“Be careful.”

“You are worrying for me, boss, or you are worrying for that box?”

“The box isn’t going to do anything foolish.”

Angelo smiled, a tiger showing its teeth. “I am smarter than that little box.”

“Try to be.”

With no other words he turned away, only walking but very quickly. Charles continued on his own way to a Metro station, and descended into the ground.

“King Street. Next stop Eisenhower Avenue.” The doors whirred and Charles was on the platform, looking out at the streets of Alexandria. The escalator took him down to them.

The pocket around the station was in giant twelve-story scale, of offices and plazas, tied to the rest of the city only by it being brick. Beyond, though, a few blocks of King Street brought Charles to the three-story scale of real west Alexandria, authentic and shabby from a century of pawn and secondhand existence, now getting better but still not good.

Then another five blocks east and the buildings were solid and many were very good, and rents were high and the shop windows cleaner and the doors were appealing instead of simply peeling.

Charles crossed noisy Washington Street and into the heart of crowds and crowds. At Market Square he turned right into quiet streets, then one more block, and finally up two steps, and into a place that was very, very quiet.

The first impression was always the quiet. It was the special calm silence of books aging, books that were very practiced at aging.

“Hello, Alice.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Beale.” Alice had a way of speaking that did not disturb the silence. “Mrs. Beale was just asking if I’d seen you.”

The second impression was the quiet of color. Only the part of any color that could last decades was left in the room. Even loud colors were quiet.

“Is she upstairs?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”