The next few hours passed painfully slowly as they did their best not to be noticed by anybody. There was a process to it and it was one that went right up James’s spine. First, they’d catch a train to a stop a few stations down the line. Then, after letting a several trains go by, they’d head back to Park Street to investigate further. It was crawling, repetitive work. One of them would get out at Park Street, scan a small amount of the station, then meet the others at the next stop. It was the slowest form of data collection James had ever experienced and he was tempted to just stay at Park Street and tell the transit police to fuck themselves. But he knew that impulse was a combination of frustration and ego coming through after dealing with that one cop. This was the most practical way to solve the case, even if he was crawling out of his skin with each cycle.

Still, it looked unlikely that they’d make actual progress finding the source of the energy readings without the city’s clearance. They needed to inspect all of Park Street first, including the Red Line platforms on the level below the Green Line. For all they knew, the increased energy readings by the tunnel could be a false alarm. James’s gut told him no, but years of training kept him on track throughout the afternoon. They weren’t going to get anything else done, but the Foundation couldn’t even be mad. This was the kind of discretion they promoted in their training. 

“It’s still so weird they didn’t clear any of this,” Rosa said as she ate a granola bar in the seat in front of James and Jessamyn on their eighth trip back to Park Street. “If they are putting us all over the city for a training exercise, you’d think the mayor at the very least would be aware.”

“Maybe that’s the training,” Jessamyn said, scrolling through her phone as James gazed out the window into the darkness of the subway tunnel. “Maybe we’re getting too comfortable working with local authorities or something. They want us to be more self-reliant.”

She didn’t sound like she really believed what she was saying. “Maybe,” James said. “Or maybe they fucked up somewhere.”

That seemed more likely. The three of them were silent as, yet again, the train doors opened at Arlington Station. A single person got on, moving down the train car in the opposite direction from where they were sitting. The doors closed, and a garbled announcement of the next stop came through as they pulled away.

“After this round, let’s go further down the track,” Rosa said. “We’ve got a little time left. We can see if anything changes where the Green Line splits.”

Jessamyn shrugged. “Yeah, if we have time, I’m fine with that,” she said. “Otherwise, we can do it when we come back tomorrow.”

They stopped, the train going oddly silent for a moment before the rumbling started back up. “Standing by,” the same distorted voice said overhead.

“So I got a card from the Foundation congratulating me on thirteen years the other day,” James said, leaning back in his seat.

“Thirteen years?” Jessamyn let out a low whistle. “I assume you don’t mean as captain.”

“Hell no, I’m still in my first year of that.”

She laughed. “Congratulations,” she said. “That’s something.”

“How long have you been working for the Foundation?”

Jessamyn thought for a second. “Coming up on eight years,” she said. “I’m thirty now, and I started just out of college.”

“Same,” James said. “The college part. I wanted to join earlier, but my family wasn’t having it.”

“I actually specialized in paranormal studies in college.”

James and Rosa looked at her. “You can do that?”

“At one college in North Dakota.”

“No shit,” James said. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“That’s the point.”

She winked and for a second he wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her. Rosa looked at them both. “So, what?” she asked. “Major in business, minor in demonology?”

“Reverse it,” Jessamyn said with a laugh. “Major in paranormal studies, minor in psychology.”

James stared at her for a long moment. “You’re fucking with us.”

“Swear to God,” she said. “Here, I’ll prove it.”

She scrolled through her phone for a moment while James took a second to check his messages. A couple updates from Amelia, an automated one from the Foundation looking for updates on a case the team was working in Westminster, and another ad for some kind of skincare startup.

“Look.”

Jessamyn held out her phone and James looked at the scanned transcript on the screen in front of him. Sure enough, multiple classes on demons, the history of the paranormal field, and practical paranormal studies were mingled with honors English, advanced calculus, and an introduction to sociology.

“I’ll be damned,” he murmured, looking up at her. “I’m sorry for doubting.”

