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  She smiled again, and then pulled it out of a leather bag.

  It took me almost thirty minutes to read through it, but both of them seemed patient enough. It looked like a typical non-disclosure agreement, along with a deal to have all charges permanently dropped. It also listed severe penalties for breaking it. I imagined there was a deep dark hole for me spend the rest of my life in, if I ever violated it.

  Basically, I couldn’t tell anyone about it, or else.

  I was curious, but once again I caved because of my sister. The general was probably as much of a bastard as Dale, but it was legal because he worked for the government. Different rules for the people in charge, that was life. I also had no doubt that Cassie wasn’t nearly as nice as she appeared to be, despite my male libido wishing otherwise.

  “Pen?”

  Cassie took out a pen and handed it to me.

  I took a deep breath, and I signed.

  Cassie reached out and gripped my hand, and I couldn’t help the reflex as I looked up quickly and into her hazel eyes.

  She ordered, “You will not break your word,” her silken voice filled with the power of compulsion.

  Well, shit. Not that I’d had plans to anyway.

  “That wasn’t necessary.”

  She shrugged apologetically, “It was. You’ll understand soon, time to go.”

  “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”

  She tilted her head, “That wouldn’t be ethical. There’s a difference between forcing you to accept a job, and in making sure you keep your word once given.”

  Maybe… a small one.

  “Where are we going?”

  She said, “No more questions, you’ll see when you get there.”

  Right, no talking about it where we could be overheard, and we were in an FBI building.

  They got up, and we left the interrogation room. The concerned look on Shane’s face told me I’d just gotten way over my head again, and I was about to start drowning.

  Story of my life.

  When we got on the elevator, I was surprised when she hit the top floor, I hadn’t even noticed she’d hit the up button in the hallway. When we got off, we went up the stairs to the roof, which had a helipad, with a Blackhawk on it.

  I couldn’t help the excitement I felt despite myself, as my magic raced out and into the helicopter. Avionics, weapons, the knowledge of the design, how it all worked, and how to control it flooded my mind. New information and technology was rare for me, and of course there was a thrill at the idea of flying in a Blackhawk in the first place.

  It wasn’t until the General and I got in the back, that I realized there was no waiting pilot. Cassie hopped on and sat in the pilot’s seat. Hot, and she could fly a Blackhawk, she was perfect. I snorted at the thought, as the rotors spun up, and it was loud. Even with the noise dampening headset on.

  It wasn’t long before we were up in the air, and we headed southwest out of the city.

  What the hell had I gotten myself into now?

  Neither of my companions were all that talkative on the flight, and I couldn’t get any solid information at all. I also couldn’t find evidence of a General Steven Schaefer, or a civilian contractor named Cassie Reed in any of the military databases I hacked on the go, with my magic. Whoever they were, they weren’t in the normal systems, and I thought it likely their systems weren’t on the internet at all.

  Still, how the hell did they get paid? Their names would have to show up somewhere as a line item, but they didn’t.

  We landed at an airbase in Illinois, only to immediately board a military transport to Buckley AFB, which was in Colorado right by Denver. Then we took another helicopter up into the mountains.

  At first, I thought we might be going to NORAD, but the helicopter’s avionics told me that wasn’t the case. We were going in the wrong direction, and we were nowhere near Colorado Springs. I resigned myself to the fact they weren’t going to tell me, but I wondered if they had any idea I knew exactly where I was, the bird had GPS after all.

  We flew into a valley, and it wasn’t until we landed that I could see the entrance to a secret base of some sort, the angles from above just displayed a cliff with a large ravine. No doubt to obscure the secret base from spy satellites.

  Cassie shut down the helicopter, and the large doors opened up. A few soldiers in BDUs came out to tow the helicopter inside, while we got out and walked into the mountainside. There was nothing there, not really, it was a vast empty cavern, with several large elevators flush to the floor reminiscent of the ones in an aircraft carrier.

