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Steve stayed behind in the garage, standing silent guard over the car; without my press pass and invitation, he’d nevera scene, and we didn’t want to do that Not yet I was pretty sure there were a lot of scenes in h that we could keep on having a future

It took a second blood test to get out of the garage and into the elevator The third blood test caet out of the elevator How they expectedthe ten seconds I’d spent between floors was a mystery tounit if it hadn’t happened at least once The elevator doors didn’t open until the light over the door went green, and I spared a moment to wonder what happened when more than one person took the elevator at a time Then I stepped out into the foyer and into a world that had never known the Rising

The mystery of the extensive security was solved in an instant, because this huge, lavishly appointed rooht from the pre-infection world No one carried visible weapons or wore protective gear A few folks had the clear plastic strips over their eyes that signaled the presence of retinal Kellis-Amberlee, but that was it The place even had picture s, for God’s sake It took careful scrutiny to see that they were holograe of a city too perfect to be real Maybe that’s hoas once, but I doubt it; corruption’s been with us a lot longer than the living dead

Even without visible weapons, there was security A man with a portable bar-code scanner in one hand stopped ia Mason, After the End Tie, handing it over He swiped it through his scanner and passed it back, frowning at the display “You should haveto this, Shaun Mason has already checked in with those credentials”

“If you’ll check your list of associated journalists, you’ll see that we’re both registered as being attached to the Ry to win hi wit He had the look of a natural bureaucrat, and that sort of person almost never yields from the stated outline of their job

“Please hile I access the list” He ly careless; I could see four people in the croere now looking in our direction, and none of theuards on duty were being that blatant, the math of professional securityunit beeped as it connected to the wireless network and queried the files available on the press corps cleared for entrance Eventually, it stopped beeping, and the officious little man’s frown deepened

“Your credentials are in order,” he said, sounding as if the very fact that I hadn’t lied was inconveniencing him “You may proceed”

“Thank you” The watchers had ate-crashing I clipped the badge back toseveral feet betweenup to tap my ear cuff “Shaun,” I muttered, quietly

There was a pause, the trans a connection Then Shaun’s voice, close by and startled: “Hey, George I figured you’d be neck-deep in site reviews by now What gives?”

“Re the crowd as I moved tohat I presu hall “The really funny one?”

Shaun’s surprise faded, replaced by wariness “Yeah, I reure out the rest of the joke?”

“Uh-huh, I did Some friends of mine found it online Where are you?”

“We’re at the podiu hands What’s the punch line?”

“It’ll be funnier if I tell you in person How do I get to the podiu doors and head for the back of the hall”

“Got it Georgia out” I tapped the ear cuff, killing the connection, and walked on

Shaun and Rick were a few feet to the left of the crowd of people the senator was glad-handing his way through They’d paid for the privilege ofpredicted as our next president, and they were by God going to meet him, even if it was only for the few seconds it took to shake a hand and share a smile On those few seconds are presidencies made Here, behind the believable “safety” of a double-checked guest list and that guest list’s triple-checked infection status, old-school politicians felt free to revert to their old habits, pressing the flesh like it had never gone out of style You could tell the ones ere genuinely young froenerative treat ones were the ones looking nauseated by all the hurown up in this political culture They just had to live with it until they became the old men at the top of the hill

The senator didn’t look uncomfortable at all The man was in his element, all toothy smiles and bits of practical wisdom sliced down to sound-bite size in case one of the nearby reporters was broadcasting on an open band He’d known to do that sort of thing long before we joined his cae had forced hireat

Shaun atching for le thatto hide it They relaxed slightly as he saw h the crowd, and he nodded for‘Where’s Tate?’