Descent from Xanadu Read Online Free

Cambridge. He looked at his watch. It was not yet eleven o’clock. He had time. His father had asked him to meet at his office at noon.
    He was still twenty minutes early when he stood in front of the new office building and looked up at the burnished stainless steel letters over the entrance: CRANE INDUSTRIES. He walked up the steps between the two fountains and through the glass doors. Since he was still early, he leaned against the marble walls and watched the people go in and out of the building.
    A few minutes later a uniformed security guard approached him. He was a burly man, self-important in his army Sam Browne leather belt and his holstered gun. “No loitering here, sonny,” he said in a gruff voice.
    “I’m not loitering,” Judd said politely. “I’m early for an appointment. So I thought I’d wait here.”
    “Sorry, sonny,” the guard said. “If you’re early, come back later.”
    Judd shrugged. “I might as well not be early then,” he said and began walking to the elevator bank which indicated the fortieth-floor express.
    The guard stopped him. “They’re executive floors.”
    “I know that,” Judd said.
    “Who do you have an appointment with?” he asked.
    “Mr. Crane,” Judd said.
    The guard looked at him skeptically. He gestured to another guard standing in front of the elevator bank, who came to them. “This kid says he’s got an appointment with Mr. Crane.”
    The second guard looked at him. “Do you have any identification on you, sir?” he asked politely.
    Judd opened his jacket, the maroon sweater with the “H” crew letter over his white shirt seemed almost black in the light between the elevator banks. He took a leather billfold from his inside pocket. “Driver’s license, okay?”
    “Fine,” the second guard nodded. He opened the billfold, looked at it, then at Judd. He folded it and handed it back.
    “Sorry, Mr. Crane,” he said apologetically. “We have to be careful. In the last few weeks we’ve had some problems with people who had no reason to be here.”
    “I understand,” said Judd, returning his billfold to his pocket.
    The second guard turned a key to the elevator bank switchboard. One of the elevator doors opened. “Forty-fifth floor, Mr. Crane,” he said, stepping back.
    Judd walked in and pressed the button. The doors began to close and the second guard’s voice came to Judd’s ears. “Asshole,” he said to the first guard. “That’s the boss’s son, you were—”
    Judd smiled to himself as the voice became lost in the rush of air as the elevator moved up. He leaned back and watched the indicator lights climb. It was five minutes to noon when he came out of the elevator.
    The receptionist was waiting at the door. “Good morning, Mr. Crane,” she said. “Your father is expecting you.” She opened the doors to the private elevator to his father’s office, the only one on the penthouse floor.
    His father’s secretary met him as he came from the small elevator. “Judd,” she smiled.
    “Miss Barrett,” he said, leaning to kiss her cheek. “You’re looking younger and prettier than ever.”
    She laughed. “That’s sweet,” she said warmly. “But I’ve known you since you were born. You don’t have to give me that standard Harvard line.”
    “Believe me,” he laughed. “I mean it. This is not Harvard.” He followed her through the outer secretaries’ room to her office next to his father’s. “How is he?” he asked. “It’s been almost six months since I’ve seen him.”
    “You know your father,” she said, a strangely noncommittal sound in her voice. “He always seems the same.”
    He paused and looked at her. “What kind of answer is that? Is something wrong?”
    She didn’t speak. Instead, she opened the door to his father’s office. He thought he saw her eyes glisten with moisture as he went past. She closed the door behind him.
    His father was standing at the windows looking out, his back toward him.