Aurora by David Koepp

Author:David Koepp
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

17.

Outside Jericho

A hundred feet underground, Ann-Sophie knocked on the door of unit 9A. She waited, holding a bouquet of wildflowers, a cloth grocery bag slung over her right arm. She knocked again, still got no answer, then tried the doorbell, a small, hard-to-see button nestled in the wood paneling of the landing. A few seconds later, Marques opened the door, in jeans and a T-shirt. He smiled, surprised.

“I thought I heard somebody knocking. It’s so quiet in here I could barely tell.”

“I know.” Ann-Sophie smiled. “Weird, isn’t it? Do you feel your ears popping in the elevator?”

“Yes! Drives me crazy. I’ve chewed more gum in the past three days than my whole life. Sorry, did you want to come in?”

Ann-Sophie peered behind him. “Are Beth and—I’m sorry, I forgot her little girl’s name.”

“Kearie.”

“Kearie. Are they here?”

“No, Beth took her up to the gym to burn off some energy. But come on in anyway.” He opened the door and she stepped inside.

Unit 9A was one of the smaller apartments, a one-bedroom with an alcove in the living room. The pastel palette of the rest of the complex had been continued in here, more shades of light brown than anybody should see in their whole lives, but Thom had read some psychological adaptability test that said beige tones were the most soothing colors. Ann-Sophie hated it.

“You can repaint if you want, you know,” she said.

“No, no, it looks great.”

“Oh, it does not. I’m Scandinavian. We know about dark. You don’t want brown; you want bold colors. Plus candles. I put a couple in the bag. This is for you guys.” She set the cloth bag on the small dining room table.

“Wow. That’s so nice of you.” He meant it. The atmosphere around the facility had been hostile and discontented so far, and her gesture was the first kindness he’d encountered.

“Plus a few spices and sauces, things they don’t have in the stock house. Cholula, some spicy mustard, anything with flavor, basically. And the kids picked these flowers for you all.”

Marques took them, unsure what to say. “Thank you so much.”

Ann-Sophie nodded and looked around, uncomfortable. She’d been putting off coming down here for a few days, and now that she was here, it was harder than she expected. She’d been married to Thom for nearly a decade and had been tidying up the emotional messes he’d made since she’d known him. She was used to sweeping up the broken plates, but now, knowing that she wanted out of the marriage, it was harder to keep doing this particular chore. Thom’s inability to hide his narcissism shouldn’t have been her daily problem anymore. But if she was going to be living in a bunker with this family, she didn’t want there to be any tension whatsoever.

“He can be quite an asshole,” she said.

“Sorry?” Marques asked.

“Thom. How long have you worked for him?”

“Four years.”

“So you know it’s true.”

Marques smiled. “No comment.”

“I did one of those checklists for borderline personality disorder once and he had seven out of ten.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.