Chapter Fifteen - Images that disturb.

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"It seems we don't have to worry about Kerwin anymore," Scott Maxwell said from behind his desk. "He hasn't left his apartment in four days, going on five."

Ellen stared at him as she sat in the opposite chair. His round glasses framed his tiny bald head. Together they scarcely rose above his oversized desk. Maxwell was the type of man the term "Napoleon complex" had been invented for.

"That's good news."

Scott's small eyes seemed to get tinier. "You don't seem excited, Ellen."

Inwardly, she sighed. He took everything so personally. "No, I am excited. I'm sorry. I didn't sleep well last night."

Scott looked mollified. "Ah, well, that's too bad. You should visit me tonight. After I'm done with you, you'll be sure to sleep well."

She'd said the wrong thing. Taking a deep breath, she searched for a way to change his mind. Her eyes wandered to the ceiling.

"Ellen! Are you even listening to me?"

She thrust her gaze back down to meet his. "Yes, sorry. I would love to visit you tonight. That sounds perfect, Scott."

"Good, good." Something indiscernible showed on his features. In a second, she had it figured out. He was planning what he thought would be a sexy encounter later. "I'll be back in a minute. You stay right there."

Alone in his office, Ellen knew she had only a minute or two. She wanted something she could use against him to free herself from his control. She moved to his desk. He never bothered to hide anything from her. As if selecting a card from a deck, she randomly picked up one of the folders sitting on the desktop and opened it. There were photographs inside, horrible images. She gasped. What were they? Who were they? She couldn't tell.

Ellen heard Scott's footsteps outside the door and hurried back to her seat, trying to forget what she'd seen.

~~~

Jack finally emerged from his fog, feeling the urgent need to see another human face. He called Elvis and asked if they could meet at the north end café. To his relief, Elvis agreed.

When Jack arrived, the hostess informed him that Elvis was already seated. She brought him to Elvis's table.

As he sat down, Jack said, "Thanks for meeting me."

"Sure. You want some wine?" Elvis had ordered a bottle of Barolo.

"Yeah, thanks." Jack held up his glass while Elvis poured from the decanter. Jack had a taste. "Mmmm, delicious."

Elvis looked pleased with the compliment. "I'm from the region."

They made small talk until the waiter arrived, and both ordered steaks. When they were alone again, Jack said, "Thanks again for coming out. I know it isn't easy." He shot the other man a knowing look.

Elvis looked down and shook his head. "It's harder than it should be." He took a sip of the Barolo. "But I have felt a little better since talking to my group."

Jack felt a jolt of electricity travel through his brain. "You've talked to your Tabula Rasa partners? I thought they wouldn't let us."

"Yeah, well, neither did I, until recently. I pressed the issue with Dr. Maxwell, and he arranged an audio conference for me. The whole way TR works just felt so weird. I wanted to talk to the humans on the other side, you know? Their work hardly seems human at all, so I was getting a little freaked out. They're like a collection of Datas from Star Trek."

Jack laughed loudly. Too loudly. He knew it was a release of pent-up stress. "I know what you mean."

"I didn't know anyone could be that smart. And let's face it, we've been around a lot of smart people our whole lives. Jesus, I thought I was smart until recently."

Jack sipped his wine. "I think I should ask to talk to my TR team, too. It might reassure me. By the way, have you talked to the other residents about how things are going?"

Elvis shook his head. "Barely seen either one of them. I tried to strike up a conversation with Dr. Woo a few days ago at breakfast, but she didn't seem interested, and I haven't seen her since."

Jack gave a forced laugh. "Don't you remember the dirty look Woo gave you the first time we all met?"

"I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was nervous that first day, and it made her feel defensive."

"I think you're too nice. But then again this is the first time I've been out of my apartment in days, so I haven't seen anyone at all."

Elvis laughed. "I was like that at first. Pretty addictive, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is."

~~~

Jack woke up and ordered breakfast in again, but he took a morning shower. He saw that as a good sign. He shaved, an even better sign. He felt better than he had in a week.

He put on his best suit, which was more than Dr. Maxwell deserved.

Jack took a quick walk to Maxwell's office. Just to the right of the door was the shiniest pair of black wingtips he had ever seen. They looked as if they had a coat of polyurethane on them. Jack shrugged and pressed the buzzer.

Maxwell's secretary, asked, "Who is it?"

Jack leaned close to the panel beside the door. "Dr. Jack Kerwin."

"One moment."

Jack lifted his head toward the ceiling and puffed air through his nostrils. He hated kowtowing to people who didn't deserve it.

"You can come in, Dr. Kerwin."

Jack pushed the door open. The woman behind the desk asked him to sit down, and he did. He scanned the office, which was as imposing and pretentious as he expected it to be. He picked up a newspaper on a table adjacent to his chair, but the words didn't focus into something coherent.

"Dr. Maxwell can see you now."

He felt like he was in a dentist's office. "Thank you." It wasn't her fault she worked for an asshole.

Maxwell sat behind a huge desk that made him look smaller than he was.

"Thank you for seeing

"What do you want?" He didn't look up.

Jack eyed a nearby chair. "Mind if I sit?"

"If you must."

Jack sat and looked at Maxwell squarely. "I would like to speak directly to my Tabula Rasa group."

Maxwell rolled his eyes. "You, too? Have you been talking to Vitali?"

"I have, yes."

"And what do you think you will learn from this interaction that you haven't already?"

Jack wasn't sure there was a good answer to that question, so he told Maxwell the truth. "I think it will make me feel better."

Maxwell guffawed. "Is that why you came to CIRAS, to feel better? Because you could feel better at a doctor's office, or a massage parlor, or at a f'ing strip club with the right girl. I didn't realize researchers came here to feel better. You have enlightened me, Dr. Kerwin." He turned his head away from Jack to stare at a wall.

"What I meant was at the end of all this I'll have the answers I wanted, but TR will still be anonymous. I just want to talk to them to understand that they're okay with that."

Maxwell's eyes flared with anger as if Jack's statement was an assault. He kept his gaze on the wall. "Believe me, they are." He pronounced each word emphatically.

"Dr. Maxwell, sir, I would still like to talk to them myself. Please."

Maxwell sighed loudly, and with what clearly took tremendous effort, he turned to look at Jack. "Fine. You can talk to them tomorrow."

"Thank you, Dr." Jack rose from his seat.

"I hope it makes you feel better."

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