Free The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan

Frankly, we’ve lost many good people. Meanwhile, the quality of the intelligence coming back has been dropping steadily. Clearly we need a new approach. Which is where our Project comes in. Are you sure you don’t want a coffee?”
    â€œNo thanks.” Danny shook his head.
    â€œMind if I do?”
    â€œBe my guest.”
    Sir Roland carried back another plastic cup. “Remote viewing is definitely part of the answer. You can send an operative out quite safely. You can send him at a moment’s notice. You can dispatch him—instantly—anywhere in the world. There’s very little cost involved, so you can afford to check out every lead or rumor. Your man can slip past every known security system. He’ll never be captured or killed. The enemy doesn’t even know he’s being spied on— can’t know: remote viewing is completely undetectable.” He sipped from his cup. “This is just as bad as the tea.”
    â€œThought it might be,” Danny said.
    Sir Roland set the cup down. “The point is that here at the Project we can now trigger a remote-viewing experience in which the operative can be sent to specific coordinates—anywhere, without fail—in hisenergy body, and once there—”
    Danny said nothing. He was curious about “energy body” but didn’t want to interrupt. Thing was, it sounded like the job might be spying, and if Roland wanted Danny as the next James Bond, there could be room for a nice little arrangement. Danny was thinking Porsche.
    Sir Roland looked vaguely uncomfortable. “Unfortunately a full, reliable projection only works for certain individuals. Very few of them are adults.”
    Danny had the feeling something had just whizzed past his head. “Pardon?”
    â€œIt’s a question of psychological interactions with the energy body. The research shows that general mindset influences brain-wave patterns, as, of course, do endocrine levels. Some fluctuations are fine—indeed, necessary—but fixed patterns can become counterproductive.”
    â€œPardon?” Danny said again.
    Sir Roland smiled a little. “Most adults are too set in their ways. If you want to detach the energy body, you need a mind that’s imaginative and genuinely flexible. Finding that in an adult is virtually impossible, so we had to turn elsewhere. Young children are viable in the technical sense, but obviously you can’t use young children as spies. So we use teenagers.”
    It all came together. “You want me to be a remote-viewing spy?” Danny said. “Is that what this is all about?”
    â€œI’ve reason to believe you have a talent for it. Not many do. In fact, at the moment, we only have a handful of active operatives.”
    â€œHow do you know I have the talent?” Danny asked.
    â€œSomething you said.”
    Danny waited for him to explain, then, when he didn’t, tried again. “What would I have to do?”
    Sir Roland shrugged. “Take the basic training. We have ways to develop a natural talent, which we can then enhance electronically. Once you’re trained, you would be expected to go on missions.”
    â€œSpy missions?”
    â€œEssentially, yes.”
    â€œLike James Bond?”
    â€œNot quite. There are very few pretty girls, I’m afraid. But to compensate, you will be in no physical danger.”
    Danny said, “What’s in it for me?”
    A small smile played across Sir Roland’s lips. “I suppose I could say it would keep you out of jail. You did break in, remember—and we caught you red-handed.”
    â€œI’m too young to go to jail. But even if I wasn’t—”
    â€œI know,” Roland cut in. “You wouldn’t be muchuse to anybody working under duress. So let me put the proposition to you. You’ve been offered a place at Cambridge, which you can’t afford to take