Chapter 15:

Will was sitting in the garage early the next afternoon, thinking of a way to drop cookie crumbs his soon-to-be 'new friend' could use when planning their approach. Social media was an obvious choice, but he wondered if there might be other ways to drop hints. Tapping his earbud, Will spoke to the open room.

“Hey Artie, do these guys use electronic records for whatever recon they do on the people they look to induct? Beyond the basic social media sites, I mean.”

“Many of their branches do have members capable of accessing digital records through various means. Some are hackers, others are employed by government or private agencies that grant them access. I believe they also have a division that specializes in using data brokers to learn the interests of targets that are forwarded to them.”

“So, if I were to start doing research on self defense, could they find out easily enough?”

“That would certainly point them in an easy direction to follow. It seems that they are moving quickly, though. They have already sent someone to do surveillance on you.

I do have to ask you something, though. Do you really think an intelligent and attractive woman is going to bother making up some elaborate excuse to approach you? From everything I have gathered regarding human behaviour, that would be a massive waste of her time.

I would anticipate her approaching, and if you express suspicion she will likely just explain her presence, honestly. She is not actually there for any nefarious reasons. Between the honest response, whatever natural sincerity she is able to convey, and the inclination for people to naturally be more trusting in attractive people… well, problems would be unlikely.

That said, I do believe you would do well to indicate your interest in learning about your abilities by spending as much time in the desert as possible. This will also offer the benefit of making it more likely she will make her approach while you are already training.

As an aside, we have considerable data that supports the hypothesis of physical training being a method of accelerating the infusion process. It seems that the process of destruction and reconstruction inherent in physical training may enable a more rapid absorption of energy into the rebuilding tissues.

Because of that, you will likely find it beneficial to arrange for some form of exercise equipment to be available for your use moving forward.”

“Hmmm… Ok. You’re right that I was overthinking this. I guess I’m a little nervous about the whole situation.

Anyway, I think Jake has something in mind for equipment. I’ll have to think about what I could use in the desert. I feel like bringing actual weights out there would be a bad idea.”

“That does seem likely.”

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“He’s weird,” said Cierra.

She was speaking to her friend Kara, who lived a few miles from Will, and had offered Cierra a couch while she needed to be in the area.

Kara wasn’t one of The Activated, but had been family to Cierra since they were children. Because of that, Cierra had brought her in on the secret when she had needed someone outside her normal family circle to confide in after reaching Initiate rank.

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“How is he weird?”

“Well, I’ve been watching his routine for the last few days. He’s already an Operator, but it looks like he’s only just now decided to add working out to his routine. Usually, that’s something that happens almost right away.

The physical improvements our abilities give us mean we tend to start exploring what we can do pretty quickly. Learning about that side of our abilities usually makes people curious to see what will happen if they actually work on getting physically stronger.”

“Well, that might make him a little different, but there could be a lot of reasons for that. Why do you think he’s only just started?”

“This afternoon he went out to a secluded spot in the desert and basically set up a little spot for testing himself with boulders. He even brought some tools to clear an area and started digging a trough to conceal the spot with a berm of dirt. I had to use a drone to see what he was doing, and I’m pretty sure he only didn’t hear it a couple of times because he was playing music.”

“Ok, well, creepy stalker behavior aside, isn’t it possible he was doing some stuff in his house, and just decided he wanted a place to really let loose?”

“I guess that’s possible. On the bright side, it gives me a really easy way to arrange a meeting with him.”

“Oh? What’s your angle?”

“I’m visiting an old friend, and decided to go on a desert hike while she was at work, of course.”

“That’s easy enough, and wouldn’t even be a weird thing to do out here. Any idea what kind of interests he has? It might be helpful to have some easy conversation topics.”

“Well, I’m going to call the office and see if they have any more intel in the morning. I also brought some tight shorts and a sports bra. I figured those might help.”

She was definitely smirking when she said that, and Kara laughed.

“I guess it’s a classic for a reason.”

The next morning, Cierra got off the phone with the office just as Kara was getting ready for work.

Seeing she was done, Kara asked, “Anything useful?”

Cierra’s reply came slowly. “Yeah… As far as they can tell, he’s a straight guy in his mid twenties. Basically a nerd, as far as his interests go. He lives with his two best friends.”

“Okay, so what’s bothering you?”

“Well, for one, this guy seems to have come out of nowhere, as far as his abilities are concerned. They said he and his roommates had been in their place for a few years now, but they never had any indication he was beyond the Latent level. Then suddenly, they get reports of him as a full blown Operator. It feels weird.”

“Well, to be honest, this area is pretty damn small and isolated. Is there even one other member of your little club living in this town?”

“One just moved into the area, but you’re not wrong about this place being isolated. It’s also pretty spread out. So, I guess it isn’t hard to believe they just hadn’t encountered each other yet.”

“There’s something else on your mind.”

Cierra chuckled at that.

“Ha, you know me well. Yeah, I’m starting to think our organization is a lot more tech savvy than I had thought. I can’t go into it in detail, but basically there are some limitations I’ve run into. The excuse I have always gotten was a lack of technological infrastructure and knowledge. Something seems fishy to me.”

“Well, that sounds like something future you will have to look into. For now, I do believe you have a job to do. So, let me know when you finish up for the night, and send me a sneaky text if you need a social rescue call to escape tactfully! Laters!”

With that declaration, Kara walked out the door to begin her day.

Cierra just chuckled at her friend, and decided on a nap. She had a suspicion she was going to have a long afternoon.

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