Manipulator by Thom Parsons Read Free Book Online

there was no-one that knew computers, or the way that PRoGRaM worked like Nick did.
    At thirty two years old, and clocking in at just under 6ft, Nick was a tall guy, but wasn’t exactly well built. Having never set foot inside a gym in his life, he was fairly scrawny for his height. But regardless, he still tried to keep himself in shape.
    “Better than that guy,” Owen replied, pointing once again in the direction of Eli, who was still knocked out on a bed across the room from where he and Kate were sitting. The three of them looked over to the unconscious man.
    His eyes were shut up tight, yet his body was slightly moving with every breath he took. His vitals seemed good, according to one of the machines that he was rigged up to at least. Owen and Kate had similar apparatus next to their PRoGRaM chairs, purely there for Nick to keep an eye on their heart rate and other vitals whilst they were inside PRoGRaM. They could never be too careful.
    “What happened in there?” Nick asked seriously, cutting down the light hearted conversation that Owen had started. He readjusted his black baseball cap that hid his short, cropped black hair, and put emphasis on his rough, yet intelligent face. “How does someone like that know about PRoGRaM and what it’s capable of?”
    “I have absolutely no idea,” Owen said honestly. “We found some disturbing things out in there. But there’s not much else we can do tonight. We need to think about this one, interrogate him face to face first, see what leads that brings up before we force him back into PRoGRaM.”
    There were often cases in which Owen and his team would’ve had more than one memory to analyse or erase. That meant several trips through PRoGRaM. It also meant a longer operation. It wasn’t a matter of going in and out of PRoGRaM multiple times on the same day. Doing that could seriously overload anybody’s brain. In cases like these, Owen and his team had to stage the operation out over a longer period, usually over several weeks. The local NYPD Precinct was always happy to help keep a hold of some of their subjects in the downtime, even if they didn’t know what they were holding them for. Nobody dared argue with the FBI.
    “Lets get him out of here,” Owen said. “Nick, if you and Kate could run him down to Kate’s precinct, that would be great. Kate will explain to them this is a FBI Special Projects issue. I’ll stick around here a little while and sort out the paperwork. I’ll send off the information to both HQ and the relevant people at the NYPD. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a slow one, so shall we all meet here in the office about ten?”
    “Sounds good,” Nick said before turning to Kate. “Could you give me and Owen a minute please?”
    She nodded and walked away, giving Nick the privacy that he wanted. “Owen,” he called out after his friend. “Can I have a word?”
    “Sure," Owen replied. He noticed that Kate had headed off away from him and Nick, he knew what was coming. Today was his first day back on the job since the accident. It wouldn’t be unlike Nick to let that topic of conversation slide for the entire day, Owen knew that he was going to want to talk about what happened to Annie sooner or later.
    “How you holding up?” Nick asked, quietly and seriously, addressing the elephant in the room, at least between the two of them. Kate had no idea of what was going on in Owen’s personal life. He wanted to keep it that way.
    “I’ve been better,” Owen replied, vaguely, knowing exactly where Nick was going with his questions. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk openly about it. Not yet.
    “It’s only been two weeks,” Nick said. “You sure you’re ready to get back into this game?”
    Two weeks since the accident. Owen thought. The time has flown by.
    “Yeah, Nick, I’m ready. It’s time to move on.”  
    “If you need more time…”
    “It was an accident Nick,” Owen said bluntly, cutting him off, looking