Hamza sat, stunned.
“Okay,” Miko said. “Now tell me why we need an island.”
Chapter 9
“Christ, look at this,” Eddie said.
Union Square was filled by a mass of people—a demonstration of some kind, maybe a protest. Signs poked out of the crowd hereand there, too far away for Leigh to read.
“Don’t turn, Eddie,” Leigh said. “I want to see what’s happening.”
“If I don’t get off Broadway, we’ll get stuck in that clusterfuck,” Eddie said, pointing to the snarl of traffic ahead ofthem, cars inching along through the overflow of pedestrians from the square. “We’re already going to be late, and if we don’tturn, we’re going to be so late that the guy you’re supposed to interview will be long gone by the time we get there.”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Leigh said. “Just get closer.”
Eddie shrugged and left the queue of cars preparing to turn off Broadway. The van inched closer to Union Square, and Leighrealized that most of the signs had at least one word in common—Oracle.
“I know what this is,” she said. “The Oracle demonstration.”
“That’s today?”
“Sure as hell looks like it,” Leigh answered. “I want to get in there. This is huge. I had no idea it would be this big.”
“Oh, Leigh, no. You can’t.”
“This is more important. We can get past the barricade with our press pass.”
Eddie’s hands remained frozen at ten and two on the steering wheel.
“I’m sure New York 1 has it covered,” he said.
“Just do it, Eddie!”
Leigh tossed her notes for the interview with some celebrity chef she had been scheduled to meet—oh, fifteen minutes ago—onthe van’s dash. She turned and snagged her purse from the back and plopped it on her lap, rummaging through it for a notebookand a pen. Tools secured, she shoved the bag to the floor and started composing a cold open, jotting down questions for prospectiveinterviewees in the margins.
She felt frigid air as Eddie rolled down the window to flash his press credentials at the police officers manning the barricade,and was dimly aware of the van’s slow progress as it nosed its way through the crowd to find a spot to park.
“All right,” Eddie said, turning off the van’s engine. “Let’s do this and go. You’d better stick up for me if Reimer getsa hair up his ass about it.”
“He won’t fire us for missing some dumb interview,” Leigh said, checking her makeup in the mirror on the sunshade. “It wasfiller, just in case some other piece ran a little short on the edit.”
“He won’t fire you because you missed the interview. He’ll fire you because he already thinks he should have fired you becauseof the stunt you pulled with that Site story you ran. I don’t know why you insist on giving him ammunition by doing shit likethis.”
Leigh looked at him, annoyed.
“If that’s how you feel, then why did you stop?”
Eddie grinned at her and opened the driver’s-side door.
“Because I want to see what’s happening too. And if Reimer does get pissed, I know it’ll all land on you. I’m too talentedto replace.”
Leigh snorted.
They got out of the van, Eddie sliding open the passenger-side door to pull out his camera, battery packs, and assorted additionalgear. Leigh checked her own equipment—her wireless microphone and its connection to the signal pack clipped to her belt inthe back, under her coat. Satisfied that everything was working properly, she buttoned up her long coat and adjusted her scarf,pulled on her gloves, and snagged her notebook from the front seat of the van.
Eddie was still getting ready, so Leigh looked out into the crowd, trying to get a sense of what was happening, trying toremember what she’d read about the demonstration.
At the far end of Union Square, a strident, amplified voice rang out over the crowd. She couldn’t make out the words, butevery so often everyone would react—boos and cheers in equal number.
The signs waving above the crowd were finally visible—a schizophrenic assortment of pro- and anti-Oracle views. save us from ourselves, oracle! oracle = hope.
the oracle lies for the devil! was a popular one, printed in vibrant red ink, with horns and a spiked tail added to the O in Oracle.
Mounted police were stationed at the edges of the park, and more officers patrolled through the crowd in groups of two orthree, watching carefully for . . . what? From what Leigh could remember, the rally was part of a mass call to the Oracleto reveal himself, one of a number of similar assemblies happening at the same time in cities across the world. But she hadn’tever thought it would be this big—ten thousand people had crammed into the park, if not more.
“You know Reimer won’t run this, either, no matter what we get,” Eddie said, hoisting the camera to his shoulder. “You aren’ton the news beat. He couldn’t have been clearer about that. It’s a principle thing for him.”
“I know that,” Leigh snapped. “This isn’t about Johannes Reimer, and it’s not about Urbanity dot fucking com, for God’s sake.We’re reporters. This is news. We should document it.”
Eddie pointed at live broadcast antennas poking out into the air above the crowd at various points around the square.
“You don’t think those guys have things squared away? I don’t like the vibe in here.”
Leigh looked away from the crowd. She gave Eddie the sweetest smile she could muster.
“Just ten minutes, Eddie, for me. One or two interviews, and we can go. Maybe we’ll find something amazing, and even if itnever runs, we can leak it to the net, put it on our résumés and get out of this shitty gig.”
“Your shitty gig is my fifteen-year career, kid. I’m perfectly happy.”
God help me if I ever get that happy, Leigh thought.
She put her hand on his arm. She looked into his eyes, giving him an intentionally oversincere smile.
“Please,” she said.
Eddie looked back at her for a moment, then rolled his eyes.
“Fine, ten minutes,” Eddie said. “Pulitzers all around, I’m sure.”
Leigh circled the outskirts of the crowd, Eddie following, looking for someone to put on camera. The demonstrators were amixed bunch—age, gender, apparent walks
