Red Shift: Spectrum

By J P Robertson

The barriers between Government and Industry have always been weak, lines of morality are blurred as one attempts to influence the other. It is not a concept that has been born within the pages of fiction, it is a daily occurrence in the world we now live. Most people have become complacent because they feel the core purpose of the antagonists is for personal wealth and fame. But, this is not always the case; when a cause becomes more than a selfish means to gain wealth, when a cause is guided by a vision that transcends generations, and when a cause seeks to change the very fabric of what we know as humanity, wealth and fame are but a means to and ends.

Jack Prince knew a lot about ends. He had spent the best part of the last decade trying to find the end of every bottle of whiskey he could get his hands on. His life had lost purpose, the one-time tactical specialist had lost his military stripes at the same time he lost his wife, and shortly after that, his daughter. It wasn’t until he was set up by an Alpha that he found a new cause. He had decided he was no longer going to let others dictate his destiny, that it was time to take his life back, and deal out a little street justice in the process.

It had only been a matter of months since Jack, Blake, Cindy, and Ping collectively brought down one of the most influential Alphas in the region. Since then, however, the team seemed to have more to manage than ever before. Jack knew they were a disparate crew of misfits, with their back to the wall more often than not. There was much they didn’t know, but they were determined to take a stand; waiting for the Government to act was never an option. The law-makers had become impotent figure-heads, allowing the Alphas to do as they pleased, regardless of the consequence to the people.

Everywhere they looked, the corruption of the elite Alphas stamped its mark. Arisen from the commercial battleground of the early 21st Century, the Alphas were a secretive group that controlled most of the industrial and commercial activity in the region. With the decline of most countries and governments around the world, there were only a few places that any substantial industrial development. The Alphas controlled this exclusively.

In a sequel as fast-paced as the original story, Red Shift: Spectrum takes you back to what will be left of Sydney in a hundred years. As relationships are tested and new ones forged, knowing who to trust and what to believe becomes more important than ever. The struggle to keep ahead of technology clashes with the struggle to dominate the streets, as Clans fight for the privilege to work for the Alphas, an ever increasing amount of technology has moved across the table.
Now Jack, Blake, Cindy, and Ping have to decide if they can play the game, or try to change the rules. They may have unlocked the key to Biotronics technology, but they weren’t the only ones, and they all knew the consequences of the technology getting into the wrong hands. Not only were they trying to stop the Alphas and their diabolical plan, whatever it was, they also had to play cat and mouse with Osiris and the Feds, who hadn’t let them off the hook for their past indiscretions.

Being on the outside, renegades, outlaws, however you wanted to put it, had its advantages, but they all knew they had limitations too. These were about to get tested. As the team enter a new phase of their ongoing fight, the truth of the situation was about to become apparent; the more they discovered, the less they knew.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J P Robertson
• Release date: Jun 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311634764

J P Robertson

I am a Science Fiction writer, releasing my first novel in 2014.Although I am an adult, I am a kid at heart, often reliving my youth vicariously through my children. I love everything about SciFi, from futurist concepts, to high-tech weapons and gadgets, and pure escapism.My writing is aimed at adults, and young people that can handle a bit of violence and foul language. Although neither attributes are foundations of my writing, I do not shy away from using the common colloquialism you would expect to find with the types of characters I develop.If you like futurism, action, espionage, and colorful characters, you'll like what I make.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Looking from the edge, the city was a kaleidoscope of blurred colour. Normally the old city was a shit-box not worth looking at, but for one night a year the grey turned to bursts of red, green, and everything in-between.

It was giving Jack a headache. If he was honest, he forgot about the celebration, and was just getting away from the noise for a few hours. The irony wasn’t lost on him, as dozens of vehicles started rolling into the lookout carpark.

A lot of things had changed in the city since he was a kid himself. Hell, a lot of things had changed in the last few years. One thing hadn’t changed though; young louts were still young louts. Between the odd music he couldn’t relate to, and the scantily clad women that he could, he figured it was time to get going.

He took one last look over the city. The sharp edges of the pyrotechnic display were dulled by the bright lights of what seemed like an armada of cars. He stood up, turned to the carpark and within a few steps knew his night of relaxation was about to get pissed on. The group of young men around his bike pretty much confirmed that.

