They got back to the Foundation’s Beacon Hill headquarters at five-thirty. Once Jessamyn had called in the source of the energy, the Foundation had sent a team to inspect and improve the conditions so that the energy stone didn’t connect with the power lines and make hell for everyone anymore. They, of course, played it off as the end of a scavenger hunt and not the result of someone’s carelessness while handling dangerous materials. So after all of that, James had nothing more to do than fill in a report and make sure that Jessamyn was alright as they rode back to the headquarters on the still-sluggish B line train.

“Wouldn’t even give us a ride back, assholes,” Rita muttered as the crowded train stopped at the final above ground station before going back into the tunnels. 

Jessamyn nodded, her hand pressed against her head as they rode. “Are you sure you’re alright?” Tim asked softly.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s just this whole stupid situation. I’ve spent my entire career giving them my fucking all, and this is what I get. They lied to us all day, other people got hurt, I got hurt, and they couldn’t give less of a shit if they tried. I’m just tired.”

Tim patted her on the shoulder, and she gave him a small smile. They were quiet for a while after that and by the time they got to Park Street, James could see her already composing her resignation letter in her head. And if she decided to do it, he couldn’t blame her. The Foundation fucked this up huge.

When they got into the building, Jolene Oliver was waiting in the lobby. “Jessamyn,” she said. “Mind if I take a look at you?”

“I’d really rather just finish this and go home.”

Jessamyn sounded equal parts angry and tired as she stared down Jolene, who didn’t look any happier. James put a gentle hand on Jessamyn’s elbow and she turned to him. “It’s okay,” he said, too quietly for anyone else to hear. “I trust her.”

“If you’d rather go to the emergency room and see someone else, I can also arrange that,” Jolene said.

Jessamyn looked at Jolene. “It’s fine,” she said after a beat.

“I’ll let you know what you miss,” James told her.

Jessamyn reluctantly followed Jolene down the hall while the rest of them went into the conference room. There were already a lot of people in there, some looking sourly at James and Rosa as they came in.

“What the hell?” he whispered to Rosa as they went to their table from that morning.

“Word got back,” Rosa said. “Apparently they’re saying we ‘won’ the scavenger hunt or whatever?”

“You mean solved their fuckup?”

“Basically.”

“There’s no way they’re actually buying that.”

But considering the death looks they were getting from the table beside them, apparently some participants were, and they were being sore losers about this nonexistent competition. Whatever, James was too tired to deal with this shit. So he ignored them and sat down.

He could see McGovern seated near the front of the room and tried to catch his eye, but McGovern wasn’t facing in his direction. He was looking around the room, his expression vaguely concerned. James watched, waiting for McGovern to finally turn and notice him. 

Nope, still not looking. James had to appreciate the fact that he had actually believed them. After Harding had so strongly denied everything James had witnessed for himself, he had to imagine it was a bit of a risk for McGovern to get involved. James would have to say thank you once he could get McGovern to actually look at him.

As he continued to stare, he realized that McGovern was intentionally not looking in his direction. So apparently that was how this was going to go then. Fine, whatever. But James had to admit, if it hadn’t been for McGovern, they would have had to find a much sneakier, more illegal way to get into that apartment. And if things had continued the way they’d been going back there, that sneaky way inside would have ended with Bradley in the emergency room after falling off the fire escape. So even if McGovern wasn’t going to acknowledge James right now, he could feel some gratitude despite his disappointment. 

***

The Foundation kept them waiting for a while. It wasn’t even late, but James thought he might fall asleep right here at the table in the conference room. It was too hot, too loud, and the fans were humming above them, an endless drone smothering the conversation in the room. He had his head propped on his hand, elbow on the sticky surface of the table as he stared blankly at the front of the room. If anyone was looking at him right now, he probably looked sick or possessed. But he couldn’t find the motivation or energy to do anything about it.

