Articles

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One — The Shadow Daniel saw the shape on a Tuesday evening in May, in a parking garage in Crystal City, on the third level, near the elevator, after he had come down from the fourteenth floor of an Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty — The Kill Switch Chapter Twenty — The Kill Switch The agency tried the kill switch at full scale on April 28. It had tried once before, after the first death, locally, in a single metropolitan area, on Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen — The Arrangement Daniel Ross found the writing in his notebook on a Tuesday. He had not written it. He knew he had not written it because it was on a page he had not yet reached, four Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen — The Question Chapter Eighteen — The Question The third nominee was not sworn in. The Secretary of Commerce remained in the Marriott in Crystal City for eleven days, on the fourteenth floor, with the agents and the Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen — The Second Death Chapter Seventeen — The Second Death The second death changed the shape of the country in a way the first death had not. The first death had been a cardiac event. The country had Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen — The Instructions Chapter Sixteen — The Instructions The communication arrived at the White House on the morning of March 19, five days after the Vice President’s death and forty-six hours after the funeral, by a means that Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen — The Vice President Chapter Fifteen — The Vice President The Naval Observatory sits on seventy-three acres of high ground in the northwest quadrant of Washington, between Embassy Row and the National Cathedral, and the Vice President’s residence Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen — The Pattern Begins Daniel Ross was back in the United States. He had been back for three weeks. He was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington, Virginia, that cost more than his apartment in Indianapolis had Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 13

# Chapter Thirteen — Awareness The first thing was temperature. Not the temperature of the room. Not the temperature of the air. The temperature of the body. The warm body that held the bills. The body that radiated heat at Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve — The Second Application The discovery was an accident. The accidents, in this story, are always the important things. The planned things are the things that go wrong. The accidental things are the things that open the door. Read more

By Randell Hynes, ago