The mood was somber when they got back to the Foundation’s Beacon Hill headquarters at seven o’clock. It hadn’t been that long, just enough time for them to walk back from Haymarket. Riding the train may have been faster, but after what had happened back at the station, none of them felt like being underground. 

James’s mind spun as he walked silently with the others, his body on autopilot as he dodged people on the street and moved through crosswalks. This had to be the end of their practical training experiment. There was no way they’d keep going after what had just happened. Connie had looked so small lying there on the concrete as the paramedics and Dr. Oliver had cared for her. Now, walking in the shadow of the enormous buildings around them, James wondered vaguely if the Foundation cancel all of tomorrow’s session or just go back to their original workshop plan.

Maybe they’d learn about that new tech Rosa was talking about after all.

When they arrived, James could see that most of the participants were already back. Three Foundation administrators huddled together in the hallway outside the conference room, underneath a mural of local water cryptids painted in loving, drippy detail. They whispered furiously with each other, one of them darting a glance back at James’s team as they walked into the conference room. 

Inside, the atmosphere was just as tense. A middle-aged woman in a sharp suit sat at the front of the room, typing on her phone as everyone settled in. There was an unease in the air, especially coming from the table of Rhode Island captains. James again wondered if they were going to carry on tomorrow if people were injured. It seemed tasteless to keep going with a simulation after that. But any thoughts he had about the Foundation going this route dissipated as the woman came up to the podium with a sympathetic smile on her face.

“I know today had some excitement,” she said, nodding toward the Rhode Island table. “I’ve just heard from the hospital. Dr. Oliver rode over with them and says that both Captain Evers and the civilian involved are in stable condition. She doesn’t know what caused the injury yet, but they’re both alright.”

That was good news at least, though the part about Dr. Oliver not knowing what caused it sat uneasily in James’s gut. It had seemed pretty obvious to him what had happened. And as James glanced over at Jessamyn, he saw that her face was still stony. “Tomorrow’s session will continue this training,” the woman said as James’s hopes sank. “But we have exciting news! As captains, you always need to know that your team has your back and vice versa. It’s an important theme of this year’s training and we want to make sure you can truly apply it in the field, where it is more important than anything. So we’re making some changes for tomorrow. I know it’s last minute, but for tomorrow’s session, you can invite a member of your home branch to come here and join you! It’ll be a great opportunity for team bonding and give you the advantage of their unique viewpoint as you work through this simulated case.”

This was so typical of the Foundation. Just throw in another shift for someone, playing it off like an exciting development and opportunity for career enhancement. Not a chance to either ruin someone’s day off or completely decimate the schedule James had put together over an infuriating week. He could see that a few people in the room actually looked excited about the possibility, but the majority seemed either indifferent or frustrated. He couldn’t say he blamed them. It’d take less than an hour for someone to drive over from Leominster, but there was no way the captains in Northern Maine would have someone take a last minute six hour drive.

But James did have that advantage, so he might as well try to use it. Amelia would probably be up for coming out here, wouldn’t she? He had a hotel room with two beds, so they didn’t need to worry about finding somewhere for her to stay. But she was working tonight and returning tomorrow afternoon, and that would leave Bradley in charge for a double if he was on tonight. Which was not necessarily a bad thing, but he already had Amelia there and Bradley didn’t have nearly as much field experience as her. Maybe Graham or Gabriella would come out here, though they hadn’t been on the team long enough to be stuck doing these kinds of training sessions.

If it even was a training, came the thought unbidden.

He’d call Amelia in a little while and figure it out. If they could spare her, great. If not, then James would just continue as he had been doing. For now, he was going to go to the crappy hotel room that he’d managed to book at the last minute outside of the city and eat some crappy takeout.

A few minutes later, they were finally dismissed. James said goodbye to Rosa and Jessamyn, then grabbed his bag and started for the door. Again, as he stepped outside the room, he saw staff members having whispered meetings in clumps around the foyer. Something was very wrong here. There was no way this many people would be so stressed out over a planned practice case.

“James, wait.”

The voice behind him made him silently groan. He just wanted to be out of this fucking building. But he turned to see Jessamyn chasing after him. “What’s up?”

