So, I’m trying to get caught up from the days missed due to the hurricane and fall out. Issue #2 will drop today and #3 will come in tomorrow, during its regularly scheduled time slot.
Before we get into the story, I wanted to take just a few minutes to talk about my book schedule for the remainder of this year and then next. The Daemon Within drops on 10-17 all you Cactus Killer fans and there’s a possibility that Drakovia: Malice of the Cross comes up sometime in Nov/Dec.
As for 2018, I’m cutting back. Instead of the normal 3 novels, I will just be releasing 2. The reason behind that is each series is up to its final book. I don’t want to rush, as each book not only needs to do justice with the plot, but tie up all the loose ends. The way it looks now is that The Negative Man is going to get first bill with a late January or possibly early February release. Then, in the fall, The Inglewood Chronicles will get it’s normal close to Halloween release date.
Fear not Ragnarok on Ice fans! The sequel to Hat Trick will be coming, just probably not until Jan/Feb of 2019. Obviously, this is all just tentative talk and as things flesh out, I’ll give you more info.
But enough talk! On to the story!
Issue #2 – The Informant
**Erin Cieslik**
I knew it wouldn’t take long to get my old friend Davy’s attention. No one, and I mean no one, had been down into Dungeon Bay since Victory’s death. The place was in shambles, the back-up generator’s barely keeping the lights on. Using my power from my titan form, I was able to give them some more juice, enough to get all the computers back up and running.
I sent a decrypted email from one of the computers Jeremiah Presley once used. It was a simple one sent to my old friend that just read, ‘Come to where endings meet beginnings.’
Not even two days later did a submersible dock outside the facility. The president himself was on it and he walked it, alone. “Erin, how the hell are you?”
“Davy, bro, it’s been too long.”
He reached out and we shook hands like it’d been yesterday that we last grabbed a beer or something. “I’m not surprised to be back here, yet you’re not the one I was expecting to see,” he let on.
“No, but Clickbait, Old Rich, and Andy weren’t coming down here until I vetted this myself.” His eyes got really wide. “Yep, I’m part of their group.”
Davy began to walk forward, waving for me to follow him. “You will need their help if this is to be successful, Erin.”
I wasn’t sure what the hell he was talking about. What was to be successful? “Dude, care to let me in on the big secret?” I asked.
He didn’t say another word – not as we passed Presley’s old lab, Victory’s communications room, or even the old holding cells that they kept the test subjects in. Davy finally stopped at the elevator that led to the lower levels of Dungeon Bay, the one place none of us were ever allowed to travel to.
The place where Victory had brought me back to life.
With the power to the generator’s being sufficient, he pressed the bottom and the doors slid open. “What you’re about to see may be a complete shock to you.”
“Something tells me I’m going to regret this.”
I got in and he pressed the last bottom on the panel – B4. The doors closed ominously and we took the slow ride down into the depths of the bay in which the research facility was built in. We passed B2 where I’d been brought back to life and sunk even further. When we reached our destination, Davy led the way off the elevator into the dark, cold, and damp laboratory.
He took out his cellphone and used the flashlight feature. “Welcome to Hell, Erin. This is where Victory conducted one of his worst experiments,” he told me. “This is also the place I need your team to venture to. I need the information off that computer.” He pointed to the far wall; the damn thing took up the entire section!
There was a noise that broke up the silence. “What the hell was that?”
Davy waved his hand off. “An old remnant of Victory’s deranged mind. He shouldn’t give you any troubles.”
I sure didn’t like the sound of that. Changing the subject, more for my own sanity, “What’s on the computer that’s worth all the trouble?”
“There’s a file, Twilight Days, that’s on it.” That sounded easy enough. “The file is massive, but located in it our coordinates to another of Victory’s black sites.”
Man, this was the last thing I wanted to be a part of. “Victory is dead. Who cares about locations to other secret locations?”
Davy avoided the question. “With those coordinates, I need a team with the knowledge to break in and steal a piece of tech he was working on, a suit based on Jericho Staley’s unique powers.”
“What did you say?”
Davy grabbed me by the shoulders. “I know Jericho was your friend, Erin. The people who still work for Victory would use that tech for some very bad things. Do you want that on your conscience? I don’t.”
I turned away from Davy and looked at the computer that held the information he wanted. “I’m in.”
**President Davy Whisnant**
I was back on the submersible with my team. Presley was standing beside my new head of security, Christopher Bain. Both were eager to hear if I was successful. “Erin will recruit his team to handle the job.”
Smiles were all around. “I told you he was gullible enough to do what we needed,” Presley said.
“Not gullible, Jeremiah, loyal,” I corrected him. “You don’t understand the depths people will go for you when you save their life a time or two.”
Presley was, and rightfully so, irritated that we needed the help of a gang of common criminals. Victory must not have trusted us fully, not like we thought. This was the last piece of the puzzle that we needed and only the skills of a man known as Clickbait would suffice. “Don’t worry, Jeremiah. Once the prototype is in your possession, you will be known as the man who brought about the biggest change of them all.”
The mad scientist smile at that proclamation. “It will be my finest hour.”
“Project Twilight Days is almost complete then,” Bain observed.
He was right; everything was within grasp. “Once we get the suit Victory almost finished developing, our countries super problem will soon become just a memory.”
-Jeremy
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5 Good Minutes 