Free Broken Angels by Harambee K. Grey-Sun Page A

Fire Virus, one of the earliest. Among other maladies, the Virus caused the infected to have seizures and severe mental breakdowns, once or several times during the course of a victim’s abbreviated lifetime. One of Adam’s early breakdowns had been so severe he lost all knowledge of his family and background, including his real name. But the man still retained a large amount of technical knowledge in spite of the fractured state of his memory. He took on the name “Adam Smith” and, rather quickly, managed to raise enough money to fund and build his short-term dream project—the Isaac-Abraham Institution, dedicated to the deep study of familial relations and to the recovery of missing children, particularly Adam’s own.
    Early on, Adam established a relationship with the Heartland Security Agency in order to avoid any unnecessary legal issues. Thanks to the IAI’s board members’ brilliance and ability to provide important research, information, and other tools to assist the struggling Agency, certain government officials had figured it would be wiser to work with them—both organizations providing the other with mutual favors—instead of treating them as infringers or nuisances. As a result, Adam had been allowed certain liberties; few other nonprofits were permitted to have armed agents (though guns of any kind were a definite no-no).
    One liberty Adam would never be allowed, however, was the freedom to venture out into the sunlight unshielded or inappropriately attired. When the skin of Virus-carriers was exposed to too much electromagnetic radiation from a certain section of the spectrum, their bodies became like puppets on invisible strings, out of control, manipulated by a mindless sun or other source. Some of the infected, like Darryl and Robert, were sensitive to the properties of light but also possessed the ability to manipulate those properties to their advantage. Other victims, like Zel and Adam, were simply at light’s cruel mercy. If their eyes or sections of bare skin were subjected to too much light, they would experience severe epileptic seizures, seizures so intense they would feel as if each and every fiber of their muscles was unraveling, their bones dissolving, and their skin melting, layer by layer. To prevent that experience, they usually stayed covered from head-to-toe, often dressed in white, and stayed inside, underground, and away from windows as much as possible. Adam rarely left the premises of The Burrow, but his manner of dress was unusual even for one of his condition.
    Robert stopped in front of the closed door of Adam’s office. He pressed his fingers to the keypad and positioned his face so his eye was level with the scanner. After a few seconds, he heard a recorded voice announce, “Enter, Mister Goldner.” The door slid open. Robert hurried on through before it closed again.
    He stood in a dark reception room, the part of the office where Adam would sometimes meet and speak with his visitors. It was empty, as expected. Robert looked at but didn’t approach the second door, the door to the main office where Adam spent about twenty hours a day—most days—working. No one was supposed to approach it without an invitation. Adam always knew when someone had entered the reception room. He would open the second door and enter the room, or allow his guest into the main office, when he was good and ready.
    Robert took a seat and began to wonder why Adam wanted to see him. He’d come up with two good guesses before the door to the main office slid open and Adam called his name. Robert hurried through the portal then stopped just after crossing the threshold.
    He was always in awe of the large room. It was a lot to take in. There was the seven-foot long, oval-shaped glass desk, the black-leather swivel chairs, and the monitors—dozens and dozens of various-sized computer and television monitors on the walls all over the room. The pictures on the screens were always scrambled