The Aegis Solution Read Free

kind of burden on them."
    Clements nodded. His eyes suddenly connected with those of a young girl who was the only one
in the group not staring expectantly at the entrance, but glancing all around. She noticed that he was
looking at her, and smiled. It was a half-hearted smile.
    She couldn't be any older than my daughter, he thought to himself.
    "Maybe sixteen or seventeen at the most."
    He did not realize he had spoken the last thought aloud until the marshal responded, "What was
that?"
    Snapped from his reverie, he answered, "I was just noticing that young girl. She can't be more than
seventeen. What the hell is she doing going in there?"
    Following Matt's gaze, the officer found her in the crowd and shrugged. "Do you know how many
kids that age kill themselves?" he asked rhetorically. "Too many!"
    As they talked, Matt noticed that the girl's eyes never left his and she was slowing her pace, letting
the rest of the group pass her. As she came even with the two of them, she had managed to make it to
the back of the crowd.
    As the other new entrants proceeded through the door, she paused near the threshold, looking
undecided. For some reason, she was still looking at him. As if drawn by her stare, he stepped toward
her, immediately feeling the grip on his arm from the federal officer.
    "I wouldn't do that."
    Clements turned and looked at him, his normal urge to rebel against authority waxing without
encouragement. In a motion slightly more violent than he intended, he jerked his arm free from the grip
and insisted, "We were told that through the doorway was the point of no return. She hasn't gone in
yet."
    The man shook his head. "That's not what I mean. It's a no-win deal for you."
    Matt took a quick look over his shoulder and saw that she was still standing and waiting, apparently
for him.
    "What do you mean?"
    "Since we've been posted out here, I haven't let any of my men talk to them."
    "Why?"
    The marshal's expression softened, and his eyes shifted to some point off in the desert, as he said,
"Think about it. Only two things can happen. If you talk to her and don't change her mind about going
in there, you are going to wonder about her for the rest of your life…with absolutely no way of ever
finding anything out. She will keep popping into your head when you least expect it, and you'll want to
know if she's okay…what her life is like in there…if she's even alive."
    Matt thought about his words for a moment before saying, "I understand. I can deal with that. But
what if I talk her into not going in? That'd be a good thing."
    Shifting his eyes back, the marshal persisted, "Would it? You have no idea why she's doing it. You
don't know what a mess she's made of things. And if you throw her a lifeline, you might as well adopt
her because she is going to attach herself to you like a tick on a hound dog."
    He started to respond again, but was cut off. "And what if you do talk her out of going in there and
a month from now, or six, or a year, she decides to take the other way out? You're going to feel as if
that's your fault. You are going to have to deal with the guilt of knowing that if you'd let her walk
through those doors today, she'd still be alive."
    The two men stared at each other for almost a full minute before Matt shrugged and said, "I hear
you. But it won't hurt to just talk to her."
    Before the man could respond, Clements turned and walked over to the young girl. As he crossed
the fifteen feet between them, he noticed that she was painfully thin, almost anorexic. Her red hair was
shaggy; either it was the result of the latest in youth hairstyles or she had hacked at it herself in front of
a mirror. As he came closer to her, he saw that her eyes were a deep green, almost aquamarine color and
her face was covered with freckles.
    "Hi," she greeted him as he arrived.
    "How's it going? My name's Matt." With that, he reached out to shake her hand.
    Tentatively, she took his hand. "I'm Tillie."
    Smiling at her, he