“Come with me for a sec while I grab my coat.”

She started down the hall toward the coatroom, passing a mural of green-faced bats chewing on a sleeping woman, and he followed. But as they got out of sight of the main foyer, she took a sharp left toward the bathrooms, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the first one. The door swung shut behind them.

“Jessamyn, what-”

“Shh.”

There was that moment of panic when Jessamyn steered him past the gleaming sinks and into a stall, closing the door behind them. Was she attacking him? Should he fight back? God, he should be better at this. 

“Don’t speak,” she whispered as she slid the lock on the tiny stall. 

They were so close that he was pretty sure his shoulder was digging straight into the side of her head. He shifted, stooping slightly so that they were face to face.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” she said, her voice so quiet that James almost had to strain to hear it, even this close in the silent bathroom. “I don’t think the Foundation actually planned any of this.”

He was about to interrupt to tell her he’d thought that too, but she kept going. “I mean, any of it. I think this whole ‘practical training exercise’ thing is a lie. There was nothing in the packets about it and I looked through everything. I went through my email and when I asked my second in command to find the paperwork in my office, she didn’t see anything either. And multiple people got hurt, but they’re still going. You’ve done practical training, right? Have they ever kept going so casually after someone got hurt?”

James actually hadn’t ever gone to a practical training like this before. He’d been to training at the Foundation, but none that were actually out in the field, performing a simulated case in a real environment. “I thought that too,” he whispered.

There were footsteps outside of the bathroom and they both froze, waiting for whoever it was to come inside or keep walking. There was no way he could explain what they were up to in here if they got caught. Thankfully, the footsteps went into the other bathroom and James could breathe again. “They never said we were going to be doing this,” Jessamyn continued. “And this whole thing about adding a second person from your crew is just weird. That’s the kind of thing we need to know about in advance so that we can make our schedules.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” James hissed, maybe a little too loud. “I need to rearrange completely now.”

“This is a real case,” Jessamyn said. “I’m sure of it. That kid got hurt and they’re saying the doctor doesn’t know what caused it? That’s bullshit, that doctor knows exactly what caused it.”

“No, listen, I know Dr. Oliver,” James said, his eyes darting to the tile floor underneath the stall door for signs of life. “She’s not one of them, not like that. I trust her. And I don’t believe for a second that she said she doesn’t know. You’re right, this is a case. And it’s something that’s scaring them enough that they’re flat out lying to us so that we’ll finish it.”

“I’m going to talk to Rosa too,” Jessamyn said. “I can tell she doesn’t believe what they’re saying either.”

“So do we not bring someone in?” James asked, as he shifted awkwardly against the toilet paper dispenser. “Call their bluff?”

“That’s the thing,” Jessamyn said. “If this is an actual case and they’re not going to admit it, we need to have as many advantages as we can. Because it needs to get solved. I say we absolutely bring in someone else.”

He’d have to figure out the leadership aspects, but it’d be worth it to solve a case the Foundation was lying about when people were getting hurt. There didn’t seem to be any other way around it short of going to McGovern, or any of the other state liaisons directly. And that would likely end in disaster.

“Alright,” James said. “I’ll get my second in command out here. We’re going to have to rearrange about a week’s worth of schedules, though. My team’s going to kill me.”

Even as he said it, the impossibility of doing so without him working triples was sinking in. “I’m leaving my second in command there,” Jessamyn said. “If this is a real case, then the Foundation’s going to pull some nonsense tomorrow about how, if we don’t solve it by the end of the day, then we’re carrying on the training another day to wrap it all up. And it’s not looking likely that we’ll finish. I’ve got another teammate who I trust to handle this. She’s on her way now.”

“Maybe I can get her out here if…” James started thinking out loud, then trailed off as Jessamyn put a finger to her lips.

“Listen,” she said. “Get whoever you think would be best. But in this case, I think it’s a little different. You need to make sure things are fine there, obviously. But here, we need someone who isn’t afraid of the Foundation. They’re being shady and we need to be a little shady right back. If you’ve got someone who is kind of ruthless and won’t put up with their shit, but can get the job done, go with them. Do you happen to have someone on your team like that?”

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 8