Agent Hill: Reboot Read Online Free Page A

“I want out of this. And if I don’t get what I want, you’re coming down with me. You and I both know you can’t reach me where I’m at, even if you wanted to. The moment I’m caught, so are you. Your fate is tied to mine.”
    The man remained silent for quite some time, and Rick wasn’t sure if the connection had frozen until the shadow covering the man’s face disappeared along with the voice modulation that had disguised him. The man lowered every shroud protecting him, leaving a face that surprised Rick.
    “I’ll make this as clear as I can.” The lines on the man’s face hardened, and his voice was slightly raspy as he spoke. The face wasn’t young, though it was supposed to appear that way, but too many attempts at surgery had left a farce. “Whatever plan you think you have, mine is better.” And with that the screen went blank, leaving Rick and Heath alone in the office.
    The envelope fell from Rick’s hand, and its contents spilled onto the table. On the little square of paper was a photograph, a picture of who Rick believed his mystery investor was, but the face he had just seen didn’t resemble the man in the picture. A cold chill ran up from the base of his spine, shaking him at his very core, leaving him feeling as though his bones had turned to ice.
    “Mr. Demps?” Heath asked.
    Rick tore the picture in half and dumped it into the garbage. “I want you to find out as much as you can about whatever the GSF is doing. What resources they have left, what they know about us, and who that man was. And it should go without saying that time is a luxury we don’t have.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Heath was gone before Rick turned back to the view of the mountains behind him. The compound around him was the result of planning for every contingency that could arise. His money and resources had carved out a piece of land in a place where no one else could have accomplished it and where many said it could not be done. But here he stood, staring out into the so-called untamed wilderness in front of him. Even with all the forces threatening to close in around, him he still believed nothing was beyond his reach.

 
    ***
    The conference room doors burst open, and the Russian president, along with his advisors, stomped out with the red-angered face associated with a toddler’s tantrum. Inside the conference room, Andrea and a few other members of the UN packed up the rest of their belongings and exited in a more noble fashion.
    Chancellor Andrea Jollenbeck went the opposite direction of her UN colleagues and the Russian president. While they were done with negotiations for the day, Andrea had one more meeting to attend. Her shoulders sagged as she walked, even though her chief of staff, Alexander, carried most of her belongings.
    The war with the Russians was over. Both parties knew it. Russia couldn’t afford to keep up the conflict, and neither side wanted to escalate to a nuclear confrontation, which would have been the only card left to play. Andrea expected the tantrum was a way for the Russian president to save face with his people after agreeing to the terms of the treaty. The trade restrictions, along with the monetary compensation for the debts that were to be paid for the damages against the attacked countries, were steep but not unreasonable for what the Russians had done. The ties of trust had always been loose between Europe and Russia, and the recent actions hadn’t helped tighten them. The road to peace was a long, slow, winding one that required a patience most people didn’t have the capacity for.
    “Did he say what he wanted to discuss with me?” Andrea asked.
    “No, Chancellor,” Alexander answered just before they made it to the door behind which her next appointment was already waiting. “But I suspect it’s about the girl.”
    “Has Finn found out anything?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Very well. Tell him that his time will most likely be preoccupied the moment I come out of this