He walked up, and a few of them moved aside to let him through. He quickly counted six of them directly in front of Betty, but no doubt there were more straggler associated with them. Plan A was just get on, get the fuck out, and avoid any hassle.

Cute bike, bro, one of the onlookers said, staring right at Jack.

Thanks.

There were a few sniggers from the group, as they took confidence from what must have been the leaders remarks.

Can I ride it?

Jack stopped, looked around, and saw the guy standing there, holding his helmet.

Sorry, Government issue. Jack paused, reminding himself to just quell the situation, save the drama.

The leader looked at the helmet, then at Jack. Yeah right, as if a fucking G-man would ride a bike like this. Don’t be a cunt, give me a ride. The leader tossed the helmet to one of his accomplices, and took a few steps towards Jack.

I’m not in the mood for bullshit, sunshine. Give me my helmet, and you can all walk out of here tonight.

Fuck you, bitch!, a shout came from behind him. Jack dipped his should and pivoted around, catching the hip of the attacker from behind him. A skinny goth-looking boy stumbled to the ground.

Before Jack could fully regain balance, the leader and one of the others jumped at him with kicks and punches. The Tac-suit absorbed almost all of the impact until he got a hit in the face. As he went down to a knee, he saw the legs of both of the attackers coming in. He swept hard in a low arc, catching both of them at once.

As he rose, he grabbed the leader who was now off balance, and head butted him twice straight in the face. Blood splattered out, some of it back at Jack. As always, the amount of blood from the hit in the face looked far worse than it was. It had the desired effect, with the remaining people taking a step back.

Jack pulled his Timmy and trained it on the one with his helmet. Jack said calmly, My helmet, please.

With a shaky arm, the now trembling youth passed the helmet out in front of him. Jack holstered the Timmy, and slid the helmet on. Betty immediately started and the dart-tubes opened. What few of the mob that were left around the bike now got the idea, and backed right away. Jack straddled the bike and brought up Halo. He wasn’t going to wait for round two, he didn’t fancy some young dick-head getting himself killed.

Sin, you still up?

Still up? I just got up!

Good. You remember that runner I intercepted last week in the 3rd?

Johnny? Didn’t like the look of him, Jack

He contacted me. Said he had intel on the new tech. Apparently another Clan is trying their hand at something other than mid-tier couriers. I’m going down to meet him

Be careful, hun. There is a lot of chatter around on the waves this week. Shit’s going to go down somewhere.

The road swept down the hill, but was no more or less interesting than the last twenty times Jack had travelled it this month. He found himself on the hill most nights these days. It wasn’t for lack of company; in fact the team had gelled into quite a force over the last few months. He had no idea why, he made a mental note to ask his shrink. He made another note, to get a shrink.

The third quadrant was looking about as inviting as it ever had. Jack figured that it was Satan’s little piece of Hell on Earth. The East coast was steadily dipping into the Pacific, and this part of town couldn’t disappear soon enough. In the last year the shoreline had advanced nearly half a block, with the scientists saying it was due to stop anytime soon.

The trip to the warehouse was decidedly uneventful, which wasn’t common around these parts. Well, in Jacks experience at least. The roller door was up on 135 Hammer St, as Jack passed through he dropped a proximity sensor at the entry. It was an expansive warehouse, probably most of the block by the look of it, but completely empty. There was a mezzanine floor over a third of it, and the odd pile of somethings with dusty covers.

Seems pretty quiet down there, Jack. You’ve got one person at the far corner of the warehouse.

I think I see him. It’s dark in here, I’ll down HALO and use my lights. Wait out.

As Jack got off Betty in the middle of the warehouse, a shaky voice shouted from across the room, Stop right there Mister. Who are you?

It’s me, Jack. You called me, Jack shouted back.

Called about what? The man sounded like he was either scared shitless, or wired up on more of the snorty stuff than a pusher on High St.

C’mon mate, I don’t have all night to fuck around. Either you can help me or you can’t.

OK, come this way. But no monkey business.

As Jack walked towards him, a light turned on behind the man. He was standing in the corner with a gun under his chin, and a small box on the floor. It was the weirdest thing Jack had seen for a while, and that was saying something, because in the last few months he had seen shit that would make most people turn white.

The man flicked the box across the floor towards Jack. That, Jack, is proof that the Vixens are shifting dodgy tech. DNA manipulation, fucked up organs.

