The Mine Read online

  O’Brien was angry. He fought them, threatened to go public with the information. What good was ARCHIE if they weren’t allowed to investigate the very phenomena they were created to study? He had proof of something, even if he wasn’t sure what. The mine disturbed him, but he couldn’t convey to them the intense, nameless feeling he got whenever he visited the mine.

  No one listened.

  Then O’Brien realized he was being followed around DC, watched at his house. His career was already in shambles. No need to make things worse, or he’d never get another assignment. And he had a family to think of.

  After that, O’Brien made sure everything was packed up, put in storage or just simply burned—photos, reports, maps. He even cleared out the town, relocated the people. He made a lot of enemies, but hey, it was his job. Then ARCHIE ordered the buildings bulldozed and cleaned up. They even removed the rail line to the mine.

  A few townspeople tried to create trouble for ARCHIE, spread rumors. One of them was Loggins. O’Brien had him hushed up. No one was difficult after that.

  Alice Peters and Ray Peters were never seen again, of course. Years later, O’Brien thought of them sometimes. Thought of what had spurred them into the tunnels on their own. He never found out.

  Charlie Satchel was institutionalized for a time and then sent back to his parents’ new home in Richmond, Virginia. He recovered enough to make a life for himself, get married, have his own family. But he always insisted on sleeping with the lights on.

  In total, fifteen people had gone missing around the mountain. Each disappearance was kept out of the papers—O’Brien made sure of that. The forest surrounding the town and mine was allowed to take over. For a time, it gained a reputation as being haunted.

  O’Brien never spoke again of what he had seen. When he died, the majority of the findings died with him. Except one thing—a map of the mine. His daughter found it tucked away in a nightstand. Since it was stamped as property of the Department of Defense, she unwittingly returned it.

  It was placed in an evidence box on a shelf, mislabeled as a historic document, cataloged as a remnant of another government program gone extinct. And it sat there for years until a man named Paul Cummings ordered it retrieved.

  It was just a map, smudged and brittle and half-drawn. But it was a seed—the seed for a rebellion that would embroil the entire Earth in war.

  Book 1, Shadowmark

  CLICK HERE TO BUY Your Copy of Shadowmark

  Or go to the next page to find out how to get it for FREE!

  ***

  SHADOWMARK—Get it FREE!

  Book 1 of The Shadowmark Series.

  CLICK THE LINK AND CLAIM YOUR BOOK:

  http://tmcatron.com/join

  Thanks for reading!

  Did You Like This Book?

  I NEED YOU, DEAR READER …

  Reviews are important to any work, and even more so to an indie book like this one.

  Leaving a review will only take a moment of your time. You don’t have to write the dreaded book report (unless you really just like that sort of thing)! Just a line or two to tell other readers what you liked best about this book. If you liked it, maybe they will, too.

  The fact is, most readers don’t bother to leave reviews, even when they really love a story! But authors love feedback, and I’m no exception. Will you help me out? I’ve included the link for you here, for your convenience.

  Thanks in advance!

  T.M. Catron

  Tap here to place an Amazon review!

  Or review it straight from your Kindle app! Just swipe over again until it asks you to review!

  About the Author

  T.M. CATRON IS AN AUTHOR who lives in Tennessee with her husband, son, and three spoiled dogs. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s waging war on the flowers she planted in early spring.

  Thankfully, she puts more effort into her writing than she does her gardening. She’s the author of Shadowmark, its soon-to-be-released sequel, Aether, and The Mine, a prequel to the Shadowmark Series. Also in the works is a new series for elementary children, co-authored with another teacher.

  She can be found at tmcatron.com. Catron loves to hear from readers, so connect with her on Facebook at authortmcatron, Twitter @tmcatron, or just send an “old-fashioned” email to [email protected].

  ***

  Other Books in the Shadowmark Series

  Shadowmark, Book 1

  Aether, Book 2 (Fall 2016)

  Table of Contents