“As you should be,” she said lightheartedly.

“So this is, like, a career for you,” Rosa said.

“I hope so at this point,” Jessamyn said. “I’d gladly do this work for the rest of my life. I grew up out in the Berkshires and my parents were somewhat involved with the Foundation. Contractors, I guess. It’s kind of the family business. I know the Foundation has its problems, but it’s stable work in a field I love and there aren’t many stable opportunities out there. So I really want to stick with it.”

“My family isn’t involved, but they definitely believe in everything I’m doing,” Rosa said as she offered them both a piece of gum. “I’ve only been here four years though. So I’m a baby compared to you two.”

“You know my cousin, Gabriella?” James asked.

Rosa nodded. “She works with us,” he explained to Jessamyn. “She apparently had it in her head that I was nine years older than her. I said something about being thirty-five the other day when that card arrived and I thought she might choke on her coffee.”

Rosa raised her eyebrows. “Like, I have to be honest,” she said. “When Amelia said you guys were best friends, I didn’t think you were going to be ten years older than her. Though she is pretty young.”

“That’s me,” he said, that familiar unease flittering back in. “Old man at the Foundation.”

“Oh God, no,” Rosa said quickly. “Not at all. Half my staff is older than me.”

“No, of course,” he said. “Just feels like I’ve been here forever some days. And I don’t know if the idea of being here forever and having this be the rest of my life, or doing something else scares me more. You guys are captains, you know what I mean, right?”

He was relieved when they both nodded. But before James could explore that line of thought more fully, Jessamyn was texting rapidly. “Shit,” she murmured. 

“What?” Rosa asked. 

“Someone got hurt over at Haymarket,” Jessamyn said as her phone trilled with a message. “Come on, we have to go over there. Apparently a Foundation captain and a civilian are both hurt.”

The train started up again as she was typing. “This is the second set of injuries on the train line,” James said. “Maybe more if we’re not hearing about them from the other lines yet. How did you hear about it?”

“Genevieve from South Worcester,” she replied. “She saw something online, but she’s over on the Orange Line, so she sent it to me.” 

Maybe the Foundation’s training plan went beyond the whole scavenger hunt idea. They’d tried to add some special flourishes to it and messed up. People were getting hurt, but that clearly wasn’t part of the plan. So maybe in their ambition to create an all-encompassing training, they’d gotten sloppy with their logistics. James didn’t love the idea, but based on the information he had right now, there weren’t many other options.

The main alternative being that they didn’t have a plan at all.

As they pulled into Haymarket station a few minutes later, James immediately spotted the crowd of people. He hurried off the train and over to where a man and a woman were lying on the ground. Another woman was administering first aid and as James was about to join, he spotted Dr. Jolene Oliver, a Foundation medic, moving through the crowd with a Foundation representative. The other woman immediately took control of the crowd as Dr. Oliver started checking the injured people. She looked over and made eye contact with James over the bloodied, but thankfully breathing, woman. As he got closer, his heart dropped as he recognized Connie, the overeager Rhode Island captain who’d teased him in the Foundation’s main foyer. All that playful energy was gone now and looking at her lying on the filthy ground, James got the impression that one wrong move would shatter her.

He was about to go over and start helping in any way he could, but then the paramedics were hurrying over too. Jolene looked at him for a moment, then turned to speak to the paramedics.

The police were also now on crowd control, including the officer that had confronted them at Park Street before a nearly identical injury. James grabbed Rosa and Jessamyn, pulling them off to the side so that there was a large group of people between them and the cop. “We need to get back anyway,” he said. “It’s nearly seven.”

“She’s bleeding,” Rosa said. 

Jessamyn was watching the paramedics as they carried the two stretchers away, her face thoughtful. “What if…” she started, then shook her head. “Yeah, you’re right. We should go. I’m sure they’re going to have some kind of excuse to give us. But we need to find out what’s actually going on.”

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 7