That’s some pretty heavy shit. How did you come across this?

I’m a biotechnologist. And I got it from my brother.

This was starting to sound like a pretty shitty day at the office. Although he was out for intel, it just wasn’t a nice Sunday to be balls deep in some fucking renegade runner gang of psychotic chicks. That was more of a Thursday thing.

OK, so you have proof. How? Did you ask someone to take their heart out? How do I know you’re not the one behind this?

Because, it’s my brothers’ heart.

Well that’s a quick way to kill a conversation, Jack thought, as he wished his brain was as fast as his wit.

Tony heard a rumour about this new tech. so he went to see what it was about. He signed up, but didn’t expect to go through with it. He thought there was an operation, and that the vitamins he was given were just a booster to help with the integration. He was wrong, they were changing his DNA from the first pill.

How did he get onto it?, Jack asked, keeping the conversation going as fast as he could. Jack wasn’t too sure how long his new friends twitch on the trigger was going to last before he quit.

He heard about the tech, some new missing link between electronic and biological systems.

Shit, Jack interrupted. Someone else is developing Biotronics too. Unlikely they came from scratch, and if it’s runners, Loach is probably nearby.

What do you mean by ‘shit’?

Ah, nothing. Just sounds like something else I heard last week, but ignored. I’ll try and find that contact again after this, it was the best spot-bullshit he could come up with. He could tell by the raised eyebrow he got in reply, that it wasn’t believable.

So anyway, he was told the process would last him over 100 years. He had suspected that a crime syndicate was behind it, and that post-surgery there would be some kind of extortion attempt. The whole thing was a set-up though, they were onto him from the start.

How long has thins been going for?

Only a month. He was suspicious straight away and started digging. He got a whiff of some high-level organisation behind the scenes. Within a week he came to me saying he was told he had one day to live, and there was nothing he could do.

There was a loud crash from the other side of the building. It sounded like a door caving in, but the echo made it sound like a herd of elephants joining the party.

Sin, what the fuck is going on?

Sorry Jack, I’m blind in there.

Jack looked around but only saw a group of shifting shadows and the odd laser splash. He ran for Betty and slid across the ground as shots whipped past him. He grabbed his helmet as he slid past, pulling it on as he half-rolled to get to his feet. TLM immediately blazed into life, and Jack brought through the weapons systems.

Johnny, run! Jack screamed. He had hoped he didn’t need to tell him, but sometimes when people are scared shitless they need a voice to kick the brain into motion.

Jack needed no such thing, the rounds buzzing around him like mid-summer flies had him in top gear already. He slid behind a covered object near Betty and drew his Timmy. It was definitely his favourite weapon, small, light, and could cut a small army in two in seconds. His admiration of his baby was cut short as TLM warned movement to his right.

Jack, where are you. Johnny was shouting, the fucking idiot was about to lose his head.

Jack heard a couple of dull thuds, then something fell against the side of the cover. He didn’t need to be told it was Johnny’s body. A quick round-up made his objectives clear, get the box, get Betty, get the fuck out of dodge.

At that moment, Betty lit up, Jack slid out from the cover and made a run for the corner where the box was. The display on his visor rolled over to infrared, bringing two bright red blurs about ten metres in front of him. He lit up both targets with rounds from the Timmy on full auto, making it sound more like a kitchen blender than gun.

Betty targeted and laced up two target at the entry with darts, dropping them instantly. Right at that time the shooting stopped. Jack started walking towards Betty, stopping as flood lights from above lit up the interior. He swiped his visor, but kept the helmet on, looking around for targets. It was a waste of time, as he couldn’t count that high.

A woman walked from around the corner, slowly clapping her hands. As she entered the building Jack got a full view of her. He didn’t know her, but figured everyone else at the party did, lowering their guns as the woman and her escort walked near the middle of the room.

Jack trained his gun on the woman, as the other thirty or so guns in the room instantly trained onto him. It was a fucked up situation he wanted to get out of as soon as possible.

Sin, I’m in a bit of a fucking bind here, he muttered into his comm. No reply.

I wouldn’t worry about contacting you team, Jack, it’s just us in this room, no distractions.

All those fucking guns are pretty distracting, sweetheart. He glanced around the room, the dart chutes on Betty whizzing as they rotated to match his movements.

