January 2027
Prologue from Book One of The Blackfile Syndicate
A Thriller by Tom Fuller - When the mind becomes the battlefield, truth itself is the weapon. The Blackfile Syndicate explores the thin line between awakening and manipulation.
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He had rehearsed the escape a hundred times in his mind, but when the moment finally came, it felt nothing like he had expected—no surge in adrenaline. No panic. Just a cold, steady clarity — the kind that arrives only when a man has already accepted the odds of surviving what came next.
He moved through OpsCore with the ease of someone who had spent years inside the inner circle. His badge still worked. His retinal scan still passed. No alarms. No apparent suspicion yet.
But he knew they were watching. They always watched.
“Keep calm, stay steady,” he whispered. “You can pull this off.”
He reached his office and locked the door behind him. His hands shook as he pulled the encrypted drive from his pocket — fearful of what he had just learned.
“They’ve gone too far. She was a good woman, loyal. What they did to her — and to her family — was beyond cruelty,” he murmured, the words barely slipping out, meant only for the empty room and whatever courage he had left.
It was a message for those who resisted. Those who dared expose them. So he knew he could be next. He slid the drive into his laptop and made the selections. He whispered, “God help me,” and hit ENTER. The video and notes were captured. He had the proof; now the escape.
The room went still. Vents seemed to quiet.
He popped up, pocketed the drive, and made his way out of his office and to the elevator, trying hard not to look suspicious, but the sweat was already beading on his forehead.
The floors ticked by as the elevator dropped to the lobby, stopping momentarily to transport employees along the five-floor descent. Time seemingly stood still. As he stood in the back, he wiped his brow just before the doors opened. “Easy, easy, stay calm.”
He walked with deliberate confidence through the busy lobby as he headed for the doors.
Without warning, his head snapped to the left, eyes locking on the head of security — then to the right with inhuman speed, pupils blown wide as they fixed on the man — the architect of everything he feared.
He froze.
A tidal wave of grief slammed into him — none of it his own, but the emotional wreckage of thousands of broken minds now flooding his own. His attention welded to the chaos, powerless to look away. Tears streamed down his face. His body refused to move.
He tried to scream, but the screams inside him drowned everything else.
He collapsed onto the polished marble, eyes wide, tears pooling beneath his cheek as his mind was overcome and no longer his own.
The architect snapped his fingers once. Security, already on standby, hurried over and lifted the body.
And the man who tried to leave was carried away, his mind no longer his own.
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Book One of The Blackfile Syndicate launches January 2027. Follow the journey on Instagram @justbeyou.me
