Ranell slugged down more scotch and cursed Mendoza. “What difference does that make? I’ve been working fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, for over a year now. My marriage is on the rocks. And I’m a damned traitor.
He turned away from the window and sat down heavily behind his mahogany desk. He scanned his office, his computers, awards, photographs, and memorabilia. This place had always been his control center. Now a lifetime of work was reduced to this question. What if America loses the war because of me? He dropped his head into his hands. How can I bear this?
His phone rang. It never lets up, he sighed. He was so tired. What is it now?
It was his wife. Her words were strained, sentences clipped.
“What?” Ranell asked for clarification as he roughly set his tumbler cup down. Scotch spilled across the desktop as his shaking hands released it. “Did you just say you’re serving me papers?”
It was a terse phone call. His wife told him that she was filing for divorce and that the papers would be served at his office. She was keeping the house. Don’t bother to come home. He didn’t live there anymore.
Ranell hung up the phone. He stared at it for several long moments before reaching again for his tumbler. He took a long pull, allowing the intoxicating fluid to suffuse his mind and body. He realized, gratefully, that he was no longer upset. The dreadful anxiety that had plagued him had somehow magically vanished. He was, instead, filled with a sense of overwhelming calm and clarity.
When Ranell was nearly finished with his drink, he unlocked the drawer that held his small revolver. He couldn’t remember when he’d placed it there, couldn’t remember why. But it was there now, waiting for him.
He took his last sip of scotch, draining his glass. Then he placed the pistol against his head and pulled the trigger.
Your most valuable employee committed suicide.
Your directions to look for an ‘alternative solution’ led an overwrought Dr. Ranell to betray his country. You failed to save GML from the Greater Depression, and you might have lost the war.
Option 1: Choose this option to return to a different point and explore other possible outcomes.
Option 2: Choose this option if you wish to cut your losses and end this exercise in Directed Fiction. Continue to the solutions page to learn more about how these scenarios were developed.