"Don’t worry about trying to take them all out, even this beautiful machine won’t be fast enough to stop them all before one gets a shot at your head.

Jack stopped, and looked around a little harder. The gunmen around him, were actually gun-women. Fuck, Vixen’s. Great.

I’m flattered, Jack. You’ve heard of us. The woman had a slight smile.

Don’t be, I hear you’re a bitch. His words spoken down the end of his gun, never leaving the target.

He looked her up and down. She was around 5’10", and well built. Not butch at all, slightly muscular, but well proportioned. Her long dark hair was a little scruffy, but intentionally that way by the look of it. She was wearing combat boots and pants, but a tank-top. He figured it was all image, but didn’t want to spar with her nonetheless, the reputation of the Vixens had grown rapidly, in a bad way.

So, you know my name, what’s yours?

I am Carrey, and this is Twist. She turned to her escort and stroked the back of her hand gently over her face. Beautiful, isn’t she?

Ask me when I’m not feeling like I’m about to become a piece of Swiss cheese.

Jack, if that was my plan, you’d already be a bloody pulp on the floor. I only come to give you a message.

Yeah, what’s that, fifty credits for a lap dance?, he grinned at his wit, but no-one could see through the helmet, which he thought about for longer than he probably should have.

Honey, if I were to give you a lap dance, it would cost you a shit load more than that. Probably cost you your heart.

I lost my heart long ago. As fun as this is, do you have a fucking point?

Carrey turned to Jack, then walked over to Betty. She straddled the bike, but didn’t touch it, instead looking over to Jack.

Don’t worry, I wouldn’t actually touch her, you never know what might happen if I get involved with her. She raised her eyebrow, then nodded to Twist. Pass her the box, we will leave, and you will live. It’s not a bargain, offer, or negotiation, just a statement.

Twist walked over, and Jack kicked the box her way. I’ll be seeing you. He looked at Twist, but didn’t move his Timmy off Carrey for a second.

She picked up the box and walked towards Jack, getting between his Timmy and Carrey. She moved her head right past his arm and to his neck, and whispered in his ear, I hope so.

She licked the bottom of his earlobe and turned away, not looking back. Jack was instantly aroused. The thought of the guns around the warehouse disappeared, and he decided at that second he needed a hooker. Seriously, the most fucked up situation he had been in for weeks, quite probably about to die, and he was thinking about Carrey and Twist riding him like a Texas cowboy.

Carrey swung her leg off Betty and blew her a kiss, See you soon, sweetheart.

She looked back at Jack as she started to walk out. This is my only deal Jack, stay away from the Vixens, and stay alive. I don’t have time to fuck around with some vigilante who’s bent on righting his wrongs by fucking with Runners.

He felt a hot poke in the back of his neck, then passed out. When he came to a few minutes later, the place was empty. He slowly stood up and saw a boy moving through the entry. As his reflexes came to, he raised his Timmy.

Yo, it’s Blake. Take it easy mate.

Fuck, he said slightly groggy, What the fuck happened?

I had hoped you would tell us buddy, we were comms-down. They had some kind of jammer, Ping recons it was Loach.

Jack stood up, pulled off his helmet, and looked at Blake like he had just told him his sister wasn’t a virgin.

Loach? With the Vixens?

Only a theory, but it makes sense. If he is getting higher-order links, he’d be running through the new big players on the circuit.

Jack mounted Betty and spun around to face the entry, whipping up a dust wave in the process. Pulling out onto the street the place was a ghost town, of course, but it felt more-so now. Just as Jack had finally been getting a grip on what was going on, another curve-ball had been thrown in. It was time for the team to redefine their goals. If there was going to be a new street war, there is no way they were going be on the defensive side of the fight, they needed ammunition in more ways than one.

He must have been daydreaming as he was riding, as he was pulling into the driveway before he had even realised he left the 3rd. It was weird, but he put it down t to the tranquilizer the tramps gave him earlier. He hadn’t convinced himself that was right, but wasn’t about to bother anyone else with it, they were in a groove and he didn’t see any reason to distract the team from that groove.

Chapter 2

As he arrived at the off-road to the property, he barely slowed for the turn. Vortexes of leaves swirled behind Betty. The sun was struggling to get through the trees, but failing. As the evening drew in, the feeling of isolation of the house was not lost on Jack. Sure, they had an ally in Sophie, but she couldn’t openly associate with them. To the outside world they were vigilantes, their good deeds unknown, and unknowable.

