Excerpt: Zavala [Working Title]

Adam dropped back into his computer chair, suddenly ready to lie down. But he had an idea. He opened a search engine and typed in “Project Zavala.” Even as he waited for their dial-up connection to load the next page, he felt silly, certain that no results would appear. To his surprise, several dozen did. The first few links seemed to concern a band with an egotistical young guitarist named Bob Zavala, but eventually there was a site that ended in “gov.”

The website wasn’t flashy, simply a summarizing paragraph of the vaguest variety. In technical jargon, it commended the researchers hired to bring together the latest technology from dozens of fields for the benefit of the country and all mankind. The project was now completed to the satisfaction of all involved, but you can write to so-and-so for more information. The US Seal sat at the top. Links at the bottom led to the NSF and the Department of Defense, without saying whether they, or anyone else, were directly responsible for the project. After reading two or three times, Adam decided that the page told him considerably less than he already knew. He was about to close the page and go to bed when something caught his eye.

Below the copyright and date, at the very bottom of the page, was one short sentence he had not seen before. It sat in the right corner in a small font, almost the same blue as the background of the page. The last word was a link. Adam read it carefully to be sure he was seeing right. It read:

ADAM CARVER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.