David smiled wryly as he parked his car in the staff lot at the FBI Academy.He imagined Green Glen experimented liberally with other strains of hemp and other species of mushrooms.
“What’s so funny?”Hammerton asked.
“Nothing.Just remembering something from when I was a kid.”
“Back in the dark ages, huh?”Rogers asked.
“Way back then.”
“Well, I want to hear about it, but we’re gonna grab some coffee first.Want us to bring you some?”
“Please do,” David said.“Something dark and black.”
“You got it.”
David’s smile faded as he thought of the latest incarnation of Green Glen.Green Meadows had thrived for twenty-five years, and unlike the other iterations of the company appeared to actually have a successful legal business.
The latest Green Glen, not so much.After Green Meadows shut down abruptly in 2010, it remained gone until five years ago.This Green Glen was far more similar to the Green Glen that had popped up immediately after MKUltra.Scientists’ research was stolen, the scientists were murdered, and a number of drugs were mysteriously bought, moved, and lost.This time, the focus was on dogs, not people, but it was clear that the CIA had returned to a more violent way of doing business.
Why?He still didn’t understand that.What benefit did they gain from turning dogs into slaves?How could it possibly be worth the amount of money they were spending and the effort they were dedicating to this?
Maybe there was no answer to those questions.Certainly, any objective look at MKUltra would question the utility of drugging people to unlock some minor latent clairvoyance.Maybe the CIA was doing this just because they could.
The trio separated when they reached David’s office.He waved goodbye to his burly bodyguards and entered the office.He knew instantly that something was wrong.Mary, his receptionist, was pale as a sheet.
Fear jolted down his spine, but he kept his voice calm.“Mary?Is everything okay?”
She swallowed and looked toward his office.“There’s a man here to see you.He seemed… Odd.”
Another, far more powerful jolt shot through him.“How so?”
“He’s… been pleasant.He just seems… I don’t know.Almost like he was casing the joint.I could just be overreacting, but he gave me a weird vibe.”
“Is he in a military uniform?”
Mary’s brow furrowed.“No, he’s wearing a suit.Why, are you expecting a military officer?”
David took a deep breath.There could be no question who this man was or why he was here.He reached for his phone to call Rogers.
Mary gave a startled yelp, and the door to the waiting room opened.A man in his late thirties wearing a perfectly fitted Italian suit smiled at David.His brown eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled.His hair, prematurely gray, clung to his scalp in a short fade that looked slightly out of place above his professional outfit.
“Dr.Friedman?”
David considered his response, but there wasn’t much he could say right now, so he only said, “Yes.”
“I just need to talk to you real quick.”His eyes firmed up a little.“Justtalk.”
David’s eyes traveled over the man’s suit.Faith had taught him how to tell if someone was concealing a weapon.This man’s suit was fitted nicely, revealing a toned, athletic body underneath, but no weapon that David could see.
He nodded slowly, then smiled for Mary’s benefit.“Sure.”
The man beamed, then turned around and headed for David’s office.He walked at a measured pace, his hands relaxed at his sides.Everything about this man was relaxed, as though this conversation with David was a minor business conversation and not a warning that the CIA was going to kill David and Faith if—
Faith!
He stopped stock still just outside of his door.The CIA agent—and that’s undoubtedly who he was—looked over his shoulder, lifting an eyebrow.
“I want to speak to my wife,” David said, keeping his voice soft so his staff wouldn’t overhear.“And just so you know, my bodyguards—”
