Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

Author:Mike Chen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2018-11-07T19:54:53+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Behind him, Kin heard Markus telling everyone on the line that it was such a good idea he got Kin down there for penalty kicks. As he said that, Kin sent a perfectly placed shot that curved a hair out of reach of the goalie from the Technology Development group. It slammed into the back of the goal, creating a ripple that flowed through the woven netting before the ball fell to the grass.

A mob of hands and arms and screaming disoriented him for several seconds. He shook his head to recover from the noise and back-thumping, and through it all, he heard his name over and over.

“Kin Stewart!”

It wasn’t his imagination.

He turned, his focus returning, and something in the words carried an urgency that didn’t sync up with interdepartmental sports.

The mob around him broke apart, rowdy shouts hushing to silence, and even the other team remained quiet. “Kin Stewart,” the voice called out again, and it registered that it belonged to a uniformed woman.

Dark blue jacket. Matching hat. Equipment belt.

TCB Security?

“That’s me,” he said, acutely aware that everyone on the field was watching. He stepped forward to assess the Security officer; she had the usual mix of weapons and restraints, though they remained holstered. “Is everything all right?”

“Kin Stewart,” she repeated again, this time in a quieter yet firm tone. “You’re to report to the assistant director’s office immediately. I’m here to escort you.”

A Security escort? “Okay. We’re just about finished up here.”

“Now, Agent.” The unflinching cold in her eyes could only mean one thing.

She knew.

But how? He ran his code to hide Miranda. Step three of the four steps. Of course he did. He always did. He tried to picture it, the mix of swipes and keystrokes, the confirmation screen that popped up after it executed. Except those memories were of other times, days other than today. The fine points of what he’d written to Miranda this evening proved elusive, shapeless.

Searching his mind frantically, he remembered that Markus came up to bug him. He knew Miranda said something about not wanting to play soccer. He knew she asked him about choosing majors. But how did Markus convince him to play? Why didn’t she want to play soccer? What school advice did he give? The details diffused into a cloudy mess, and the most important detail eluded him.

Did he run the code?

Markus leaned in, a slight tremble rippling through his words. “Just go.”

Kin couldn’t have forgotten step three. The very notion seemed impossible. This thing he’d created, this balance of now and then that he’d worked so hard to figure out, every waking moment was dedicated to making this work. How could he have missed such a vital cog?

Despite the denial rippling from his very bones, a quiet truth built into anxiety and grew into full-blown panic. Since the incident at the MOME, his memory and focus spotted in and out. He’d downplayed it to Penny and Markus and the doctors, but that didn’t help when trying to confirm life-altering archaic computer code.

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