Fatal Reaction

I’ll see what I can find out from the Boston PD. While I’m at it, do you want me to check the hospitals?”
    “If you don’t mind.”
    “I’ll get right on it. I’ll call you if I find out anything. In the meantime you’d better get to bed. It’s late and I know you have a big day tomorrow.”
    “You’re right,” I sighed, and wished him good night. Then I hung up the phone and made my way to my bedroom. Elliott was right, I did have a big day tomorrow, but I still didn’t have any illusions about being able to sleep.
     
    I drove out to Oak Brook through the darkness, arriving with sunrise still more than an hour away. Commonwealth Edison had promised us electricity by six o’clock and I was there to make sure they delivered. Even more than we needed Michael Childress, we needed electricity. As a precaution I’d reserved a meeting room at the Nikko, and Stephen and I had packed up everything he needed to make his presentation in case there was a problem that prevented us from getting into the building. But I couldn’t imagine a worse way to impress a group of businessmen who came from a culture that prized organization and planning above almost everything else.
    When I pulled into the parking lot Stephen’s car was already there. I wondered whether he’d been there all night. He was pacing anxiously in front of the building wearing a parka over his business suit. The thermometer on the bank at the mall across the street said it was only two degrees.
    “Are they going to be ready in time?” I asked, once I’d gotten out of the car and crossed the parking lot. I was happy to see that the snowplow company had already been out. At least the lot was clean and freshly salted, and the sidewalk to the front door shoveled.
    “They keep telling me yes,” replied Stephen miserably. His stress level was clearly stratospheric. Suddenly I wished I’d stayed at home a little longer. “But they also said it looks like some of the water pipes might have burst in the basement, because it’s been so cold.”
    “I thought the main was turned off for just that reason.”
    “I know. But there’s an auxiliary line that goes into the animal labs that we couldn’t find a shutoff for. Carl said that when he called the water company about it, they told him it would be all right.”
    “How do you know it’s burst? Have you been inside the building?”
    “No. They won’t let anyone in until the power is back up. But come here and I’ll show you.”
    I followed Stephen around the side of the building, holding onto his arm so that I didn’t fall on the ice in the dark. My feet were freezing through the flimsy soles of my pumps and by the time we got to the loading dock, my ankles were numb from the cold. I wondered how long it would take once they turned the furnace back on before the building would be warm. The thought of Stephen being able to see his breath during his presentation filled me with dread.
    “Look at this,” said Stephen, pointing to an enormous puddle that came from underneath the door of the loading dock.
    “Whatever it is, we’re going to have to get in and clean it up. How much longer until we have lights?”
    Stephen looked at his watch. “They say forty minutes.”
    “Any chance we could wait in the car?” I ventured.
     
    I took it as a good omen when the power came back on ten minutes early. Even though we still had to wait outside in the cold for the security system to reboot and the key card system that regulated entry to become operational, I didn’t mind. At least we had light. Next we’d have heat. And finally, God willing, we’d have Michael Childress.
    By the time we were able to get inside the building, quite a crowd had gathered: maintenance people who Stephen had ordered to report early to make sure the building was ready for the Japanese, investigators from the various labs throughout the building anxious to see how their experiments had fared through the blackout, and the scientists of the ZK-501 project steeling themselves for their ordeal with Takisawa.
    There was a long line and not a little jostling as people had to swipe their ID cards through the reader one by one. Once we were inside, Stephen, Carl, and I made a beeline for the basement. Sure enough, there was water everywhere. With an eye on the clock, Stephen rolled up his sleeves and supervised the cleanup personally. In the meantime, the rest of us followed Carl’s orders, scurrying around switching on