Rich Boy: Growing Pains - 10. Chapter 10

"You could have let them finish the song you know," Jamie said tartly, and Worthington smiled at him as they picked their way amidst the sleeping forms on the floor of the common room area. The truth was he wanted to pass out. Putting all of them to sleep at once had taken a little more than he expected, although it was notably easier than if he’d tried to do it to them one at a time. He’d never learned the spell, just modified a standard sleep spell with an area effect spell and was surprised at the result.

"You could always wake them up and let them finish." Worthington offered.

"No thanks," Jamie muttered as he looked around the room. "Look, do you think that’s on purpose?"

"What?" Carl asked in a hushed voice.

"Look at the four doors leading to other parts of the building," Jamie explained obliquely. Worthington looked as well and smiled.

"I don’t get it," Carl said in a slight whine.

"There’s one of Worthington’s boys by each of the doors," Brandon said in a slightly acidic tone.

"Well, we’ll wake Dechaun up and ask him," Worthington said as he picked his way across sleeping bodies to where Dechaun was collapsed against the Head Counselor who had dropped his guitar and was snoring in the front of the room. Before he woke the boy, Worthington set a couple of spells he should have done earlier. Then we woke the boy.

"Hey," Dechaun said sleepily as he opened his eyes and looked around. His eyes widened as he took in everyone sleeping. "Did you do that?"

"Yes," Worthington answered honestly.

"That’s a good trick," Dechaun said in an approving tone.

"So how did things go in here?" Worthington asked.

"You mean besides the shitty songs?" Dechaun snorted. "It went okay. I got a couple of the guys to watch the door, and they signaled me whenever someone tried to sneak off, and then I just jabbed snoring guy here with my elbow, and he told them to sit back down. It worked pretty well I guess. No one snuck out at least. I had to tell them I’d pay them ten bucks an hour though."

"Don’t think I’m paying that for you." Worthington retorted, and Dechaun shrugged.

"That still leaves me sixty," Dechaun said.

"Good thinking." Worthington praised him.

"I listened to what you’ve been saying," Dechaun said defensively. "So, what’s up with the goons outside?"

"They’re going to be there for a while." Worthington frowned.

"So what now?" Dechaun asked.

"I think we wake them up by dorms and send them back to their dorm rooms before putting them back out for the night," Jamie said. "I saw the spell you used, and I can do it again."

"Wake up the guys, and they’ll help you." Dechaun offered, and Worthington nodded his agreement.

"We might as well use them," Worthington suggested, and Jamie muttered something under his breath before moving among the sleeping bodies.

"What’s really going on boss man?" Dechaun asked in a quiet voice while Jamie organized Colin, Brandon, and Carl to help him out. Worthington sat on the only clear space of ground between Dechaun and one of the female camp staffers.

"To make a long story short, I’m what you call a mage," Worthington said as he made a ball of light appear in his hand and he began to juggle it for a few seconds before letting it go. He was tired, and wanted to sleep himself, but didn’t dare do that yet.

"I got that," Dechaun said deprecatingly. "I mean, what’s with the guys out there? What do they want?"

"You see, there are a lot of mages, but when you compare the number of mages to the rest of the world’s population, there aren’t that many of us." Worthington tried to explain it, and Dechaun gave him an exasperated look.

"You see the color of my skin, boss man?" Dechaun’s tone was withering.

"Yes.’ Worthington said cautiously.

"You don’t have to explain the big picture to me." Dechaun snorted again. "If people knew people like you could do things they can’t and they won’t like it. There aren’t that many of you, and you’d get burned at the stake or some shit like that, or maybe worse."

"That’s about it in a nutshell." Worthington agreed. "Those men outside the camp, well they’re from the government. It seems the government has found out about us and has some mages working for them. You remember the terrorist stuff that happened a few months back?"

"You mean that shit was you?" Dechaun’s voice rose an octave.

"Kind of." Worthington shrugged. "Demons were trying to move into the area, and we were fighting them."

"Demons are real?" Dechaun’s voice held a hint of fear. "You mean, straight out of hell demons? Satan and shit?"

"Not quite, but they exist, and they like humans for lunch," Worthington said. "Mage humans are even tastier for them. We had a few fights with them and drove them off. They won’t be coming near Phoenix for a long time after we finished with them."

"That’s good to know." Dechaun shuddered. "I don’t like the idea of demons none at all."

"None of us do, Dechaun." Worthington chuckled. "Anyway, during that fight, we attracted the attention of these government mages and sent them packing too. Now they’re back, though, and they want me and my friends to give ourselves up to them."

