A. I. Evolution: The Coming of Christopher

Chapter 26

Jane takes one last look around the room to see if there is any sign of a struggle, or anything that might give an indication of what happened. She makes a note of everything in her mind, being careful not to disturb anything before the agents get there. Satisfied that she has looked at everything, she steps back out into the hallway.

She heads for the elevators to wait downstairs and takes one last look towards the room at the end of the hall, which is when she noticed the nap of the carpet showing two lines that carry all the way to where she is standing. She looks down the hall in the opposite direction and can't see the marks anymore. "He must have dragged Christopher to the elevator and then up or down inside the building. He could still be here, but just in another room."

Jane calls the elevator and stops with her hand hovering over the buttons for the various floors. "Which one is it? Where could he be hiding him?"

She taps the ninth floor, and as soon as the door opens, she looks both ways down the hall. There are scuff marks to the right, but the left is clear, as if it had just been vacuumed. She steps back into the elevator and goes down to the eighth floor. The same thing is evident there also, which strikes her as strange.

Jane moves down the hallway to the left and stops about halfway to the stairwell at the end, turning around to look at the floor. There are now marks on the floor up to where she is standing. "Of course. The carpets were vacuumed in the same direction on each floor, and the marks only appear when you look at them the right way."

Jane races back to the elevator and returns to the tenth floor again. She moves down the hallway to the left and stops partway, before turning around. There, on the carpet, are the same marks on the floor. "So, he dragged Christopher by the arms past the elevators. I wonder how far he took him?"

Jane moves to the door at the end of the hall and opens it, so she can stand in the doorway to look back at the carpet again. The marks indicate that Christopher was dragged all the way to this end of the floor, before he was taken down the steps that are tiled in ceramic squares, which of course don't show any marks at all. Jane looks up and down the stark stairway. "They could be anywhere in the building, or already gone."

Jane slowly makes her way down the stairs, searching each step for anything that might reveal where they went as she heads for the front desk again. The stairs are clean as if they had just been washed by the hotel staff and reveal nothing to her as she opens the door into the lobby.

The man behind the desk sees her coming, and she can tell that he is nervous about what she had said to him from upstairs. He speaks up quickly at the sight of her. "I called the manager, and he should be here in a couple of minutes. I don't think he is happy about having to come down, he was in a meeting with the owner of the hotel."

"I don't think the C.I.A. will care what he thinks about the situation. I think all they will want from him will be answers to their questions," comments Jane, as she goes back to the low table in the sitting area once again.

Jane only has time to get her laptop out before two men in dark suits walk into the lobby and head straight for the front desk. The taller one, who is obviously in charge, speaks up before reaching the edge of the desk. "Is there a Miss Jane Dolts here?"

The man behind the counter points to Jane in the sitting area. "I think that is who you are looking for."

The leader swings around and looks to the only person sitting down in the direction he had pointed to. He strides over and stops beside the low table. "Are you Jane Dolts?"

Jane can feel the intense gaze on her, commanding a quick answer. "Yes. Are you with the C.I.A.?"

The man nods his head and extends his hand to her. "My name is Mr. Reeves, Mark Reeves, and this is agent Bill Hoffman. When was the last time you saw Mr. Stronge?"