Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (21 page)

Tom
also
told
Lee
that
this
was
the
last
time
he
saw
McKay
and
that
after
that
he
was
immediately
transferred
out
of
the
base
and
no
one
in
his
company
saw
him
again.
Tom began
to
worry
for
his
own
safety
and
told
Lee
that
this
is
why
he
had
been
visiting
the
family
less
and
less;
as
a
measure
to
protect
them
from
any
potential
backlash.
He
explained
how
he
had
become
increasingly
paranoid
that
his
apartment
was
being
monitored
and
relocated
to
the
cabin,
which
no
one
outside
the
family
had
knowledge
of.
He
also
knew
that
no
one
would
be
able
to
approach
it
without
his
knowledge.

By
this
stage
Tom
was
beginning
to
sober
up,
thanks
in
part
to
the
strong
coffee
his
father had
brewed for
him.
Lee
interrogated
him
about
the
story
in
order
to
measure
his
brothers’
safety
concerns.
He asked
if
it
was
possible
that
he
had been
seen
entering
the
basement, but
Tom
assured
him
counter
measures
were
taken.
Lee
also
asked
if
Tom
passed
the
information
to
anyone
else, and
Tom
told
him
that
the
only
times
he
had
spoken
about
Project
K
was
to
McKay.

“Was
the
copy
you
gave
McKay
in
fact
the
only
copy
you
made?”

Tom
hesitated
before
answering and
Lee
knew
from
this
that
he
had
in
fact
made
another
copy
for
safe
keeping
and
that
there
was
two
possibly
scenarios
at
play:
1.
The
army
did
not
learn
of
Tom’s
involvement
in
un-earthing
the
files
or
2.
They
knew
he
was
involved
and
were
monitoring
him
in
order
to
learn
the
whereabouts
of
the
files
and
assess
the
threat
level
that
Tom
posed.

Tom
said
that
they
would
not
be
able
to
find
the
files
and
if
something
happened
to
him
that
the
only
people
who
would
be
able
to
find
them
would
be
Lee
and
Philip.
They
all
agreed
that
the
safest
place
for
Tom
to
stay
was
in
the
cabin.
Knowing
this,
Lee
and
Philip
decided
to
return
to
their
homes.
Before
leaving,
his
brother
called
out
to
him.

“Lee,
even
a
broken
clock
is
right
twice
a
day...”

This
comment
left
Lee
confused
as
he
searched
his
mind
for
a
reason
for
this
statement.

“Don't
worry
about
that
just
now,
I'm
sure
you
will
figure
it
out...”
Tom smiled
warmly
to
his
younger
brother
and
turned
away
from
him,
allowing
him
to
leave.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jennifer
met
Lee
as
he was
coming
in
the
door
with
her
usual
smile
and
soft
kiss
and
for
that
brief
moment
the
anxiety
Lee
felt
about
his
brother’s
safety
disappeared,
but
as
Jennifer
took
her
lips
away
from
his,
the
overwhelming
anxiousness
he
had
for
his
brother
began
to
rise
again.
Jennifer
asked him what was wrong and Lee willingly explained, knowing he needed to ease Jennifer’s mind.

“Tom
is
in
danger,
but
I
can’t
really
go
into
details
of
what
is
happening,
as
your
safety
could
be
put
at
risk
and this is something I just can’t do. I cannot and will not put you in harm’s way.” He kissed her again, held her reassuringly close and spoke softly in her ear. “Let’s go to bed.” So they did.

Lee
returned
to
work
as
usual,
editing
all
the
stories
of
interest
over
the
following
weeks,
but
on
one
day
a
particular
story
caught
his
eye.
It was titled
Local Football Hero Goes Missing
.
It
was
about
a
young
student, who was a college football prospect
from
a
small
farming
village
outside
the
city,
missing
in
strange
circumstances.
This
story
struck
a
note
with
Lee,
so
he
decided
to
go
back
through
the
pulled
stories
from
the
last
eighteen months
. He went to
see
how
many
similar
stories
there
were.
It
wasn’t
long
before
a
pattern
began
to
emerge;
the
pattern
included
the
targeting
of
people
with
vulnerable
backgrounds,
such
as
young
people
and
old
people
from
disadvantaged
and
rural
areas.

