In the Wind: Out of the Box, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rogue mopeds and all that.
    The clock reads 4:18 when I close the door to the room, and I sigh, knowing I’ve got time to kill and little to kill it with. My fancy government cell phone has no internet connection in Rome, but I can make calls or text if I’m of a mind to. I’m not, though; pretty much every friend I have is … well, Sienna.
    I watched the drawdown of the agency after we beat Sovereign, and it was a slow bleed to death. Janus and Kat left first, giving it a respectable few weeks before they took off. Zollers went next, quiet and serious, off to seek his fortunes—or whatever—elsewhere. I sensed that he had some skepticism about how the government would handle a telepath in its employ and decided to get lost before they figured out what they had their hands on. I couldn’t blame him; I consider myself fortunate that they haven’t figured out a military application for a strong breeze yet.
    From a distance, I watched the dance that Sienna and Scott did, and it kind of put me off love for a while. I mean, I saw what happened between her and Zack, too, but this was different. The touch of death was apparently no longer an issue (I didn’t want any details, so I never asked), but I have meta ears and I sleep one apartment away from them. Intimacy was not the problem this time. This time, it was something simpler.
    Change.
    I could feel it in the wind. I’m conditioned to by this point, but Sienna? She’s still new to this world, really. Raised as a shutaway until seventeen, the girl’s still got a lot to learn, even with everything on her shoulders. She picks it up quickly, but this whole relationship thing is complex. It’s a twist. I don’t think it’s something you can pick up in a book. Though if they made a practical “Art of War” type guide for love, she’d probably read it.
    I watched them drift. Scott got disillusioned by the war, and no matter much he protested otherwise, he couldn’t see himself doing this law enforcement and policing thing forever. So first he left the agency, went to work for his dad. Making money, building a life, but still hanging around with his girlfriend whenever he could.
    But Sienna and I? We work a lot.
    This job doesn’t come with normal hours. It comes with a mad desire to consume every waking one and the ones where you’re sleeping, too, when possible. Since the news about metas came out, we’ve had like a bajillion reports of meta activity. Most of them are false. Guess who’s in a good position to sift the true from the false? Not the FBI. Not local law enforcement. They don’t deal with metas or meta crimes on anything approaching a regular basis; how would they even know?
    I watched Scott get distant. Watched him get irritable about the time demands. He was working a job, a nine to five that gave him plenty of opportunity to hang with his buddies and drink beer on the weekends. Even as fast-paced as his dad’s company was, it wasn’t as demanding as what Sienna and I were up to. I watched it eat at him. He tried to be supportive at first, I think, but it just dragged him down a little at a time.
    At some point, I guess, after three weeks in which you haven’t seen your girlfriend, things get … awkward? Annoying? Resentment builds. What’s the point of being with someone if you’re on a catch-as-can basis? Scott was looking for someone to share his life with. Sienna didn’t have a life to share.
    I sympathized. I watched it all dissolve. After Sienna’s disastrous interview with Gail Roth, it was over.
    I pretty much took notes on the whole thing. Looked at it as a cautionary tale: people in our position, they don’t really get a chance at love in the traditional style. Spouse, kids, house in the ’burbs? Nah. For us, the demands are everything. I pour myself into my work, pour myself into training.
    Sienna lapsed after Scott left, just drove herself into the job, and I’ve gone along for the ride.
    No love.
    No life.
    Just work.
    I can