"So what are you going to do?" Dechaun asked. "I mean, if you give yourself up to them, I ain’t gonna get paid, am I?"

"At least you have your priorities in order." Worthington chuckled as Jamie got the first group awake and bustled them out to the girl’s side of the building. It took fifteen minutes before he appeared again and this time took a group of boys. While he sat there, he stayed quiet as he thought, and was surprised when Dechaun didn’t speak or move.

"Figured out what you’re going to do yet?" Dechaun asked when Worthington sighed.

"Wait them out is the best thing we can do," Worthington said. "We don’t want to fight them, and as long as we stay here in the camp, we can hold them off."

"So it’s like a siege?" Dechaun asked. "We’re all your hostages?"

"That sounds bad." Worthington frowned.

"How are you going to fight the government, boss man?" Dechaun asked after a few minutes of silence. "Ain’t they like everywhere? You can’t hole up here forever, and eventually, they’ll come to get you. It’s like back home, when the cops come around you lie low till they’re gone."

"They want to keep this as secret as we do," Worthington said after thinking several things over. Pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. "There is no way they want this to go public, so they’ll keep it as low-key as they possibly can."

"They’re the government man." Dechaun snorted again. "You don’t think they can do what they want and keep it secret? Look around you. This is what you did. What do you think they’re going to be able to do?"

"Believe it or not, they aren’t as capable as we are when it comes to magic," Worthington said with a very small chuckle.

"What do you mean?" Dechaun asked.

"I have not yet seen a mage as powerful as I am, or Jamie, on their side," Worthington said.

"That don’t mean they aren’t there," Dechaun argued. "Just that you ain’t seen them yet."

"Since when did you get so smart?" Worthington asked, and Dechaun graced him with a bright smile.

"You don’t grow up where I do without learning things." Dechaun shrugged.

"If we can get out of here, they’ll have a much tougher time messing with us," Worthington said as he thought aloud.

"Why’s that?" Dechaun asked.

"Remember I’m rich," Worthington said with a slight smile. "What costs a hell of a lot of money and are some of the government’s worst nightmares?"

"Lawyers," Dechaun answered with an answering smile. "That’s right, you can get a whole bunch of lawyers to make their lives miserable."

"Yes." Worthington agreed with a nod. "Not to mention the dwarves."

"The what?" Dechaun asked with a little bit of a squeak.

"Dwarves." Worthington laughed. "Short guys with beards. There’s a small town of them about an hour or so from here. It’d take half the Army to get us there."

"So you pack up and run there," Dechaun suggested.

"We wouldn’t make it without motorcycles or a fast vehicle." Worthington shook his head.

"So you wait here until someone comes and gets you?" Dechaun asked, and Worthington nodded.

"Let’s help Jamie and the others for a bit," Worthington said as Jamie returned to start the next group.

It took nearly two more hours to get all the campers situated into their dorms, and put back to sleep for the night, and even Jamie was a little tired after they were all done. Worthington hovered on the edge of exhaustion as they settled in the nearly-empty common room with just the adult staff still there, and still asleep. Dechaun was the only of the non-mage still awake and settled down into a spot next to Worthington, on the other side of him from Brandon. Jamie and Carl were sitting across from Worthington, and Colin was off to the side, looking like he was ready to pass out at any moment.

"I’m ready for sleep," Colin said in a tired voice.

"I think we all need to rest," Jamie said.

"Shouldn’t one or more of us keep watch?" Brandon asked. "That’s what you call it, right?"

"I think so," Carl said with a frown, obviously not wanting to be the one.

"At least one of us – Jamie, Colin, or I should probably be awake at all times," Worthington said as he thought aloud. "Jamie placed the shield over the camp, but we can take turns monitoring it during the night."

"What do you think, switch off every four hours?" Jamie asked. "I’ll take the first four if you want."

"That’d probably be best." Worthington agreed. "Now, as to how we handle things in the morning. What do you think?"

"It shouldn’t be too hard to set some controls in all the adults," Jamie said. "I can do it while you guys get some rest. We’ll just have them change the camp’s activities to keep people in the boundaries of the shield, and if something happens, they get everyone into the dorms. They’re the most heavily protected area, and that way if things go wrong there are fewer people in the line of fire. None of us go anywhere alone, either. Brandon will stick with Worthington, Carl with me, and Colin, you’re either with Worthington or me at all times."

"I’m not going to argue that," Colin mumbled around a yawn.

