Department 19: The Rising by Will Hill

Author:Will Hill [Hill, Will]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Department 19
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-03-29T06:00:00+00:00

87 DAYS TILL ZERO HOUR

29

IN CONVERSATION WITH A MONSTER

The following morning, Jamie Carpenter leapt out of bed more easily than he had in months.

His mind was usually heavy when he awoke, weighed down by tiredness and worry; this morning, it was as light as a feather. The conversation with Larissa and Kate had done him enormous good, as had unburdening his last remaining secret to them, a secret he had told nobody else and only one other person in the entire Loop had known about. It was as though someone had crawled in through his ear in the night and scrubbed his brain clean. Even the meeting he had agreed to have with Valentin Rusmanov, which was due to begin in less than half an hour, could not dampen his spirits.

Jamie towelled himself dry, smiling as he remembered the looks on the girls’ faces as he told them his secret, pulled on his black uniform and set out for the lift. He walked quickly, partly because his good mood was filling him with energy, and partly because he didn’t want to keep Admiral Seward waiting.

The Director’s faith in him, the almost paternal attitude he had begun to adopt, was something that Jamie had come to greatly appreciate and, in the absence of his own father, begun to rely on.

Admiral Seward was not affectionate towards him, not even close, but he treated him with the same respect he treated anyone else, without making his age a factor, either positively or negatively. For Jamie, who had spent two years angry at a father he had believed had betrayed not only his family but also his country, and who had been without a constant male role model even after his father’s memory had been rehabilitated, it was exactly what he needed; someone who believed that he could be trusted, who could look after himself, and others.

He reached the lift at the end of the long corridor and pressed the CALL button. He was thinking about the kiss Larissa had given him as the two girls left his quarters the previous night, the first time they had ever kissed in front of Kate, who had giggled of course, but then averted her eyes with a wide smile on her face. The kiss had been filled with the same fire as their very first, fire that seemed to burn everything else away, everything but the two of them, that roared and spun and made him feel like they were the only two people in the world. This kiss had not been quite the same, as first kisses are unique, and impossible to recreate.

It was close, though, thought Jamie. Pretty damn close.

The lift doors slid open and Jamie stepped into the car, nodding to an Operator he knew slightly, one of the many almost-familiar faces that populated the Loop. It was not a place in which it was easy to get to know people; Operators spent the vast majority of their time with their squad mates, on missions in far-flung corners of the country, and beyond.

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