Chapter 1

"I was going to tell you, James, at our staff meeting later today, but since you decided to show up early, I might as well tell you now." William Ramsey sighed. He was head of the academy's media center and every so often a student came along like this who aggravated him and asked way too many questions. Most just did their work, got a job, and reported the agenda of their company. This boy was one of the exceptions. "I do not see any reason to continue looking into this company."

James threw his hands up in dismay. "Their quarterly reports do not add up as all, Mr. Ramsey. There is definitely something going on." He leaned in, his small frame dwarfed by the taller, athletic man on the other side of the desk. "I think they are funneling money, but for what? That is what I have not figured out yet. I need another week."

Mr. Ramsey put a hand to stop the dark haired student. James' pale, pretty, face seemed permanently in a smug smear. He thought that he was better than most of the other students at the academy and an hour did not go by without him letting them all know. Taking the boy down a peg gave great joy to the professor.

He shrugged at the boy. "This is outside of our jurisdiction. I would really like it if you did other research for your final project." The goateed man leaned forward. "Failure to do so will lead to Improper Academic Research Charges being filed against you."

James threw his hands up. Mr. Ramsey did have to admit the boy was cute when he did that. "Fine! I will write some dumb article about the football team and then, when I am out of this bullshit school, my research will be the thing that makes me famous." The boy was good, really, really, good, and would make a great journalist one day. However, this was not going to be the day.

After James, frustrated, walked out, Mr. Ramsey knew the boy would not be able to stop himself from continuing this investigation. He pushed a button on his desk phone and called to an outside line. "I have a favor to ask of you, old friend," he said to the man who answered.

02

After James left the office, he went back to the academy dorms and sulked for a bit. However, just as afternoon classes got out and the bustle of a lively campus could be heard around him, he received a call from an unmarked number. A woman was on the other line who he had gotten in touch with a few weeks ago. She said that there was evidence of financial malpractice and wanted to meet him at her work because she was having trouble getting the documents out of the building. Could he come to her, make copies, and then sneak back out? Sure, he proclaimed and was off on his way in the evening to see the woman.

After the call, he made his way to the bank and waited in an auto dealership parking lot adjacent to the bank. After seeing the woman's coworkers leave, and hearing her promise she would leave in a few minutes he entered the building, smiling at the slightly propped open door. The bank was beautiful, much nicer than the one he went to as a student, and he sat down on a couch.

The woman came over to him, black pumps echoing across the hard floor. She was a platinum blond, in her twenties, and wore a very expensive business skirt and jacket. James was 100% gay, but even he could notice her obvious breast implants, which seemed out of place at a bank.

She smiled softly at him. "Hello, James." The blond extended a hand. "My name is Chrissie." James found her vapid smile to be amusing, but could not ponder the doe eyed expression on her face because as soon as his hand pulled away, she was swaying away from him, waving behind her for him to follow into a back room.

Chrissie led James to a room filled with computers and turned on one of the lights as she open the door slightly so they could enter. "We cannot trip the alarms," she explained. The alarm really would have been tripped, but behind the door stood an empty eyed thug who grabbed James and stab a needle in his neck. The boy slouched over into the man's arms and tried to pull away, but the muscular man picked him up and sat him in a large chair that Chrissie had activated out of the wall.

The thug jammed James into the chair and Chrissie strapped him in. From the ceiling, a large helmet came sliding down and snapped into place around him. Pretty, sparkling, pink and purple lights and spirals began dancing around the boy's visual range. The drugs in the needle had muddled his thinking enough that when the lights caught his eyes, it was hard to remove them. After a few minutes, all he could see was the swirling, dancing, hypnotic spirals before him. The thug and Chrissie stood against the chair, at attention, and it dropped into the floor.

03

When James opened his eyes. At first, he thought it take a minute for his mind to clear, but almost immediately he was aware of his surroundings. The boy whelped in horror as he noticed himself, strapped legs and arms spread, into a standing machine on a three quarter angle. His arms and legs were tightly snug and he could not move them at all. Suddenly, he noticed that all of his body hair below the shoulders was shaved off so completely it looked like it had been lasered in some experimental process.

"Hello, James." A French accent could be heard from the man in the corner of the room, not even looking up before firing off a message on his phone. The man was probably around 35 years old and wore a business jacket with a button down shirt untucked partially. He looked up, green eyes focusing on the boy. How did he know who James was?