough to keep her from giving up, at least for now.
Long nodded his assent, but, at his age, nodding could mean anything from agreement to early onset dementia.
“Let’s go back to work and find this room,” Murphy said.
“What have we got to lose?” answered Summa.
Stone was pleased with the new lens. It worked, it was comfortable, and he felt no irritation in his eye, although the area of the cornea where the power source rested was slightly red. He was also happy to see that Straight’s men had left. Alone in his building, inside his hiding room, he decided to take a nap. He was going to need all his strength for what he had planned.
Checking the outside cameras one more time before lying down, he let out a sigh. Getting out of a car were Murphy, Summa, and Long. Thankfully they knew nothing about his hidden rooms and were not going to find them, but their presence was a concern. What were they up to? He put the contact lens back in.
Cautiously the three of them approached the front door. Their card keys worked; they went through the lobby to the now unlocked elevators and headed to the second floor.
Stone heard everything they said on their short ride up, thanks to the hidden microphones in the ceiling panel. They were here to find a panic room, where they thought he was. Once they found him, they’d commandeer the invention and sell it. It was bluster, and deep down they knew it, but it gave them momentary infusions of serotonin, a chemical produced in the body’s nerve cells that can affect the brain, in this case making them feel cocky. It’s healthier to see things as they are, rather than let one's insecurities and delusions cloud one's vision, but these three did not like themselves enough to recognize their stunted emotional growth nor the essence of life as a human.
As Stone continued to listen, he realized that he didn’t need to listen. They were no threat; not even Summa, a bitter man but not a killer, at least insofar as anyone can tell what another person might do for wealth.
He removed the contact lens and went back to preparing for a nap. He decided to let them wander around aimlessly for as long as they wanted. He knew that life is too short to get involved with people who don’t know where they are going or what they’re doing.
Wander around they did. Using Long’s phone app, they measured the area of the meeting room, the offices, bathrooms, storage areas, and corridors. Murphy derived the total and compared it to the area shown on the city’s assessor’s website. It was five hundred square feet less. She smiled.
Summa frowned.
“It’s a mistake. The website has it listed incorrectly.” He’d gone along with this waste of time to appease the others. “Or we measured wrong. Either way, there’s a mistake, and I don’t want to measure everything again.”
Long was busy re-adding their measurements.
“We checked each measurement twice. The information on the assessor’s website is taken directly from each individual property record, and it’s used to calculate the amount of taxes Stone pays on the building. He would never overpay; it’s correct. We’re right. There is a panic room!” Murphy shouted.
“We must have missed a room,” Summa answered, not wanting to believe Murphy’s deduction.
“Hey guys, I think we’re missing about five hundred square feet!” Long announced excitedly.
“How do you propose we find something that’s not missing?” asked a skeptical Summa.
“Roy, shut up. Leave,” answered an irritated, impatient Murphy.
“Jerry, you’re right. You and I have to find the missing area. Roy is going home; he’ll come back and give us a ride when we’re done,” Murphy told him.
“Bye Roy. Don’t worry, the GPS will tell you how to get out of here, even though you’ve driven this road hundreds of times,” Long said.
Summa mentally flipped them the bird and stomped away.
“Come on Jerry, let’s start by looking near Stone’s office. I think what we’re looking for is close to it.”
Their loud voices caused Stone to look at the cameras again. Although they were not going to find the room, he was glad to see Summa leave the building. He got settled in the comfortable bed and went to sleep.