Into The Darkness Read Free Page B

Richard.
    Dylan
and Kevin did not fit the nerdy computer geek stereotype. Dylan was physically
fit with a rugged physique. He had just turned forty and was older than Kevin,
who had recently graduated from a university in the Midwest. Although Kevin was
a jogger, routinely exercised, and was very physically fit, he chose not to run
with Dylan. He never could maintain Dylan’s fast pace. Henry was older and
nearing retirement. The joke around the office was that Henry’s first job was
programming an abacus. Richard and Henry fit nicely into the nerdy stereotype.
They never exercised, worshipped cable television, and loved to eat junk food.
    “Your
phone isn’t working either?” asked Dylan.
    Kevin
shook his head, adding, “I tried to turn on my laptop to check my email, and…nothing.”
    “No
email?” Dylan asked.
    “No
computer. It’s dead,” replied Kevin.
    Dylan
looked down at his cell phone again and tried to think of an explanation why
Kevin’s phone and laptop would have died, too. “I bet it was a power surge.
Your phone and computer were plugged into an outlet during the night and I bet
there was a power surge.” Dylan was anxiously tapping his phone on the table. “They
got fried. That explains the blackout. Something must be wrong at a power
station nearby.”
    “Nope,
my laptop and phone weren’t plugged in,” Kevin replied, shaking his head in
frustration.
    The
orange glow of the morning sun came through the dusty windows of the hotel’s
breakfast area. The glare from the sunrise reflected off the wall clock’s glass
cover, capturing Dylan’s attention. He had just realized the clock’s hands had
not moved since he sat down. Baffled, he stared at the clock on the wall and could
not believe the incredible coincidence.
    “Kevin,
I’m going back to my room. You can use my laptop to get your email. Sit tight, I’ll
be back in a flash.”
    Dylan
stood up and briskly went into the hallway and toward his door. He slid his
keycard to disengage the electric lock to his room, but got no response. He
tried swiping the card slow, fast, upward, and finally downward through the
slot. It would not work. Frustrated, he mumbled to himself, “Shit...happy Monday.”
    Feeling
defeated, Dylan slowly returned to the hotel’s breakfast room that he left just
moments earlier. Kevin, eating a bowl of cold cereal, had moved to a table
closer to the large picture windows that were now letting in the first few rays
of morning sunlight.
    Dylan
held up his hotel door’s keycard and said, “Guess what? The electric lock
doesn’t work.”
    Kevin
looked at his own keycard and asked, “Then how do you get into your room?”
    “I’m
going to find out,” Dylan said, as he turned to go to the front desk.
    There
were several people standing by the desk, all with the same complaint. They had
closed their room doors and now, since the keycards did not work, they could
not get back in. The clerk looked flustered, confused, and fatigued. He was
doing the best he could under the circumstances.
    “I’m
sorry, everyone,” explained the clerk, “Maintenance should be here by now. My
phones are down and I can’t get hold of anyone.”
    Dylan
knew the clerk just had begun working at the hotel recently and only worked the
night shift. The young fellow probably could not help him, but he felt
obligated to interject himself into the conversation. He stepped up to the desk
and held his keycard up for the clerk to see. “Isn’t there a real key to use in
the door in this type of situation?”
    “Yeah,
but I don’t have the tools to take the faceplate off the door lock to access
the key hole. The maintenance staff has that and they know how to do it. I’m
really sorry, the hotel manager, maintenance, and housekeeping should have been
here by now. This is totally weird—”
    The
clerk stopped speaking as he recognized the tall man with the backward baseball
cap and coveralls coming through the front lobby. It was Lee, the