“You were so brave.”

By six forty-five p.m., the evening sky over Jefferson Street had gone the color of dark slate.

Claire walked down the center aisle toward console four with her cardboard box.

The blue computer monitors flickered with incoming calls from every sector of the city.

She set the box on the carpet next to her chair and took out her brass desk clock.

She put the heavy brass clock on the right side of her blotter, just beside her computer monitor.