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)
And they all require thinking. Which is the whole point, since they’re trying to ‘see’ my thoughts. So by the time I get done, nearly two hours have gone by and I’m exhausted.
I’m just pulling my jacket back on when Penny enters the little changing room.
She smiles at me, then closes the door and leans against it.
“What?” I say, dreading what comes next. “Did I fail?”
She presses her lips together and shakes her head. “No. You passed.”
“Then why are you here?”
She takes a step forward and turns. Then turns back. “You don’t owe me anything. But those boys out there do.”
“I guess. OK.”
“And I like you. I’ve always liked you.”
The fact that she’s got an opinion about me at all comes as a surprise since I’ve only met her twice and both encounters were less than extraordinary. “Penny, if you’ve got something to say, just say it.”
“All right. I do have something to say. It’s a two-parter. First, I know what your job was. I’ve looked at all your files. I know why you washed out and how you ended up in prison. It’s all very neat, and tidy, and in the records.”
“So what’s the second part?”
“The second part is that while you did pass, the tech noted some very unusual activity.”
“Great. So they’re gonna kick me out.”
“No. We didn’t tell Collin and Amon.”
“Why not?”
“Because you passed the test. You’re not working with Charlie. We’re a hundred percent sure of it and that’s what Collin and Amon were looking for. So we reported those facts, and they’re satisfied.”
I roll my hand in a ‘get on with it’ gesture. “But…?”
“But they’ve done something to you.”
My eyes narrow down. “Who?”
She presses her thin lips together again. “You know who. I can’t say, because I’m not supposed to know who. But you know who. What did they do to you? Did they give you an implant?”
“What?” I’m squintin’ pretty hard now. “What kind of implant?”
“You tell me.”
I shrug. “No. I mean, I don’t know. Did they see an implant in my brain?”
“No.”
I chuckle. “So what are you going on about?”
“It doesn’t need to be in your brain, Shep. In fact, at this point in time, it doesn’t even need to be an implant.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, Penny. I don’t have any clue what you’re talkin’ about. I had plenty of health checks. My file should be very thick, so to speak. You know how it is. Once we sign those papers, we give up our autonomy. They say jump, I jump. They show up with a jab, I take the jab.”
Penny blows out a long breath. “Collin and Amon are not CORE. Did you know that?”
“Yes. I found out the day I got there. They ran a private army inside the US military.”
“Have you told them anything about CORE?”
“No.” This isn’t entirely true because I did admit to CORE when I was in the SCIF with Collin. But I didn’t tell him anything, so I’m not gonna mention it to Penny. “You know the rules.”
She nods. “I do. Just making sure you remember them too. They don’t go away just because you’re out, Shep.”
“I know that.”
“Good. Well.” She smiles. “That’s it. You passed. I just wanted to get your take on what we saw in your scan.” She puts up a hand, warding off my next question. “No, I won’t be mentioning it to Collin and Amon. As far as I’m concerned…”
She doesn’t finish. “But as far as you’re concerned, what?”
“I’m going to be looking into this. I doubt answers will come quickly since I need to be very careful. But when I figure it out—and I will figure it out…” She gives me a stern old-lady look over the top of her glasses. “You’ll be the second person to know.”
I don’t say much after Penny finishes and we join Collin and Amon at the elevators. The three of them converse freely, like we weren’t all here with an assumption—or, at least, the very real possibility—that I was some kind of spy.
Back up in the lobby, Penny says her goodbyes, then walks off in the opposite direction from where we came in. Collin, Amon, and I make our way back to the truck and this time Collin doesn’t get in the back. I do.
Which is a step forward, I suppose. At least he’s not worried about me literally stabbing him in the back on the ride home. Anyway, I’m glad I’m in the back because all I can think about is what Penny told me at the end.
… some very unusual activity.
She never did explain that. Not that I have the knowledge, or even the vocabulary, to understand any of the biological mods CORE does. But it would’ve been nice if I had a little more to go on.
Collin and Amon joke and talk on the way home, like it’s not that uncommon for them to spend an entire morning probing the brain of one of their recruits. And what do I know? Maybe all of them went through this?