Felt the cables and the counterweights doing their physics. Felt the 38 floors passing the way. 38 floors pass when you are not afraid of them. He walked through the lobby. Gerald was back at the desk.
Afternoon shift starting early apparently and he looked up when Darius came through and the recognition in his face shifted into something warmer. Mr. Coleman Gerald said Gerald. He stopped at the desk. How are you doing?
Better than last week, Gerald said. Which isn't saying much, but it's something. It's something. Darius agreed. He paused.
I told Miss Hayes this morning that you were the first person to flag the emergency panel errors, that it mattered. Gerald went quiet for a moment. Something moved through his face surprise and then something underneath the surprise that was older and more private. The expression of a man who has done his work carefully for 9 years and has not often been told that it was seen. Thank you, Gerald said quietly.
Thank you, Darius said. You told me everything I needed if you'd been off that night. I'd have been working blind. Gerald nodded, pressed his lips together, looked back at his screen. Darius walked out through the front entrance and into the morning.
He sat in his truck for a moment. Then he called Maya's cell. She didn't pick up. She was in class. She never picked up in class.
And he left a voicemail. Hey, it's Dad. I know you're in class. I just wanted to tell you it went well. I'll tell you everything at dinner.
He paused. Also, I'm thinking about pasta again. The real pause. Love you, kid. He drove.
The next 60 days were the most demanding of his professional life and the most alive he had felt since before Calvin Briggs died in a parking structure in Riverside. He came into Hayes Global on Wednesday and spent the first week doing what he had always done in every building, learning the bones. Not from the schematics this time, but from the people. He talked to the facilities team, the cleaning staff, the security rotation, the IT infrastructure technicians. He talked to the woman who canaged the commissary kitchen on floor 19, and had noticed for months that the ventilation in the prep area ran hot on the south side.