Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
And me.
The backside of twenty-three laughs in my face.
You think you know what trouble is, bitch, the near side asks.
You think you know what sacrifice is, the near side taunts.
You think you have what it takes to keep him alive, let alone still in love with you after two decades, the near side sneers.
Fool.
Fantasy.
But I flip the near side of twenty-three off and give Dusty a nod as I pick up Legions jeans and start pulling them up his legs.
"Let's fuckin' go."
FBI BOOK CLUB
EMERGENCY SESSION TUESDAY
SCIF-CHAT (UNAUTHORIZED)
Assignment: Scars and Promises (Book of Legion #3) by JA Huss
Transcript — CLASSIFIED (Castillo insists)
[9:00 AM — AGENT: KOWALSKI has started the meeting]
[9:00 AM — AGENT: KOWALSKI has flagged meeting as: EMERGENCY]
[KOWALSKI VISUAL — parked car, overhead light on, box of Honey Nut Cheerios in lap]
Kowalski: I am calling this meeting to order. I don't care that it's Tuesday.
[9:01 AM — AGENT: MARSH has entered the meeting]
[MARSH VISUAL — outdoor shooting range, ear protection around neck, Glock on counter]
Marsh: Unmute. Who's dead? Mute.
Kowalski: LEGION MIGHT BE!
[9:01 AM — AGENT: CASTILLO has entered the meeting]
[CASTILLO VISUAL — interrogation room, suspect visible in background, hands cuffed to table]
Castillo: Three minutes. Go.
Kowalski: CASH CALLED CPS WHILE LEGION WAS CONVULSING. THE BRAND WENT SEPTIC. THEY DRAGGED MERCY OUT SCREAMING. HE TIPPED HIS FUCKING HAT CASTILLO HE TIPPED HIS FUCKING STETSON
[9:02 AM — AGENT: KAI has entered the meeting]
[KAI VISUAL — outdoors, wind in hair, vast eroded badlands formations filling the entire background]
Kai: Hey. Got the ping. What's the emergency?
Kowalski: KAI WHAT THE FUCK
Castillo: …
Marsh: Unmute. Are those the Terry Badlands? Mute.
Kowalski: WHAT'S THE — KAI YOU ARE STANDING IN MONTANA
Kai: I had PTO.
Castillo: Those are my coordinates.
Kai: Your geographic profile was very thorough.
Castillo: [to suspect, off camera] Stop crying. This doesn't concern you.
Kowalski: I can't — the BRAND is ROTTING and Mercy is GONE and Kai is in MONTANA and Castillo has a MAN CRYING — is anyone going to talk about the BOOK or am I just GOING TO DIE HERE by MYSELF
Kai: So the grain elevator is real. I'm about a hundred yards from it right now. Corrugated metal, decommissioned, cottonwood line runs right along the creek bed exactly like she described—
Marsh: Unmute. The attachment rupture with Mercy replicates the original abandonment schema. Cash detonated years of therapeutic progress in one tactical—[GUNFIRE — 3 rounds] Mute
Kowalski: —and the scar tissue, they cut away so much the B isn't even READABLE anymore and he says it feels like something growing under his skin like he's being UNMADE which is a METAPHOR for—
Kai: —there's a trailer on the east side of the creek. Double-wide. Metal siding, timber accents. Looks newer than the surrounding structures. Someone lived here and left. Fridge is hanging open through the window—
Castillo: Condition of the trailer?
Kai: Solid. Weeds at the foundation. Maybe empty a year, two max. There's a porch—
Kowalski: —HE TIPPED HIS HAT. HE TIPPED HIS HAT LIKE HE WON. LIKE MERCY WAS JUST A CHESS PIECE. A NINE-YEAR-OLD WITH A BB GUN AND SAGE WALLS AND A HORSE LUNCH BOX AND HE USED HER LIKE A FUCKING PAWN
[9:06 AM — AGENT: DAVID has entered the meeting]
[DAVID VISUAL— office, tie loosened, slightly out of breath]
[9:06 AM — AGENT: DAVID has assumed MODERATOR role]
[9:06 AM — AGENT: DAVID has enabled Profanity Filter: Auto-Emoji Mode]
David: I ran three flights of stairs. Why is Kai in the badlands? Why is there a suspect on Castillo's camera? Why is Kowalski eating cereal?
Kowalski:
David: That's not a sentence. Also — IA has deployed a new AI transcript scanner. Every meeting on this platform is being flagged and parsed for content violations starting THIS WEEK, which means everything we say—
Kai: —and about forty yards from the trailer there's an old cottonwood. Massive. And there are carvings on it.
David: —is being run through a sentiment analysis model that flags for, quote, "non-operational emotional engagement with fictional media on government time"—
Kowalski: CARVINGS???
David: —which means LAST WEEK'S transcript where Kowalski said she wanted to—
Marsh: Unmute. Kai. Describe the carvings. [GUNFIRE — 2 rounds] Mute.
David: —"climb Legion like the grain silo he decorated" is NOW in an AI-generated behavioral report on my DESK—
Kai: Two letters. Maybe four. Deeply cut. Old. And there's something crossed over them. Knife marks. Different depth than the original. Different weathering. Like someone came back angry.
David: —and I have to certify that this book club is "operationally adjacent" to maintain the meeting authorization, so if ANYONE could explain to me how tree carvings in Montana are—
Kowalski: 🫠 IF THOSE LETTERS ARE S AND L I AM FILING EMOTIONAL DISABILITY AND LISTING JA HUSS AS THE CAUSE OF INJURY
Castillo: [to suspect] I SAID stop crying. [to camera] Kai. Photograph macro. Wide shot relative to trailer. Include cottonwood line to creek.
David: IS ANYONE LISTENING TO ME ABOUT THE AI SCANNER?
Kowalski: NO
Marsh: Unmute. No. [GUNFIRE — 4 rounds, rapid] Mute.