The guards of the blacksite housing Project Eclipse weren’t military–too many questions. Instead, they were “military contractors,” hire through an elaborate paper trail from a secret account. Ex-Russian special forces, with a history of wetwork in nasty situations that the average American bureaucrat had never heard of, they were every bit the match, man-for-man, for any other professionals worldwide.

But Project Eclipse was no ordinary bauble, and its hardened perimeter and 10-megaton rated doors demanded a higher level of discretion and secrecy than even contractors could give. As such, in addition to a generous contract with a hefty stipend and benefits, each of the mercenaries had submitted to a small explosive charge being inserted into the longitudinal fissure of their brains. If they said anything from a short list of key words outside of work hours or off the blacksite, that was that.

Lights out.

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