A Chronetic Memory (The Chronography Records Book 1) by Kim K. O'Hara Page B

I have to talk to someone.”
    He nodded. He brushed her hair back away from her face, and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. With another man, this might have been a presumptive or possessive move, but with him it seemed almost fatherly. He handed her a tissue and waited quietly for her to compose herself.
    She breathed quietly and deliberately for a few moments, closing her eyes and inhaling the peace of the garden, clearly willing it to calm her before she spoke. Finally, she opened her eyes.
    “I killed him, Mitch.”
    “Killed him? Who?”
    “Nicah Myles. I drove the helicar that hit him and Elena that night. I killed him, and I put her into a coma.” She looked up suddenly, alarmed. “Please don’t tell Lexil!”
    “Of course not!” He reassured her. “But surely, it was an accident?”
    “That’s the thing. It wasn’t. I mean, I didn’t do it on purpose, but it was preventable. It should have been prevented! Oh, Mitch … I was drunk!” She buried her face in her hands, weeping, trying to stop.
    When he draped his arm over her shoulders, it made her melt down completely. He pulled it back, wanting to give her space, and patted her back reassuringly, if a little awkwardly.
    The hologram ended. Dr. Brant turned her attention from the projected image back to her viewwall, looking at him directly. “What are you going to do with this?” she asked.
    “Not a thing, Marielle. I’m looking out for your best interests—our best interests. By showing you this, I’ve forced the source object to experience time decay, and you know of course that that makes it unusable.”
    She nodded.
    “No one else can view this scene, unless they get it from me. Surely you can see that I’m doing this to protect you.”
    “As long as I continue to cooperate.”
    Good. She was getting the message clearly. “Yes, unfortunately, that’s what they want. But I told them you have every intention of cooperating, so there is no point in even bringing that up, is there?”
    “No, no point at all. Are we done here, then?”
    “Yes, done, except for one thing that they’ve requested. I’m certain you will want to help with it, for our, uh, mutual benefit. To keep all this contained.”
    “Name it.”
    “It is time to cut personnel, strategically. We’ve observed certain, shall I say, extracurricular access to files. Such access could threaten us—all of us—personally. You’ll take care of it?” He waved a list of names from the corner of his viewwall to the icon that represented her screen.
    She studied it, making note of each name. Since she had gone through the treatment, her incisive mind and photographic memory had returned fully. She wouldn’t need to refer to it again. By morning, those employees would be gone. “Yes, I’ll take care of it.”
    “Good. It has been a pleasure, as always. I don’t have to remind you to say nothing of our conversation?”
    She shrugged. “You’re the man who’s keeping it all together.”
    He nodded. As she signed off, he returned to the chair behind the wholly unnecessary desk. People were amply—and very satisfactorily—intimidated without it.

14
Alteration
    RIACH LABS, Alki Beach, Seattle, WA. 1430, Wednesday, June 7, 2215.
    When Dani emerged from the observation box, she had a moment of vertigo. She steadied herself on one of the support pillars nearby. She shook her head to clear it. Things felt strange, although she couldn’t put her finger on why, nor be any more specific than that.
    “Things.” What things? The light seemed different somehow. The air smelled funny. “Strange.” How, exactly? She couldn’t explain, and she was glad no one was asking. She wondered if she might be getting sick.
    Steadied, she turned to take the tray of items from the observation box. Time to replenish her supply. She was an hour and a half closer to getting those financial details from Anders. Two-and-a-half hours to go.
    She got three more batches done by the end of the day,