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ROGER WAS IN a crappy mood when he went to work the next day Not only had he been huht puking up those Long Island–whatevers that he’d stupidly drunk Now he had a ulf his entire brain

He was back in the real and ugly world The world where he was a total loser There was no Sims avatar to puhing at hiht

Flushed at the thought of his actions being gossiped about throughout the hospital, Roger headed into the IT departht to his desk Maybe he’d hide there for a week, doing nothing but waiting for his eo away

Well, that was not to be He looked at today’s list frorimaced This was even more detailed than usual It would take the entire day—another very long day—one he’d wanted to be over quickly and was instead going to drag on forever He was beginning to feel like the o fer that—only his retrieval tasks were electronic

Mentally he retreated into his safe zone as he readied himself for the first computer command of the day In that safe zone, he could convince hi important That his heroic efforts would save Manhattan Meton That King Jacob would reward his efforts with a worthy prize—running the IT departments

of the combined hospitals

Today’s first task, courtesy of Manhattan Me Conrad Westfield, together with Nancy Lexington attorneys, was to dig up any electronic records that Conrad Westfield had kept of Ronald Lexington’s surgery

Fine Roger would hunt down the files

Still locked away in his safe zone, he punched the keys skillfully, entering the search using Ronald’s patient number, and waited for the systems to respond

His walk down Fantasy Lane was interrupted by the e on his screen: File Not Found

What? He lurched up in his seat How could it be not found?

He double-and triple-checked the command he’d entered

No keystroking errors

Heto search for different files on the sae array The list of files quickly populated the screen How could these files be there but the one he was looking for ? That ansould have to wait until he hadfile from the off-site electronic backup the hospital maintained