Highland Tangle

NATHAN/HECTOR

NATHAN

The chamber was submerged in a cold, subterranean silence, lit only by the low, rhythmic hum of the flickering flames in the middle of the sides of the table. A holographic projector in between the candles. the I sat at the head of the stone table, my hands folded with practiced neutrality. Around me, my beloved Council, they sat in the shadows of their respective alcoves.

"He's back," I said, my voice as smooth as polished glass. "Glenn Connors didn't just return; he brought his files with him. I know it. He's outed me publicly. He's probably spent the last forty-eight hours tracing the municipal discrepancies to the foundation."

Clara tapped a glass stylus against the table, the sharp, rhythmic click echoing the agitation in her posture, "Then he's done more than lean, Nathan. He's bridged the gap. If he connects the sudden surge in neuro-stabilizers to the district's lack of dissent, he'll have the narrative he needs to burn this place down."

"I'm sure he knows about Carter," Silas growled, slamming a fist onto the arm of his chair as he rises. He paced the small perimeter, his boots heavy against the floor. "I told you we should have burned his house while he was in Utah. Now he's a walking contagion. A free roaming cancer. If he talks, the foundation cracks. If the found-ation cracks, we have a riot, not a town."

"Patience, Silas," Elijah murmured. His voice sounded like grinding stones, heavy with the gravity of centuries. "Rash action creates ripples. Glenn is not a man of impulsive nature; he is a man of record. He seeks the truth of the system, not the destruction of the people. We must handle the truth, not the man."

"The truth is irrelevant," Clara countered, her eyes flashing. "He is a threat to the equilibrium. Carter is the linchpin. If he exposes Carter's role in the synchronization, the town wakes up. We cannot afford an awakening."

Isabella remained perfectly still. She hadn't shifted in twenty minutes, her gaze fixed on the center of the table where a holographic map of the town flickered. "He is investigating the past," she said, her voice barely a whisper, yet it cut through the room's tension like a blade. "He believes he is the protagonist of a righteous crusade. I believe, he will seek an audience with Carter tonight."

I looked at her. "He thinks he can turn him?"

"He thinks he can save him," she replied.

I leaned back, my expression unchanged. "Then we offer him exactly what he expects to find, but we curate the discovery."

"You want to feed him disinformation?" Silas asked, stopping his pacing. "That's risky. He's smart."

"He is smart," I agreed. "Which is why he will realize he's in too deep the moment he sees what we want him to see. We don't remove him, Silas. We ensure he finds evidence that is so damning, so impossible to process, that he becomes paralyzed by his own morality. A man burdened by a secret he cannot share is a man who stops investigating."

"And if he doesn't stop?" Clara asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Then," I said, my voice dropping to a cool, final register, "Silas will have his chance to act. But for tonight, we let Glenn Connors dig his own grave."

***

HECTOR

  The mahogany table in my office was cluttered with lukewarm coffee cups and half-eaten donuts. I leaned back, my tie loosened, looking less like a town leader and more like a man bracing for a storm. Across from me sat Ethan, the head editor of the Highland Tangle, whose notebook was already open.

  "I need to know, Ethan," I began, my voice low. "Are you planning to run the piece on page one?"

  Ethan pushed his top hat down more, covering his eyes. "He's been spotted at the diner near the old Village Mart, Hector. Twice. People are talking. If I don't write it, the rumor mill will turn him into a ghost. It's better the town has the facts."

"The 'fact' is that Glenn Connors was released from state custody, then fled to Utah now he's back," Sarah Garter, my Chief of Staff, piped up and contiues, "He hasn't technically broken any law. Dragging his return into the light isn't journalism, it's an invitation to a town-wide panic."

"Panic is already coming," Ethan countered, clicking his pen. "The hardware store owner called me this morning. People are asking if we're adding patrols. They remember how this town felt all those years ago when the incidents started. You can't tell me you aren't worried, Hector."

Hector sighed, rubbing his temples. "Of course I'm worried. Connors was a shadow over this valley for a reason. But if you print his face in the Tangle, you're putting a target on his back—or worse, you're turning him into a catalyst for vigilante justice. This town has a long memory and a short fuse."

"We villianized him!" Ethan asked sharply. "If I stay silent, don't clear things up, and they hurt him, that blood is on all of us. And it's on your office for letting it get this far when it could have ended this years ago."

"He owns the deed to a property, his cabin," Sarah interjected. "We legally cannot stop him from coming home."

"Then manage the optics," Ethan insisted. "Let me put out a statement. Tell the public the police are aware, that he's under surveillance. Give them something to hold onto besides their own fear."

I looked out the window toward the rolling hills of Highland. The sun was setting, casting a long, unsettling shadows across the town square.

"Fine. You print the story, but keep the sensationalism out of it. Focus on his current status, not his past. I'll draft a statement for Chief Wade Lamber to sign. We keep the peace, Ethan. That is the priority."

Ethan nodded, closing his notebook. "I'll keep it professional, Hector. But let's not kid ourselves. If Connors does anything rash, the story changes. Have Detective John Rourke sign it too. I just hope my brother hasn't gotten to him already, if he has we're in trouble."

"Don't worry about Nathan. Just make sure you get it right," I said then muttered. "I'd rather not have to bury this town's civility just to keep the news cycle moving."

WELCOME TO THE END OF NATHAN/HECTOR!!

How will The Council 'curate the discovery'?

Can Ethan get to Glenn before his brother Nathan does?

FIND OUT IN THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS OF HIGHLAND TANGLE!!

"Now you know my secret, Nathan is my brother, do with this information what you will, now I shall leave you with this, a quote by Wayne Dyer,'If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.' Til we meet again." - Ethan