"You sure you can handle setting the controls in them?" Worthington asked.

"Yes." Jamie smiled at him. "Now go get some sleep. The sooner you do that, the sooner I’ll get to sleep myself."

"C’mon, Dechaun, let’s get you to bed," Worthington said to the boy as he stood up. The camper was on his feet and led the way towards their dorm. Colin was right behind him, and Brandon headed off into his dorm. While Jamie set to work, Carl curled up in a corner to get some sleep, not being willing to leave Jamie completely alone.

Wake up, sleepyhead, it’s been four hours. Jamie’s mind touch was most unwelcome as Worthington opened his eyes. Jamie was standing in the doorway to his room, and Worthington quietly got up out of bed and followed him into the bathroom.

Anything happen? Worthington asked, sticking to a mental conversation. It was deadly quiet, except for the sounds of snoring coming from the various dorms.

There was some probing a bit ago, real clumsy probing at that. Jamie shook his head. I gave whoever was doing it a headache as an object lesson. A couple of times a mundane tried to get through the shield and got thrown back, but that was it. I think they were testing the boundaries, seeing where they were at exactly. About an hour ago I looked outside the building and couldn’t see anything. It’s like they’ve disappeared into the hills, but I could sense shielded locations down the road about a half-mile, so they’re at least watching that.

That’s too bad. Worthington frowned. If we could get out of here, that’d be the best option for all of us.

I agree. Jamie replied with a yawn. I’m tired, so I’m going to get some sleep. You ready for the shield?

Worthington just nodded and Jamie ‘handed’ the shield off to him. As his brother left the bathroom, Worthington decided he might as well take a shower and went back for his gear. By the time the water was warm enough, he’d adjusted to the shield, or rather it had adjusted to him, and he could ‘feel’ everything through it that was necessary.

Unlike a shield that was tied off, or like the wards on the castle at Clairville, or the house in Scottsdale, this shield was still taking its energy directly from the mage. That made the shield stronger, and the link between shield and mage a lot stronger. He could feel the little bits of life that were insects passing through it unhindered, and he could feel the little tendrils of magic that were occasionally brushing against it as the mage outside kept testing it.

Whoever he was, the mage was methodical at least. Each time he started with low magic, checking to see if he could insinuate his thoughts inside the shield. Then he would move rocks, or other objects to see if they would go through the shield. As he failed each time, the mage moved up into high magic, testing with small spells. Worthington was surprised when the mage took control of several insects and sent them at the shield.

The mage must have noticed an insect moving across the shield earlier and decided to see if he could use that advantage. His attempt failed of course. There was a difference between regular animal life, or insect life, and that which was mage-controlled. Jamie had set the shield so that it would keep out anything moving above a certain speed (like bullets), intelligent life (like humans), and anything recently touched by magic. It stopped each of these attacks by the mage, who waited twenty minutes before starting his testing in another area.

An hour before dawn, the testing stopped, and Worthington spent that time thinking about their situation and the possible outcomes. If only in the privacy of his own mind, he had to admit he was terrified by this turn of events. Government involvement in the affairs of mages was something long feared, and it proved the point of those who said open knowledge of mages and magic would be the death of them. He had to start re-thinking his support for the plan of the Dwarf King, and the Elves as well when it came to finding some sort of middle ground.

But was it already too late?

Nothing the dwarves or other magical races had done was responsible for this situation. In fact, the government already knew about magic, if not the magical races, as proven by his run-in with the agents during the demon fight. Somehow, some mage had come to the awareness of the government and whatever program existed now sprang from that interaction. More than likely it was some mage not associated with a mage family, Light or Dark because his earlier encounters had left him with the impression that the government mages were ignorant of the larger mage community, its principles, and its history.

When the sun finally rose over the horizon, Worthington set about waking his campers up and getting them ready for the day. Colin was still a little tired but seemed to be in a lot better shape, if no better mood. By the time they filed into the dining hall with the rest of the campers, Worthington had realized it was going to be a long day.

Except for the fact that no one left the boundaries of the campground, it was a fairly typical day as far as most of the campers were concerned. Jamie had set very simple instructions into the minds of the camp staff, simply telling them to arrange the day’s activities to be within the boundaries of the camp. As a result, the campers had a variety of interesting things set in front of them that Jamie or Worthington would never have dreamed up if they had given more specific instructions to the camp staff.

There was no discernable activity from the government mage or soldiers outside the campground. No one approached the main gate of the camp, no one tested the shields all day according to Jamie, who had taken it back during breakfast. After dinner, Worthington took Colin and Brandon on patrol around the perimeter of the shield, just to see what would happen.

