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)
The girl’s face pops into my mind. Not the way she looked when we first met, but the way she looked at me when we were partin’ ways.
I scared her.
But what’s new?
I scare everyone. Hell, I even scare myself.
Well, one thing’s for sure, I’ll have to go back to get my card. So maybe I’ll have a chance to explain. I walk over to the window and peek out. Not for any particular reason, just to take in my new environment. But immediately I spy Collin and Amon having a conversation across the driveway.
Then Collin turns and starts heading towards my house.
He’s coming here for me, I know it. So a moment later, when I hear boots thudding on the wooden stairs that lead up to the second floor, I’m not surprised.
I’m still lookin’ out the window when he taps the doorframe, knocking. Of course, the door is open, so it’s just a courtesy knock at best. “Hey, Ean. Got a minute?”
I turn. “Shep,” I say.
“What?” Collin squints at me.
“Everyone calls me Shep, not Ean. So I’d rather you just call me Shep.”
“OK.” He forces a smile. “Shep.” He keeps that forced smile goin’. “I just wanted to welcome you proper, since you got in so late last night and there was some confusion on our part about who you are and what you’re doin’ here.”
I try not to sigh with frustration, but don’t entirely succeed. “I told you. Charlie Beaufort sent me. I was stuck in limbo because I was in prison and some judge got a wild hair up his ass about lettin’ me out.”
“Right.” Collin nods. “I get it. And you’re legit. I’m not saying you’re not. I called Charlie up, even though I hate that motherfucker and we’re not even on good terms, and it’s all legit. So I’m not questioning you about that.”
Now it’s my turn to squint my eyes at him. “Then what are you questionin’ me about?”
“Look, man, if you don’t wanna be here, you’re free to leave.”
“No,” I say. “I’m actually not. Working for Edge was a very specific condition of my parole.”
Collin chuckles. “Dude, I am not gonna turn you in. You’re a grown man. You can do whatever the hell you want.”
I sneer at him. “So you think… what? I should break parole and go on the run? Leave the country and hide from the fuckin’ CORE for the rest of my life?”
“Corps?” Collin says. “As in the Marines? Why would they care where you went? You’ve been discharged, right?”
“What?” I laugh. “No. I wasn’t in the Marines. CORE. C-O-R-E. CORE.”
“Well, I can hear what you’re saying,” Collin says. “I just don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“I thought you were in the CORE?” I wave a hand at the window. “I thought all of you were in the CORE.”
“I was in the Corps. Marine Corps.”
My squint deepens. “Are you fucking with me right now?” I scoff. “You better be fuckin’ with me. Because if you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about…” But I don’t finish. Because he’s not one of us. Collin Creed isn’t like me. And I’m kind of taken aback.
Collin squints back. “I think we should take this conversation to a more private location.”
“Which would be where?”
“We’ve got a SCIF in the church and I think we should go there now.”
I don’t say another word and neither does Collin. He turns and walks out and I follow. Because we need to set this straight and I’m sure as hell not gonna tell him anything out in the open air like this.
Anyone who thinks that the CORE can’t hear you any time and any place is a fool. And while Collin and his crew might not know as much as I do about how this world works, they are not fools. And this SCIF they have proves it.
We enter the church and Collin heads towards a door in the back. He pauses here, lookin’ at me. For a moment, I think he’s gonna change his mind because he doesn’t move. And while he doesn’t say anything either, he doesn’t really have to. I can almost hear the silent argument in his head: You’re just gonna show him all your secrets, Collin? Then hope he’s not a spy?
But he must decide in the affirmative because he pulls the door open, flicks on a light, and waves me forward.
I enter a stairwell and go down two levels, not just one. At the bottom I find myself in a small concrete room with two doors. One is the SCIF. I can make this guess because there’s a box outside the door, which I know from experience is a little Faraday cage for phones and shit. Nothing in, nothing out.
Collin walks over to it, opens the box, and drops his phone in. I do the same. Then he closes the box and opens the door.