Chapter 150

5.y.

In the lobby of the Jacob Center Tower a man in a long trench coat casually strolled toward one of the black corner columns of the building.  He removed an object from his coat.  It looked a lot like a credit card except there was a rounded bump in the center.  On the bump was a decal that resembled an eyeball.  It had cost this trench coated man a great deal to acquire the iris pattern.  He held it in front of the dark glass of the black column.  The man did not enjoy standing in this position because it made the asymmetry of his arms very noticeable.  He was pleased when the optical verification of the retinal scanner triggered and quickly lowered his arm.

The trench coated man put the card away and held the hand of his larger arm over the hand print identification area of the glass.  He’d also spent a fortune on the hand print graft. 

There was a hiss and a door slid open in the black column.  The man stepped inside.  The elevator was smooth, metal, and clean with plush emerald carpeting.  A slim vertical panel featured two quarter-sized buttons.  Below them was a series of smaller, pencil eraser shaped metal nubs.  The smaller buttons were inscribed with negative numbers.  On the two larger buttons were the numbers 13 and 26.

Using his smaller arm the man fingered a sequence into keypad embedded in his wrist.  He wanted to verify the funds transfer before committing. 

It was all there.

He didn’t grin.  Not really.  The thing that happened on his face was more like a grimace of barely detectible pleasure.  It was there for an instant and then it was gone again.

The man in the trench coat pressed the button marked 26.