Chapter Text
September 03, 2013
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: TIP: Illegal Activity at Murkoff Psychiatric Systems
You don’t know me. Have to make this quick. They might be monitoring.
I did 2 weeks of software consult at Mount Massive – it’s supposed to be abandoned, I know, but it isn’t. Murkoff Psychiatric Systems is using it to imprison and run experiments on people away from the public eye. All sorts of NDAs I am very much breaking right now, but seriously, fuck those guys.
Terrible things happening there. Don’t understand it. Don’t believe half the things I saw. Doctors talking about provoking senseless violence through dream therapy. About it going too deep, going wrong. They want to use horror and trauma to harness some terrible force, and I think they might be close to succeeding. I’m not the only one here who wants the truth to get out – one of the psychologists is gathering recorded proof of all the illegal shit going on behind these walls. She, I, or someone else will get those recordings to you as soon as we can. If we can.
People are being hurt, and Murkoff is making money. It needs to be exposed.
Miles calls Melanie as soon as he finishes reading the tip email about Mount Massive. He doesn’t realize he’s failed to consider the time difference between Colorado and London until Georgie picks up the phone and says, “Miles, it is 3 in the morning here. Melanie’s asleep.” Her voice sounds soft, thick with sleep, and – remarkably – only slightly annoyed.
“Investigative journalism never sleeps, Barker,” he quips. Georgie responds with an airy, exasperated sigh.
“I’m not going to try to wake her up; she needs her rest. She probably wouldn’t get up even if I tried. Sleeps like the dead, y’know?”
“Yeah, I remember. She slept through an earthquake last time we followed up on a lead together in California.” Miles huffs out a small laugh at the memory, and he hears Georgie do the same on the other end of the line.
“That sounds like Melanie alright.” After a pause, she asks, “What did you want to talk to her about? It’s gotta be something big if you called without checking what time it is here.”
“We got an email tip about Murkoff Psychiatric Systems, from one of their employees. A software engineer. Sounds like they’re using an abandoned psychiatric hospital to experiment on people.”
Georgie’s end of the phone call is silent for a moment before she shakily mutters, “Oh God.” Then another pause, like she’s mulling the information around in her head and carefully crafting a response. Eventually, she settles on a statement. “I’ll tell Melanie to call you when she wakes up.”
“Roger that. Thanks, Barker.” Miles tries to impart a reassuring tone in his words. He can sense Georgie’s apprehension about the tip – no doubt she’s starting to think about the danger he and Melanie could put themselves in by following up on it. “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful if we end up looking further into this.”
“…Sure.” Georgie sounds uncertain. Given his and Melanie’s track record, Miles can’t blame her.