Back in the dorm building Jamie and Carl were prepared, ready to strengthen the shield if needed. Dechaun had tagged along, giving Worthington a flat stare when he suggested the young boy should go back with the rest of their dorm. It seemed Dechaun disliked square dancing as much as Worthington did and would much rather be out here, danger or no danger.

"There’s one, over there," Dechaun said quietly after they’d made half a circuit of the camp. He’d moved up to stand beside Worthington and pointed with a jut of his chin.

"Where?" Worthington asked, not seeing anything in that direction.

"There, under that bush between the twisted tree and that real thick tree," Dechaun explained without looking in that direction. Worthington thought he saw something, no more than a mound of something under the bush and extended his mage senses just a bit.

"How did you know he was there?" Worthington asked as they moved on without paying too much attention to the mound that was a hidden soldier. His probe had touched on a shield over the person’s thoughts, which was the only way he’d have known for sure if someone was there.

"My cousin joined the army a couple of years ago." Dechaun shrugged. "He took me and his little brother camping one time, and showed us some of the things they’d taught him."

"You are a surprising wealth of information, Dechaun," Worthington said fondly, putting an arm around the boy’s shoulder.

"As long as I can turn it into money, it’s all good," Dechaun said emphatically. "I’m sick of being poor."

"Like I said before, Dechaun, I better be careful, or you’re going to be richer than I am." Worthington laughed.

"I hope so." Dechaun laughed as well as they continued walking. He spotted three more soldiers in hiding, and each time Worthington was able to confirm they were there with his magic. It was obvious from their arrangement that they were lookouts, meant to spot anyone trying to leave the camp.

They’re testing the shield again. Jamie’s mind voice sounded a bit worried as Worthington led his small group back into the middle of the camp. The sky was just moving from twilight into darkness, and the lights of the dining hall were bright. That at least was one thing they didn’t have to worry about. Electricity could not be cut off to the camp, because solar panels and a tall windmill behind the staff cabins supplied power to the entire camp. The environmentally aware camp staff liked to brag their camp had no ‘carbon footprint’ from its use of electricity. While all their kitchen equipment ran on electricity, it was all provided by the solar panels and windmill. At night, batteries and the windmill (which actually generated most of its power from the evening breezes) provided power for lights, water heaters, and other equipment.

We’re on our way back in. Worthington replied to his brother. It was only a few minutes until they reached the dorm building. Jamie and Carl were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the common room, which was quickly becoming the best-protected room in the entire camp. He and Jamie had spent a good part of the afternoon spinning out wards and shields on the place.

"What’s going on?" Worthington asked his brother.

"There are at least two mages out there now," Jamie replied with a frown. "They’re trying more stuff too. Wait, make it three mages. Damn, they’re testing in three different areas, and it’s a pain to keep my attention on all three."

"You want me to help?

"No," Jamie muttered. "I can handle them, but I need to focus on them."

"We shouldn’t just sit here." Colin murmured. "It’s like we’re letting them set the rules for this."

"Going out there and confronting them isn’t the right thing either." Worthington countered. "It is a good way for us to get in over our heads and lose. We’re better off just waiting them out."

"It’s only been a day, and there are now three mages." Colin countered. "How many, plus whatever many soldiers they bring in, can we deal with here? I mean, what if they are just pinning us down until they get a hundred mages here to overwhelm us?"

"Now it’s four mages." Jamie murmured aloud. "And the soldiers are starting to try the shield at six different locations."

"How are you holding up?" Worthington asked with a frown.

"They aren’t doing an all-out attack, but if they keep this up for long both Carl and me are going to be worthless until tomorrow." Jamie murmured.

"We do have to do something," Worthington said with a sigh, and Colin smiled triumphantly.

"What are we going to do?" Colin asked excitedly.

"You are going to stay here and be ready to help Jamie if he needs it," Worthington said sharply and ignored Colin’s frown. "Dechaun, you can come with Brandon and me."

"You’re going to take the mundane with you and leave me behind?" Colin was incredulous.

"You weren’t able to pick out the soldiers hiding around earlier today," Worthington said. "For that matter, neither was I without magic. Dechaun did it, and I’m hoping he’s going to be able to do it again."

"Oh." Colin frowned. Worthington’s explanation calmed him down a little though, and Worthington was certain that by pointing out that even Worthington hadn’t seen the soldiers earlier helped calm down Colin’s ruffled feathers.

