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Grey felt ill "I’o"

"Where do you have to go, Grey?"

"Where?" He tried to s "To work I have to go to work"

"No you don’t" Finally releasing Grey’s wrist, Paulson took a spoon froan to twirl it on the tabletop with the point of his index finger "You’ve got three hours till your shift I can tell tiodda for Paulson to say so else He suddenly needed a smoke with every molecule of his body, a force like possession "What do you want froave the spoon a final spin "What do I want, Grey? That’s the question, isn’t it? I do want soht about that" He leaned toward Grey, er His voice, when he spoke, was just above a whisper "What I want is for you to tell me about Level Four"

Grey felt his insides drop, like he’d placed a foot on a step that wasn’t there

"I just clean I’m a janitor"

"Pardon me," Paulson said "But no I don’t buy that for a second"

Grey thought again of the cameras "Richards-"

Paulson snorted "Oh, fk hiave a little wave, then slowly rotated his hand, clenching all but his er He held it that way for a few seconds

"You think anybody’s actually watching those things? All day, every day, listening to us, watching e do?"

"There’s nothing down there I swear"

Paulson shook his head slowly; Grey saw that wild look in his eyes again "We both know that’s bullshit, so can we please? Let’s be honest with each other"

"I just clean," Grey said weakly "I’ The rooht he could hear his own heart beating

"TellYou sleep okay, Grey?"

"What?"

Paulson’s eyes narroith , doyousleepokay?"

"I guess," he ave a little fatalistic laugh He leaned back and rocked his eyes toward the ceiling "You guess You guess"

"I don’t knohy you’re asking me this stuff"

Paulson exhaled sharply "Dreams, Grey" He pushed his face close to Grey’s "I’ about dreams You fellas do dreaht long One after the other I aht; that just about suht there Paulson was crazy The wheels weren’t on the road anymore, the oars were out of the water Too many months on the mountain, uys like that in Beeville, fine when they got there but who, before even a few ether that made a lick of sense

"Want to knohat I dreauess"

"I don’t want to"

"Take a fking guess"

Grey looked down at the table He could feel the ca all of this in He thought: Please For godsakes No more questions

"I don’tknow"

"You don’t"

He shook his head, his eyes still averted "No"

"Then I’ll tell you," Paulson said quietly "I dream about you"

For a ht Crazy crazy crazy

"I’ down there"

Heto feel Paulson’s hand on his elbow, stopping hiave a little wave "I’m done for now Get out of here" He twisted in his chair to look up at Grey, standing with his tray "I’ll tell you a secret, though You want to hear it?"

Grey shook his head

"You know those teeps who left?"