The Secret (The Scinegue Series Book 1) by S.R. Booth

passed, then five. Roaming from one end of the bread aisle to the other, Billy’s mind was on anything but bread. Maybe this was some kind of weird joke. Just a big initiation into the world of collecting trash and minding your own business. A test maybe, and soon the boss—possibly Ben—was going to walk in and fire him on the spot for reading that note.
    He pulled another loaf of bread off the shelf then froze. Maybe it really was just a trick to get Sarah alone. His pulse quickened, and he started to head for the door.
    He came to an abrupt stop at the end of the aisle, the now slightly squashed loaf of bread still in hand. Sarah was alone all day, every day while he was at work. If someone wanted her alone, they wouldn’t have to resort to a huge setup like this.
    A glance at his cell phone revealed the time to be fifteen minutes after nine. He wondered if he should text Sarah, wondered if texts could be hacked into, and decided not to chance it. He would wait until nine thirty, after that he was leaving.
    9:16 p.m. “William, I’m glad you came.”
    So wrapped up in plans of what to do if no one showed up, he completely missed the tall man with dark hair wearing casual attire who stopped beside him and was now innocently studying the writing on a package of bread.
    Billy darted a glance in his direction then did a double-take. “I know you! You were standing in your window both those...”
    “Quiet!” the man cautioned, glancing around. Dressed in jeans with holes in the knees and a simple white button down, he hardly looked like a Scinegue resident.
    “Yes, that was me. We don’t have much time. I’m pleased to see you got my message and were able to interpret it. Did you have a chance to read anything from my trash that day the papers spilled? I couldn’t be sure if you took anything with you or not.”
    “Spilled?” Billy asked incredulously. “There’s no way that bag tore on its own. You must have cut it.”
    “Yes, yes, of course it was cut. We have been trying to find a way to approach you since the day you were hired. It was a risk that had to be taken.” Putting the loaf of bread advertised as organic and made with unbromated flour into his basket, he turned to the selection of jams and jellies on the other side of the aisle.
    “William, any of the papers in the bag would have given you some information.” He shot a glance towards Billy. “ Did you read anything from my trash? Do you have any idea what is taking place?”
    Billy hesitated only a moment. This could still be a trap to see if he was too nosy to work in these ‘special’ subdivisions. He decided he had to take the risk. If this was real, the man was right. There probably wasn’t much time.
    “My wife and I did read one of the papers. It talked about eugenics. It talked about it as though a plan had been decided upon and would soon be put into action.” He studied the man who was studying jars of jams and jellies as if they were the most important things in the world. “Is there any truth to that?”
    “So your wife knows,” he said more to himself than to Billy before answering. “Any truth? That is completely true, and there is so much more. I regret becoming involved in this.” His brows furrowed, and he closed his eyes briefly as a flicker of pain crossed his features.
    “It just makes so much sense to hear them talk,” he confided, “to study the statistics and see the direction this world is moving in, but it doesn’t make sense. Not at all.”
    He turned to Billy and earnestly questioned, “Why would a planet that has been able to support and control human life for so many years suddenly not be able to do so anymore? Why would it need our help to survive? More accurately, why would any of us be so vain as to think we know more than God?”
    “You’re a Christian?” Billy asked in surprise.
    The man glanced up at him. “Don’t look so surprised. Most of us are Christians. We were just misled. Maybe