The car stopped near a massive building that glowed with a bunch of different —
colored light bulbs and other illumination
.The main part of it was circular,
with many large and small turrets with
sharp pyramidal roofs at the edges, people crowded at the entrance
,and a huge sign above the doors with an even greater variety of lights
and neon tubes: Grand
Paradise.
«Good afternoon, Mr. Oxenhorn,» he blurted,
and took the keys from Keijigen.
They got out of the car.
«Follow me,» he said to his companions
Keijigen pushed his way through the crowd.
«Max, hi, these two are with me,» he said to the guard
.
«Yes, sir,» he said, and his eyes widened
in surprise. He’d never seen the chief look like this before
in poor condition: the right leg hung
in tatters, soiled and torn in several places.-
46
ka, the strange satellites – it all looked incomprehensible,
strange, but Max, of course, did not dare to ask about what had happened
.
They passed through the vending machine room and went upstairs. The
main elevator was surrounded by mirrors in beautiful gold
frames with intricate patterns, flowers, and birds. Ryo-
ana started to stare at them, but after a few seconds
the sound of a bell announced that they had arrived.
Keijigen strode confidently down a narrow
corridor with many closed mahogany doors.
There were paintings on the walls, and electric
candelabra decorated with intricate designs glowed.
Suddenly, a small bald man
with thick glasses came out of one of the doors. He ran
a few steps behind Keijigen and called out,
«Mr. Oxenhorn, I’ve been calling you all morning, where did you
go?» You should definitely take a look…
Keijigen stopped and asked him,
«Tommy, have you seen Oksana and Liliana?
«No, sir… not since last night, which is very
strange – neither you, nor Mrs. Wizzle, nor Mrs. Tarden-
I’m sick, and the phones aren’t available. I was afraid
you’d all gone somewhere…
Keijigen frowned, a faint
trace of sadness showing on his face.
«What have you got there?» he said softly.
Tommy glanced at his companions.
«Speak in front of them,» the chief said.
«Mr. Oxenhorn,» Tommy
said, opening the folder and pulling out some papers. «The IRS
requires us to -" he began running his finger down the page. —
Keijigen snatched the paper out of Tommy’s hand and quickly scanned
the page with his eyes.