The Academy: Book 2 by Chad Leito

and sat down. He looked at his armband and thought about how there was an Academy meeting scheduled for later today in the middle of Town. His armband didn’t appear to have any messages on it yet. Asa returned his attention to the screen.
    Teddy typed on his keyboard, and in the search box, the words “Robert King Death,” appeared.
    “Why are you searching that?” Asa asked.
    “Just watch.” The webpage loaded, and Teddy used the arrows on the keyboard to select a news video from a list shown.
                  Asa remained quiet as the program loaded. He stole a glance over at Teddy, who was wearing a wide grin on his still dripping face.
                  Instantly, a long list of videos popped up on the screen: “What’s next for Troy Webber?” “FBI Under Fire,” and “Alfatrex Employee Speaks Out After Boss’s Murder,” were among the options that could be chosen. Teddy selected one that said, “Police Chief Speaks of Robert King’s Death.” He looked back at Asa in the dim, yellow light of the single candle and said, “Bet you weren’t expecting this.”
                  Asa shook his head, his throat felt dry.
                  As the webpage loaded, Asa noticed that the television screen was dimmer than normal, as though the armband that was powering it didn’t have enough power to make it light the screen the proper amount. He was still mildly anxious about the prospect of Academy officials somehow detecting the internet use. Surely they monitor the armbands. And if they do catch us, the television is in a secret compartment over my dwelling!
                  The video began to play on the cracked screen. There was a sky image of an enormous mansion at night, lit up by harsh, white beams from a dozen helicopters circling above and the headlights from an army of police and government vehicles that swarmed the pristine green lawn, which was now marred with tire tracks. A set of three crows flew over the property. Even before reading the caption at the bottom of the screen—“Home of Dead Alfatrex CEO and Owner”—Asa knew that he was looking at Robert King’s house: the great expanse of clean white rock, which was rumored to be four times the size of the White House, the lawn of grass, which was kept in better condition than a golf course at a Masters tournament, and the clear, blue lake-sized pool that stretched well out of the camera frame could all only belong to the richest man in the world, Robert King.
                  Over the undulating sound of helicopter blades, a news reporter narrated: “I’m told that L.A. Police Chief Vincent Caltrone will be delivering a statement momentarily, but now here’s the footage we showed you late last night—can we zoom in a bit?—and if you look at the front door, you can see Los Angeles police officer Troy Webber, who has become a bit of a public sensation of late, being led away from Robert King’s mansion in handcuffs by his fellow police officers. He is being charged with first-degree murder after he live-streamed a video of him killing Robert King, the owner of Alfatrex, from a webcam late last night. Let’s frame over to the press conference, where it appears Vincent Caltrone is about to make a public statement about last night’s murder.”
                  The scene changed: Teddy and Asa were now looking at a crowd of reporters, all standing before an empty podium with thirteen microphones on it: each of these microphones had a different TV or radio station logo displayed on the side. On the bottom portion of the screen was the caption—“Police Chief Vincent Caltrone Delivers Statement About CEO Murder.”
                  A sick man walked from the right side of the screen. He was wearing a suit and tie, which he adjusted as he took his place behind the microphones to face the crowd. He didn’t look like police chiefs usually look—large,