Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

It had never occurred to him that the holographic president had a flesh-and-bones counterpart.

Anderle came into view, mimicking everything Jefferson Kennedy was doing, singing along with the fake President.

“Hey Drew,” said Anderle and the President at the exact same time. “What I say, what I do, what I dance...so does Mr. Jefferson Kennedy here.”

Jefferson blinked out and dissipated into nothingness. Another hologram.

Drew squinted. He hardly knew Anderle anymore. What was he doing making a hologram dance? He had always been a couple of slices short of a loaf, but been so brilliant Drew had overlooked his kookiness? Or was it new, this off-the-wall routine? He knew he had to tread lightly to get what he wanted. “Dude, I used your name and they still kicked me out.”

Anderle shrugged but didn’t make eye contact. A sure sign he was hiding something.

“Man, if you need me to be compliant, I need answers. If I’m going to represent you and your…” he wanted to call it a ‘Screwed Up Regime’ but he caught himself. “You catch more flies with honey.” Wasn’t that what Mom always said? He smiled, doing his best to look relaxed and on board. “If I’m going to represent your new powerhouse to the United States, I need to understand where we’re headed, what the plan is?”

Anderle’s smile said there was a plan and he was busting to tell someone about it.

Drew faked his very best, loose, stoner smile; one he knew Anderle liked. They’d gotten baked enough times for his old bud to recognize that he was chill. Drew waited. And waited. He didn’t let his smile drop. Just a moment longer and Anderle would crack.

Anderle fidgeted with his shorts. “Listen buddy, General Yu doesn’t want anyone going in there, especially me. And you went in there even though I asked you to see me, not the IT room.” He looked away.

“I thought this was your command, Anderle?”

“Yeah…” Anderle shoved his hands in his pockets. “We’re trying to get the Chinese army to turn on their president. Apparently, I screwed it up by spying on the general himself, hacking his computer files. They have some high-end filters, I tell you. I did not see those trip wires and you know me, I see every electronic thing there is to see…”

“Dude…that sucks…” Drew wanted to keep Anderle talking. Flattering the guy had always worked in the past.

“That tight-ass general will get over it. If he doesn’t, well...” Anderle fingered his throat, moving it slowly in a cutting motion.

Drew pulled Anderle’s hand down. “They might be watching.”

“I’m in control, Drew. Don’t you worry your little face, bro.”

Drew doubted it. In the years that he had known him, Anderle had never threatened him like he had the other day. Someone was pulling the strings and it wasn’t Anderle.

“It’s all cool.” Anderle offered Drew a piece of candy.

He shook his head. He leaned in close and whispered. “What about Mya?”

Anderele nodded, excited. “She’s our bait.”

The puzzle pieces fell into place. They were tracking an asset across the states. Drew took a leap, hoping he’d put it together accurately. “For Arecibo?”

“Yeah….” Anderle was pumped. “Once we corner Arecibo, game over, man.”

“He’s her father, right?” said Drew.

“You bet your ass he’s her father. The man has us in a bind and won’t comply with our efforts to take down the Chinese president. Mya’s father is running the military like he’s the president.” He pulled Drew down the hall towards the oval office. “I’m the president.”

“About Mya.”

“Mya, shmya.” They reached the oval office and Anderle’s hand rested on the door handle.

“You can’t use her as bait, man,” said Drew. “I’m not going to put a little girl on death row like this. You’re in charge, get her out. Get me out.”

“No can do, brother. No. Can. Do.”

“But who is he? Why does he even matter? He’s just a soldier…”

“Like I said, he’s compromising the mission. The guy knows too much, knows my plans, and has been cutting off communication with my Chinese allies. The same allies who are trying to cut the Chinese president’s nuts off.”

“Doesn’t he know you’re on the same side?”

Anderle paused, twisting his hand around the doorknob, letting the lock click and click and click.

Drew caught his tell. “You’re not on the same side. You’re on your side.”

“Mya will help get him on our side. And on second thought, I have another idea.” Anderle let go of the door and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, beckoning Drew to follow him down the hall.

Drew stuck his foot in the closing door. He racked his brains. There was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Mya was special, sure. She had powers only movie characters had. Was that why they were keeping her under lock and key? Was the story about her father just a ruse? Drew didn’t like it when the facts didn’t add up. Unadded facts got under his skin and once that happened, he never let go.

Anderle stopped in mid-stride and wiggled the phone in his hand. “Come on. I want to show you how bad-ass of a portrait photographer I am.”

Drew stood in the doorway. “Dude, can I have a piece of candy?” Had the guy even noticed he was propping the door to the oval office open or was he too self-absorbed to let a tiny detail like national security impinge on whatever madness he had planned for the next ten minutes?

Anderle dug into his pants pocket and tossed a piece of candy at Drew. He turned and started to dance walk down the hall.

Drew caught it, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth. He rubbed the peppermint candy while it was in his mouth, getting the stickiness on his fingers, then went to shut the oval office doors.

Drew wiped his fingers on the plastic wrapper, then rolled it up, and stuck it in the door’s lock jamb. He twisted the doorknob’s lock and shut the door, making sure the wrapper halted the latch bolt