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CHAPTER 3<br />
A DARK PLACE<br />
1<br />
Michael had barely closed his mouth when Agent Weber stood up so abruptly that her<br />
chair flipped backward.<br />
Michael jumped, surprised at her reaction. “Was I supposed to say no?”<br />
But she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the door, her hand held to her ear<br />
as if she was listening to some kind of device planted there. “Something’s wrong,” she<br />
said. “You were followed.”<br />
Michael got to his feet, shaken by how quickly this woman had gone from terrifying to<br />
terrified. “Followed? By who?” he asked.<br />
“You don’t want to know, Michael. Come on.”<br />
She didn’t wait for his response. Without another word she charged for the door.<br />
Michael went after her, and soon they were out in the hall, surrounded by several armed<br />
guards. This time without the ridiculous black masks.<br />
“Get him back home,” Agent Weber directed, in charge again. “And make sure no one<br />
sees you do it.”<br />
A man and a woman appeared, took Michael by the arm, and started leading him<br />
down the hallway.<br />
“Wait!” he yelled, struggling to put together the sudden turn of events. “Wait! You<br />
barely told me anything!”<br />
Heels clicking along the tile oor, Agent Weber approached him. “Tell your friends<br />
what I just told you. Bryson and Sarah. No one else. No one. Do you understand me?<br />
Tell anyone—even your parents—and we’ll erase them.”<br />
That last bit shifted everything inside of him to anger. “Erase them?”<br />
“I need the three of you to dig, Michael,” she said, ignoring him. “I suggest you start<br />
in the darkest, seediest places inside the VirtNet. Ask around, follow the rumors. I need<br />
you to nd where Kaine’s hiding out—it’s the only way we can learn the complete truth<br />
behind the Mortality Doctrine and how he plans to use it. Do whatever it takes. You<br />
have the skills. We’ll have tracers on you and we’ll follow you in once you’ve discovered<br />
where he’s hiding it. Help us solve this problem and you’ll be set for life, whatever you<br />
want. We have others searching, too. Get there first and you’ll be rewarded.”<br />
His mouth opened—to say what, he had no idea—but she’d already turned and was<br />
making her way back down the hall.<br />
“Let’s go,” one of the guards said.<br />
They pulled Michael along in the opposite direction.
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