Page 86 of Psyop Kings

Caius better make good on his promise.

“…truly unfortunate, I agree,” Solomon says, voice nearby. “Come to my office and we’ll discuss.”

Holy crap.

I’min his office.

I flip the lid to the laptop closed but freeze, unsure where to go. The empty cabinets behind me are small, but I think I can fit. Dropping low, I pull open one of the doors and then slip into the narrow space. Just as I tug the door shut, the voices grow louder.

“I must say, Sol,” a man says with evident envy, “this yacht is a dream come true.”

Solomon laughs. “Cost me a pretty penny, too. Please, Michael, have a seat.”

The desk chair squeaks as Solomon sits. I try to steady my breathing that feels as if it’s coming out in thundering pants. Biting my lip, I do my best to hold my breath and steady my racing heartbeat.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Michael says, done with any air of pleasure, eager to get to business. “I expected what I paid for to be waiting in my room.”

Solomon sighs heavily. “As I said before, it’s truly unfortunate. There’s a reason, though. I have a plan to rectify the situation as well.”

“I’m listening.”

“CUP isn’t always foolproof,” Solomon continues. “There have been failures, especially in recent years.”

“How is that so?” Michael demands, voice tight with anger. “This programming has been going on for ages. Why now?”

Solomon moves in his chair, making it creak again. “I blame it on big Pharma.”

“Go on.”

“Ever since Roger Wade’s been dipping his fingers in the industry, we’ve seen aggressive failures.”

“And what I paid for was one of those failures,” Michael grumbles. “Please explain how I’ve wasted one point two million dollars, Sol. It took me months to funnel all the money carefully to the different channels to make sure it couldn’t be tracked to this transaction.”

“You haven’t wasted your money,” Solomon says, slight irritation in his tone. “You’re simply being delayed gratification.”

“Which better come with a bonus.”

“I assure you, it will.” Solomon thumps the desk. “In the meantime, we need to deal with Wade. With your government clearance and access to members of Congress, I believe we can remove him from the board.”

This guy Michael is in the government?

I don’t like this at all.

“What did he do?” Michael asks. “Besides running his old ass all over the globe pretending to be God?”

“Well, you see, that’s exactly it. He got in bed with big Pharma, shoved tons of money into their pockets, and persuaded them to tweak some childhood vaccines. They’re laced with DNA-altering properties that make some of the younger CUP patients resistant. I’m not sure of what his intent was with changing the DNA, but it’s affected our endeavors nonetheless.”

The wind whistles loudly outside and both men pause their conversation to listen. It’s then I realize the boat is rocking more than before. As much as I want to worry about the weather and this massive thing capsizing, I’m too invested in their conversation.

“So Wade’s vaccine is responsible for my botched purchase?” Michael clarifies. “And now you want me to persuade my colleagues to do something about his unchecked power?”

“Precisely. I’m sure you have the feds in your pocket. Pull Wade up on bullshit money laundering charges. I don’t care. Just take care of him. Get his wrinkly hands out of our honey pot.”

“Were they all ruined?” Michael asks.

“This month, twenty-six passed with flying colors and were successful transactions. They were older, between fifteen and twenty. All were prior to Wade’s meddling, which started about fourteen years ago.”

“Mine was a failure because of the age.”

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