  The general walked off without a word.

  “Welcome to your new home, for the next five years.”

  “Where are we?”

  She smirked, “There’s no official designation, though some call it Area-53. This mountain is an enclosed city, and one of the many military depots around the country, just in case our bases were to be taken out. There’s enough ammunition, weapons, ordinance, tanks, and aircraft to fight a world war under this mountain. Not to mention relief supplies, food, water, and all that.”

  “Why Area-53?”

  She said, “Easier to show you, than to tell you. It avoids all the disbelief. For tonight, let’s just get you settled in your quarters. We’ll start fresh tomorrow.”

  “We?”

  She nodded, “I run the project, maintain secrecy, with compulsion if necessary. I’m also a weapons specialist and pilot. You’ll meet the rest of the team tomorrow. This top level is just a deployment platform. Second level is vehicles, tanks, and planes, third level is smaller arms, ammunition, food storage and the like. Fourth level is where we’re going, it’s a contained town, we have our own BX and commissary, and if they don’t have something you want you can get it ordered, though it takes time to get it. UPS doesn’t exactly deliver.

  “There’s a mess hall where we all eat, our apartments lack a full kitchen, though there is a kitchenette with a fridge, microwave, sink, and coffee maker. We have satellite television but no on-demand, we can only receive. There’s also a movie theatre that carries all the current movies.

  “The fifth level is where we’ll be tomorrow morning, and you’ll meet the rest of our team. Listen, there are close to two hundred people in this mountain, but only our team has access to the fifth level. That’s me, you, and two others.

  “If anyone asks you about our project, report it, they should know better, but it happens. Also, don’t even speak about the project to the few of us in the know, unless we’re on sub-level five.”

  “Got it. The general?”

  She smiled, “He’s in charge of the base, and he knows what’s down there, but he’s not part of the team, he runs the whole place. This way.”

  She moved gracefully toward the smaller elevator in the rock wall, and I followed. She used a security card to activate the elevator, and I pushed SL-4.

  “How’d you wind up working here. For the government.”

  She replied, “Long story, for another time.”

  My magic raced out of me with a thought, and I traced the elevator controls and computers. From there I was in the network. It didn’t take me long to realize there was no outside connection as I’d suspected. I also wasn’t getting a cell phone signal.

  The doors opened up into another vast cavern, with several buildings. There were the stores she’d promised, what looked like motels, and storage buildings. The place was maybe a quarter mile by a quarter mile, so there was no transportation outside of walking. I tried to imagine living here for five years, and I failed.

  There were also other buildings, that housed laboratories, presumably for all the scientists there that didn’t work on level fie.

  It was the second time a gorgeous vampire had gotten me in over my head, although admittedly Cassie was nothing like Desirae, nor had I been trying to score this second time. Cassie seemed friendly enough, but I knew looks could be deceiving. I was also curious about level five, but it could wait
for tomorrow.

  She led me toward the motel looking building, and one of the rooms.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, I’ll have your access ID which is used to purchase things and get around. Please don’t leave your room tonight, there’ll be some food in the fridge, I’m sure you’re hungry. I’ll come by and pick you up for breakfast. We’ll also stop by the PX to get you some clothes. I’d take you tonight, but it’s closed this late.”

  I nodded, “Fair enough.”

  She smirked, “Don’t look so down, you’re going to like the job, trust me. If you have an emergency, I’m in the apartment next door.”

  I nodded, although not in agreement, I’d reserve judgement. I moved inside the apartment and shut the door. I let out a deep breath, finally alone for the first time all day since I’d been in my cell at FBI headquarters in Chicago.

  The apartment was a one-bedroom, full bath, living room and kitchenette. It looked a lot like a swanky hotel room, which was better than I expected. Though there was no warmth to it. The living room had black leather couches, two end tables, a coffee table, and a flat-screen television. Along one of the walls was the kitchenette, behind a half wall. As she’d promised, there was a microwave, coffee maker, a small sink, a few cabinets, and a fridge.

