Free Cracks in Reality (Seams in Reality Book 2) by Alex Siegel

the agents returned to work in the morning, the chemicals would be washed out of their system. He didn't think the test was very sensitive anyway, but he didn't really know.
    It took an hour for Blake to find a suitable target. His name was Max. He was a man in his thirties wearing a cheap, blue suit. His head was full of numbers, and clearly, he was some kind of accountant. He lived alone. He had just come from headquarters after a long day of drudgery.
    Blake stood up. When Max stepped onto the next train, Blake followed him. Max sat on a hard plastic seat, and Blake sat next to him.
    Blake took the opportunity to probe a little deeper into Max's mind. Blake discovered Max never took the BPI blood test. He was in the administrative section instead of operations. Paper pushers never went into the secure areas and weren't as carefully monitored. Blake could use as much sorcery as he liked on Max.
    Blake found some other useful tidbits. Max was terrified of being buried alive, and that fear would give Blake all the leverage he needed to control Max. The accountant also had remote access to BPI financial records from his home using a secure line.
    Several stops later, Max got out of the train. Blake followed and began to exert control over his victim. Max kept his eyes forward and walked a little stiffly.
    They strolled through another residential area. Blake stayed as close as he could to Max without getting their feet tangled up. They didn't say a word to each other.
    During the walk, Blake asserted increasing control over Max's mind. Blake broke down any resistance he encountered until Max became hopelessly enslaved.
    After a ten minute journey, they came to an apartment complex made of red brick. It was three stories tall and had a Colonial architecture. Brown wooden shutters hung on the sides of the windows. Blake and Max went inside.
    They walked up to Max's apartment and entered. It was a nice little place which was the perfect size for a single man. A big television hung over a fireplace. The kitchen was part of the living room, and the granite countertops matched a granite coffee table.
    "Go to your computer," Blake said. "I want to see all BPI expense reports sorted by location."
    Max nodded. He went to his computer and logged in. He needed a special gadget which provided a one-time password to get into the BPI accounting system.
    Blake looked over Max's shoulder. Documents and spreadsheets began to pop up, and the grids of numbers made Blake's eyes glaze over.
    "That's a lot of expense reports."
    "The BPI has around a thousand employees," Max said.
    Blake frowned. "OK. Let's try a different tactic. Search for expenses related specifically to child care, like toys and clothes."
    Max clicked on his keyboard. After a few minutes, he brought up a series of reports. Blake leaned in for a closer look.
    "These are from Aurora, Nebraska. Never heard of it. What's there?"
    Max used his computer for a moment. "A foster home run by the BPI."
    "Wonderful," Blake said. "That's exactly what I was looking for. Can you find out the names of the kids?"
    "No. All I have are the expenses."
    "That's fine. The next thing I need are the locations of all known seams."
    Max stared at Blake blankly. Blake realized Max probably didn't know anything about sorcerers or seams. That information was on a need to know basis even within the BPI.
    "You'll have to do some analysis," Blake said. "Look for odd locations where agents have filed lots of expense reports over a long period of time."
    The biggest seams had resident sorcerers to guard them, but there were more seams than sorcerers. Permanent teams of BPI agents protected the small to medium-size ones. Blake expected it was very tedious duty. An agent could spend a decade working in a remote location without ever drawing his gun. Blake intended to exploit the weak security around the smaller seams. The Russian Eye wasn't potent enough for some jobs.
    "That will be some work," Max said.
    "I