They
were
all
targeted
in
similar
circumstances.

The
details
given
to
the
authorities
at
the
time
matched
the
masked
individual
that
Tom
had
seen
attacking
the
compound.
Lee
quickly
figured
that
the
reason
the
stories
were
being
pulled
was
because
the
perpetrator
was
a
valuable
member
of
the
armed
forces
within
the
United
New
World
and
was
being
protected
by
his
superior
command.
Lee
went
to
share
this
information
with
his
brother,
wanting to get his advice about what they should do next.  As he drove he seemed to hit every red light on the way and a traffic jam, frustrating Lee. The more he wanted to hurry the slower the traffic went. Eventually he relaxed and accepted that all he could do was wait for the traffic to relent.
But by the time he
reached
the
cabin,
much
to
Lee's
dismay
and
distress,
he found
it
to
be
empty.

There
was
no
sign
of
his
brother,
no
sign
of
a
struggle
and
no
sign
of
any
foul
play.
Lee
being
Lee
and
knowing
his
brother,
knew
something
was
seriously
wrong.
He sat
for
a
moment
with
the
feeling
that
something
wasn't
right
,
knowing
‘
if
something
isn't
right
then
it’s
wrong’.
Applying
his
logical
thinking
to
the
scenario
in
hand,
he looked
around
and
saw
there was
no
sign
of
a
struggle,
which
meant
that
Tom
went
willingly
with
whoever
came
for
him.
For
if
Tom
put
up
a
struggle,
given
his
strength
there
probably
wouldn’t
have
been
much
left
intact
in
the
cabin.
Lee
also
knew
if
Tom
was
to
be
taken,
given
a
chance
he
would
leave
him
a
clue.

So
pulling
a
chair
from
by
the
door
he
sat
it
in
the
middle
of
the
room
and
scanned
everything.
At
first
glance
nothing
seemed
out
of
place.
Taking
a
second
scan
of
the
room
and
still
seeing
nothing
wrong,
but
trusting
his
instincts,
he
sat
with
the
idea
that
maybe
what
Tom
left
was
not
something
that’s
out
of
place,
but
something
that
should
be
there.

The first thing Lee saw was the ashtray on the table. Tom did not smoke, but Lee knew that if needed he would have a cigarette so he could give Lee and Philip a timeframe of when he left the cabin. Lee felt the ash and there was still a little heat in it. Had he not been delayed in traffic he may have made it to the cabin in time to help his brother.

Lee sat back down and looked for more indications as to what happened,
becoming
conscious
of
the
fact
that
the
big
grandfather
clock
had
been
fully
wound
up,
but
the
time
on
the
clock
was
unchanged.
The
clock
was
stuck
at
1.48.
This
time
was
familiar
to
him,
but
he
did
not
know
why
. He
recalled
the
words
Tom
had
left
him
with.

“Even
a
broken
clock
it
right
twice
a
day...”

At
the
time
these
words
seemed
cryptic,
but
now
Lee
comprehended
that
he
was
telling
him
where
to
look.
Carefully
he
opened
the
glass
door
that
covered
the
clock
face,
only
to
hear
something
inside
the
clock
fall. He
peered
into
the
bottom
of
the clock
to
see
if
he
could
see
what.
It
was
too
dark
to
make
out
any
distinct
objects,
so
running
into
the
kitchen
he
grabbed
a
torch
from
the
cupboard
underneath
the
sink.

Returning
to
the
clock
he
lit
the
torch.
It
struggled
to
ignite
the
filament
in
the
bulb,
but
after
gentle
persuasion
by
hitting
it
with
his
other
hand,
the
torch
lit
up
and
he
shone
it
into
the
darkness
in
the
clock.
He saw
a
black
pouch
and
reaching
his
hand
in,
he retrieved it.