On Day One of the following week, Julian arrived at his desk and found a message from the Top Floor on his monitor.
Thank you. Suspects arrested and charged. Well done, Julian James, 41329.
Julian felt ambivalent about the message. He’d received hundreds of similar messages over the years. Yet for some reason, this message gave him a sense of peace, of security. Now the Grade B department heads would know he was still on their side, still doing his job properly and therefore couldn’t possibly be a law-breaker.
Every night he meditated. It had become a habit. He’d go into the toilet, put the seat down and close his eyes. He was becoming better at instantaneously relaxing himself. Often his mind took him to wonderful, far-away places where he’d soar over green fields and forests brimming
