Chapter 6: Meetings & Discoveries
Artemis Long was nervous about the meeting.
He didn’t show it, of course, but the fear was there, gnawing away at him, driving him to dig his bitten nails into his palms.
The elegant red doors opened with a click and Artemis nodded to the members that filed out. A few nodded back but most ignored him. He waited till they had all left then approached the door. It shut with a low bang before he got close.
A neutral voice rung out into the long hallway.
"The room is currently full. Please wait a moment."
Artemis knew this to not be the case, but he still took a step back to wait against the opposite wall. He forced himself to look away from the door and at the walls. They were covered with painted portraits in the style of kings and tyrants of the past, but their subjects were neither. They were men of the new era, men of reason, men of unity, men of equality.
A few minutes later, the same message repeated, and again some more minutes later. He knew the tactics and he knew this prolonged wait was meant to unnerve him, make him shiver, making him pliable. He cleared his throat and dug his nails deeper into his palms. The problem was the tactics still worked whether you knew about them or not.
The voice rung out again.
"The room is currently-"
Then fell silent.
There was a click and the red door opened.