Chapter Eighteen
Jay waited without doing much that night. He tried playing his flute, but he couldn’t concentrate on music. He wanted to know what had happened to take Aimee away so suddenly. Obviously, the alarm explained why she had still been wearing her uniform. She must have still been on duty when she rang Jay, and she probably expected something to happen as she didn’t seem that surprised when it did.
He had almost given up on Aimee, and was planning on going to bed when she called. He had set the vidphone for automatic answer when she rang, and so, the image flickered on as Jay was undressing.
‘Hello? Jay?’ He heard Aimee’s voice and came through from his bedroom to the lounge where the vidphone was, pulling on the sweatshirt he had a few seconds ago taken off, as he entered.
‘I’m sorry. It’s late. I shouldn’t have rung you.’
‘No, really, that’s OK. I’m glad you did. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep well if you hadn’t. I guess you had quite an emergency tonight.’
‘Yes, it’s been quite a day all-in-all, and I’m afraid I’m partly to blame for what’s now happened.’
‘You are? How come?’
‘Well, you remember my patient, Cliff Brooks? The one who said he’d been outside the city?’
‘Of course. We were just talking about him when you were called away.’
‘Well, that’s the reason why I had to go. I didn’t have time to explain it to you before I left, but I suppose it wasn’t such a good idea talking to him about his experience earlier today.’
‘Why not? I mean...’
‘Well, it seems as if it stirred up some old feelings, and he’s gone.’
‘Gone? What do you mean, gone?’
‘Gone. Disappeared. He’s left the clinic where he was checked in.’
‘I thought there was a control? Some kind of system...’
‘Well, yes, of course there is, but he’s got round it somehow. We can’t even track him using the chip locator. He must have done something to block it. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like it.’
‘Chip locator? You have access to a smart chip tracking device? And he’s been able to block it?’
‘Yes, that’s right. Jay, I can’t begin to tell you some of the equipment we have access to. A smart chip locator is just one of the devices that we need to use in our work, but it’s not issued very frequently I can tell you. And they’re controlled, as you can imagine. That’s why I’m so worried aboutproject...blackberry, remember? I’m sure that there are others out there who abuse the use these machines. And now I’m sure that Cliff Brooks has some kind of jamming device. He just doesn’t show up on our equipment.’
‘But where could he have gone?’
‘Well, my guess is that he’s heading out of the city. That’s where he said he’d like to go.’
‘He told you that?’
‘Yes, that’s right. After talking about his experiences today, he told me he felt he had “unfinished business” out there, and that he would probably return some time. Of course, when he told me that, the alarm bells rang and I put his name down as an “alert”. That means that I had to stay on call and our tracking devices were told to monitor him especially. At seven O’clock tonight, he disappeared from our monitors, and that’s when I was called.’
‘But surely, someone must have seen him go?’
‘apparently not. It’s a complete mystery. We have no idea how he got out of the building even, as we even have security guards posted on the doors. I am sure, however, that it’s not the first time he’s done it. I think it’s happened before, but as we haven’t been monitoring him particularly, we never picked up on it.’
‘Well, so he’ll probably reappear then? If he’s done it before.’
‘He could. But something inside tells me that he won’t. Call it instinct, whatever. But I think Cliff is gone for good.’
675 words
12987 words in total
He had almost given up on Aimee, and was planning on going to bed when she called. He had set the vidphone for automatic answer when she rang, and so, the image flickered on as Jay was undressing.
‘Hello? Jay?’ He heard Aimee’s voice and came through from his bedroom to the lounge where the vidphone was, pulling on the sweatshirt he had a few seconds ago taken off, as he entered.
‘I’m sorry. It’s late. I shouldn’t have rung you.’
‘No, really, that’s OK. I’m glad you did. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep well if you hadn’t. I guess you had quite an emergency tonight.’
‘Yes, it’s been quite a day all-in-all, and I’m afraid I’m partly to blame for what’s now happened.’
‘You are? How come?’
‘Well, you remember my patient, Cliff Brooks? The one who said he’d been outside the city?’
‘Of course. We were just talking about him when you were called away.’
‘Well, that’s the reason why I had to go. I didn’t have time to explain it to you before I left, but I suppose it wasn’t such a good idea talking to him about his experience earlier today.’
‘Why not? I mean...’
‘Well, it seems as if it stirred up some old feelings, and he’s gone.’
‘Gone? What do you mean, gone?’
‘Gone. Disappeared. He’s left the clinic where he was checked in.’
‘I thought there was a control? Some kind of system...’
‘Well, yes, of course there is, but he’s got round it somehow. We can’t even track him using the chip locator. He must have done something to block it. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like it.’
‘Chip locator? You have access to a smart chip tracking device? And he’s been able to block it?’
‘Yes, that’s right. Jay, I can’t begin to tell you some of the equipment we have access to. A smart chip locator is just one of the devices that we need to use in our work, but it’s not issued very frequently I can tell you. And they’re controlled, as you can imagine. That’s why I’m so worried aboutproject...blackberry, remember? I’m sure that there are others out there who abuse the use these machines. And now I’m sure that Cliff Brooks has some kind of jamming device. He just doesn’t show up on our equipment.’
‘But where could he have gone?’
‘Well, my guess is that he’s heading out of the city. That’s where he said he’d like to go.’
‘He told you that?’
‘Yes, that’s right. After talking about his experiences today, he told me he felt he had “unfinished business” out there, and that he would probably return some time. Of course, when he told me that, the alarm bells rang and I put his name down as an “alert”. That means that I had to stay on call and our tracking devices were told to monitor him especially. At seven O’clock tonight, he disappeared from our monitors, and that’s when I was called.’
‘But surely, someone must have seen him go?’
‘apparently not. It’s a complete mystery. We have no idea how he got out of the building even, as we even have security guards posted on the doors. I am sure, however, that it’s not the first time he’s done it. I think it’s happened before, but as we haven’t been monitoring him particularly, we never picked up on it.’
‘Well, so he’ll probably reappear then? If he’s done it before.’
‘He could. But something inside tells me that he won’t. Call it instinct, whatever. But I think Cliff is gone for good.’
675 words
12987 words in total
posted by blog-efl at 15.11.04
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