“Come on pal, I haven’t got all day. We don’t have time for this. You coming or what?”
Freezing, Samuel realized instantly that this was one of those moments that people talked about having in their lives. It was a moment where if he made one decision, his life could end up going in an entirely different direction. It was crunch time and he only had a few seconds to decide.
“Forget this,” the man huffed, turning from Samuel and letting the door start to fall in on him, shutting the entrance off. He had to make a decision now or it was going to be too late. Lurching forward, Samuel grabbed the door just before it slammed closed and locked him out again, wincing as it continued to close just with his fingers in between it and the frame.
“Wait!” He shouted out to the unnamed man, yanking the door open and walking into the building after him. “I’m coming.”
“About time,” the man rolled his eyes. “Come on then. The elevators aren’t working.”
The long climb to the nineteenth floor – where Samuel assumed they were heading – was carried out in silence. On several occasions, Samuel opened his mouth to ask the stranger a question but each time he changed his mind and decided against it. He racked his brain trying to remember if the man worked in the building and if he’d ever seen him before, but there wasn’t even the slightest bit of recognition there. Trident was such a big company he could’ve passed by this man every day for a year and not registered his face in his memory. For some reason it had been different with R Hauser, but for this stranger, Samuel was drawing a blank.
One thing he did get correct though was where they were heading. When the two of them finally reached the nineteenth floor Samuel was out of breath and struggling to keep up. The first man had set quite a pace and not once looked back to see whether Samuel was keeping up or not, not seeming concerned by his presence at all.
“After you,” he stepped to one side and held the door open for Samuel, surprising him with his politeness until that same frightened thought popped into his head and Samuel found himself wondering once more whether this was a trap of some description. The man didn’t budge though, raising his eyebrows and indicating for Samuel to walk through onto the floor. Swallowing, Samuel forced himself forward again. He had worked at Trident all his life; there should be nothing there for him to be afraid of.
As soon as he was inside, a sense of relief washed over Samuel so powerfully he almost felt his knees go weak. The man who had collected him from downstairs dashed off and left Samuel by the door, heading off to continue with whatever other tasks he had. He hadn’t been rude or suspicious; he was just working hard and committed to getting each job done. The nineteenth floor of Trident was in full operation; people walked around at a brisk pace, the buzz of conversation in the air just like any other day at the office. It was incredible but also confusing.
“How is this all here,” Samuel mumbled to himself, glancing around the floor and trying to catch sight of someone he recognized. Unlike the other floors below, the nineteenth – and twentieth above it – were built as open plan, used for senior staff members, human resources, administration and the like. Samuel didn’t spend a lot of time up here in his usual activities, but couldn’t deny he’d always preferred the layout.
“Caitlin!” Suddenly seeing a woman who normally worked alongside Samuel in marketing, he dashed toward her and caught her attention. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“Oh my days, Sam! Boy am I glad to see you. Where have you been?”
“What do you mean? I had no idea all of this was happening up here. Is Rodney around? Or Camilla?”
Caitlin shook her head. Things had been non-stop on the nineteenth floor ever since the broadcast that went out by The Dorchester Group, the company jumping into action and deciding that even if they were going to go down, they needed to go down on their own terms. The revelation involving Claire Manning had been an intrinsic moment too, but looking at Samuel, Caitlin knew immediately that wasn’t something she should be sharing with him straight away.
“Let me go and find Graham or Jasper, they’re sort of spearheading this movement now. Wait here.”
The sun was just starting to rise on the horizon, illuminating the city outside of the windows that wrapped around the nineteenth floor. Samuel didn’t dare look down, even the thought of the drop causing his vertigo to turn him slightly dizzy, but he thought about how different the city would be today compared to yesterday. So much had changed and as the sun rose higher in the sky, it would only make those changes more apparent. The people of New York might have rested through the night, but today was a new day and Samuel was certain they would be searching for answers again.
“Samuel, finally!” Spinning around with a smile on his face at the sound of yet another familiar voice, Samuel watched as Graham Potter approached him, his hand outstretched. “Just the man we need. How are you?”
“Graham, hey,” Samuel shook his friend’s hand, having known Graham for a number of years by now. “I’m good. Confused though. What is going on? All I’ve seen is what’s been broadcast on the news.”
“Oh man,” Graham shook his head. “I hope you don’t believe all that rubbish. Come on pal, come