  I opened up the fridge, and there wasn’t anything in there. I checked the cabinets, and there were some cans of pasta, soup, and the like, as well as a six pack of bottled water. I heated up a bowl of chicken soup in the microwave, while I checked out the bedroom. It had a queen-sized bed, two night-tables, a dresser, and a small closet. The bathroom was a decent size, and it already had a fresh toothbrush, toothpaste, cheap electric razor, and soap and towels.

  I was tempted to go check out level five, but I didn’t want to start out on the wrong foot. I already felt out of place there, the last thing I needed to do was waltz around a top-secret installation and hack all the cameras and security, even if I could do it with my eyes closed. Besides, there were also guards, soldiers with automatic weapons, and I couldn’t hack them.

  Sure, with TK I could knock them out, but that would be stupid.

  I swallowed my curiosity, ate my soup, took a shower, shaved, and went to bed.

  Chapter Three

  The next morning, I woke up to a knock on the door. I rolled out of bed, and pulled on yesterday’s clothes, it was all I had.

  Cassie greeted me with a smile, and I was taken aback again by just how enthralling she was. I pushed that down though, the last thing I needed was a relationship, and quite frankly she was so far out of my league I’d need a rocket to reach that high. She was wearing another pencil skirt and jacket, this time dark blue, with a bright red blouse, and quite frankly was the sexiest and most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Including models on television.

  Granted, that was a taste thing, but I really liked her long light brown hair, and warm hazel eyes. I firmly reminded myself she was an ancient vampire, and my boss. It helped, a little.

  “Good morning.”

  Cassie said, “Breakfast time.”

  I nodded, and we headed toward one the large buildings. There was an awkwardness there, partially because of how her beauty hit me, but a lot of it was new job jitters. Especially for a job I’d been basically blackmailed into taking.

  She said, “Breakfast is from six to nine, lunch from eleven to one, and dinner five to eight. Otherwise it’s closed.”

  The noise of the place was almost overwhelming as we went inside, there had to be over fifty people in the large dining hall. We moved over to the line, and I grabbed a tray. I loaded it up with bacon, eggs, some toast, and grabbed some coffee.

  She had fruit, a bagel, and orange juice on her tray as we walked toward a table.

  Unlike in Hollywood, vampires weren’t dead, they weren’t damned, and they ate normal food. They also drank blood, about once week, and in my experience usually bagged or from a willing donor.

  They were fast, strong, had compulsion, and their magic was all internal, making them heal faster and to help with physics. To keep them from wiping out when the moved or stopped quickly, it wasn’t something they had control over though, it was all instinctive magic. They also grew in power, grew stronger, faster, and more durable, over time. They also didn’t age.

  Other than that, most of the human fiction got it wrong. They got tired in the sun, but they didn’t burn. Older vampires like Cassie didn’t even get tired. Silver also wasn’t deadly to them, conversely any bullet was, though they were tougher. Like a human, a headshot would kill one, but anywhere else and they’d probably heal from it, even a heart shot. Holy water would just get them wet and piss them off, much like splashing a human with water would. They also didn’t have to be invited in, that was a demon thing.

  She led us over to a table with two women already eating. They were both right around thirty at a best guess, and both quite attractive. Hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue, but working here for five years, no dating pool, and I was a very healthy twenty-one. That could be a problem.

  The first had raven hair, strikingly intelligent green eyes behind glasses, and tanned skin, with an oval face. She had on a brown skirt, a creamy white blouse, and a white lab coat with pens in the top pocket. She looked up and smiled at us as we sat down. She was human, and though she had the whole sexy librarian geek thing going on, it was easy enough to ignore.

