Page 8 of Atlas
“You know very well there is no janitor. Just clean it up.”
“Me?” We were close enough to his door that I could see him better now, and the man wasn’t a dwarf. He had seemed short because he sat on an office chair.
“Yes, you.” Diane passed him.
“But if I go near that vomit, I’m going to throw up myself. I’m delicate, Diane.Delicate.”
“Deal with it, Brian.”
With a polite smile, I gave the man a small wave. “Hello.”
Brian lifted one eyebrow and let his eyes run up and down my body. “Hello there.”
As we passed him, he called out to Diane. “Is she the one, you and Atlas, were discussing this morning? I say it’s a hire. This place needs a bit of sex appeal.”
Diane didn’t respond, but I turned to give him a look that said,Seriously-dude?
Stopping four doors down, Diane motioned for me to go first. “This is us.”
“Thank you.”
The room was bigger than I’d expected and held an oval-shaped table with fourteen chairs around it. A row of windows was placed up high, giving the illusion that we were in a basement, but one of them was open, and the air was much fresher in here.
“Hi there,” I greeted the man who stood reading some papers halfway down the table. It made him look over.
“Hello.” He walked to us and reached out his hand, giving me a firm handshake. “I’m Atlas Robertson.”
“Jolene Fisher.” Hyper self-aware and eager to make a good impression, my smile ended up being too broad, and my handshake went on for too long.
Cool it down, Jolene.
It was easier said than done. The man in front of me would have made me nervous anywhere. He was more than a little handsome.
It’s not a date. His looks are irrelevant as long as he has a job for you that can pay your bills.
“Please sit.” He pulled out a chair for me first and then Diane.
Wow, this guy has good manners.
“Am I detecting a British accent?” I asked him.
“Yes. I’ve lived in the US on and off for more than ten years, but I still can’t blend in.”
“I’ve always found the British accent… charming.” I had been close to saying, attractive, which would have been true, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate.
“Thank you.”
With me at the end of the table, Diane and Atlas were sitting on each side of me.
“I’m sure you get this all the time, but Atlas isn’t a common name here. Are many people called it in England?”
“No. My parents had great ambitions for my brother and me. He’s called Maximum because it doesn’t get bigger than that, and my name represents wisdom about the world.”
“Very unique. I’m sure your parents are fun people.”
He didn’t answer me but looked at the papers on the table. “Did the recruiter explain to you what it is that we do here?”
“Yes. You study the human mind with a focus on mind control. She told me that I’d have to interview survivors of cults, and potentially do testing on psychopaths.”
