WEBVTT
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He was bored alone and staring at a phone number
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scratched into a bathroom wall. One call later, his phone
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knew his thoughts, offered him a fortune and sent him
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on a mission that should have gotten him killed. The
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worst part it was only the beginning.
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What's that you want to be scared? He Come with me.
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You will experience tales of over our ghosts and death.
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It is not recommended for the weeded art listeners in
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the dark ark. It's more fun that way way way.
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This is Weekly Speaking.
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Hello, my spookies. It's Wednesday, and you know what that means.
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It's time for a little spooky in your weekly. I'm
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your host and narrator, Enrique Kuto, and I have quite
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the terror tale to share with you here tonight. But
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before we get to that, I want to say thank
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you so much from the bottom of my dark heart
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for joining me. You're one of those spookies who really
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needs Halloween all year long, just like me. Well, you're
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in the right place, so make sure you're subscribed on
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your favorite podcasting app. And if you love what we're
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doing and you've been here a while, head to Weeklyspooky
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dot com slash join and get two bonus episodes every
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month for as little as one dollar. The support means
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a lot and helps us keep the show going and
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going as we catapult towards episode four hundred in the
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coming weeks. But more about that later. That's weekly spooky
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dot com slash joy. Over eighty other spookies have signed up,
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and now would be the best time to join them,
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But now as for tonight. Sometimes the worst decisions don't
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happen in haunted houses, dark forests, or lonely back roads.
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Sometimes they happen in the most ordinary place imaginable, when
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you're bored, distracted, and just curious enough to do something stupid.
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A number on a wall, a phone in your hand,
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a voice on the other end that seems to know
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an awful lot, and before long, one harmless little call
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becomes a waking nightmare of secret technology, deadly orders, and
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a trap that may have already claimed more victims than
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anyone could count. Because some numbers aren't written down by accident,
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and some calls can change your life forever, that is,
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if they don't end it first. Boredom can be deadly.
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By Michael Kelso, I'm writing this letter as a warning.
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Parts of it you won't believe, but it's all true.
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It all goes back to when I was sitting in
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a bathroom stall bored. People say you can't die from boredom.
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I might just prove them wrong. For a good time
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call if you want the greatest? Hey, baby, you wanna
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Why doesn't anyone ever write Hemingway on the bathroom walls?
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At least that would be worth reading while nature takes
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its course, especially since I always seem to have a
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problem with downloading files when I don't have something to read.
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I was just about to give up when I noticed
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another number written very small in the seam of the
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concrete five five, five four three two one. No name,
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No promises of a good time that would keep your
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local clinic in business, only a number. I'm intrigued. I
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typed the number into my phone. My thumb hovered over
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the send button. Do I or don't? I not being
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done with my business yet, I decided what the hell
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and I pressed the button. My phone flashed and then
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went dead. Are you kidding me? I pushed the button
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and it came back on. I listened and the line
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was ringing. After a series of clicks, I heard code
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in I was about to hang up, when the little
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devil on my shoulder said, go ahead. What do you
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have to lose? Like a fool? I listened Alpha Tango
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lima one one seven, I said, I think I remembered
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it from some spy movie. The line was silent for
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a long moment. Stand by, the voice said, after a
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few more clicks, objective updated, proceed with caution. Then the
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line went dead. Objective What objective? I stared at my
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phone as it lit up with a picture of a
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middle aged, balding man with a large beard and an
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even larger set of chins underneath it. Who the hell
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is that? As if responding to my thoughts, the picture
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was replaced by a detailed profile Jonathan Moresby, age fifty nine,
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height five foot four, weight three hundred and twenty four pounds,
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divorced twice, no children. On and on it went, telling
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me the details of this person's life. I started to
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get bored until I read the last word, terminate. I
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nearly dropped my phone. Terminate, Are you freaking serious? Yes?
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The display read you wanted to play spy? Here's your chance?
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You can read my thoughts. Yes. I suddenly had a
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chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. It
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was unnerving, but on the plus side, knowing someone was
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reading my thoughts helped me finish my business. After I
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washed my hands, I had a little conversation with my
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newly claravoyant phone. What are you going to do if
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I refuse your dastardly little deed? My phone flashed to
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my personal bank account. The balance showed two hundred and
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seven dollars. Suddenly it flashed to zero, then to one million,
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two hundred and seven dollars. Your choice. I went home
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to torture myself over the decision to take a man's
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life or not. I didn't sleep well that night in
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my dingy little bed in my dingy little apartment, so
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I got up for a glass of milk. Damn it,
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it's sour. I slammed the refrigerator shut so hard the
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door fell off. Are you kidding me? Hey? Shut up
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up there, yelled the jerk that lived downstairs. I stomped
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on purpose. How do you like that? Just then the
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floor gave out under my foot and I sank up
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to my knee and the floor. He'll pay for that,
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the jerk yelled up at the bottom of my foot.
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I pried it loose and limped to the bedroom. I
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turned on my phone and thought, I'll do it. Instantly,
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A map popped up, along with blueprints of a house.
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I got dressed and said goodbye to my crappy life.
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So what do I use? Directions flashed up to a
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bus station, a locker, and a combination. I hopped in
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my beat up old car and turned the key. The
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engine struck and coughed, like a long time smoker, sputtering
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to life. I fought between desperation, greed, and fear as
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my mind came to grips with the path I had
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set myself on. Before I knew it, I found myself
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opening the locker. Inside it was a small semi automatic pistol.
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My eyes darted around to see if anyone had noticed
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my deadly acquisition. Satisfied that the few denizens of the
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bus station had better things to do, like holding down
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the benches with their drunken bodies, I held up the
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gun inside the locker and stared at it. The only
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other object in the locker was a set of keys.
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The van is parked out back license one, two, three,
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four or five? Can I Can I really do this?
