BY 7:00 A.M. I was in the car and headed toward GBS Syntex in Tustin.
Well, technically, I stopped off at Starbucks for a vanilla latte first, and then had to wait in a long line with a bunch of morning commuters.
So by seven-thirty I was on my way to Tustin.
I’d gotten the directions off Map Quest, and the tall glass building was hard to miss. I parked and noticed that half the cars had Cal Tech bumper stickers. I passed through the entrance and skirted a group of nerds to get to the circular reception desk. “Can you tell me where Indira Bhatia’s office is?”
The young woman frowned. “Ms. Bhatia no longer works here.”
The news hit me like a blow. I felt faint. “Are you sure?”
“She quit.”
“When?” I whispered.
“Yesterday was her last day.”
I reached for one last straw. “Do you have a number where I can reach her? An address? Do you know if she started another job? Please, I’ll take anything you can give me.”
Her frown deepened. “I’m not allowed to divulge such information, but it doesn’t matter because I don’t know. She wiped all her personal information from the computer database, which really messed up the system. Now I’m going to get stuck after work uploading all the new stuff and—”
I turned away. The hope within me died.
There was no point trying the Goddess Gaze, the receptionist was telling the truth.
If only I hadn’t waited. If only I’d listened to Tahir.
But not about his mother.
Navigating through a cloud of failure, I trudged back to my car.
Nadia was right. The human race was doomed.
All because of me.