Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
We’re in the back office of the Blood Garnet Pub. The air is thick with old smoke, wood polish, and whatever the hell soaked into the floorboards over the years. The radiator coughs like it’s dying in the corner, but it still pushes out heat that settles under my skin and stays there. The walls are stained paneling, yellowed at the corners. There’s a file cabinet with a dent the size of a fist and a ceiling fan that clicks in slow circles, doing nothing but reminding me how long it’s been since I fixed the place. I built the pub to be a front, but it’s been too profitable to ignore.
Fergus is hunched over his laptop. He’s sixty-five, maybe older, but looks closer to ninety. His skin’s worn down to the grain, and his comb-over is offensive in a way that feels intentional. Like he’s daring someone to bring it up.
He glances at me without pausing in his work, his eyes squinty and bloodshot, the blue faded to that color plastic gets when it’s been in the sun too long. “The pubs all look good. We’re going to show a ten percent increase in profits from last year.”
I nod, but I’m not hearing him. Not really. I’m still in the diner. Still watching Ella walk out with a cop and a lie pasted across her face. I could’ve stopped her. Dragged her back, cleared the room, made a point no one would forget. But the timing was wrong. Too many witnesses, too many risks. And she knew that. She played me clean.
The problem is, I don’t know if I’m pissed at her for outmaneuvering me, or at myself for letting her. I’ll deal with her before Thorn comes home.
“Justice? I’m thinking we should open at least twenty more pubs this year. I know you thought we’d just use them as fronts, but we’re making real money now.” Fergus speaks in Gaelic, and with the softer sound of the language, nothing in my body hurts from listening to his voice. That’s rare.
“Fine by me. I assume you have locations?” I invested in my first pub before I could legally drink and moved on to the next, then the next after that, each one a piece of structure, leverage, and shelter. These pubs span across cities and countries now, and every one of them serves more than alcohol. They provide cover, information, and access. But apparently the alcohol is making me even wealthier. Who knew?
“I have several proposed locations, about fifty of them. But the smart play is to open twenty at the most this year.” He pushes his spectacles up his nose. “You’d need to look at each location, and I don’t want to pull you from Malice Media if Thorn is going to take some time away from the company.”
“He’ll be back in six weeks.” Which gives me a limited time to figure out what Ella’s virus did to me and fix it. Malice Media runs on neural interface technology capable of transmitting emotion, memory, and raw experience across distance without delay. It can take a thought in one city and deliver it fully formed in another. My brother created the architecture, and it’s brilliant.
Garnets have always responded to me, and the fact that Ella has fucked with that is pissing me off again. She somehow disrupted my current with the gemstone.
A knock hits the door, hard and fast.
“What?” I call out.
Bronco, my chief driver, pushes the door open and steps inside. “Hey. We just got word that our shipments have been delayed by about a week.”
I stare at him. “Which ones?”
He doesn’t flinch. His black hair frames a rugged face with Irish blue eyes. If we need to send someone in to seduce a woman, we send him. “The garnets and alexandrites coming by sea. Bad weather and nothing else, it seems. Still, I wanted you to know.”
I stand and step away from the desk. My spine locks into place. With how I’m feeling, I need those stones sooner rather than later.
We keep garnets fresh, stocked, and accessible because they anchor every system we run. But alexandrite is rarer, less stable. Its energy is different. Our R&D teams are still studying the neural response patterns, but even early trials have shown results. If we can use the alexandrite to extend garnet charge time or even amplify output, it could change the pace of interface use entirely.
The science is still early, but I’ve seen the preliminary data. Faster emotional compression. Sharper memory echoes. Extended cognitive sharing. I’m sure the other social media companies are also conducting similar research.
“All right. I want to check on our properties,” I say. We head toward the front door. One of my men is already waiting, standing to the side and ready. He hands me my Glock without needing to be asked. I take it and slide it into the holster at my side.