The Collector by David Luna Read Free Book Online Page A

him if I saw you coming. He said you’d come. I just didn’t know so quick.”
    “She’s lying,” Neil defends, both his pride and reputation as a Collector on the line.
    “He told me to love Jimmy. Love Jimmy and not let go again.”
    Jimmy tries to break free, but Neil holds him tight.
    “I believe you,” Slayter chimes in. He touches Loraine’s cheek and brushes the hair from her eyes to calm her. She’s relieved, expecting release, but Slayter instead twirls her around and binds her hands.
    “Wait, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “We can’t take her, Slayter,” Neil says. “She’s not a volunteer.”
    “She knowingly harbored a Breacher. That makes her an enemy to the Agency. We’ll take them both.” Slayter heartlessly drags Loraine out the door, knocking the screen off its hinges.
    Thomas and Michael tug on Neil’s legs as he follows Slayter to the utility truck, carrying Jimmy under one arm and tearing the family apart.
    Cecil, Dale, Raymond, Garrison, and Slayter sit around the Agency bullpen after hours. Slayter entertains them with another story.
    “So then she tells me it’s her twin who volunteered, not her.”
    “Did she really have a twin?” Garrison asks.
    “Doesn’t matter,” Slayter responds. “She came up in the system and the system never lies.”
    Laughter spills outside to a balcony where Neil, stone-faced, leans against the railing. Light from the digital billboards splits his face in two – one half lit and the other half in shadow.
    “It sure is something,” Mazer’s voice says trailing in from behind. He joins Neil to marvel at the city before them. “The work we’ve done. The work still yet to do.”
    No reaction from Neil. His jaw remains clinched, the events from earlier with Jimmy and Loraine still weighing on his mind.
    Mazer examines his old pocket watch. “I remember when you gave me this. Right after you earned your first stripe. You were so proud,” he reminisces.
    More laughter echoes from inside, yet Neil stays silent. Mazer turns to him, this time getting straight to the point. “They know what they’re signing up for, Neil. Just like you did.”
    “She had kids.”
    “Most of them do. They’ll be put in the system. The twins might make good Enforcement Officers. Who knows, maybe one of them will become a Collector. Follow in your path.”
    The thought brings Neil back, remembering. He looks to Mazer. “Wade’s not on their side.”
    “How do we know he didn’t have a hand in the attack on your truck?” Mazer questions.
    “Because that’s not Wade,” Neil exclaims. “He just lost the stomach to do the job.”
    “Letting the boy go was the worst violation he could’ve committed. No one lets an assignment go free.”
    Neil knows Wade made a stupid decision. He’s personally tracked down dozens of Breachers himself – volunteers who went back on their contract and tried to evade the system – but he’s never heard of a Breacher being aided by a Collector before. It never even crossed his mind. His belief in the system wouldn’t allow it. But now that the situation has entered his mind, letting one little boy go doesn’t seem as big of an issue compared to everything else the city is dealing with. “Don’t you think we have other things to worry about?” Neil motions to the mugshots of the four Brigade Leaders on the largest digital billboard.
    “What we have to worry about is control,” Mazer explains. “Control the population, the volunteers. Control what’s left of the water. If we lose control, we lose order. Don’t you remember the riots? How bad things were after the dam? Seeing people piss in each other’s mouths just to get a drink. We’ve put a lot of effort into restoring order, and a lot of good men – my men – died to achieve it. Now they are compromising that control. Including Wade.” Mazer pauses so as to not fully rile himself up. “Look, collect Wade and use him to track down the other four. This is on