AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER1
Gunther
I shake my head in disgust when I look over my garden. Every damn head of lettuce is destroyed. The broccoli? Forget about it. Will I have cabbage for my stir fry this summer? Nope.
The only thing the little shits left alone were the onions.
Fucking rabbits.
Because I’m a health nut, a backyard garden was the first thing I renovated when I bought my house. I won’t make a smoothie with onions, though.
Barring anything poisonous or inhumane, I’ll have to research how to keep rabbits away from my property. Far, far away.
I scrub my hand over my face and give up, going inside to shower off my morning-run sweat before heading to work.
Sentinel Security has been good to me so far. I haven’t been given any high-profile assignments, but I’ve only been with the company a few months, and already it beats my shifts as a lowly security guard at Expert Chemical Company. I don’t know what they do in the building I used to watch, but I was told I wouldn’t want to know. So I kept my head down, did my job, and waited for something more prestigious.
Based in Washington, D.C., Sentinel is the go-to for politicians, lobbyists, and lawyers. If your position doesn’t merit the Secret Service or Capitol Police — or if you need extra peace of mind that taxpayer-funded security doesn’t give you—you call Sentinel.
I adjust my necktie in the bathroom mirror and polish my U.S. Navy tie tack until it shines. I fuss over the fit of my clothes and shorn hairstyle more than I should, but the Academy, then rising through the ranks of the military, drilled certain habits into me. Being a fussy, buttoned-up sumbitch helps keep me anonymous in a town teeming with other buttoned-up sons-a-bitches. That’s the way I prefer it.
My self-discipline has paid off. I spent years scraping and saving as a security guard, and now I have a small house in Alexandria. Now I’m 35 and ready for the next phase of my life. Maybe I’ll settle down and start a family—if I can find someone willing to put up with the secrecy and sometimes crazy hours of private security.
I swipe my I.D. card through the slot at the employee elevator of Sentinel, a nondescript office inside a larger, nondescript glass and marble structure on Pennsylvania Avenue. I wait for the green light, but nothing happens.
I try again, and nothing. That’s weird. The chip in my I.D. card seems to be malfunctioning.
I try yet again, and still nothing. I wait, listening and watching for someone who knows what’s happening.
I buzz the intercom. After a few seconds, it crackles to life, and the voice of the military-grade A.I. entity that controls the doors answers me. It sounds a bit odd today but slightly more human. This A.I. shit is creepy as fuck.
“How may I help you today?” it asks.
“Yeah, something’s wrong with my card. Can you see what’s going on?”
And I wait.
The voice comes back with, “Please continue to wait.”
Sure thing.
I look around me at the busy lobby as men and women in dark overcoats and suits rush past to their government jobs, some of them eyeing me like a loiterer even though I’ve come to recognize many of their faces. Guess they don’t remember mine. That’s the way I prefer it, though, right?
Damn. Am I about to get fired?
If there’s a bug or a glitch, the bot would know and override it based on the sound of my voice alone—that’s how advanced the A.I. tech has gotten. Creepy, and makes me worry that the glitch is no mistake.
I’m about to buzz the robot again when two big dudes, headed right for me, round a corner at the other end of the lobby. They wear the green lanyard indicative of the ones who work directly under the big boss of Sentinel.
And they don’t look friendly.
“Morning, fellas.”
They don’t return my greeting, but instead, one steps close to me and orders, “Please come with us.”
I puff out my chest and say, “What’s happening?”
They don’t answer, but escort me away from the employee elevator, around the perimeter of the lobby to a door marked “boiler room.” What the…
