Sidney Sheldon by Are You Afraid of the Dark? Page A

approached the receptionist and identified themselves. “We have an appointment with Mr. Tanner Kingsley.”
    “He’s expecting you. I’ll have someone escort you to his office.” She gave them each a KIG badge. “Please turn these in when you leave.”
    “No problem.”
    The receptionist pressed a buzzer, and a moment later, an attractive young woman appeared.
    “These gentlemen have an appointment with Mr. Tanner Kingsley.”
    “Yes. I’m Retra Tyler, one of Mr. Kingsley’s assistants. Follow me, please.”
    The two detectives walked down a long, sterile corridor with tightly closed office doors on each side. At the end of the corridor was Tanner’s office.
    In Tanner’s waiting room, Kathy Ordonez, Tanner’s bright young secretary, was seated behind a desk.
    “Good morning, gentlemen. You can go right in.”
    She got up and opened the door to Tanner’s private office. As the detectives stepped inside, they stopped to stare, in awe.
    The huge office was crammed with arcane electronic equipment, and the soundproof walls were lined with wafer-thin television sets displaying live scenes from cities around the world. Some of the views were of busy conference rooms, offices, and laboratories, while others showed hotel suites where meetings were taking place. Each set had its own audio system, and even though the volume was barely audible, it was eerie to hear snippets of sentences spoken simultaneously in a dozen different languages.
    A caption appeared at the bottom of each screen identifying the cities: Milan…Johannesburg…Zurich…Madrid…Athens…At the far wall was an eight-tier bookshelf filled with leather-bound volumes.
    Tanner Kingsley was seated behind a mahogany desk that contained a console with half a dozen different colored buttons. He was elegantly dressed in a tailored gray suit with a light blue shirt and a blue checked tie.
    Tanner rose as the two detectives walked in. “Good morning, gentlemen.”
    Earl Greenburg said, “Good morning. We’re—”
    “Yes, I know who you are. Detectives Earl Greenburg and Robert Praegitzer.” They shook hands. “Sit down, please.”
    The detectives took seats.
    Praegitzer was staring at the swiftly changing, worldwide pictures on the profusion of television sets. He shook his head in admiration. “Talk about today’s state of the art! This is—”
    Tanner raised a hand. “We’re not talking here about today’s state of the art, Detective. This technology won’t be on the market for another two or three years. With these, we’re able to watch teleconferences in a dozen different countries simultaneously. The information that pours in from our offices around the world is automatically categorized and recorded by these computers.”
    Praegitzer asked, “Mr. Kingsley, forgive a simplistic question. What does a think tank do, exactly?”
    “Bottom line? We’re problem solvers. We figure out solutions to problems that may lie ahead. Some think tanks concentrate in only one area—the military or economics or politics. We deal in national security, communications, microbiology, environmental issues. KIG functions as an independent analyst and critic of long-range global consequences for various governments.”
    “Interesting,” said Praegitzer.
    “Eighty-five percent of our research staff hold advanced degrees, and more than sixty-five percent have Ph.D.s.”
    “That’s impressive.”
    “My brother, Andrew, founded this company to assist Third World countries, so we’re also heavily involved in start-up projects there.”
    There was a sudden rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning from one of the television sets. They all turned to look.
    Detective Greenburg said, “Didn’t I read something about a weather experiment you were doing?”
    Tanner grimaced. “Yes, it’s known around here as Kingsley’s folly. It’s one of the few major failures KIG ever had. It was the one project that I most hoped would work. Instead, we’re closing it