Chapter

 44

I stepped up to the wall directory and read the entries to see what now occupied the three floors. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anyone listed. I checked again. I was wrong. The 10^th and 11^th floor hadn’t any tenants, but the 9^th listed LECTRO SECURITY - HONG KONG.

I stepped onto the elevator and pushed 9.

As I came closer to the 9^th, I found myself muttering, “What if? What if? What if?”

The elevator stopped, but the doors didn’t open. I pushed 9 again. The elevator stayed where it was. The doors remained closed. Simple, I humored myself.

Construction...remodeling. Doors are always like this on floors that are being worked on. Right? Right.

I pushed 10. The elevator moved smoothly toward the 10^th and I breathed a little lighter. The 10^th floor door opened onto a hallway. Here, remodeling was everywhere. I stepped out and glanced in both directions for the fire exit stairwell. At the far end to my right was an exit sign in both Chinese and English. “Exit.”

I made my way down the stairwell and opened the fire door onto the 9^th floor. I stood there a moment. Before me was a lobby immaculate in its futuristic decor. Across the reception wall was the name LECTRO SECURITY - HONG KONG, its letters breathing with a unique lighting technique I’d never seen before. There was no one in the area, but somewhere beyond the wall separating the reception from the offices, I could hear the whirl of what sounded like a high-speed drill or small motor of some kind.

I walked over to the polished aluminum double doors—appearing like something out of Star Trek—and called out. “Hello...Anyone here?” There was no response. I looked for a knob or handle...some kind of entry mechanism. There was none. What I did find was that the walls were deceptive with their metallic appearance. Instead of a hard surface, the touch was that of a padded wall. I stepped back. Silly to think this way, but I suddenly felt strangely out of place...like I had stepped into some surreal dream. It was short lived, however, as a voice from behind shocked me back into reality.

“You lookin’ for my dad, mister?”

I swung around and found myself looking down at a seven or eight year old boy. “Uh...probably...yes...Your father. Is he here?”

“No, but my brother is in the back. Everybody else is at the funeral.”

I took a long look at this small child, dressed in blue linen shorts, jacket, white shirt and clamp on tie completing the look of a private school uniform and asked, “A funeral? Well, I really was looking for one of the workers...one of the people working here.”

“My brother works here.”

“Oh...okay. Would you take me to him?”

“Sure.”

He stepped behind the reception desk and did something to open the doors.

Whoosh. They all but silently slid back, revealing the most unusual floor of offices I had ever seen. Walls that appeared to be dark glass separated the many offices that stretched back for two hundred feet or so. The glass seemed to contain swirling smoke or gases lit from the floor, creating a first impression of eeriness; but, after taking a few steps down the hall with my young escort, the effect became very soothing. Probably space-age research had created some kind of perfect environment, I thought. This, coupled with the metallic sponge-like carpeting, made my walk behind the small boy seem almost dream-like. I could only wonder once again at the pace of the world’s technology, especially as it was displayed in Hong Kong. Outside, I had been immersed in the architectural mix of ancient and modern, and now I was being transported from modern, to future, to...

The young boy was still leading me through the maze of corridors and office cubicles when the whirling sound stopped.

“Benjamin?” shouted the voice from somewhere up ahead. “Benjamin...damn it. Where the hell are you. Told you to stay put.”

Benjamin just glanced back over his shoulder with a grin. “My brother. Always working on his newest toy. His stuff’s not much fun for me, though.”

We rounded a corner and ran into the brother. Tall, skinny and thick glasses making up the perfect image of his little brother’s few words.

“Arnold, this man is looking for dad, but I told him everybody was at the funeral.”

I extended my hand to him, figuring his age at about 18 or 19. “Hi...I’m a...name’s Charles...Charles Randall. I used to own this building.”

Arnold didn’t raise his hand. “So?”

His frankness wasn’t making my curiosity any easier to handle. He was right, though. “So? Good question. I tried to get in from the elevator, but...guess you’re closed, huh?  The funeral and all?”

Arnold pulled Benjamin behind him. “Didn’t offer Benny any candy, did you? What do you want? This place is laser scanned every four seconds, you know.”

“No...I wasn’t aware. Look...isn’t there anyone...you know, someone who works here that... “

“I work here. Everybody else’s at the funeral. Thought you wanted to see my dad.”

“Well...I...okay.” I was flustered and confused. “Why...I mean...a funeral...I didn’t mean to interrupt anything... “

“You’re not interrupting anything. The funeral’s out there. He was incompetent anyway. Management killed him ‘cause he couldn’t manage. You going to tell me what you want or do I let the lasers get you?”

Now, I had had my share of scares over the past few months, but when he threatened me with that, I was more than a little nervous. Maybe it was the glasses, and the bug eyes behind them, but I just wanted to relax him...fast. “I’m from the states. Just came over here to do some business and thought I’d drop by and take a look at the building I used to own. That’s all. Just that.  That’s all I want.  I don’t know your dad.  Just kinda made that up on the spur of the moment. You know. I don’t mean you any harm.  Just wanted to see if anything changed. Believe me.”

He obviously didn’t believe me. He was looking me over good. After a moment, “My design. Like it?”

I was confused, but took a guess. “The interior? Outrageous. I mean, like a movie set. Great.”

He extended his hand. “Arnold Spentworth. ‘Laser Seek’ is mine too, so I know I’m safe even if you’re a spy or a child molester.”

“Spy?” I said.

“Security rip offs...spies.”

