About five days later an appointment suddenly appeared on Rex’s calendar. It was for a meeting with a Mr John Smith. This wasn’t a name he was familiar with. He checked with his secretary and she said that he was a business man. His support staff was very good about weeding out the crackpots and he’d come to trust them.

When the time came around, Rex was curious. He’d been spending all of his time at the Labyrinth and it might be nice to think about something else for a change. Who knows? Maybe this would provide some kind of answer to his money squeeze.

Mr Smith was announced and escorted in. Rex glanced at the clock. At least he was punctual, whoever he was. They shook hands and Rex guided him over to a chair.

The visitor got right to the point.

“I need your help with something.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“You are building a giant maze.”

“Yes.”

“It will be something for people to run around in, correct?”

“Something like that.”

“And it will be very large.”

“Very. Something like nine square miles inside of it.”

The man smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

“I’m glad you approve.” There was a pause and each man sized each other up. “Perfect for what?”

“You see, there are times when my friends and I have need of a special service. We think your maze-“

“Labyrinth. It’s a Labyrinth.”

“Of course. We think your Labyrinth might work well for us. We could pay quite well.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Rex was very aware that the man was avoiding his question. “What would that service be, Mr…Smith was it?”

“Yes. It is…Smith. The service. It wouldn’t be anything large or difficult. It would be ongoing but wouldn’t require any real work from you.”

Rex decided that he was done fencing. “Ok. You want to be evasive. Shall we get to the real questions?”

The visitor smiled, “If you’d like.”

“First of all, how about we start with your real name? I don’t like dealing with someone who isn’t honest with me.”

“Of course. I’m sorry about that. Sometimes it pays to be a little secretive. Especially when you’re scouting someone out. My real name is Frank Emerson.”

“Glad to meet you, Frank. Ok, second question. Just how illegal is the ‘service that you’re asking me to do?”

“A very good question. May I ask you one first?”

“I suppose.”

“Are there any recording devices here in your office?”

“None that I know of. I don’t make it a practice to spy on my guests.”

“A very commendable policy. I wish more people would follow that. Especially our government.”

“I’m not taping you but if you’re that worried about what you’re going to say than I probably don’t want to hear it.”

Mr Emerson put his hand up, as if to ask for a moment of time. “I was trying to avoid telling you anything so that you could honestly claim ignorance if it came to that. The thing we ask for is against the law but isn’t anything morally wrong. If I could convince you that the ‘service’ is nothing bad, will you hear me out?”

Rex thought for a moment. Illegal but not immoral. That was pretty tricky ground. It existed, Rex was certain of that. His years in research and development had shown him plenty of it. He wondered if he’d agree to that description.

“Go on.”

Another smile. “Thank you. What we want is a place to hide things. Your maze seems like the perfect place for it.”

“You want to hide something that’s illegal but not immoral.”

“Yes.”

“Is it drug related?”

“No, nothing of that kind.”

Rex breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok. So what is it?”

“Money.”

“Really? Why not just put it in a bank?”

“More specifically, it’s money that we don’t want the government to know about.”

“So you can avoid taxes or something?”
”Yes. It would be better if they never knew it existed.”

“Why not some kind of off shore account or something like that?”

“We…have our reasons. And they needn’t concern you.”

“Fair enough. Where does the money come from?”

“Do you really need to know that?”
”If I’m going to judge it’s morality, then yes.”

Mr Emerson chewed that over for a moment and then answered. “It comes from black market activities. The government has seen fit to tell us what we can sell and what we can’t. We don’t agree and neither do the citizens who want to buy from us.”

“Black market stuff. Anything I should know about?”

“Tell you what, ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

“So it’s…illegal because you don’t want to report it to the government but it didn’t involve anything immoral.”

“Yes.”

“And you won’t tell me anything else about it?”

“That’s right. I want to, but my hands are tied here. I’m only allowed to say so much.”

“Even if that means I’ll refuse?”

“We’re hoping that doesn’t happen. But yes, even if that means you tell us ‘no’.”

“I’ll have to think about that before I agree. One other thing, I can’t guarantee the safety of anything that’s hidden in the Labyrinth. It’s not a bank.”

“We know that. That’s one of it’s charms. No one would expect to find anything in there. They won’t even look.”

“I suppose that’s true. But seriously, wouldn’t you be better off finding some place out in the mountains and hiding it there?”

“Too remote. We’d like some place more accessible. That way we can withdraw it more easily if we need to.”

“One more question. How much?”

Mr Emerson gave a figure. Rex was surprised and it took an act of will to keep his eyebrows from raising. He thought for a moment. “I want to help you but I’ll need to think about it. Can we set up an appointment for…next week sometime?”

“That would be just fine.” Mr Emerson stood up and they shook hands. Then he quickly exited and left Rex alone with his thoughts.