The Mind Virus

Chapter 2 - Part 2

Harriett felt the blood drain from her face.

"I'm joking, Miss Gardner." The words should have been relaxing, but Harriett couldn't help but notice that the old man wasn't smiling.

"No, he left when the police got involved," the old man continued as if nothing had happened.

"Wait, police? How am I supposed to take on a police department?"

"They shouldn't trouble you. We have a man on the inside. He should keep the pigs at the trough."

Harriett wasn't convinced. She was used to working in the shadows, but where there were police, there would be flashlights and floodlights and entire stars worth of light to break the shadows apart. Still, the pay they were offering was quite enticing. Perhaps she could put her reservations aside just this once.

"The police cases are closed," the old man went on, "and they won't be reopened any time soon. You shouldn't have any interference from them."

"Lovely," Harriett said, though her smile belied her uncertainty. "So all I need to do is find the item, contain it, and bring it back to you?"

"And kill anyone that knows about it."

Harriett was no stranger to that kind of work, but she was nonetheless surprised by the evenness of the old man's tone when he said it. She wasn't used to her clients treating murder like such a banal facet of life. More than that, "I thought exposure caused death anyway. Why do I need to intervene?"

"Because someone might know about it without having been exposed to it."

"But you said the police weren't involved."

"Call it a precaution, then. Find out who knows what, and tie up any loose ends. If no one knows anything, then it just means less work for you, right?"

Harriett shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"You'll still be paid the full amount, whatever happens." The old man could feel that he was losing her.

"I feel like I'm going into this a little bit blind, is all," Harriet said.

"Between what I'm telling you now and what's in the envelope, you'll have everything you need to complete this little task. Anything more is simply unnecessary for you to know."

"You're right, I'm being silly." And she was. Harriett had done shadier work with less information, not to mention less money. "You're on."

"Excellent," the old man smiled for the first time since they'd met. "I trust you're prepared to start immediately?"

She pawed the pistol under her shoulder. "I'm always ready."

*

Harriett sat in her car in the parking lot of the mysterious building. Synercom Solutions, read the sign on top of the entrance. "Yeah right," she mumbled to herself through a mouth full of sandwich bits. Her meat surprise sub was delicious, but even that couldn't tear her mind away from what had just happened. She glanced over to the manila envelope sitting prettily on her passenger seat, then back over to the majestic glass building.

After wolfing through the sandwich, Harriett picked up the envelope, opened it, and began shuffling through the papers. The first document was a description of the item. No pictures. Boring! Harriet thought. She decided she'd get to that one later. Next was a document describing how to handle it without contracting the virus. Virus, huh? Our mystery man didn't mention anything about that, Harriett thought glumly. She skimmed through the instructions briefly, but they didn't seem to make much sense. She jumped from line to line. Keep your eyes unfocused until the item is fully contained, one part of the paper read. "Bizarre!" Harriett uttered under her breath.

She put that paper aside and pulled out the next one. A list of persons of interest. Well, the first page of many listing persons of interest. All suicides from Cedar Grove since the item went missing. All suicides from the cities surrounding Cedar Grove. Would she have to investigate them too? Harriett was wondering whether she'd bitten off more than she could chew. She flipped through the other pages. Campus counselors, family members of the deceased, witnesses, police officers, detectives, and...

"It can't be," Harriet whispered to herself. She recognized one of the names. "Eddie, what have you gotten yourself into?" she asked ears too far away to hear. She knew her old flame was working in that area. It had been years since they'd seen each other. They were in the military together. Everyone told them that romantic relationships in the military don't last too long, and she supposed they were right, looking back. Even so, the times she had with him had been some of the best years of her life. In another world, they could have gotten married and had a family and lived a happy life together. It was ill fate that pulled them apart, she'd decided a long time ago, not choice. Could it really be him? And worse, would she really have to kill him?