Harding was having a hushed conversation with an older woman near the doorway. James hadn’t seen her before, but her sharp outfit and the way Harding was visibly nervous was intriguing. The woman was talking now, so quietly that James couldn’t catch anything, especially under the hum of these fans. But her face was fierce and even Harding’s eyebrows seemed to stand at attention as she spoke. Then she spun around quickly and strode out of the room as Harding approached the podium.

“Before we begin the closing remarks, I’d like to thank you all for your flexibility over these past few days,” Harding began. “We had to move some things around and you’ve all been very patient as we set up the competition.”

Competition, yeah. The conversation dimmed down, but the fans remained just as loud and monotonous above them as James wondered where in Brighton he’d left his water bottle. Was it sitting on the same counter where the artifact had fallen? Maybe he should send his team on a training exercise to find it.

“We’ll announce the winners shortly, but you all did an excellent job in this training exercise,” Harding with a gleaming smile. “The commonwealth is lucky to have you playing the roles that you do. We at the Foundation hope you enjoyed your time at this conference. We’ll be collecting feedback in the form of anonymous surveys in your email later this week.”

James figured those surveys wouldn’t be any less anonymous if he put his social security number in every comment box. He resisted looking over at Bradley, who seemed equally enthused to be here. Jessamyn wasn’t back yet, which was a little worrying, so James made a note to check in with her if she didn’t show up by the end of these speeches. 

Beside them, the collection of glum looking captains and staff now gathered around two tables. One whispered something to another, who looked over at James with a dirty expression.

Rosa caught his eye, then scribbled something down on a piece of scrap paper and slid it across to him.

They’re mad they didn’t win.

Win what, he mouthed to her. She rolled her eyes. At the other table, two people who couldn’t have been older than Amelia were now whispering to each other, shooting more looks at James’s table. Did they really buy that this was a practice? And if they did, were they really that petty?

Yes and yes, apparently, James realized as one of them raised his hand.

“Yes,” Harding said, apparently feeling generous enough to answer questions.

“How were the winners chosen?” the captain asked.

“Whoever found the most clues and solved their mystery first,” Harding replied. “Exactly like we told you in the initial instructions.”

“There were no clues,” the man said.

Yeah, he couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, slim with bright red hair. James had to give him credit for speaking up, though he had everything wrong.

“We just have concerns about the fairness of the scavenger hunt,” the man beside him, who was equally young, said quickly. “It doesn’t seem like all the teams had the information they needed in order to win. And we were told not to disrupt the train schedule, but there was a derailment right near the location where the artifact was found.”

Nevermind, no more credit. James whipped around in his seat and glared at the man. “Are you saying we derailed a train to win a stupid competition?” he demanded.

The man wilted and James felt Rosa touch his shoulder. “You were all given the same information and starting resources,” the woman behind Harding said smoothly before anyone could continue. “If you have complaints, you’re welcome to speak to the Foundation’s ombudsman.”

They had an ombudsman? That was a new one on James. The captains scowled, but didn’t say anything else.

The woman was about to continue whatever line of company bullshit she had ready, when a couple more hands went up. James wasn’t sure he could stomach another complaint, but realized there was a worse alternative when the woman called on another captain, a man about James’s age, who was beaming at her.

“I for one think that this was a great change of pace from the usual training procedures,” he said. “Not that the workshops and classroom activities aren’t always informative. But to go into the field and really put our skills to the test? Wonderful.”

Why wasn’t he doing that every day with his own team? Bradley moved to raise his own hand and James pushed it back down without a word. But before their own little fight could break out, a woman near the back raised her hand. Harding motioned for her to speak.

“Please tell me how any of this makes sense.”

Harding looked like he regretted choosing this question to answer right now. The speaker, a tall, imposing, blonde haired woman who was probably about fifty-five or so, continued to look him dead in the eye. “Could you remind me who you are again?” Harding asked. “I mean, your branch?”

