Mirrored Man: The Rob Tyler Chronicles Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

personality and
even temperament that had deceived them all into believing he was
weak.
    He was raised on a dairy farm in Cochran,
Georgia. His mother had died as he was being born. His father, a
Methodist minister, had little money to purchase modern equipment,
so Benny and his three older brothers had worked that farm, and
worked it hard. While growing up, he had also been consumed with an
insatiable thirst for knowledge. He read anything he could get his
hands on. The combination of study and the long hours spent in the
fields prepared him well both physically and mentally so that what
he lacked in stature he more than made up for in stamina. While he
had been able to complete only those physical tasks required to
graduate from basic training, he outlasted the other men in any
test of endurance.
    In his early years, shipmates had been both
confounded and amazed at his prowess concerning the opposite sex.
His features, no one could deny, were striking. Cleanly shaven
head, chiseled jaw line, and razor-sharp, gunmetal gray eyes that,
it was believed, could see through bulkheads. He could pierce his
adversaries through the heart, offer comfort to those close to him,
or disarm the most disagreeable of sorts with those eyes. But with
the ladies, it was the uniform that never failed him, and the
“whites” always worked best.
    Benny thought of himself as an extroverted
introvert, being equally comfortable barking commands in combat
situations or standing back at dinner parties observing the people
around him while they hardly took notice of his presence. He had
the uncanny ability to accurately size up anyone he came in contact
with, and could do so in an instant. This fact was well known among
the upper echelons, and there was no doubt in Benny's mind that
this was the reason he had attained his current assignment.
    The halls Benny strode through were brightly
lit, their gray floors polished to a high gloss. The walls had been
painted stark white and were dotted with maps detailing both the
interior and exterior of the building, placed there to assist
newcomers in finding their way throughout the massive structure.
There were paintings depicting various officers, battles, and
machines of war from different periods spanning the more than 225
years of American history. And there were highly disciplined,
heavily armed Marine guards whose intense stares, under different
circumstances, would have made passersby by more than a little
uncomfortable. Mounted in the ceiling at the center of every
intersection were inverted domes of smoked glass that housed
security devices of every type, monitoring the comings and goings
of everyone who had business within.
    The halls themselves were alive with
activity. There were military personnel and civilians alike,
running to and fro. Junior officers diligently making their way
through the din to deliver important messages to their superiors.
Vendors of all kinds hauling goods to restaurants, dining halls,
snack bars, supply rooms, and janitor’s closets. And there was a
myriad of voices intently discussing, curtly instructing, and
heartily laughing all at once. Most were in motion; the few who
were stationary caused Benny to deviate slightly from his course
now and then. But he was at home in the commotion and easily tuned
it all out. His thoughts were focused on the moral dilemma of his
life.
    He had taken the helm of his current
assignment two years prior, and he worked at it with the same zeal
he had displayed with every new command. But almost immediately, he
had found this duty to be among the most challenging of his career.
And time was running out. I like my job . Build me
something that blows stuff up effectively and I'll recommend
it. But this? This is what they're now calling weapons
development?
    He regarded man’s manipulation of God's
creations as an abomination. He’d noticed that throughout modern
history people had used the argument that God gives scientists the
intelligence