Eugenic

He gripped the cold steel doorknob as he caught the putrid scent of ozone and burnt wood left behind from the electricity hurled from above. The nauseating odor permeated all the crevices of the narrow hallway. He was startled to find Ernest’s office door unlocked. He hesitated at first, but his sweaty hands pushed the door open. He entered Ernest’s office, draped in total darkness. The point of no return had been reached, and the wheels were in motion. Cardinal Walters didn’t know what to consider at this time, but his mind was made up and he would now follow through with his irresistible pursuit of the truth about Ernest. Yet, he was now driven by fight or flight, since venturing outside could mean becoming a target of the storm’s fire.

Unexpectedly, the civil distress siren located down the street screeched. Its undulating shrill was deafening enough to hurt Cardinal Walters ears, even from inside, something that staggered him. He realized that one of the hallways windows near Ernest’s office was partially opened, allowing the building to be swamped with the alert sound. He turned about face to the black room, the lightning casting ghostly shadows from Ernest’s modern artwork. The flash revealed a glass casing to the left hand side of Ernest’s wide desk. Another flicker exposed his issued laptop inside the casing.

Cardinal Walters approached Ernest’s desk and upholstered chair and began searching the contents of his desk, trying to be careful not to disturb the arrangement of papers, pens, pencils, etc. The beam of his penlight stretched across the organized array inside his desktop, overpowering his dark adaptation. After finding nothing in Ernest’s desk that perked his fleeting interest, the cardinal’s attention shifted to the encased laptop. He opened the casing with his shaky hands and extracted the laptop. With still tremulous hands, the cardinal fired up the laptop, knowing well he had exceeded his ability to turn back. He was committed, but the engagement was nerve pounding.