The Wire Hanger

Chapter 34

“That can’t be right,” said Noah, frowning, and awkwardly making his way back to the controls. He stepped on someone’s foot and she let out a squawk. “Maybe they patched over the real reaction with older footage.” He kept fiddling, during which time the room emptied out enough so that I could breathe. I began to wonder how many women I’d be bunking with tonight – if we ever went to sleep. I stifled a yawn and watched Noah work.

            “Let’s try this,” he said, more to himself than to those of us waiting, although Obadiah and David were standing at attention very close behind him.

            “What’s that?” asked Obadiah.

            “Some different feeds,” said Noah, forehead wrinkling in conversation. “We were focusing on the square since we thought it would be the most representative, but maybe that meant they were too…but there are thousands of cameras in this city. We’ll figure out the truth.”

            “Should we come back?” asked David drily.

            “If you want,” said Noah, not rising to the bait. “I’ll let you know when I come up with something. You go get your beauty sleep.”

            I grinned in spite of myself. My mother whispered, “That’s not a bad idea. Mind if a catch a few winks?”

            “Don’t go far,” I said.

            She smiled and kissed the top of my head. “Right across the hall. Check on me whenever you like.”

            When she left, I slid my back against the wall until I was sitting on the ground, determined not to fall asleep but unable to keep standing nonetheless. The few others remaining in the room seemed to have the same idea, though most of them looked closer to sleep than I was.

            “What’s taking so long,” I asked grumpily.

            “You wanna give it a shot?” he asked.

            I decided to sit patiently and watch him work instead. I was beginning to think he might need glasses; he bent his face so close to the various screens that his hair fell in his eyes and he had to keep pushing it out of the way. Every so often he swore lightly under his breath, which usually coincided with a bright red flashing “DENIED” symbol on the main screen.

            “Ha! Here’s one,” he said, wheeling around to face the screen as it played. The last few seconds of Adah’s speech, the “Jericho remembers,” and the stunned commuters in an underground hallway somewhere. Towards one end I could see a food court. But the video ended, and the same thing happened: they paused for only a second before resuming their journeys.

            “Dammit,” muttered Noah. “They got to this one too.”

            “Were you guys expecting a riot?” I asked sleepily.

            “Not exactly, but…yeah, kind of. You remember how you felt when you saw all that. Can you imagine just going on with your life, when everything you know is suddenly different?”

            “No,” I said, but then I thought about it. I had gone on with my life in the weeks after the bleeding woman appeared at our door. And for days after my mother disappeared. I said as much to Noah. “Maybe they just need some time.”

            “They shouldn’t need it,” he said, and returned his attention to his desktop monitors. Somewhere in there, I fell asleep.