Read Online The Bureau of Time by Brett Michael Orr - Free Book Online Page A

slightly older, in their late twenties. Shaun and Ryan were the only teenagers in the entire agency, but their age wasn’t a consideration for the Bureau.
    You are Operators of an elite United States paramilitary agency. The line had been drilled into his head since his first days at the Bureau, now almost a year ago. Whatever you were before doesn’t matter. We will remake you. You will be a new person, with a single purpose – the defense of this nation.
    The operators made their way at a quick, precise pace through the corridors. The early-morning training was integral to maintaining an effective force against the Adjusters. Most of the more experienced units carried out their own training under their Captain’s orders – but Tallon had kept Shaun and Ryan under the care of Drill Sergeant Mathers and the Basic Training program.
    “This is so demeaning,” Ryan muttered to Shaun as they passed through a double-door and outside onto the asphalt drill square. “We’re not recruits anymore.”
    “Yeah,” Shaun agreed, absentmindedly. His attention was focused elsewhere, on the female recruits trudging up the hill to join them. A pre-dawn chill permeated the world despite the impending summer’s day, wrapping Brightwood Ranch in a blanket of watery gray. Through a gap in the thick woods, Shaun saw the fifteen-foot-high fence that ringed the entire base. It was tipped with barbed wire, but the fence’s real protection lay in the material itself – the metal was charged with an electromagnetic field that prevented Adjusters from teleporting inside the base.
    Shaun stood a little straighter, peering over the recruits’ heads. His Affinity started buzzing and a bright beacon flared in his mind.
    “Who are you looking for?” Ryan asked, then a moment later, answered his own question. “The new girl?”
    “Cassie,” Shaun said. Ryan arched one eyebrow and Shaun scowled. “Captain told us to keep an eye on her. I have to train her Temporal powers, remember?”
    “Right,” Ryan said coolly, with an air of disbelief that irritated Shaun. His rebuttal fell dead on his lips when he saw her – a distinctive flash of red hair, her body far smaller than the other women. Her Temporal Signature burned in his mind, pinging like a SONAR burst.
    The recruits formed up into an orderly square, and Cassie was cut off from Shaun, stranded in the back of the gathering.
    Drill Sergeant Mathers, an ill-tempered man who enjoyed his job far too much, paced back and forth in front of the recruits. He bellowed for fifty push-ups, his loud voice startling birds from the trees. Shaun dropped, the asphalt rough beneath his hands.
    The first thirty push-ups came easily to him. Then he saw Mathers’ boots stop directly in front of him and his gut squirmed. Thirty-one, thirty-two.
    “Timewalker Briars!” Mathers spat, loud enough that everyone could hear. Thirty-three, thirty-four. “Still stuck in the paddling pool, boy? Thought you’d be about done with basic training by now. How many times have you failed your assessment?”
    Shaun’s cheeks burned angrily. Thirty-five, thirty-six. Every day, every day he comes to make my life miserable. Thirty-seven.
    “Answer me, Timewalker! ” Mathers shouted, throwing as much scorn into the word as possible. “Tell a mere mortal like me why I still have to look at your disgusting face every morning!”
    Thirty-eight. Best to answer him, or he’ll make it worse. Thirty-nine.
    “Captain’s orders, Drill Sergeant,” Shaun managed between breaths, staring at Mathers’ boots a few inches from his nose.
    “Captain’s orders?” Mathers repeated, with a harsh laugh. “Tallon’s precious human weapon still has to train with the girls? ”
    Forty-two, forty-three. Shaun let out a low, angry growl. He’d heard it all before – the jibes about his Timewalker status, about Tallon keeping him with the recruits. Mathers’ blatant sexism went unchecked as well, because as despicable as the