Utah
Lyle hadn’t expected it to be so hot.
Not that it was sweltering or anything here in Park City, Utah; it was just that he wasn’t used to things being so arid and dry. It made him feel like he was suffocating and couldn’t get enough air.
He was born and raised in Washington State where it was pretty much cloudy and rainy all the time. And humid, of course, being near an ocean. The summers got warm, sure, but it was a swampy and humid heat.
As soon as he stepped off the plane into Park City he had immediately been assaulted by the dryness of it all. It felt like his nose was going to start bleeding at any second.
He’d visited Utah as a kid, eight or nine years old; back before his father had passed away. He remembered how beautiful it was: the untamed wilderness, the mountains, and valleys stretching off into the distance, the lakes of sea salt left behind by years of evaporation.
It turned out, however, that Utah was nothing like he remembered.
As soon as he stumbled into his hotel room he turned the air conditioner on to the lowest temperature they would allow. It blasted out and he gulped in breaths of air. It tasted amazing despite having a slightly metallic smell, cooling him off and blowing his hair around. He sat on the bed, eyes closed and letting it wash over him for a good twenty minutes. He dreaded heading back outside into the oppressive sunlight where he would bake in the heat.
His cellphone started ringing. He dug through his bag until he found the little thing settled at the bottom. This was his personal cell phone, not the one supplied to him by work, which meant this wasn’t a business call.
“Lyle here,” he said, answering it.
“Hey, how’s Utah treating you?” Peter Karnegie asked. Peter was one of Lyle’s oldest friends and colleagues. He had also been his college roommate. They worked together at Markwell developing software applications.
“It’s hot,” Lyle admitted flatly. “No one told me it would be this hot.”
“Yes I did,” Peter said. Peter was a big guy, overweight with big rimmed glasses and fading hairline. He was pretty much always smiling and laughing, which was what Lyle liked about him. “I asked why on earth you would go to Utah for vacation.”
“I thought you were being facetious.”
“I wasn’t. I was objecting to anyone going to Utah.”
“You should have objected more strongly,” Lyle said with a sigh. “God, I don’t remember it being this hot when I was little.”
“You went there with your dad, right?”
“Yeah,” Lyle said. “When I was eight. We went horseback riding and hiking, and I’ve always wanted to go back.”
“Nostalgia’s a bitch.”
“You’re telling me,” Lyle said, laughing. “My entire body is drenched in sweat and my new best friend is the air conditioner.”
“You going hiking at the same places you went back then?”
“Hell no,” Lyle said. “I probably won’t even leave the hotel room.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Dunno. I’ve got a few shows to catch up on and plenty of articles to read. I think I might learn a new language.
“I recommend Italian. The accent is sexy.”
“Funny,” Lyle said. “I meant computer language.”
Peter laughed. “I know. Hello World. Well, enjoy the trip.”
“I will,” Lyle said. “It’s good to be away, if nothing else.”
Peter sobered up. “Yeah, I’m sure it is. How are you really?”
“Well enough,” Lyle replied, lying back down on the bed. “A little freaked out still, but starting to calm down.”
“I know what you mean,” Peter said. “I keep expecting to get called into the office and fired.”
“You think they would fire us?”
Peter hesitated. “I think if they knew that we know they would kill us,” he said. “But I try to stay optimistic.”
“You don’t think they know, do you?”
“If they had found out then we would have heard something by now.”
“Do you think we should report it?” Lyle asked.
“No one who doesn’t know already would believe us, and if they know already...”
“I mean report it to higher ups.”
“Like the government?”
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“Blow the whistle?” Peter asked.
“They have protections for that kind of stuff, right? Laws that would keep us safe.”
“Not very good ones,” Peter said. “If we told the right people, then best case scenario Markwell would get shut down and a lot of people would get in trouble. But, if we tell the wrong person…”
“Yeah,” Lyle said. “I get it.”
“I mean, I’m all for governmental oversight…”
“I get it, “Lyle repeated. “We’ll just sit on the information for now. They don’t know we found the back door, so there’s no rush. We can decide what to do when I get back.”
“Okay,” Peter said. “That seems like a good enough plan for now.”
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get some sleep. It was a brutal flight, and I’m exhausted.”
“You have to go out and experience Utah a little. Don’t just spend the entire trip indoors.”
“Yeah,” Lyle agreed. “I know. I’ll go out in a bit when things cool off and get some dinner.”
“Try one of the Pastrami Burgers. I hear they are to die for,” Peter said.
“You mean like a heart attack?”
“Funny, Lyle. Real funny.”
“All right,” Lyle said, laughing. “Stay safe. I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
“You too.”
“And if anything changes or someone starts asking questions, let me know.”
“Believe me, if something changes, you’ll be the first person I call,” Peter replied. “Later.”
“Later,” Lyle said.
They hung up. Lyle absently tapped the phone against his chin, wondering for the millionth time just how much trouble he’d gotten himself and Peter into. He lay back on the bed, trying to calm his mind and tell himself that everything would be all right.
