Tunnel Vision Read Online Free Page A

Tunnel Vision
Book: Tunnel Vision Read Online Free
Author: Susan Adrian
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bathroom.
    Caitlyn gave me a look like it was my fault and followed her.
    I drank, letting the vodka wash out the feeling that this had been a really bad idea.
    That’s when I saw a flicker of movement at the top of the stairs. I met the eyes of Caitlyn’s mom, sitting on the top step, watching me. On her face was the kind of look you’d give a dog who just recited Shakespeare. Stunned, sure. But interested .
    How much did she see?
    She stood smoothly, came down the stairs, and announced that it was time to go and she’d arranged a big taxi to take us all home. Now, please. She didn’t mind if we drank, but the party was over, and she wasn’t having any of us on the roads.
    Crammed in next to Chris on the ride home, with Rachel puffy eyed in the front, all I could do was think about what a very, very stupid thing that could’ve been. I could’ve blown it all, right there. I knew better. It had just seemed so easy, so right. Safe.
    But hardly anybody mentioned it the next week, or the next. Rachel turned distant—embarrassed, I guess. I tried to talk to her, but she would look away, or give me one-word answers. Massively disappointing, but about what I should have expected, I guess. I blew it.
    I allowed myself to remember it like a bad dream, one of those nightmares where you do exactly what you’re not supposed to do. I allowed myself to forget about it, almost.
    Until now.

 
    4
    “Life Is Over” by Curbstone
    “Who are you?” I whisper. I look up at the woman from the floor, and even though the party was two weeks ago I feel drunk again, blurred.
    Her eyes are an odd pale green, like they’d been real green until something sucked most of the color out. I want to look away, but I can’t. She tilts her head, and her ponytail swings sideways.
    “I work with Mrs. Timmerman. She had a very interesting report about that party. Very interesting indeed.”
    I sit up straighter, grab at a shred of hope. Maybe it isn’t what I think. “Mrs. Timmerman works at Georgetown, doesn’t she? Some sort of scientist?”
    She actually laughs. “I don’t work for Georgetown University, Jacob. I work for the Department of Defense. A division called DARPA. Have you heard of it?”
    Hope smears out. The Department of Defense. It’s exactly what I thought. It’s what Dad said would happen, if I kept tunneling, if I told anyone. I’d never really believed him—it sounded too much like he was just trying to scare me. Step on a crack, break your mother’s back. Stupid shit like that. But he was right.
    With the realization comes a wave of anger. At him for being right. At myself for being stupid, for fucking up so royally. And at her, sitting there on my bedspread like she owns it.
    “So you read some report and you follow me around all week? You break into my house?” I get louder. “What the hell? You could have called if you wanted to talk to me.”
    “Keep your voice down,” she says, sharp. “And I said I wasn’t the only one interested. The man who followed you isn’t from us. He’s private. We’re not sure yet who he’s working for. Whoever it is, it’s certainly not good for you.”
    I close my eyes. This isn’t happening.
    A couple of tunnels at a party, and the Department of Defense and some other mystery person is all over me. Who else was at that party? Who do Rachel’s parents secretly work for? Chris’s? The Mafia? Al-Qaeda?
    I’m being paranoid again.
    No, I’m not. But I am scared.
    “That’s only the tip of the iceberg, Jacob. We have done a great deal of research into this area, for decades.” Her voice is still soft, too-sweet. “Ever heard of Stargate?”
    I don’t answer. Yes, I’ve heard of Stargate. A government project in the 1970s to use psychic phenomena—psychics—to spy long-distance. DARPA funded it. I’d read everything I could on it, a few years back, and I’m pretty good at the research now. But it was shut down a long time ago. It was most famous for being a
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