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Then my phone showed me a very graphic video of
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the man sexually abusing a small child. Son of directions
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to the house showed again. I found the van exactly
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where it was supposed to be. The keys unlocked it
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and fit in the ignition. I started it up and paused,
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this was real. This wasn't some prank someone was pulling
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on me. I was on my way to kill a
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man I didn't even know. I'm amazed I wasn't pulled
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over for speeding. I arrived at the address. It was
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a mansion. Hit figures, I thought, piece of trash Chester,
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live in the high life. Not for long, the phone said.
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I pulled up to an iron gate with a digital
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voice recognition box. Hold me up to the box, the
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phone said, I did, and a voice came out, Jonathan Moresby,
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it said. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the
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gate swung slowly open. Unbelievable. Pull the van around back
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like you're making a delivery. The back door had a
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security scanner. Hold me up to it. The door lock
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clicked open. I hesitated, shouldn't I be wearing gloves or something?
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What about fingerprints? Hold on the phone said, I am
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erasing your fingerprints from the police database. You may proceed.
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I opened the door and entered the kitchen. The smells
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from a recently cooked meal sent my belly into a
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full rumble. Let's see what's in the fridge. No, this
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isn't snack time. Stay focused, the phone said. I set
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it down and pulled out a bottle of wine. Even better,
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the phone started buzzing, but I just ignored it. I'll
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get there. Don't get your transistors in a twist. I'm
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just having a little liquid courage. The phone buzzed even louder,
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then suddenly stopped. I turned to see a large, bald
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man in a pair of green and white striped pajamas.
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He looked like a giant watermelon. I would have laughed,
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but he was pointing a gun at me. My phone
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started buzzing again. Shoot him, it said. He glanced at
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the phone just long enough for me to pull my
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gun out and squeeze the trigger. Nothing happened. I squeezed
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the trigger over and over, but all it did was click.
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The watermelon man was glaring at me with a cheshire
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Cat grin plastered on his face. The thing about guns
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is they need a firing pin to shoot, he said.
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I looked at the gun like it had betrayed me. Here,
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let me show you, he said. Then he fired his pistol,
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and my right shoulder erupted in agony. I collapsed to
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the floor, writhing in pain. The wine bottle shattered beside me.
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As I lay on the floor, blood pooling around me.
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I managed to croak out why his belly bounced. He
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was laughing so hard it would have been comical if
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I weren't bleeding. It's a little hobby of mine. I'm
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weeding out the stupid people of the world, one at
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a time. Consider it thinning the herd. I've written that
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number all over in places I don't even remember. I've
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been doing this for years. He would be amazed how
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many people I've thinned. The police, they'll catch you. That
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sent him into another fit of laughter. Thanks for reminding me.
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He pulled a phone out of his pocket. Hello police,
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he said, in a shaky tone. There's a burglar in
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my house. Oh my god, he's got a gun. He
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fired a shot and hung up the phone. Any other questions, yes,
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I said, through gritted teeth. How did you read my
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mind with my phone? Dear boy? I own a telecommunications company.
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It's a feature we've been putting in phones for years.
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We have the technology to read brain waves. It's only
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a matter of interpreting them. Of course, we've told no
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one about this, not even the government. You'd be amazed
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how many people barely question it. Not only have I
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gotten disgustingly rich reading thoughts of important people, but I've
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also gotten the rabble like you to do some of
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the most unconsciable things you could imagine. Only three people
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in the world know anything about it, and none of
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them are talking. But I've grown tired of this game,
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and the police are on the way, so I need
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a kill shot. There's just one thing you didn't think of,
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I said, through gritted teeth. Oh, do tell I've had
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my phone on voice recorders since I walked in the door.
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He glanced at the phone laying on the table. Most inconvenient, however,
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thank you for letting me know. When he reached for
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the phone, I lunged with all my strength and slashed
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at him with a piece of the wine bottle. My
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wild swing embedded the shard in his leg. He squealed
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in pain and dropped to the floor on impact. The
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gun flew out of his hand. I clamored to get it,
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but he grabbed my leg, tripping me. I fell face
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down and hit my head on the floor hard. I
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woke to the sound of policemen telling me not to move.
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They cuffed me, causing pain to shoot through my shoulder.
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As they hauled me out, I looked back at my
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attacker and there was a large pool of blood underneath him.
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Another officer checked his pulse. He's gone, damn it. I
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didn't get to gloat during the trial. I had found
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out that I hit his femoral artery. He bled out
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before the cops had gotten there. My testimony about the
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phone that could read thoughts landed me in a mental
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health hospital. My attorney refused to defend me after that.
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My only visitor had been a representative from the telecommunications company. Astounding,
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he said, you say the phone could actually read your mind, Yes,
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and it would respond to me. Amazing. Of course, I'm
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only a low level investigator, but you've given me something
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to search for something like that in the wrong hands,
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I said, Oh, I understand the ramifications. He said, every terrorist,
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low level despot, and politician would sell their own mothers
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to get their hands on such technology. Exactly. I'm going
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to contact the FBI about this, he said, even if
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it means losing my job. This is just too much
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of a risk to have this technology out there. He
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put his notepad in his jacket pocket and stood to leave.
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If you think of anything else, anything you think I
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need to know, don't hesitate to call. He held out
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a business card to me, and you'll work on getting
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my case reviewed. Don't worry. As soon as I find
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any hard evidence, I'm sure we'll get you out of here.
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Thank you so much, I said. Looking down at the card,
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I paused. It had no name on it, only a
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number five five, five, four three two one. I slowly
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looked into his eyes. You're one of the three, I
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said quietly. He took a step closer to me. Two now,
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thanks to you, he said, with that same chesh grinn
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as his predecessor. Are you going to kill me? He