Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Praise for Linwood Barclay
- Also by Linwood Barclay
- About the Publisher
“Please listen to me,” Sandra said, cutting her off. “I have never had a day where it was more important that things do not go wrong. This Arrival gig is huge, and if I can pull it off, there’s no telling what it might lead to. What I need more than anything”—and at this point, her voice began to break—“is support from the home team. All this stupid bickering, this has to stop. We have to pull together or I’m telling you right now, we are not going to make it. This is a one-income family right now, in case you haven’t noticed, and this is a make-it or break-it day. Am I getting through?”
Katie and Archie slowly nodded.
“So what I do not need today, when I am in the middle of choreographing an AV display for a multi-million-dollar company and dealing with care and feeding of a bunch of media types, is a call on my cell saying that you”—and she looked at Archie—“and your anarchist buddies have flown a drone into the flight path of Air Force One, or you”—and she fixed her eyes on Katie—“calling me from the mall to say your card has been declined and store security have detained you.”
Katie blinked. “When has that ever—”
Sandra raised a hand. “Do you guys get what I’m saying?”
They each took a moment to surrender.
“Yeah,” said Archie.
“Yeah,” said Katie.
“Good,” Sandra said, taking a deep breath. She glanced at her watch. “I have to get out of here.”
She grabbed the stack of press kits and strode out of the kitchen.
Archie and Kate exchanged glances. It was Archie who spoke first:
“If you think you’re babysitting me, you are out of your mind.”
Four
Katie and Archie followed their mother out to her car.
Well, not her car exactly. Sandra Montrose’s car was a five-year-old Ford Focus, which she had bought from the Garrett Island Ford dealership. But the Focus was on the mainland now, parked with hundreds of other islanders’ vehicles. There were five car dealerships on the island. In addition to Ford, there were GM, Honda, Toyota, and Chrysler outlets, and their managers had been the most vocal opponents to the Arrival corporation’s plans. They’d have to forgo a month without sales or service income, they’d argued. When they were on the verge of suing Arrival, the self-driving car company settled, paying them what their estimated income would have been for the month, but the dealers had to agree to surrender the keys to all the vehicles they had on their lots. Arrival didn’t want some rogue joyrider taking a car from a dealer lot and sabotaging their autonomous fleet.