"Yo, boss man, do I get paid hazard pay for this?" Dechaun asked as they left the dorm building.

"Nope," Worthington replied.

"Ah hell, that ain’t no fair," Dechaun complained, and it was now dark enough he couldn’t see if the boy was smiling until he saw the faint reflection of white teeth.

"If you plan on being rich and moving in higher-class society, you will have to learn that ain’t ain’t a word, and double negatives aren’t any form of good English."

"You’re funny." Dechaun chuckled, and Worthington smiled back at him. It was easy to see the areas where the mages were testing the shield. The night sky was flashing with different colors as they used a variety of spells against the shield. Whenever it was struck the shield flared a pearly-white color. Standing in the field used for various sporting games, Worthington studied the different flashes for a bit and set off in the direction where there was no color except for the pearly-white of the shield flaring.

"Where we going?" Dechaun asked as he walked beside Worthington on the right. Brandon was behind Worthington, following closely. They were already linked, and Brandon was a cool presence filled with power waiting to be used. He’d spent most of the day recharging and being ready for whatever Worthington needed from him.

"You see the areas where there are more than just the pearly-white flashes?" Worthington asked.

"Yes," Dechaun answered.

"Those are mages testing the shield." Worthington supplied, and he waited to see if Dechaun could figure out the rest.

"So the areas with just the pearly color are soldiers?" Dechaun asked.

"Very good." Worthington smiled.

"What are we going to do?" Dechaun asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"We’re going to provide a distraction for Jamie," Worthington said with more confidence than he really felt. It took another five minutes to reach the area that was his target, and by then the glow of an attack against the shield had stopped. When they approached the shield, Worthington frowned at the darkness, realizing it was going to be difficult to see anything. There was no soldier visible standing on the other side like he’d hoped for, but then this was why he brought Dechaun.

"I can’t see shit." The boy muttered.

"Wait a moment," Worthington said as he prepared a spell. When he released it, the bright white light that hung above his head blinded his eyes momentarily. He blinked several times before he could see again.

"Shit," Dechaun muttered as his eyes adjusted. "It’s nearly bright as day."

"Do you see anyone?" Worthington asked quietly.

"Yeah, over to the right, next to that tree with the low branches," Dechaun answered softly, almost in a whisper.

"Do you see more than one?" Worthington asked.

"No, but you know if they have radios he’s probably calling for help," Dechaun answered. "Or that light is screaming where we are."

"That’s what I’m counting on." Worthington murmured. "Stay here."

"No problem with me on that, boss man," Dechaun muttered as he stepped back a few paces.

I need a gate here. Worthington sent to Jamie and smiled when he felt the shield open just wide enough for him to step through. He pulled on power from Brandon as he stepped through the hole, and the tranquilizer dart the soldier fired at him hit his personal shield before falling to the ground. The night sky flared red as he let loose with a mage bolt at the dark mound hiding near the tree and there was a flare of bright blue as it hit the mage shield protecting the soldier. Worthington could now hear the man talking frantically into his radio as he stood up and fired a burst from his machine gun.

Worthington’s shield protected him from the bullet as he let loose with another bolt, this time a blue stun bolt that hit the shield, causing it to collapse. A third bolt hit the soldier in the back, flinging him to the ground. In the distance, Worthington could hear the shouts of other men, and the crashing sounds of them rushing through the woods towards them.

"Stay here," Worthington muttered to Brandon as he dropped his shield for a moment and darted towards the collapsed soldier. The man was big, almost as tall Worthington and broader in the shoulders. He was wearing the digital camouflage patterns of the modern Army, and Worthington bent over to pick him up in a fireman’s carry. With his helmet and body armor, the man had to weight at least two-fifty and was damn heavy.

"Let’s go." Worthington gasped to Brandon as he darted back to where his Channel was standing, waiting nervously. He flared his power, extending his personal shield around him as the crashing sounds came closer, and the sounds of machine guns filled the air. The bullets bounced off his personal shield as he crossed the line of Jamie’s barrier. His brother closed the gateway in the shield as soon as he signaled it was safe.

Pearly-white light filled the sudden darkness as he canceled his own light spell. Brandon pulled Dechaun in closer, within Worthington’s protective shield just as several objects were thrown through the shield. Worthington nearly dropped the soldier in surprise as several smoke grenades went off, and he thickened his shield to keep the white smoke out. Of course, the weapons were thrown with arms, not magic. It was a neat little hole in their shield’s protection and one that none of them had noticed.