“Sharon Delgado of the Coos County branch, New Hampshire,” the woman said. “My second in command and I were on the Red Line today, following energy readings across the entirety of it, from Alewife to both Mattapan and Braintree. The energy readings didn’t change and there was an injury at Shawmut that, from what I hear, wasn’t the only one. These are civilians, so why are they getting injured on a so-called scavenger hunt that was only won after a train derailment? A derailment – mind you – that came from the energy building in a hidden artifact. It was then sent through the power lines in a situation that is neglectful on the part of the Foundation at best, and dereliction of duty at more reasonable.”

Harding opened his mouth to speak, but was silent for a moment. James stared at Sharon Delgado in wonder, then looked over and saw Bradley looking at her with the same expression he knew was on his own face.

“Well, it was an intricate training exercise,” Harding said. “And those injuries, while bad, were not part of it. They happened at the same time in an unfortunate coincidence. This is a big city with a large population, and many things are happening at the same time. The injuries yesterday and today are only related to the Foundation in that they happened in the same location and a member was involved in one. We are still looking into Captain Evers’ injuries and the circumstances under which they happened, but the Foundation is not responsible for any injuries that occurred today or yesterday.”

“Are you saying that-”

“We are not commenting any further at this time,” the woman behind Harding said. “There are still things under investigation here and speculation will only cause those investigations to become even murkier than they already are.”

Sharon Delgado looked like she had more to say to that, then caught James’s eye. He nodded to her, and she nodded back as he tried to remember how to breathe. 

“Anyway,” Harding said, his face brightening. “We have prizes for the first and second place winners.”

How the hell was anyone first or second place in this? This was a disaster. He looked at Bradley again, who finally looked away from Sharon. “What?”

“Nothing,” James said. “She’s fantastic.”

“She’s ready to skin him. It’s beautiful.”

“Second place goes to the captains of Rockingham and Kent Counties for their work on the Blue Line. Congratulations!”

The captains of those two branches looked at each other in confusion. “We didn’t-”

“Don’t be shy, come on up!”

They went up to the podium and shook Harding’s hand, both looking deeply uncomfortable. “You did excellent work today,” Harding said, maybe too loudly. “Enjoy dinner on the Foundation tonight.”

He handed them an envelope with what appeared to be a gift certificate from a local restaurant review website. They took it without arguing, but neither looked confident as they did so.

“And the winners,” Harding said as the two confused captains sat back down, “Are North Worcester, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties. Congratulations, come on up.”

Rosa and James exchanged a look, then both stood. Just as they were about to walk up, the door opened and Jessamyn came into the room. “Ah, Captain Roy!” Harding said. “Your timing is excellent, we just announced that your team won.”

James expected her to say something to him, but she just looked at Harding, then went over to the table and sat down in the seat beside Rita, who put a hand on her arm. “You go up,” she said to James. “I can’t.”

James moved between the tables, Rosa right behind him, and went up to where Harding stood beside the podium. Harding held out a hand to shake, but James didn’t offer his own. “I know what happened,” he said, so softly that no one else could hear. “People were hurt.”

The grin didn’t slip for a second. “Thank you for your attention and care,” Harding said quietly, taking James’s hand anyway and pushing the gift certificate into it. “The commonwealth is lucky to have captains like you working on its behalf.”

“Why was this necessary?”

“Training is an essential part of staying an effective leader, Captain McManus.”

The smile was frozen to his face and James knew he wasn’t getting any more out of any of them today. Harding turned back to his colleagues without another word, ending the conversation.

“Here’s dinner for tonight,” James said to Jessamyn and Rosa as he got back to the table and began packing up his stuff.

“Take it,” Rosa said. “I’m supposed to meet Sarah in about ten minutes and there’s no way I’ll be there on time. It was good to see you, though. Tell Amelia hi for me.”

“I’m leaving too,” Tim said. “My wife is waiting for me.”

Rosa got her stuff and hurried out of the room, while Tim took a minute to pack up. “We’re heading out too,” Jessamyn said. “It’s going to be almost nine by the time we get home. It was nice meeting you though. Stay in touch.”

She walked away and James had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing her at the next captains event.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 20