Chapter 24 Wednesday, 1445 hours (2:45 PM)

Brian and Evan were discussing things in Brian’s room.

"You know Evan, I can’t take much more of this. I’m OK with Joshua for now, I think, but I’m going to have to go into hiding soon. I’m sure of it. I just don’t know when," said Brian.

"Yeah, I know. I’ve thought about swimming out of here, down the Bronx River," said Evan.

Brian laughed. "You’ve got to get a better idea than that.You’d freeze to death before you got a hundred yards."

"I know, but whenever I try to visualize a plan, all I can see is bats."

Brian nodded understandingly as they thought together in silence. After a while Evan said, "How could this happen? Brian, until when?, yesterday?, you were president of CALF. We weren’t murderers then."

"No, but it’s been gradual, little by little. You know the saying, Sometimes they raise the temperature of the bath water so slowly you don’t know when to scream’," Brian answered.

This time Evan nodded silently. Here in Brian’s room, even though it was just a marginally converted office, things seemed amenable to discussion, like a college dorm.

"I think it’s time to scream now," said Evan after a while.

The tranquillity was broken by a rough knock at the door.

"Brian, Open up," came a voice from the other side.

Brian heaved himself out of the plush chair and opened the door to admit a techie Calfer.

"Where the hell have you been. We’ve been looking all over for you. Didn’t you hear us on your walkie-talkie?" he asked.

"Uh, No," said Brian temporizing. "Maybe my batteries are low or something," he continued unclipping the ever present communication device from his belt.

"Let me see that," said the Calfer grabbing the walkie-talkie with techie zeal.

Brian watched helplessly as the Calfer fiddled with the device. Of course there was nothing wrong with the batteries. Brian worked on another story.

"Yeah, you’re right," said the techie. "There is something wrong with this walkie-talkie."

"Really?" asked an astonished Brian. "I mean you really are able to tell so quickly?"

"Yeah, sure."

The Calfer fiddled some more.

"Hmmmph," he said. "The batteries seem to be fine."

He unclipped his own unit and flipped through the channels.

"Uh Oh," he said, "Mine’s not working either. Something funny’s going on."

The Calfer gave an ‘Oh well’ shrug and got back to the purpose of his search.

"You’d better get to Joshua fast. He has some video he wants you to edit, and he says he wants it now."

Brian let Evan stay in his room and followed the Calfer back to Zoo Center. A couple of minutes later, he was in the makeshift video room editing footage from The World of Reptiles. While a certain part of his mind indeed reacted to the horrific footage on a content level, Brian here was in his element. Here, he was the professional, the artist, the critic. He monitored the footage on his editing deck.

"Amateurs, bloody amateurs," he said scornfully.