"Right here," Reggie said. And he pulled out the knife he'd been carrying in his back pocket, the one that folded, that he'd bought on the street a few days ago, and without another word he stabbed the guard in the heart, three, four, five, six, seven times, until he stopped moaning or moving or breathing. Reggie dragged the guard's body behind the lobby desk so no one would see it. Then he went to the elevator and pressed the up button.

It took him a second to remember what the guard had said, where he was going. Then he remembered.

He stepped into the elevator and headed up to the seventeenth floor.

– "-"-"JACK SAW HIS mom across the room, her back to him, busy filing. She didn't hear the elevator so she didn't know he was there. Half the lights were off and it looked like hardly anyone else was around. It was a little after six and the whole floor was in shadows; it was pretty spooky, and Jack knew he shouldn't do it, but he couldn't resist. He crept up until he was right behind her, she never heard a thing, and then he grabbed her around the waist and went "Boo!"

His mom jumped about three feet in the air and spun around. But when she landed she wasn't angry. She said, "Oh, my God, you scared me to death!" Then she hugged him, held him tight, and kissed him. She didn't usually hug him for so long, so when she let him go he ran across the room, right for one of the big windows. He pressed himself spread-eagle against the glass. Peering out over the city, he said, "Look, I'm flying, Mom, I'm flying!"

She was smiling at him, but he thought she looked a little… what was the word she liked to use sometimes?… edgy. Kind of like she had something to do and wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. She looked like he imagined he looked in the doctor's office right before he had to get a shot. Like something not so great was coming but then afterward you know you'll feel better.

"What is it, Mom?" he asked. He put his arms down and slid his feet together and took one step away from the window toward her. "Whatever it is…"