Unleashing the Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

massive weather weapon to three possible locales.
    It
was good news, but with hurricane season starting next month, it wasn’t good
enough.
    He
realized Jason and Henry were still arguing, and he ground his teeth. “Enough.
Write up your arguments and submit them to me tomorrow.”
    “Sounds
good.”
    Jason’s
hostile glare at Henry sizzled over Dev’s skin. Those two would never see eye
to eye. But then, Jason rarely saw eye to eye with anyone, and Henry had been
set in his ways since he was born.
    Jason
left, but Henry remained seated.
    “You
have more to say?” Dev asked.
    Henry
shifted in his chair, the creak of fabric on leather louder than it should have
been, and Dev knew his near future involved a splitting headache. “I want my
division to finally get a fair shake. Ever since you started bringing in
rare-ability types—”
    “I’m
aware of your views, Henry.”
    Henry
and a handful of others had opposed Dev’s expansion of ACRO from the
exclusively psychic operation it had been under his parents’ direction. He
accepted the validity of some of the arguments.
    Bringing
in excedosapiens and RSOs had created several problems he couldn’t annihilate
no matter how hard he tried. The two types had a tendency to cause a lot of
trouble and could be hard to control. There was also the perception that the
RSOs received preferential treatment, given their extreme rare abilities and
notably small numbers in comparison to the agents in the Paranormal and
Excedosapien Divisions.
    On
the other hand, the addition of excedos and RSOs had made ACRO the most
powerful agency in the world—secret or not.
    Henry’s
BDUs rustled as he shifted again. “You know I have great respect for the work
you and your parents have done.”
    Dev
inclined his head. “But?”
    “But
maybe ACRO has grown too big and unwieldy for one person. A few of us have been
talking, and we think it might be time for you to take on partners.”
    “I
see. You want ACRO to be run by a board of directors.”
    “It
would ensure all voices are heard—”
    “Because
I’m not fair enough to hear all voices?” Dev asked softly, and he felt a
distinct change in the room’s energy.
    “I
didn’t say that. And you would, of course, remain on as president…”
    “How
generous. You few have this all figured out.” Dev pushed to his feet,
braced his hands on the table and leaned forward. “I’m about to prove how fair
I am. See, I’ll forget you ever brought this up. And you? You’ll leave right
now, by way of your own two feet. Trust me, that’s more than fair.”
    He
heard the quiet shuffle as Henry left the conference room, shutting the door
behind him. Dev pressed the panel under the table, the code that would open the
door that led to his private office, where he refused to hold meetings, refused
to let many people in at all. He needed a refuge in this place.
    He
needed to calm down. He was tired, mentally, physically—but more than that, he
was tired of the director’s shit. He’d taken this organization too damned far
in eight years to stop now, but sometimes he wished he was back in the military
where it was more than okay to settle disputes with a few good punches. But
there weren’t many options for a blind pilot in the Air Force. Which was why
his sudden, amazing ability at CRV—Controlled Remote Viewing—had earned him a
quick paperwork shuffle to NASA and its mind-bending program after the accident
that killed his flying career ten years ago.
    His
parents had been disappointed. Again. They wanted him out of the military
altogether, wanted him with them at ACRO. He’d refused. They had plenty of
help.
    But
while everyone was busy feeling the leftover peace and love from the Stargate
program, the outside world fell apart, competing agencies opened and someone
took his parents out, execution-style, in their mansion in Syracuse, Dev’s
childhood home.
    The
hit was ordered by an agency much bigger than the FBI or the CIA. In