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
Not at all. Brandon Kyle was not a thief.
No, he was about to make a contribution. He was about to take something that was already on his laptop and add it to the Arrival system.
A donation. A gift.
Kyle opened the door and started on the necessary keystrokes to ensure a satisfactory delivery.
The lights in the gymnasium dimmed slightly as a large screen on the stage at the end of the room lit up.
Sandra couldn’t take any credit for the video that was about to play. She’d been told this had been put together by some whiz-bang team in New York. There were rumors a big-name director had been hired to make it. Scorsese or Zemeckis or maybe even that M. Night guy whose last name Sandra could never remember, the one whose career stalled for awhile after making The Sixth Sense, although she kind of liked that one about the alien invasion, with Mel Gibson.
The video was all Arrivals, of course. Arrivals on the streets of Manhattan, Arrivals crossing the Golden Gate, Arrivals driving past the Lincoln Memorial.
The voice-over, which sounded like James Earl Jones, or someone doing a very good impression of him, said, “The future, ladies and gentlemen, is here. Behold, the Arrival, the first affordable, entirely reliable, one-hundred-percent-safe, totally electric, nonpolluting self-driving automobile! A car that is so intuitive, that is so capable of taking over every aspect of travel, that it doesn’t even need a steering wheel. This is the biggest revolution in travel since the invention of the wheel! When you’re in an Arrival, you’re not just in one car. You are, effectively, in every other Arrival on the road, because they work as one to serve you. They’re of one mind, and their goal is to deliver you safely, and on time, to your destination. That’s why every Arrival greets you the same way: “I’ll take you there.” And that’s exactly what we’ll do. And now, the president of Arrival, Lisa Carver!”
The lights came up and Lisa Carver strode out to center stage. Sandra thought, for a woman who’d just tossed her cookies she looked pretty good. Media types weren’t inclined to applaud, but there was a contingent from the company itself, and plenty of locals had been invited for the festivities who showed no hesitation in putting their hands together.
Carver waved and smiled, showing off a set of perfect teeth. They’d probably cost her as much as one of her cars, Sandra thought. Maybe more.