Page 28 of Defended By Love

I’m taking a leap with this. When I saw him yesterday/today, he was pretty far away. There’s every chance that he’s not actually the tall, scarred man from the photo.

And by nearly positive, I mean it’s an acceptable guess. No risk, no reward. Especially in a maybe time loop.

He shifts. “Yes?” He says it like a question. Clearly, he still doesn’t trust me.

Smart guy.

I sigh, nodding. “Thank god this bunch can follow basic protocol,” I say, giving him a look like we’ve both done this a hundred times. It’s the same look you give the person in the car with you when you verify the takeout order at the window.

“Yeah,” he says with a faint awkward huff. He looks around nervously. “Can I see some i—”

I cut him off. “Would you happen to know if stage 2 came out as radiation not present or not harmful? I told the tall guy I’d let him know as soon as I find out.” I try to say the ‘tall guy’ in the same way my coworkers call me ‘the robot’ when they think I’m not around. Like, he’s someone I don’t particularly care for at work, and not someone who’s name I don’t know.

“I don’t have all the details, but I did get a bit of an update when I got new orders about adjusting the barricade. Radiation was confirmed, just not a type that’s known.”

“Known to be harmful?” I clarify.

“Known at all.” The cop shrugs. Then, his brow furrows. “Why are you asking me—”

I cut him off again. “Now, I have been getting contradicting reports. Did the first shake occur at 12:21 or 12:22?”

My personal credo is to maintain power by always being the person asking the questions. If you’re the one answering questions, you’ve already lost.

“12:21,” he answers quickly.

Good.

I jot that down. Twenty-one minutes after the reset. Why twenty-one minutes?

“One last thing—he’ll want an update on how the equipment worked when he gets here. Can I confirm that Hart’s new detectors were superior to our standard issue one?” I ask, holding my breath slightly.

This is the biggest leap I’m taking. I have absolutely no proof that Hart technology was used here. It’s just that our standard equipment shouldn’t be able to detect new kinds of radiation. That’s currently impossible.

Or at least, it should be currently impossible.

“Yes. Tell him they were much more manageable. Even in simulations, I’ve never been a part of a team that was able to conduct all the tests that quickly—and I’ve been part of the emergency response team since nearly my rookie year. We still double checked it all as best we could with our own, but it wasn’t nearly as good. He’s a real genius, that Zagreus Hart.”

I nod, even though I’m screaming inside. This is my smoking gun. Someone mysteriously calls in radiation and then Hart’s people provide the technology to detect it. That quickly?

While there’s no way any of this would hold up in court, it’s enough to confirm my suspicions. Hart Link Incorporated is behind this. There’s too much coincidence for me not to consider it connected. Their employee just so happens to be in the vicinity right as the demolishment begins. One of the firms in the building they just destroyed just so happens to be investigating them. An employee (a scary-looking one, I might add) shows up the next day and gets a front-row seat to the action. They’re the ones who call in the radiation.

If it walks like an evil corporation and talks like an evil corporation, I’m going to call it for what it is: Zagreus Fucking Hart.

Which means I really can’t trust Grant. He works for Zagreus Hart who is moving from allegedly evil to certainly evil pretty damn quickly.

My heart breaks a little at the thought. At least, until another thought comes around: no one has a clue what Zagreus Hart looks like.

He could be anyone.

Chapter 15

It’s with a monumental effort that I shut out all the other avenues my brain wants to pursue and focus on Zagreus Hart. I’m infinitely intrigued about whatever time loop-esque situation I’m finding myself in. However, that’s nothing but a distraction. I could waste unlimited time trying to find out what’s happening, without getting anywhere. Ultimately, if there is a time loop, I’m going to use it to my advantage.

In the regular world, I’m on a time crunch. Zagreus Hart is doing something bad enough to the environment that he’s willing to blow up a building to cover his tracks. With linear time, he could likewise blow up my investigation in any number of ways. This investigation needs to be my focus. If I’m given the gift of extra time to investigate, time that resets and hides what I’m doing, then I’ll fully embrace that. Why would I want out of something that gives me exactly what I need?

Still, I’m practically dying to uproot my queries and find out what’s going on with this loop. Is it man-made? Is it fate-made? Is it some sort of cosmic anomaly? The origins of time loops are nearly as varied as those of superheroes.

There’s really no shortage of phenomena for me to investigate. God, what a time to be alive!

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