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.It wasn’t that the plane had stabilized or leveled out.One second it was rocking like a ship on rough seas, and the next it was smooth as glass.The lights went back on, too.When Peter uncovered his face, the first thing that he saw was a pair of expensive black leather dress shoes, just inches from his nose.He looked up and saw a tall, familiar-looking older man in a dark suit.“Hello, Peter,” the man said, extending a large, weathered hand to help him to his feet.The man’s resonant baritone voice was even more familiar, but he still couldn’t seem to place him in any kind of context.He wanted to ask a thousand questions, but one came out first.“Do I know you?”The man smiled, dark eyes bright and sharp.“We met when you were a child,” the man said.“Shortly after your… miraculous recovery.My name is William Bell.I am an old colleague of your father.”Peter squinted at the older man, thinking now that he might have seen him while he was in Florida, but before he could nail down a solid, specific memory, he was distracted by the dawning realization that the interior of the cabin seemed different, in a hundred small ways.The metal partitions were gone.The layout and position of the furniture was similar, yet subtly off.The color palette was still neutral, but with more cool tones than warm.There were no flowers.“Please,” Bell said.“Have a seat.”The older man eased his body slowly down into one of the cushy leather chairs, and gestured to Peter to take one opposite him on the other side of the polished, blond wood table.Peter sat and ran a finger over the surface.He was almost positive that the table had been dark wood when he first boarded the plane.His sense of unease increased when an unfamiliar female flight attendant appeared.She was slender and lovely, with a dark bob haircut and long brown legs flashing through the slit in her tight red skirt.He supposed she might just have been behind the curtain the whole time, but why?And where was the male flight attendant, who he’d last seen strapped into a folding seat that was no longer there?The woman carried a tray with coffee and all the accoutrements, which she set down on the table between them.“Thank you, Fabianne,” Bell said, filling a cup for himself and then a second one for Peter.“Cream or sugar?”“I’m sorry,” Peter said, pushing his fingers through his hair.He looked out the window.Nothing but infinite darkness.“I need a minute.” Seconds later he asked, “What exactly is going on here? Why is everything… different?”“I realize that this all seems somewhat unconventional,” Bell said, sipping his black coffee.“But I assure you, everything will be explained in due time.In fact, I believe I have a lot of the answers you’ve been searching for most of your young life.But that’s only a fringe benefit to the offer I’m prepared to make to you tonight.”Peter picked up the coffee cup and drank it black to buy time to think, even though he didn’t really want any.His stomach was roiling with anxious acid and unanswered questions.“I want you to work for me at Massive Dynamic, Peter,” Bell said.“You see, under different circumstances, your father and I would have been partners in my current… endeavors.But certain weaknesses have unfortunately prevented that from happening.Weaknesses that you do not possess.You are smart, resourceful and flexible in your thinking, without being overly burdened by traditional morality.You could take your father’s rightful place in this corporation.“We are about to embark on an epic project that will change, well, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, everything.I mean everything.But in any such project, I need men of vision on my team.“I need men like you.”“But what kind of man am I?” Peter said doubtfully.“I’m nobody, Mr.Bell.I’m not a man of vision.”He wasn’t, was he? Peter thought about that.Maybe it was time to stop running, stop trying to scam the world in one score after another.If he accepted, he’d have enough money to pay off Big Eddie, and then some.Of course, money might not be enough anymore, now that Little Eddie was dead.No doubt the Scotsman blamed Peter for it.Probably better just to set that particular debt aside as unpayable.At least with anything less than Peter’s life.“I’ve watched you, Peter,” Bell said.“You’re brilliant.You have a perception unlike anyone else.I know what you’re capable of.After all, you are your father’s son.”Peter bristled at that.Any thought of taking Bell’s offer disappeared.Peter was a lot of things, but he was not that.Would never be that.He forced himself to relax, and loosen the hands he had balled into fists.“No dice,” he said.“I can’t take the job.”There was a long silence, as Bell stared at him.Peter wondered what was going on behind those eyes
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