Author’s Note: I ended up starting something new, much as I’ve been trying to finish things, and this is the most recent concept I’ve come up with. I wanted a detective story with people who had special abilities. I actually don’t know how well it’s going or if the characters are even… likeable.
This is the opening section/prologue. Feel free to tell me what you think.
“You don’t have to look at me like that, you know,” she said, leaning back in her chair and glaring back at the suit across from her. “I didn’t do it.”
He adjusted his glasses, opening a file. “A man is dead. He died in your care.”
“Well, they don’t issue malpractice insurance to doctors who don’t work for the government,” she said, shrugging. She didn’t get the feeling this one, who clearly lacked personality as well as a sense of humor, would find it funny. Not that it was. The government controlled everything—or they tried. And he was just another cog in the government machine. “I was in the middle of a surgery. I was interrupted. He died. Did you happen to find the jerk who shot me? Or am I seriously the only one you consider a criminal in this whole mess?”
“Practicing medicine without a license is a crime. That man’s death is a crime.”
“So I am the only criminal you see here,” she shook her head, frustration getting the better of her again. “The government takes everything from us, all of us, and we can’t do anything about it, but you as a good little lackey, you’re going to help them and arrest me.”
“You’re already under arrest. I didn’t take you into custody, nor did I have to. I am not here for that. I am here because you are a registered Talent.”
She tensed. How the hell had they found that out? She’d buried that part of her past deep, no one knew about her reason for dropping out of medical school. That name, that identity, it was all someone else’s, not hers, not anymore. She’d heard the rumors about genetic marking and them monitoring suspected Talents, but she’d never seen any signs of it before. She got caught now, sure, but by accident, not because they’d been watching her or knew where she was all along. They would have arrested her a long time ago if that were true.
“Section eleven of the fourteenth article stipulates that any known Talent must be gainfully employed and monitored by the government,” he said, passing a copy of the exact section he quoted to her for her to look at. “You are not, therefore you are in violation.”
She glared at him. “I was training to be a doctor. I wasn’t about to throw that away.”
“Those with a Talent cannot work where they choose.”
“I know that. Do you even have an ounce of humanity in you, or did the government drain it out of you?” She demanded, leaning forward to get in his face. “Why would anyone accept this as what it is? Why do you follow their orders like a robot?”
“People who have a Talent do not have a choice.”
“You really are soulless, aren’t you?”
He took another paper out of the folder and passed it to her. “This is to inform you of your official placement. From now on, you are employed by the Special Investigation, Logistics, and Tactics Division. Some call it SILT. Whether or not you do does not matter. You will reside within the barracks designated for their use, and you will be monitored at all times as well as fitted with the standard Talent restraint.”
“They already did that. I’m not an idiot. I know my own body. I didn’t have this scar before and now I do,” she said, lifting up her skirt to show off the one on her hip. He didn’t look over at her, and she rolled her eyes. This one really was dead inside, wasn’t he?
“I am required by the existing laws to inform you of all these matters. The disclosure has been given.”
“That’s it? They sent you here to deliver paperwork? That’s all you’re here for?”
“You have been designated a flight risk and as such will not be moved while conscious. This is your disclosure for that decision.”
She crumpled the paper in her fist. “I wish my Talent involved fire. I’d burn this place to the ground and you with it.”
“You might try,” he said as he rose from the table, and as he turned to the side, she saw a similar scar on his neck. Her throat went dry.
He didn’t just have the standard Talent restraint. His was wired directly to his brain and would kill him in an instant. Whatever he could do terrified them.