Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (24 page)

What
was
to
happen
next
both
frightened
Lee
and
gave
him
hope
that
his
brother
was
safe.
It
was
a
video
Tom
had
recorded
before
he
went
missing.

The
video
started
with
Tom
having
a
sullen
look
on
his
face
and
he
began
to
speak,
“Lee
if
you
found
this
then
we
both
know
that
I
have
been
taken
in.
I
am
still
alive
for
if
you
are
the
one
to
find
this
it
means
I
haven’t
given
up
the
location
of
the
device
yet,
but
know
this; the
people
that
have
me
will
stop
at
nothing
to
get
the
information
on
it
back. You
cannot
let
this
happen,
Lee.
If
they
come
for
me
I
will
go
freely
because
I
know
what
they
are
capable
of
and
if
they
send
Project
K
my
strength
will
count
for
nothing.

So
I
am
relying
on
you,
little
brother. You
need
to
blow
the
lid
on
what
has
been
going
on.
Just
know
that
if
you
do
before
I can
escape
they
will
certainly
kill
me. And
always
remember,
trust
your
gut,
it
won't
lie
to
you,
if
something
doesn’t
feel
right
it's
wrong
.”
The
video
ended.

Sitting
for
a
few
moments
and
processing
what
just
happened
and
feeling
a
combination
of
physical
and
emotional
exhaustion
he looked
out
the
window,
seeing
the
sun
had
begun
to
rise.
Lee
pulled
himself
upstairs
and
lay
on
the
bed
beside
Jennifer
for
a
few
moments
before
his
alarm
started
ringing
out.
Sleepy
eyed
and
drained,
he dragged
himself
to
the
shower
and
freshened
up
for
work.
Stashing
the
device
under
the
floor
in
the
spare
room
in
the
apartment,
he
slid
over
a
chest
of
drawers
to
cover
it
for
safe
keeping
.

When
Lee
got
to
work
he
went
to
speak
to
his
boss,
knowing
him
to
be
a
good
man. But
he
was
unsure
as
to
whether
he
could
trust
him
fully
with
the
information
that
his
brother
had
acquired.
Bashfully
approaching
the
subject
of
all
the
pulled
stories
and
the
process
that
was
behind
it,
Lee's
boss
Pete
Laurie
explained.
“I
am
required
to
e-mail
all
stories
for
approval
to
a
particular
address,”
he
showed
Lee
the
email
address.

It
was
a
government
assigned
email
.

“Only on
one
occasion did
I
run
a
story
without
prior
approval.
It
was
a
late
breaking
story
but
I
was
unable
to
get
approval
in
time
so
I
just
ran
it…”

He
explained.
“The
story
was
about
a
pension
scheme
in
one
of
the
regional
airlines
and
was
of
no
major
interest
or
consequence
to
anything
that
would
affect
the
government,
but
the
fact
that
it
was
run
without
approval
meant
I
was
severely
reprimanded.”

Pete
turned
to
Lee,
“It
wasn’t
always
like
this
and
if
I
had
my
choice
it
would
never
be
like
this
again.”

Lee
approached
the
topic
of
publishing
another
unapproved
story,
but
this
one
was
big
and
would
be
a
game
changer
for
everything
to
come
after.
Pete
got
up
and
closed
the
door
to
his
office
,
turned
to
him
and
demanded,
“What
kind
of
game
changer?”

Lee
replied,
“corruption
and
cover
ups
to
the
highest
levels
of
The
United
New
World
government…”

Pete
stated,
“I
categorically
will
have
nothing
to
do
with
anything
of
the
sort;
I
can’t
risk
it.
There
are
too
many
people
and
jobs
depending
on
me!”

Lee
realised
his
mistake, apologised
and
tried
to
make
an
excuse
to
leave.

Pete
followed
up
with,
“I
think
you
misunderstand
me
Lee,
I
will
have
nothing
to
do
with
it
as
it's
too
risky
for
me
to
get
involved
again,
but
I
won't
stop
you
from
sneaking
into
my
office
and
adding
the
story
to
the
final
edit…”

Lee
was
relieved
to
now
have
a
channel
to
get
the
story
out,
but
also
needed
time
to
try
to
find
his
brother.

Thanking
Pete
and
playing
for
time,
Lee
said,
“I
need
time
to
work
on
the
story.”
What
he
really
meant
was
he
needed
time
to
find
Tom.

“Go
home
and
work
on
the
story,
as
there
are
too
many
prying
eyes
in
the
office
and
all
activity
is
logged.
A
story
like
this
would
be
flagged
long
before
it
was
completed.”