It was amazing what a couple tons of granite can protect you from. Inside the lobby you’d never know this building sat at one of the busiest corners in San Francisco, with thousands of screeching brakes and blaring horns going past every hour. Inside, life seemed sane and calm and peaceful. If only Gus could stay right here for a few hours to think things through. Removed from the noise and bustle and confusion of life, he could surely come to the right decision. If the security guard hadn’t started to eye him suspiciously and finger the gun at his waist, Gus might have slid down to the floor and stayed there until he’d made up his mind.

Instead he pushed the door open and let the sounds of the traffic wash over him along with the cool air that was being pushed into the city by the oncoming layer of fog.

Even out in the noise it isn’t bad, Gus thought. Maybe it wasn’t the isolation of the stone lobby that had made him feel so calm and so free. It was simply being away from home.

Gus glanced at his watch. His flight didn’t leave for another four hours. Normally he’d already be worried about missing the plane and would spend the next half hour debating whether he should take BART or spring for a taxi. But right now he didn’t feel any pressure to get to the airport. He didn’t want to go home. He had a strange feeling that whatever decision he made, it would be easier to reach here.

So Gus would stay for a few hours. He’d stroll through the financial district, maybe toddle down toward the waterfront, where he could watch the ferries come and go. Or he could head over to Chinatown and atone for his lunch by ordering some real Chinese food. Maybe he’d just walk. Walk and think. And if he wasn’t done thinking by eight o’clock, he could find a cheap hotel and postpone his return until the morning. Worst-case scenario was he’d get bad news from Armitage after he’d rescheduled his flight and be stuck here for no reason.