Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I go in. He follows and closes the door.
The moment that happens, my head starts to feel weird. Like a vacuum. Which is normal, so I don’t panic about it. People don’t realize this, but the world is filled with electromagnetic frequencies. Unless you are very deep into the wilderness, there are frequencies floatin’ on the air all around you, at all times of the day.
This is the hallmark of the modern world. Humans are constantly surrounded by low-level waves. Wi-Fi, radio waves, electrical hums, and even nearly imperceptible environmental noises like distant traffic or air currents.
But the point of a SCIF is to block all those frequencies. So when you go in, and the door shuts behind you, it’s like puttin’ on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. But a thousand times more powerful.
Everything stops.
And it’s weird.
In CORE, they call it the Rift.
The void. Because it’s empty.
And they say if you stay in this type of environment too long, you’ll go insane. That humans have changed over the past hundred and thirty years since electromagnetic frequencies started to be manipulated for communications and now, it’s just a part of us. That’s why people go crazy in the wilderness. They can’t live without the frequencies.
Collin lets out a breath, bringing me back to the moment. “All right, what the fuck is going on? Who the hell are you, and why are you here?”
“First of all,” I say, holding up one finger, “I’m Ean Shephard and I came here on a contract with Charlie Beaufort. Nothing I told you was a lie.”
“Why are you here so late, then? When all the other guys arrived months ago?”
“I told you. I was in prison. Charlie made a deal, but the judge would not sign the papers for my early release. If there’s anything else goin’ on here, I’m not a part of it. At least, not a willing or an informed part.”
Collin sneers. “That sounds like an excuse to me. So in the future, when I find out you are a part of something, you can just say you didn’t know.”
“I get it. It’s all kinds of suspect. But whatever Charlie is doing, it’s got nothing to do with me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But what the hell were you talking about up there about the Corps?”
“CORE,” I say again. “C-O-R-E. CORE. It’s black ops shit. Like the stuff you were involved in that didn’t get you sent to prison.”
“If that’s a dig on me and my men, well, we weren’t robbing gas stations, either.”
“Fair, I guess. But you and your guys did a whole lot worse than that. Other people just took your fall.”
For a moment I think he’s gonna object, but then he gives in and sighs. “Fine. We were… protected. But I don’t know what you’re talking about when you say the word CORE. What is it?”
“It’s just…” I shrug. “CIA shit, I guess.”
“You guess? Is it, or isn’t it?”
“I mean, obviously, they are two different things. But they share the same space.”
“All right. So why can’t you leave Edge? You said they would hunt you down if you left. Why?”
“Why?” I kinda laugh. “Because I was DRS. Deep Recon Specialist.”
“Assassin?”
I shrug. “Sometimes.”
“What about the other times?”
“Well, I just hung around, mostly.”
“Spying?”
“Obviously.”
Collin laughs. “How the hell am I supposed to trust you?”
“Hell if I know. I didn’t ask to come here. I was sent. And I’m not leaving without Charlie’s permission. So if you don’t want me here, you need to clear it with him. Only then will I leave.”
I am fully aware that if Collin Creed tells me to get the hell out of his compound, my ass will be getting the hell out of his compound. He knows this too. What am I gonna do? Fight them? Call the police? It’s stupid. I just want him to know that I’m insisting that he go through the proper channels.
He slides right past that and continues on to the next bit. “Are you reportin’ back to Charlie?”
“No.”
“Will you take a lie detector test?”
“Yes.”
“We’re gonna set that up and then I’ll have a better idea of what to do with you.”
I shrug with my hands. “You’re the boss.”
He nods, knowing he is, and then we retrace our steps and go our separate ways outside.
I head back to my house, but what I really wanna do is get my credit card back from that girl at the bar. It’s just… after that conversation I just had with Collin, it’s not gonna happen. I probably won’t be able to slip away until the end of the week at the earliest.
So I just mope around in the house for a bit, then hit the mess for some food.
But at night, when the place is mostly quiet and the demons in my head are just starting to get loud, I picture the Mule Pit and that girl.