Chapter 13

The darkened conference room smelled of stale air conditioning and expensive floor wax. Jake slumped in a plush chair, staring at the creamy walls where Mesoamerican drawings of feathered serpents and sun gods flickered under the dim blue light of a projector. It was an informal space, wide enough to hold nearly a hundred people, but currently occupied by a scattered group of new recruits looking bored or terrified. A marketing guy with a tight tie and a soul-deep expression of exhaustion...