Nightrise

world.
    "I try to keep an open mind," Trelawny went on. "And I'd be the first to admit that there are plenty of things in this world that can't be explained. But this…" He shook his head, doubtfully. "Anyway, this should be fairly simple. Alicia suggested to me that I put you to the test. Do you mind?"
    "No, sir." Jamie was ready.

    "Very well." Trelawny gestured at a low table in front of the sofa. There was a plain, wooden box, about the size of a cigarette packet, placed in the middle. "My wife gave me that," he said. "I carry it with me wherever I go. Alicia doesn't know what's in it. I haven't ever told her. But she says you can tell me."
    Jamie concentrated for a moment. Then he looked Trelawny straight in the eyes. "There's nothing inside the box," he said. "It's empty."
    Trelawny didn't give anything away. But Alicia could feel a sudden tension in the room.
    'Your wife made it," Jamie went on. "She likes working with wood. Her name is Grace. You keep things in it when you go to bed. Cufflinks and stuff like that. Right now it's difficult to tell you more because all you're thinking about is the election. It's weird…"
    "Go on."
    "Well, I was going to say, you're really scared of losing. But what's strange is, you're even more scared of winning."
    There was a silence. Trelawny stood where he was, so still that he was barely breathing. At last he let out a long breath. 'You have an extraordinary talent," he said. "I won't call it a gift — because perhaps it isn't. I can't imagine what it must be like for you…to have this ability."
    "I don't use it," Jamie said. "I don't want it."
    "Nobody but me has ever looked inside this box," Trelawny said. "It travels with me when I'm on the road. I've never told anyone who made it." He went over to the table and picked it up, opened it, and showed it to Alicia. There was nothing inside.
    "Alicia has suggested that I should launch a full-scale investigation into the Nightrise Corporation," he said. "But as it happens, I've already started." He went over to the folder and opened it. "This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me tell you a little bit about them. And then I'll tell you why, right now, there's nothing I can do."
    He sat down.
    "I don't believe all big business is bad," he began. "But Nightrise is very big and they seem to take pride in being as bad as they can get away with. The trouble with this country is that we're all too ready to turn a blind eye to crimes committed in the name of business. A factory burns down and twenty workers are killed. A tank leaks and a whole river system gets polluted. A weapons systems is sold abroad and ends up being used against American soldiers. Nobody notices — and you know why? Because profit is all that matters. Profit is king. These companies are making huge profits and employing tens of thousands of people. So we let them get away with murder.
    "I first heard about Nightrise about six months ago." He produced a clipping, cut out of a newspaper.
    "This was sent to me by a friend. He thought I might be interested in the story of a twelve-year-old child working in a toy factory in Indonesia who got burned by one of the machines and died. The kid had been working ten hours a day for twenty cents an hour and he was exhausted. I call that murder. He was making parts for a shooting game and the company that employed him just happened to be fully owned by Nightrise. But did they pay any compensation? Did they care? Of course not. And you could buy that toy in any mall in America…"
    'You said there's nothing you can do," Jamie cut in.
    "Here's why." Trelawny frowned. "The current vice president and the chief of staff both used to work for Nightrise before they went into politics. When they leave the White House, whoever wins the next election, they'll go back on the board. Nightrise has about three hundred companies all around the world and many of them do work for the U.S. government. There's one that manufactures bombs. The bombs are dropped. Then there's another one that's hired to rebuild the cities that the bombs destroyed. You see what I mean? Business and politics go hand in hand.
    "And just to make matters worse, Nightrise is supporting Charles Baker in the presidential election. In fact, they're one of his main sponsors. They've channeled millions of dollars in his direction. They have to be clever about how they do it. There are laws about donating money to political causes. But there are dozens of independent