The Intelligence Director

by Jessica Brody

Free online fiction from tor.com.

Hidden deep in the southwest desert, away from civilization, a top-secret, high-tech research facility is experimenting with many forbidden things. Things that even most of the employees don’t know about. The task of protecting the compound and keeping its various experiments under wraps is Director Raze, Head of Security for Diotech Corporation. But when one of those experiments manages to escape and Raze is to blame, he must figure out a way to recover the missing property without exposing himself. In a place where minds can be manipulated and secrets can be wiped from existence, how far will one man go to keep his own secrets buried?

This short story was acquired and edited for Tor.com by editor Janine O’Malley.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult

32 pages, ebook

First published January 14, 2014

About the author

Jessica Brody is the author of more than 20 novels for teens, tweens, and adults including The Geography of Lost Things, The Chaos of Standing Still, Amelia Gray is Almost Okay, A Week of Mondays, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, the Unremembered trilogy, and the System Divine trilogy which is a sci-fi reimagining of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, co-written with Joanne Rendell. She’s also the author of the #1 bestselling novel-writing guides, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel as well as several books based on popular Disney franchises like Descendants and LEGO Disney Princess. Jessica’s books have been translated and published in over 20 languages and several have been optioned for film and television. She’s the founder of the Writing Mastery Academy and lives with her husband and three dogs near Portland, OR.

Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com or WritingMastery.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @JessicaBrody

Reviews

[Prabhjot Kaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raze is the Head of Security for Diotech Corporation that runs a top-secret, high-tech research facility and experiments with many forbidden things. When a C9 breach happens, Agent Vas finds Raze to alert him to the breach and walks in on him in a compromising position. Agent Vas always had his suspicions about the kind of experiments that are done at the lab but he kept his head down and did his work as the pay is good and also the company provides free housing for his family. The breach at C9 is contained but Raze needs a scapegoat and he thinks of none other than Agent Vas for that.

A chilling story as it is told from a villain's perspective. The story takes place in a research facility. Although it wasn't clear if it's the present day or not I definitely got dystopian vibes. My heart goes out to Agent Vas and I'd like to know if he gets justice or not.

I have read A Week of Mondays from Jessica Brody previously and I absolutely love that book. Naturally, I dived into this with a lot of excitement. Whilst the story was quite good, it doesn't feel like a stand alone. It felt like a prelude for something else.

CW/TW - rape

3 stars

[Fiona Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

They can't all be winners - this wasn't badly written, but the combination of the casual assault at the start and the lack of resolution overall left me wanting something different. The premise is fun, and I can see this leading into a full story, but as a short on its own, not the one for me.

Available from Tor for free, if I haven't talked you out of it: https://www.tor.com/2014/01/14/the-in...

[Paul (Life In The Slow Lane) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must gets me some of that obedience drug. It could prove very useful.

A nice little short story that (I think) might have been published as an adjunct to a book this author has written. Unfortunately, I don't know what that book might be. If I did, I might award another star. Worth a read and it only takes about 30 minutes.

[Tez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read the novels yet, but this was a great story, and I look forward to reading more about Diotech.

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the villan's pov, a fast-paced and entertaining story for when you want something light and short.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice prose, nice pacing, lovely view from within an appointed villain head, all very cold-blooded. There is even a plot (which is rare for short stories), but there is no ending. And the best and simultaneously the worst thing about this is that can see the plot-lines unfurling, I can see brainwashed and wrongly accused agent Vas struggling to make sense of his life as a convict, I can see him growing tough and desperate and wanting to get to the bottom of this and get back his old life, but while he is at it he realizes that there is something very wrong with the system in general, and so he becomes a member of resistance (and, surely, there is a resistance, I mean, they are conducting experiments on people, there is totally a resistance). Meanwhile we learn what happened to Lysander and if they wiped his memories out or not, and if they did, there must be some residue,something that never feels quite right, and he starts this all over again like a good rat that he is, and the mysterious girl with superpowers, we will see her side of the story, too, and, of course, of course, we will see more from our villain, the intelligence director - I wonder how his career is going.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told from the perspective of the manipulative director of a super-secret science compound, The Intelligence Director does a solid job in delivering the necessary conflict to the story. I particularly liked the juxtaposed POV between the scheming director and his subordinate operative who's trying everything he can to be promoted. The girl with the purple eyes, and Lyzander, her erstwhile savior, are mysterious characters that apparently appear in the author's longer works. Be warned, though, that this story does start with an interrupted rape scene, and since it's brought to you from inside the mind of the potential rapist, it's extra icky.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the ickiest companion story I’ve read, and it’s because the main character is one of the ickiest characters in the entire series. It did explain a bit more about this person, his motives, and the lengths to which he’s willing to go to get what he wants, but… it also felt the least… necessary? I just didn’t get as much out of this story as I have gotten from all the others. It was interesting, though.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually avoid the Tor.com stories that are part of the author's bigger universes (unless I already read the series) but I read this one anyway. Seems like an interesting series, but I would have liked this little story better if it didn't start with a rape scene.

[Nofuture · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tajná základňa, náčelník tajnej základne, utečenec a samozrejme, že veci nie sú také, ako vyzerajú byť.

Neurazi, nenadchne, neprekvapi, možno miestami spôsobi jemne pozdvihnuté obočie v miernom záujme...

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing story on the lengths one goes to keep their secrets. I can see the tech and company research andtheir secrets being a good setting for a more elaborate mystery. But the lack of character development hindered the story some.

[Iain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost a star for not being an actual story, instead being more of a bonus chapter (not infrequently the case on Tor.com, but the fiction is free, so it's hard to complain). As a result, it just feels underdeveloped, despite some decent writing.

[Nicolas Ronvel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Première véritable lecture sur ebook, une nouvelle piochée sur le site Tor.com. Une lecture agréable, dans un univers légèrement Cyberpunk, avec une histoire qui ne se dévoile pas entièrement, mais apporte quelques rebondissements intéressants.

[Jon]

3.5 stars

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was well written, but rather disturbing. It is always bothersome when the good guys get screwed over by the bad guys. Especially when there is a marriage and/or a child at stake. :/

[JHACK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh. So that's what went in Diotech before all the shebang happened. Very short read, but interesting. Well, at least for me because I'm kinda a sucker for short stories in another character's POV.

[Sairaika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this short story!

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story to fill time.