These thoughts didn’t usually bother Jack at all, and fuck knows why he was feeling them now. Perhaps it was the bullets that grazed his skin a few hours earlier, but that wasn’t an uncommon feeling these days. Perhaps it was Twist. Perhaps.

The workshop seemed to be a living beast of its own. Pulling in, there seemed to be a growing number of shiny new machines and cables. The only thing that wasn’t new, was Ping sitting in the corner moving around like a spastic dog.

What the fuck are you doing now, Ping?

New augmentation algorithm, old man. The Biotronics interface Sin and I have been working on can recognise complete motion in real time. It doesn’t even need fucking cameras anymore.

What, so you just wriggle around in front of your monitor like a pole-dancer, and the computer makes shit happen?

Well, yes, I guess that is an adequate description. For a Neanderthal., Pings rolled eyes suggested Jack was so far of the mark, he might as well go and get a beer and make himself useful.

As Jack turned for the door, Cindy walked through, slowly striding towards Jack, trying to be seductive. What he means, sunshine, is that we now have the Biotronics systems around the workshop reading their environment so accurately, they can detect minute sounds, echoes, changes in light, and changes in air pressure. Angel receives the info in real time, and with some Biotronics enhancements, is able to translate that data into a real-time three dimensional array of the surroundings.

I like Pings version better.

Neanderthal!, Cindy said in disgust as she walked past to Ping.

Jack headed to the kitchen, where Blake was getting a beer from the fridge. Jack went to the table and sat down. Your shout, G-man.

So you got your ass handed to you by a bunch of chicks. Hope your ego didn’t take too much of a hit.

You ever seen that crew?

Nope. I don’t even know if they existed when I was on the force. They seem to be kicking up a fuss now though.

They’re organised, Blake. I just hope that little shit Loach isn’t fully backing them. I think he’s stripped a lot more resource from Wing ‘Tan and Tyrol than we gave him credit for.

Blake sat down and handed Jack a beer. They both took a long draw and sat in silence for a moment.

We seem to be on a good stance though. Know what I mean?

Blake’s tone was very subdued, almost as if he was searching for confirmation, more than shooting the shit about how good they were. Jack had been thinking the same thing, but the walls around his world were still pretty high.

Yeah, I know what you mean. We seem to be getting our shit together. Jack glanced over at Blake for a moment and tipped his bottle in a salute.

We could be a lot worse, Jacky boy. A low-rent soldier, ousted G-man, and two underground hackers. Doesn’t sound like a lot of elite crime-fighting squads I’ve heard of lately.

I haven’t heard of any lately, Blake. That’s the problem.

It IS a problem.

The both sat in silence again. Jack had been watching the shadows draw long on the trees across the valley; the end of another day. For the first time in a while, Jack was thinking that it wasn’t the beginning of darkness, but the close of another small chapter. Dawn couldn’t come if it wasn’t preceded by night. Dark and light. Ying and Yang. He hadn’t been looking for balance for a long time.

You know what, G-man. I’m not out to fix the world.

Neither am I.

But, I think we can help to balance the scales a little. The underworld really has had a grip on the whole Eastern seaboard for a long time, I just haven’t really been looking at it. I haven’t cared.

And do you care now?

I think I do. Not many people care to stand up and be counted. But looking at the devotion of those two fucking mega-geeks downstairs, I finally think we can.

More silence. Jack wasn’t sure if Blake cared about what he said, or about who he was. Jack certainly hadn’t been giving any of them a reason to want to follow him anywhere. He decided that he needed to be better than that. His father was, and perhaps he could honour his fathers’ life, by being the person he father would have respected.

Blake looked over to Jack and tipped his bottle forward, Have you seen the shit the geeks have been doing downstairs?

I don’t understand half of it.

Well you get more than me. Looks like they’re picking all the best genetic traits of all of the best predators, and making a Frankenstein sensor of it.

Something like that.

Hope they have that shit under control.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Has Sin got the Beast jacked into TLM properly yet?

They’re running diagnostics now, taking her for a spin tomorrow. Going up-coast to Brizzy to see that Energy Trader, Gustav What’s-his-name. Want to come for a run?

