The Stone Beyond

there? Is there somebody there?” The footsteps kept up, but that was her only answer. Jennifer’s heart was beating faster, mouth getting dry as she scanned the level. Could be coming from the level above or below, Jennifer told herself. Just get into the building, it’s not far now!
Jennifer headed off again, walking faster toward the hospital building. But the other footsteps returned, and there was more than one pair, getting louder and moving faster as Jennifer approached the double doors, getting closer, footsteps louder behind her. Jennifer walked faster still, footsteps filling the chamber around her.
Then a man stepped out in front of her and turned to block her path. Jennifer gaped and stopped in fear, a moment needed to refocus on who and what was happening around her. The guard was familiar, leather belt and baton and other gear, as near to a cop as she was going to get.
“Oh, right,” Jennifer said, trying to disguise her fear as it quickly wound down. She looked back to see nobody behind her, then back at the beefy fellow, young but his faint blond hairline already receding. “Oh, Wilkes, hello.”
The security guard, Willie Wilkes, nodded as he stood his ground; fat legs splayed, hands on that big belt. “That’s right,” he said in a slightly Southern accent Jennifer couldn’t quite place and didn’t care to. “You gave me a good talkin’-to ‘bout the bums.”
“The … the vagrants, yes. Any … um, any progress with that?”
After a long, mean minute, Willie Wilkes coughing and spitting the wad to the concrete floor before wiping his chin. “They come and go, Miss Carlisle, like I told ya.”
“Right,” Jennifer said, “well, there you go. So, keep up the good work.” Jennifer walked up to and past him, but Willie stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Jennifer stopped, her heart beating faster.
She asked him in a sterner tone, “Is there a problem?”
After a threatening silence, he answered, “I was gonna ask you.” He looked around behind her. “You were running?”
“Oh, um, well, I’m running a little late.”
“That all?” Jennifer glanced around the empty lot behind her, then back at the hefty guard in front of her. He went on, “Because you never know who might be watching you in a place like this.”
Jennifer felt her fighting instinct rising to the fore. “Is that so?”
“Sure is,” Willie said. “Y’never know where any of us security guards’ll be at any given time. You might not be so … so lucky next time, to find me right here.”
Jennifer swallowed hard, the tension becoming almost unbearable. She was alone with the man, twice her weight, and he was clearly as aware of that as she was. And there was still the matter of the other footsteps, no figment of her imagination.
“Yeah, that … that was lucky for me,” Jennifer said with a forced smile, “and now I’m going to work. I’ll let you do the same.” Jennifer pushed her way around him and into the hospital. But she could feel his stare on her, watching with what was without a doubt a disquieting interest, probably a great deal more.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jennifer walked with her father down the hallway, each shaking their heads. Burton said, “I’m sure it won’t get too bad, Jennifer. Just give it a little time, it’ll blow over.”
Jennifer wanted to believe it. “What about the guards? Just … just a weird misunderstanding, right?”
But Burton didn’t answer quickly enough to give her much solace. And when he answered, he could find even less. “I’m sure they didn’t mean to hurt or frighten you, Jennifer, no, but … they might have been trying to make a point.”
“What point? That they can hurt me later on? What if they can find out where I live? They can, I’m sure they can!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Jennifer. Men like that, they’re … coarse, crude. They may strike, let’s take it as a sign of that, but nothing more … for now.”
Jennifer nodded, unable to contradict his logic yet again. But she wasn’t going to take any bullying from her security staff, not when something told her that they could be turned to her cause’s advantage.
“Okay, Dad —” Reading his glance at her, over the bridge of his nose, she corrected herself with, “Doctor Carlisle.”
He smiled and gave her a nod and walked down the hall just before another familiar voice called her name. Jennifer turned to see Shin Xu walking down the hall toward her. “How are things with the security team? You talked to them about the vagrants?”
“I did,” Jennifer said, wondering if Shin Xu hadn’t put Willie and the other guards to frighten her, hopefully scare her off the job. “And they were very friendly and cooperative,” Jennifer added.
“Is that so?”
“It is,” Jennifer said.
“So there’s no reason for me to worry that they’re going to go on strike?”
“Strike? I was supposed to make sure they kept the vagrants out of the bushes … nothing about a strike!”
Shin Xu looked her up and down. “I see. So your intention is to do the very least that the job requires. That’s most disappointing, Jennifer; I’d expected better.”
“You expected me to pull my skirt up over my head and go running back to Colorado, Admnistrator. And I wonder … why is that? It’s not just about my father, the nepotism. I threaten you, for some reason. And that can only be because you have something to hide, something you're afraid I’ll find?” Shin Xu just stared her down, saying nothing. So Jennifer went on, “Maybe I should start looking a little deeper then, Shin Xu? Maybe I’m on the right track after all.”
Shin Xu stared her down, neither woman willing to give. Finally Jennifer turned and walked away herself, down the hall and to the