The Keepers of the Library Read Online Free PDF

Getting any work done, or are the two of you just farting around?”
    “It’s okay,” the boy answered sullenly.
    Will sniffed back some tears. “I’m sorry I put you through all of this.”
    “It’s okay. Can I go downstairs so I can use my NetPen?”
    “Don’t you want to tell your father about your award?” Nancy asked.
    “No,” the kid said, slipping away. “You tell him.”
    “Phillip?” Will called after him, but he was gone. “What award?”
    “His school had all the kids write about what February 9, 2027 means to them. All the essays were entered in a national contest. Phillip won first prize.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “It’s online, Dad. It’s everywhere,” Laura said.
    “I even reprinted it in my NetZine,” Greg added.
    Nancy had a copy in her purse. “I’ll leave it on the bedside table,” she said. “Read it when we leave. You’re in it.”
    “Am I?” Will said, unable to prevent a soft, shuddering run of sobs.

N ancy was gushing. “You look so much better!”
    Will was on a regular hospital floor, disconnected from all but a small IV port in his hand.
    “I’m feeling better,” he said.
    She’d found him walking the halls in sweatpants and polo shirt, doing a circuit of the ward. Every so often he would stop, check his pulse, grunt, and carry on.
    “Breathing okay?” she asked.
    He was. He was also pain-free except for his bruised, needle-punctured arms.
    They made their way to his room, where he claimed the chair, she, the bed.
    “They’re doing an exercise test tomorrow,” he said. “If it’s good, they’re sending me home.”
    She nodded enthusiastically, then repeated the word with emphasis. “Home.”
    He knew what she meant.
    “I hate it in Virginia. You know how I feel.”
    “I can’t leave you on your own.”
    “I don’t
want
to be alone.”
    “Will, don’t you think that your …” She lookedlike she couldn’t bear saying heart attack. “… your problem changes things?”
    “I agree,” he said. “I do think it changes things. I think you should retire. This was our tipping point. I want you and Phillip with me. Down here. Phillip can go to school in Panama City. Or not go to school at all as far as I’m concerned.”
    She closed her eyes in a show of anger and frustration. He expected her to come out fighting, but when she reopened them, it was apparent she’d reined herself in. She spoke evenly with supreme control. “We agreed not to let the Horizon change the way we live. Whatever happens, we’ll be together as a family next February 9, and we’ll be laughing or crying together, maybe a little of both. Until then, Phillip needs to stay in school, I need to keep working, and you need to keep fishing.”
    It wasn’t what he wanted to hear but it wasn’t surprising. Nancy was tough. That’s what he liked about her even when it worked against him. “Then at least spend a month in Florida until I’m all better. Then we can go back to Plan A.”
    “I can’t.”
    He lost his cool. “Why the hell not? Is it the ‘thing’ that Greg said you were busy with? Tell me how this ‘thing’ is more important than me.”
    She sighed. “It’s not more important than you. It’s a new case. A big one. I’m up to my keister in it.”
    “Christ, Nance, you’re so high on the totem pole, all you need to do is take names and bust asses these days.”
    “You’d think. I almost feel like a field agent on this one.”
    He saw the anxiety in her face. It was paradoxically calming. “You want to tell me what it is?”
    “Postcards,” she said. “We’ve got more postcards.”
    What little pink there was in his cheeks blanched out. “You’re not serious!”
    “I’m completely serious.”
    “Where? How many? Who’s got the capability or the motive? Why the hell now?”
    She motioned for him to slow down and emphatically told him she’d only talk about it if he promised he wouldn’t work himself into a state. He reached for a water