by Aaron Pogue
"I do," he said, and reached out to brush the hair from her face. The smile was gone now. "Velez was right, Katie. Mad as a hatter, but he was right. Hathor can't go on ruling the world like a corrupt tyrant. Something must be done. For one, we have to figure out who's really running things."
"I have a guess," Katie said, and Martin smiled knowingly.
"Oh, I do, too," he said. "But if it's true, he has resources far beyond anything we imagined. And he could catch me, even if no one else could. It's going to take someone outside the system, someone with special access, to counteract the threat he poses."
"No," Katie said, suddenly afraid. "Martin, don't. You already tried that, for years, and you regretted it." Tears sprang to her eyes. "You said it was a mistake. You said you never should have gone along, and that you could trust me. Martin, you can trust me."
He laid a gentle finger on her lips, and met her eyes with a deep sadness in his. "I know," he said. "I can. But I don't have faith enough that the system will cure itself. I have to do what I can, while I can. Besides, now I have a plan. For the first time, I have a definite purpose." He looked at his handheld for a moment, thinking, and finally said absently, "I have his code. Every line of it, on this. I had to tell them it was yours to get it smuggled out of there. I'm sorry about using you like that."
"Martin, don't go. You can help me, and we'll sort out Hathor together."
"We will," he said, clapping her on the shoulder with a smile. "Don't you worry about that. I won't try to do it all on my own. For now, though—"
She was distracted by the quiet audio in her headset, Reed suddenly shouting something, quick and loud, and immediately behind it the unmistakable, thunder sound of an explosion. Her eyes grew wide, and Martin must have recognized why because he started operating the handheld furiously, and a moment later his eyes grew wide, too. "Katie," he said, "I didn't do that—"
Most of her attention was on the audio, though, and a moment later her heart started again when she heard Reed talking, "I need help here. This is Agent Reed, and I'm trapped in suspect Velez's apartment." His voice was irritated, but he didn't sound panicked. He didn't sound injured. "Some of his computer equipment was rigged, and it exploded when we tried to remove it from the premises. If any friendlies copy, I could use some immediate rescue help here." He paused for a moment, then began to repeat the same message in Spanish. Katie opened her mouth to respond to him, reached up to turn her mic back on, but Martin stopped her with one hand on her wrist and the other laying lightly on her lips, just the fingertips.
"They'll be okay," Martin said. "I had no hand in that, but it's as good a time as any for me to make my exit." He leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, gently, and said, "You're an amazing woman, Katie. I'm glad to have met you."
She tried one last time. "Don't do this, Martin."
But he only shrugged and executed some script he had prepared on his handheld. A voice in her headset announced an emergency downstairs, something in Spanish about a suspect spotted somewhere unexpected, and she heard the officer outside her door respond, and then boots slapping on the floor as he fled his post in search of a phantasmal Martin.
Meanwhile, the real one smiled down at her in her bed. "Don't bother looking for me," he said. "I have work to do. I can see that now." He took two long steps away and pulled the door open, his eyes still locked on hers, and just before he disappeared into the hall he said, "But don't worry. I'll be in touch."
A moment later, he was gone.
~
THE END
Did you love Surveillance? Then you should read Expectation by Aaron Pogue!
Eric Barnes put an end to human aging. Now he's paying for it with his life.
FBI Special Agent Katie Pratt returns to the Ghost Targets team to find herself and the rest of the team under investigation for corruption by a government agency. Katie’s relationship with Martin Door, one of the creators of the Hathor system and its surveillance of everyone and everything, leaves her especially vulnerable.
The new boss assigns Katie to a case in Boulder, Colorado to save her from ongoing interrogation, but the case quickly steals the Ghost Targets team's full attention. A scientist, violently attacked in his own lab, is in a coma.
The victim leads the research for a drug that could end human aging, extending lifespans to thousands of years. The key to the drug is locked in his slumbering brain, but even in this world where every action is recorded in Hathor, the records of the attack on him are gone. Katie must uncover the truth to protect the miracle drug and regain her own reputation.
Katie's search for answers will force her to scale a mountain of secrets and lies whose summit is the overwhelming power of human expectation.
Expectation is the second book in the Ghost Targets series. Approximately 60,000 words.
Read more at Aaron Pogue’s site.
Also by Aaron Pogue
A Consortium of Worlds
A Consortium of Worlds No. 1
A Consortium of Worlds No. 2
A Dragonswarm Short Story
Remnant
From Embers
Auric's Valiants
Notes from a Thief
Auric and the Wolf
Ghost Targets
Surveillance
Expectation
Restraint
Camouflage
The Dragonprince's Arrows
A Darkness in the East
The Dragonprince's Legacy
The Original Dragonprince Trilogy
Taming Fire
The Dragonswarm
The Dragonprince's Heir
Unstressed Syllables Presents
Turn Your Story into an eBook: Easy Self-Publishing with Draft2Digital.com
Watch for more at Aaron Pogue’s site.
About the Author
Aaron Pogue is a husband and a father of two who lives in Oklahoma City, OK. He started writing at the age of ten, and has written novels, short stories, scripts, and videogame storylines. His first novels were high fantasy set in the rich world of the FirstKing, including the bestselling fantasy novel Taming Fire, but he's explored mainstream thrillers, urban fantasy, and several kinds of science fiction, including a long-running sci-fi cop drama series focused on the Ghost Targets task force.
Aaron has been a Technical Writer with the Federal Aviation Administration and a writing professor at the university level. He holds a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Oklahoma. He also serves as the user experience consultant for Draft2Digital.com, a digital publishing service.
Aaron maintains a personal website for his friends and fans at AaronPogue.com, and he runs a writing advice blog at UnstressedSyllables.com.
Read more at Aaron Pogue’s site.
