Minders
Authors: Michele Jaffe
MICHELE JAFFE
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ISBN: 978-1-101-59641-8
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
T
his book is dedicated to my friend Meg, whose awesomeness cannot be encompassed by all the adjectives in the dictionary even if you used each of them a hundred googol times.
PROLOGUE
WEEK 5
H
er ears were ringing, and there was a metallic taste in her mouth.
Where was she? What had happened?
Sadie glanced around the room, the uneven stacks of boxes looming like cliffs in the inadequate light from the high windows. The sounds of someone clipping their nails and watching a nature program came from inside the office up ahead, the announcer saying, “. . . but the natural habitat of these majestic creatures is succumbing to the drumbeat of civilization.”
He moved toward the office. As he walked Sadie felt his right hand tighten and realized he was holding something, something she couldn’t identify. His grip felt strange, less sensitive than usual.
Gloves
, she realized as he brought his hands up and she saw them. He lifted the edge of the right one just past the scar on his wrist to glance at the Mickey Mouse watch, which showed nine thirty exactly.
Why would he be wearing glo
—
She saw it then. The object in his hand.
He was holding a gun.
Her mind reeled.
No
, she thought, then yelled,
No!
Whatever you are planning, stop. Don’t do this. It won’t get you what you want.
But he’d perfected his ability to ignore her now. She felt as if he’d built a wall between them, impervious and reflective, so everything she said just reverberated back.
He took a step forward, then another. Dread filled her. She wanted to close her eyes, look away, but that wouldn’t change anything. He raised the gun, and as he stepped into the office she heard him think,
Watch this, Sadie.
As if she had a choice.
FELLOWSHIP INTERVIEW
ROQUE MIND CORPS
CANDIDATE: SADIE AMES
INTERVIEWER: CURTIS PINTER
LOCATION: DETROIT UNION CLUB
DATE: APRIL 25
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
CURTIS PINTER:
Please sit down, Miss Ames.
SADIE AMES:
Thank you.
CP: My
name is Curtis Pinter. I am legally bound to inform you that this interview is being recorded with an Enhanced Veracity Evaluation system. Essentially a lie detector. Are you comfortable with that?
SA: I
see no reason to object.
CP: Good.
We’ll begin with simple questions to get some baseline readings. What is your full name?
SA: Sophia
Adelaide Ames. But I prefer to be called Sadie.
CP: What
are your parents’ names?
SA: Grace
and Hector Ames.
CP: Do
you have any siblings?
SA: No,
I’m an only child.
CP: Where
were you born?
SA: Here
in Detroit.
CP: What
is your favorite book?
SA: Descartes,
Discourse on the Method.
CP: Would
you say you’re an introvert or an extrovert?
SA: Introvert.
CP: Do
you have a best friend?
SA: Yes.
Her name is Decca.
CP: A
boyfriend.
SA: Yes.
Pete.
CP: You
know why you are here?
SA: Because
I am a finalist for the Mind Corps Fellowship.
CP: Exactly.
Very prestigious. There are seventy-five finalists out of a pool of over a thousand. Fewer than half of those will be made Mind Corps Fellows. So, it is exciting company.
SA: I
feel lucky to have made the cut.
CP: I
doubt very much that you believe in luck, Miss Ames. Unless you think all your achievements are simply your good fortune?
SA: I
wouldn’t say that. I work very hard. But I was lucky to be born into the kind of family that can encourage and support my hard work.
CP: What
are the first three words you think your friends would use to describe you?
SA: Loyal.
Driven. Analytical.
CP: What
sorts of things do you enjoy doing with them?
SA: The
same things everyone does. Watching movies or going out for dinner or to events.
CP: What
kinds of events?
SA: At
our country club.
CP: Have
you ever rebelled against your parents or done anything to test your relationship?
SA: When
I was five I shoplifted a Snickers bar.
CP: What
happened?
SA: I
got caught.
CP: How
were you punished?
SA: I
was so upset about having broken the rules, my parents thought that was punishment enough, so they didn’t bother.
CP: That’s
an interesting way to put it. “Didn’t bother.” Do you wish they would have?
SA: That
was a figure of speech. They were right. It taught me to be self-disciplined. I never stole anything again.
CP: Do
you spend a lot of time together?
SA: As
much as we can. We’re all busy, and they go out most weeknights.
CP: They
don’t take you?
SA: Their
events are almost always work related—dinners with my father’s clients or fund-raisers for my mother’s charities—so there would be no place for me.
CP: Who
do you have dinner with when they’re out?
SA: My
homework, generally.
CP: It
doesn’t bother you to be abandoned?
SA: I
don’t feel abandoned. I’m very proud of my parents and the work they do.
CP: What
kind of work is that?