monarch's metaphor: part 1

The three men looked worn and bleak. They hadn’t slept in about twenty-six hours. A sense of “I told you so” was all across their faces. They felt foolish. So what; doesn’t everyone at one time in their life?  That was it. No excuses. No bullshit. They all knew she fucked them.

Her main handler was nowhere to be found. Contacts were informed all over town, but no response. Sometimes it was better to get no response than a pack of lies. The handler was sure she would stay loyal. No problem. But he was wrong. That’s the way this business goes sometimes. Once you have it figured out, something or someone comes along to fuck it up. What was that something? Or who was that someone? The handler may know.

She was a quirky sort, prone to emotional outbursts that oftentimes made no sense. Why? No one in touch with her would really say. Hard to tell. Her upbringing was complicated. That was put in her file. No getting around that. She got the attention of project researchers when she was ten. Her parents were not bad people. They were just going through life at a time when change was ramped up. Their daughter was the collateral while going through this change. The researchers defined the “change” to suit their own objectives. That’s how it works. Subjects are the “change” and the result of it.

In her case she didn’t react well. That continued later in life. This had benefits and liabilities. The three men knew this. That’s why she was chosen. Take the relationships she had with men. Her track record wasn’t good. For instance, she had left one man to go back with another. This reunion only lasted a little over two months. She ended it. She had to go back to the one she left in the first place. The negatives she had talked about were no longer negative. Now they were justified. Lie or truth? At this time the three men didn’t know. They didn’t really care. Their objective was to get her back in the fold.

First they had to find her principle handler. He was gone. Had someone gotten to him? If that had happened the situation would be difficult. The situation is complicated enough. Complications work out, they always do. People could get hurt or even killed in the process, but that’s the business. The three men knew that by heart.

Working Title: Monarch’s Metaphor

A NOVEL by Mike Bertelsen

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All or parts of this post may or may not be in the finished product.