These stories may contain violence, horror, profanity, disturbing themes, emotional distress, addiction, death, murder, sexuality, cannibalism, or other material some readers may find uncomfortable. Reader discretion is advised.

A Mind Made Silent

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# PROLOGUE

Knock. Knock.

Roz heard it in her head, not in her ears. The words, not the sounds.

She'd been expecting the visitor and stood by the door. She'd expected the touch to her mind as well. People had touched her mind before but there was an 'oh, shit' to this one. There was no threat or menace, the words just had weight. They held the potential for great threat and heavy menace. Feeling them was like trying to look into the eyes of one of the big bosses and keep your shit steady.

She opened the door and saw him coming up the walkway between two hedgy looking bushes. With the size of the place, there was no need, but she stepped aside to make room. He wore a trench coat even though the weather was warm, but was clearly shorter than her, and skinnier. She could take him out with one punch. The big hat did a lot to shade his features, but the unholy mess of red-touched hair beneath did better. With his paranoia, it was probably a wig.

"Good morning," Roz said as she closed the door behind him.

"Morning." He didn't look at her, kept his eyes on the man seated in one of two chairs in the foyer. One of the guys on her team had hauled them in from the dining room and set them up with their backs to the door, one in front of the other. The other female stood off to the side keeping her eyes on the sitting man. She'd put her third guy out of sight around the corner for her first meeting.

"Tough day."

He ignored her and walked to the empty chair. Still staring at the back of the head before him, he slipped into it.

"Good morning, Chills."

"Hey, man," Chills answered in a comfortable tone though his wrists and ankles were bound to the chair. "Sorry for the early call."

He was right about that. 3:00 AM was nobody's idea of a good time for this kind of work. Honestly, no time was good for it, but early morning was the worst. Everyone tired and jittery about what was to come, everyone a little nervous about who was in the chair. Everyone except the guy in the trench coat. He acted as if dropping by for tea.

"It's fine. Chills, I'm going to enter your mind. If you put up defenses, I'll tear them down and cause you great pain. If you fight me, I'll cause you great pain. Do you understand?"

"I got it." Chills gave an easy nod. "I know the business and why I'm here. Yeah, I've broken some rules, but I didn't do this one."

Probably true. Chills had always been a solid boss, treated his people well, paid up and out better than expected.

"When I'm finished, you are going to die."

"I'll take the blink. Nothing to wait around for."

The other time Roz had been present for one of these, the trench coat guy kept on talking. He spoke about feeling like you're drowning, on fire, or covered by ants. He said you could die after hours of unbelievable agony, pleasure beyond understanding, or simply stop.

This time, he sighed.

"I'm sorry, man."

"No stress, no blame. Do your thing."

They sat for a few seconds, then trench coat guy stood up and faced Roz.

"It's true. He's got nothing."

"You're sure?"

He stood there.

"Alright." She nodded. "We're good."

"None of your countdown shit," Chills said over his shoulder. "Don't need no pretty pictures."

A little nod and Chills sagged, his head falling back. Roz flicked her chin to the woman who stepped forward, checked Chills, then offered a nod. The guy joined her, and they knelt to untie the body from the chair.

Roz pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of her jacket and passed it over. Trench coat guy opened a button and tucked it away.

"Not counting it?" she asked.

"I know the man who gave this to you." His fingers stopped half-withdrawn. "If it's light, I'll let him know."

"What?"

"This is your second time, Roz. You're doing well."

"How do you know my name?"

"I know your name and what you had for dinner last night. I know your team. I know Paul is around the corner with a gun in his hand, just in case."

"I could—"

"I liked Chills. I'll miss him. You're his replacement. Let's hope we get along."

"Don't start—"

"Nice to see you again."

He opened the door and walked out.