Adam Crain's Arc

Chapter 5 of 8

The day after the shed, Adam could not write to Willem and could not find him. The corridors had cameras. The library had cameras. Adam needed one place the lenses did not reach. He walked the atrium at the slow pace of a man with nowhere to be, and watched the angles. The bronze family statue at the center stood on a wide base. The father's shoulder threw a shadow against the back plinth. Adam crouched as if to tie his boot. From that crouch, he could not see any camera. No camera could see him. He slid the small notebook under the lip of the base that night, pencil tucked in the band. Inside, he wrote one line in the cipher he and Willem had used as boys with farm ledgers. Are you still in. He left the book and walked away without looking back. For two days he checked at odd hours. On the third morning the page was turned. Willem's hand, blunt and square: Yes. Give me time. Adam carried the ring after that. Willem had pressed it into his palm at the baths, a thin band with a heart cut into the face. Adam kept it in his pocket through every shift. He took it out only on his bunk, where the camera caught the door but not the inside corner of the mattress. He turned the band between his fingers and waited. He wrote one more line under the statue: Tell me when. Willem wrote back: Soon. Trust me. The waiting wore him down. He logged his valve repair. He filed the report on the chief's desk. He passed Willem once in the farm corridor and did not turn his head. He sat on his bunk that night with the ring closed in his fist and let himself picture Willem at the door. He knew the picture was childish. He held it anyway. The lights dimmed for the sleep cycle. He did not undress. At midnight someone knocked, two soft taps. Adam opened the door. Willem stood in the corridor in dark clothes, a coil of wire over his shoulder, boots laced tight. He put a finger to his lips and stepped inside. "Camera's on a loop," he said. "Six minutes. I cut into the line from the maintenance crawl." He looked at Adam's hand. "You still have the ring." Adam opened his palm. Willem nodded once. "Get your coat. I have a plan. There's a room she doesn't watch. I'll show you." Adam pulled on his coat and slid the ring onto his finger where his hand would be hidden in the pocket. He followed Willem into the corridor. The question he could not ask was answered. Willem was still in. The next problem was already moving toward them down the dark hall.