Yeah, I better. Who knows, Sin may have come to her senses and set TLM to fry your brain.

Jack looked to Blake and pretended to shake his head while letting his tongue droop out of his mouth. He had a chuckle at his hilarious joke, skulled the rest of his beer, and got up to leave the room.

As Jack walked out, Blake called after him, Good to finally have you on board, asshole.

The shower was steaming up the room fast. Jack couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. The heat still didn’t manage to dull his senses enough, the Vixens got the jump on him today, and it shouldn’t have happened. He needed to be sharper than that. THEY needed to be sharper than that.

The next morning Blake and Jack headed North. It was a sunny day, the haze in the sky was minimal, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the highway. Ping had scanned the route, and there were no patrols due, and if they did come across anything, TLM would jam them up.

The mercury was rising, and the Beast had minimal climate control. Jack must have dozed off at some stage, and woke to a muffle. He looked over with groggy eyes to see Blake trying to speak. Looking down, he could see him trying to pull his hands from the wheel. Jack grabbed one and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge.

He let go, and saw an array of thin tendons stretching from the wheel onto Blake’s hands. Looking up, Blake was wide eyed and panicked. He managed to stomp on the brake, and the Beast slammed to a halt.

Jack looked at his eyes and could see them starting to glaze over and the tendons stretched up Blake’s arms. Jack started hitting the door, trying to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. He hit the window area hard, the pain was instant.

Jack shot up out of bed, his heart pounding, and his head aching. For fucks sake, he muttered in a raspy voice, I’m getting sick of this shit.

He got out of bed, slipping a pull-over on. The concrete floor was cold on his feet, but he left his shoes, he wanted to be awake now, those fucking dreams were giving him the shits. As he walked down to the kitchen, his surroundings were now familiar, warmer.

He entered the main room, but didn’t bother to turn on the light. He could see the silhouette of Ping sitting at the table.

Can’t sleep?

Nah. I don’t sleep a lot. Seems to be a waste of time.

I dunno how you do it. If I look at a screen for more than an hour, my eyelids feel like lead bricks.

Conditioned to it, I guess. I also had supplement enhancements when I was a kid for a vision defect I had at birth. It fixed me up so good, I never get eye fatigue. I think that’s what allowed me to spend so much time in front of displays as I was growing up.

Well, that turned out to be quite handy then, didn’t it.

Quite.

What else do I need to know about you, Ping? You’re not the most forthcoming with your life and history. It wasn’t that long ago we were fighting on opposite sides. You seemed to make a pretty easy transition to the other side of the fence.

I was held captive, asshole, and you know it.

Well, you say you were.

Hey, fuck you. You met Jay, you heard the story from him as well as me. I may be no fan of the law, but I fucking hate Wing ‘Tan, and everything they stood for.

Ping was almost shouting at this stage, and started to get up from the table to leave. Jack stood too, shook his head, and put his finger to his lips.

Shhhhhh, people are sleeping. Sit down.

Fuck you, why should I?

Because I needed to see your reaction to my accusation. I can read people pretty well, but it’s been an emotional time. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just searching for an excuse to like you.

Ping sat down, still visibly tense. This was a good thing for Jack, he hadn’t really seen Ping stressed before. It was nice to know he was human. Ping slowly eased, then slumped back into his seat.

So, Jack, happy now?

Not really Ping. I got jumped by a bunch of chicks yesterday. Fuck knows why they let me go, but they did. What I want to know is how they did it.

Well, you lost your comms once inside that building. It was almost like you had disappeared, from a signal point of view.

And who could do that? You and Sin seem to be pretty much on-point when it comes to this shit.

Ping paused for a minute. It was something he had been going over himself, but wasn’t sure whether or not to come out with his theory. Hell, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear himself say it at all. Still, he needed someone to toss ideas around with, and Jack seemed to come out with all the left-field shit.

It’s gotta be Loach. But there is far too much work for him to be able to do that alone. He’s good, but not Superman. I dunno Jack, the whole thing has a kind of ‘edge’ to it that I don’t really like the feel of.

Jack started thinking. It was time they paid Sophie a visit and reassessed their arrangement. Things were fine between them, but if inroads were to be made towards uncovering this mystery group that call themselves The Ordained, they would need more resources.

The thought bounced around in his head a bit, he stated thinking