“Of course. No...I’m really just a businessman.” I looked around. “May I look...or would you mind showing me a little bit more. I seem to remember there used to be a corner office that had a large modern glass desk?”

“The one built into the floor. It was prehistoric. Threw it out with the walls and floors when we gutted the place. That German guy you sold the building to thought he’d lease space faster if he left the built-ins in place. All trash from Italy.”

He turned and started walking back toward where he’d come from. “That office used to be back here, but it’s my lab now.”

I followed as he led Benjamin and me down a corridor that seemed to get narrower and narrower. Just a few yards in front of him, it seemed to narrow to only a foot... how was he going... “

“Don’t let this illusion throw you. I invented this when I was fourteen. Keeps strangers and spies from finding the lab.”

He just kept walking, the illusion giving way to clear passage. The lines of the walls folded over me as reflected images coming from...God only knows. I was humored and he heard it.

“Usually makes everyone laugh, first time. Funhouse stuff, except clients pay a hundred and thirty thousand for the starter installation. Holographics are the future of security systems, you know.”

All I could think as we continued our walk through the illusion and out into more conventional surroundings, was what bearing, if any, the “evil spirits” of Dr. Ching’s had had on this incredible creation. By now, I didn’t expect to see anything even remotely resembling the images I hoped I’d find. According to my guide, the “glass desk” office was now a lab and hopes of seeing anything that might help my memory was out of the question.

As we approached the modern sculpted steel doors to the corner office, Arnold cautioned me. “Don’t be alarmed.”

He walked right through the doors.

“This is my favorite,” said Benjamin as he followed.

I’ll be damned, I thought. I reached out and my hand went right through the side by side columns of steel that looked like the entrance to some futurist bank vault. I stepped through and turned around, taking another look. “Pardon my ignorance, but for all its surprise, what good is a security system you can walk right through?”

Arnold smiled and stepped over to a wall panel, pressing a single unobtrusive button. “Now try it and you’ll get just short of a high voltage taser blast. You don’t want to mess with our systems when you’re not supposed to.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Well, this is where the office with that atrocious desk used to be.”

I looked around slowly. I was standing in a large space, three walls and a curtained window area. The ceiling was a honeycomb of recessed track lights, most of which were directed to various platforms standing randomly about the room, each supporting an electronic work in progress...none of which meant anything to me. The walls housed all kinds of electronic apparatus I assumed were used in the development of “genius boy’s” work. To the right was what appeared to be another satin finished steel door. “Doesn’t look much like I remember,” I said.

“Of course not. The only things we left intact were the windows. Didn’t matter much what they looked like.  I don’t allow light in very often. Fouls up the holograms...and as you can see...” he walked over to another panel with another simple button and pushed it, making the hologram created curtains disappear, “...the view is anything but pleasant.”

Suddenly, I was frozen. No, it wasn’t the magic of Arnold’s invention. Staring me in the face was a frighteningly familiar sight...a sight Charles Randall had worked hard to remember and forget. But there it was. The round silver dollar building, gleaming in the background of a pallid, weathered red brick building about ready to fall down. Its windows framing the faces of lost souls and poverty, the shanty life of Hong Kong staring back at me through the hanging rags of clothing trying to dry in the heavy humidity...a humidity whose memorized odor I now could identify.

Through this crazy surreal excursion of holograms and electronics was the only remnant from the past, and it wasn’t a dream...it wasn’t a hallucination. It was a piece of the memory that haunted me; a piece I feared would bring Charlie running back.”

“Ugly as hell, isn’t it?” said Arnold. “Hardly worth the little light it allows to come in.” He pushed the button again, allowing the curtain projection to cover the nightmare I now turned away from.

“You feel alright? Look like you just saw a ghost,” said Arnold.

“I’m fine,” I said as I looked around for reassurances that I was just that...fine. “Maybe some water. Do you have some water?” I asked as I sat on one of the high stools. “Sure,” Arnold answered as he walked toward the smaller doors to the right.

Benjamin stood in the middle of the room staring at me. “Why you sick, mister?”

“Oh...I’m not really sick, Benjamin. Just a little tired. Just tired.” I managed a forced smile to appease the boys alarm as Arnold returned with a glass of water. But, Benjamin was right. I was sick. As I lifted the glass to my lips, the upheaval from my stomach was perfectly timed with the swallow of water now rushing down for a collision.

“Oh, my God...” I jumped up from the stool and intuitively rushed toward the door Arnold had walked through for my water, hoping I hadn’t imagined what he had done. I wasn’t in any condition to run into a wall. I lunged through the doors and found myself in a large bathroom. A quick glance and I found the toilet. I kneeled and let go. It wasn’t pleasant heaving under good conditions, but in a stranger’s bathroom...

I finally raised up, grabbed some toilet paper and wiped my mouth. Before I opened my eyes, I remained kneeling just long enough to realize the floor was warm. A temperature-controlled floor?

Suddenly, something else was happening inside me. Worse than my stomach. Worse than throwing up. My head felt like it was trying to leave my body. The voice I heard sounded like it wanted to burst out the top of my head. I opened my eyes. That’s when I wished I had never entered the building, this floor, this former office, this bathroom that was exactly as my memory had kept it...exactly as the erupting voice knew it.

“What are you doing in this bathroom?” I turned to the two boys, who had followed me in as the voice continued howling out of control.  I shouted over my inner voice, “Why did you leave the bathroom, Arnold? Why didn’t you gut the fucking bathroom like everything else?  Arnold? For God’s sake, why?”