The simple answer at this point was to simply walk away. Jamie could hold the shield the soldiers were now frantically firing at, and Worthington calmly walked back towards camp, shifting the burden of the soldier just a bit. Over in the dining hall, the campers and staff were still doing some sort of activity, he could see and were blithely unaware of what was going on outside. That was a good thing overall, and when Worthington reached the dorm building, he was more than ready to drop his heavy burden on the floor of the common room.

"Shit." Colin murmured as he saw the soldier, bits of bush and small twigs sticking out of parts of his uniform and helmet. His face was darkened in a swirl of different colors of paint, and he had several grenades and other weapons on him that Dechaun carefully took from his unconscious form. "Where’d you get him?"

"Just outside the shield." Worthington smiled. "I figured taking a soldier would pull all the rest of them from their hiding areas and make them worry about us."

"It worked," Jamie said with a sigh. "They’ve stopped testing the shield, and even the soldiers that were trying to save their buddy here have stopped shooting at the shield."

"Well, they found one weakness already," Worthington said and relayed the information about the smoke grenades while Dechaun began to strip the soldier’s helmet and body armor off of him. He was making a small pile of gear about three feet from the soldier, and when he had the soldier down to his basic uniform, he stood up with a radio and headpiece in his hand.

"They ain’t talking anymore," Dechaun said as he held the equipment out.

"They probably switched frequencies." Jamie murmured. "What are we going to do with him?"

"I think it’s about time we found out a few things," Worthington said. "Like, if we’ve got the US Army fighting us, how many are they going to bring in?"

"He ain’t Army," Dechaun muttered, and Worthington gave him in inquisitive look. "Check out his uniform, boss man. It doesn’t say ‘Army’ on it, and they do that in the real Army. Look at the haircut on him. It’s short, but it’s longer than Army dudes wear it, and he ain’t got any dogtags either."

"Well then, let’s see what he really is, or isn’t," Worthington smiled at Dechaun while Colin was looking at the young man. It would do Colin good to use Dechaun as an example. Even though he was only twelve, and from a financially disadvantaged background, Dechaun used his brain, and he always noticed things going on around him. Those were traits Colin would do well to imitate if he was going to achieve his full potential as a mage.

Worthington put all that out of his mind though as he knelt down next to the unconscious soldier. The man was handsome, in a rugged sort of way with a square jaw, brown hair and a crooked nose that had been broken many times. Under the paint, he looked to be in his late twenties, with the ruggedness of a man who spent a lot of time outdoors evident from his face, and from the hands that Worthington picked up and felt. They weren’t soft hands, but the nails were well-kept, and it was obvious from the man’s physical condition he took good care of himself.

"Shit boss, you going to make love to him or what?" Dechaun muttered as Worthington put the hands down and took the man’s head gently between his hands while maneuvering so that he could rest the head on his knees and he knelt over the man.

"He’s a little old for me," Worthington laughed. The physical contact wasn’t necessary, but it made things easier as he opened his mind and sank down into the sleeping mind of the soldier.

It was surprisingly orderly, and yet chaotic as the man dreamed something in his sleep. That was of no concern to Worthington as he probed. Let the man dream as he would, he was more interested in what the man’s memories held. The blocks and controls set in him were also of a great deal of interest. They were crude but yet sophisticated in odd ways.

Jeremiah Francis had indeed been a soldier in the United States Army, but that had ended three years ago. Since then he’d been working as a private contractor for one of the security firms that had grown in size and function since the start of the War on Terror. It paid well, and since Jeremiah was single, he could spend that money in a variety of interesting ways.

His latest work was an odd job. The US government was his company’s biggest client, of course, and he was glad to be working back in the United States where he could at least spend a few days every month in the expensive condo he now owned in San Diego. It bugged him that there were huge blank spots in his memory and that while they weren’t US Army, they occasionally pretended to be the Army. Still, they were working for the government so they couldn’t get in trouble for doing that, and he went along because he’d been following orders ever since he enlisted at the age of eighteen.

What was even more interesting was the flood of information that was unlocked when Worthington unknotted the relatively crude controls and blocks that had been placed on the soldier. Worthington sank back onto his heels and let the man slowly return awake as the information flooded into both of them from behind those blocks. The sheer scope of what the man had hidden in there was staggering, and Worthington reached out to share it with the others in the room, drawing even Dechaun into a many-sided rapport rather than trying to verbally share the information.

"Shit," Dechaun muttered for all of them, and Worthington’s rueful chuckle echoed his sentiment.