by Justin Bell
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Isolated from much of civilization in his remote hotel room, William Strickland had a lot of time, but little opportunity to do much besides train his mind and body, and do his research. He had become obsessed with Pollard Construction, and had secretly visited twelve different sites within a 50-mile radius. In all cases, he thought he had been in and out with no one noticing. Throughout all of his research into Pollard Construction, all signs pointed back to the large vacant lot in that familiar college town. That same town he had visited once and ran across? he'd run across that man who swore he didn't know him, but who had lingered in the back of his mind ever since. Strickland's subconscious rarely failed him, and it was burning with the idea that this site was what he should really be looking for. He was happy to see that his nightmares had almost completely dissipated and he felt stronger and more focused than he had in a very long time. That could have just been a coincidence, or it could have been a result of his added training time; he wasn't sure, but he welcomed the feeling and was eager to test it with a road trip and a job that he knew he had to do before long.