  The woman next to her was five foot seven, with golden blonde hair, blue eyes, and a severely beautiful face with prominent high cheekbones and a slightly pointed chin. I’d have said she was a ten, before Cassie had broken and recalibrated the scale. She had on black slacks and a green blouse. She was also the strongest mage I’d ever felt, an elemental mage that even dwarfed Dale’s power.

  I wouldn’t want to cross her.

  Cassie said, “Meet the rest of the team,” she waved at the first, “Doctor Diana Young, she’s the head researcher on the project and also a genius. She has a staff, but most of them are working on tangential projects, and don’t have access to level five,” she waved at the golden blonde, “This is Jemma Wilson, she’s the security for both level five and us. She’s the only security cleared for level five.”

  Yes, and an army unto herself.

  Diana blushed, “Nice to meet you, I’m excited to see what we can figure out.”

  Jemma just nodded in a neutral greeting, and she kept eating.

  I had no idea what it was all about, but I guessed I’d be mostly working with Diana. Cassie ran things, and Jemma was security, whatever tech they wanted me to look at, I’d be working with Diana on it.

  “Nice to meet you too,” I finally said. Sure, I was a little annoyed at how I was recruited, but that wasn’t Diana’s fault.

  I went ahead and dug in, obviously we weren’t going to talk about anything important until we were on level five.

  After breakfast, Cassie gave me the ID she’d promised, and we went shopping. I picked up a few pairs of dockers and collared shirts. We also headed to the commissary and I picked up some coffee, milk, and a few things for the fridge. That took us about an hour, and I took the time to change before we headed to level five.

  Finally, I’d get some answers, and figure out what I’d gotten myself into.

  Level five opened up into a long corridor when the elevators opened. There were multiple normal sized doors on the left and right, and I could see they were labs as passed them. We headed down the hallway almost to the end, and I could feel a strong magical shield beyond the double doors.

  Cassie waved her hand at a door on the right, and I walked into a small conference room where Diana and Jemma were already present and seated.

  “Take a seat.”

  I nodded, and sat across from the two of them, and Cassie sat next to me.

  Jemma said, “Before we get started, I’d like to learn more about your magic, and what it’s capable of. I have my reasons, which will become clear in the following briefing.”

  It was the firs
t time I’d heard her voice, it was surprisingly soft and dulcet, given her hard eyes, deadly power, and job as security.

  I nodded, “That seems fair. I have telekinesis, like all other classes of mages, and that includes into the nano level as well, which I suspect is a large part of what I can do. My magic can discern not only technological hardware, but software as well. My magic feeds me what I need, based on my thoughts, intent, and focus. It will also feed me the knowledge of what it is and how it works.

  “Once I have that knowledge, not only can I control something with my magic and bypass security, I can also power it. For instance, I never have to charge my cell phone, or even put gas in my motorcycle. I don’t like to do it, because it leaves me unaware, but my magic can also take my mind inside of a network to access technology remotely. I much prefer staying aware, and that requires being relatively close to the technology, say fifty yards or so.

  “Last but not least, I can recreate anything I understand, which I believe is where the micro-kinesis comes in. Of course, to duplicate a cell phone for instance, I’d need the raw materials to do so, so that isn’t always practical. On the other hand, if my cell phone gets smashed, it’s easy enough to repair, since all the resources are still present.”

  Jemma tilted her head, “So, if say you found an airplane without power, that has a tight security system and a homing beacon. Could you power that plane, bypass the security, and suppress the beacon all at the same time?”

  I frowned, “It would take a few seconds on the software side. I could on the other hand, find and disconnect a beacon before powering up the plane, and bypass the security protocols in under a second.”

  Diana smiled, “Perfect.”

  I asked, “So, what’ve you got down here anyway, some experimental craft from another country?”

  Diana giggled, “Not quite.”

  Jemma gave Diana a look, then turned back to me, “Have you ever heard of the Roswell crash in forty-seven?”

  Really? No way.

  “Yes, you have an alien space ship?” I asked doubtfully.