Two figures were watching a video monitor.

“Do you think he will continue to follow our lead?” one asked.

“Certainly,” said the other. “He is a Type-N personality. The tasks so far were designed only to commit him to a purpose. That has succeeded. He now has much less control over the outcome than he would like to believe.”

- – -

Daniel patted dust from his shirt and picked up the envelope. He was beginning to get exasperated, but felt compelled to continue.

“If this says, ‘You may already have won!’ I’m going to be well and truly pissed-off.”

The envelope contained a $50 bill, and a single sheet of blue paper. He read the message that looked like it had been written using an old-fashioned manual typewriter.

Proceed downstairs. Exit through front door. Taxi number 42 waits. Ask to be taken to ‘Blue Cayman Quay, Berth 7’. You must hurry. You are behind schedule.

DANIEL GATE , ACCELERATE