The Quiet Room

1

What s Your Favorite Color?

The night was clear and cool, and although the distant lights from a handful of determined stars did their best to cut through the dense urban haze of the city, it was dark.

The kind of dark where all kinds of horrible shit could happen.

The tester stepped from the passenger door of a black SUV and instinctively pulled up the collar of her gray jacket against a light rain that hadn t started to fall, but would do so presently.

She was on her way to administer the test.

She hadn t tested anyone new in over a year. The fact that she was doing so now was none of her concern. She was hired to administer the test, nothing more.

Ask the questions.

Record the answers.

Submit the card.

Glass of wine.

That last one wasn t part of the protocol, of course, but it had been a long day and she hadn t had a drink for weeks. She d asked for something on the plane, but they weren t serving alcohol for some reason. The lack of alcohol wasn t the end of the world. It was a short flight, two hours from San Francisco to Seattle, but still, flying without drinking felt almost uncivilized.

She d been to Seattle once before, as a child. It was the first time she d seen an ocean. She remembered picking up broken seashells and flipping over rocks to chase the tiny crabs that would appear from the sand beneath the rocks as if by magic.

She wondered, as she approached a wooden door in the middle of a low red-­brick building, if she d have time to visit the Pike Place Market. Or maybe the Space Needle? She knocked twice, and waited for a response.

Come in, said a low raspy voice from the other side.

She opened the door and stepped into a small waiting area.

There was a man standing there. He was about forty years old, tall and athletic, with a thick frame and curly black hair. He looked like a generic government agent straight out of central casting except for the fact that his dark gray suit

Terry Miles is an award-winning filmmaker and the creator of the Public Radio Alliance and that network s series of hit podcasts: Tanis, Rabbits, The Black Tapes, and The Last Movie. He splits his time between the dark emerald gloom of the Pacific Northwest and sunny Los Angeles.

Praise for The Quiet Room

Twisty, twisty, twisty, The Quiet Room by Terry Miles takes you on another strange path down the Rabbit hole. . . . If you want to walk on the wild side and try something different, possibly cult-worthy, I suggest giving this a go. Grimdark Magazine

The Quiet Room not only continues where the first book left off but also maintains its mind-bending intrigue and mysterious energy. . . . An enthralling journey filled with surprising twists and a relentless quest for answers. The BiblioSanctum

The high-stakes, top secret alternate reality scavenger hunt known as Rabbits returns in this exhilarating sequel to Miles s Rabbits. . . . The result is another mind-bending adventure replete with mystery and welcome cameos from familiar faces. Publishers Weekly


Praise for Rabbits

Seemingly benign coincidences become clues to a mind-bending scavenger hunt in [Terry] Miles s outstanding debut technothriller. . . . It s a wild ride and it proves impossible to put down. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A taut mystery for a time of conspiratorial madness, a frightening romp that forcefully reminds us of the terrible plausibility of conspiratorial thinking. Cory Doctorow, author of Attack Surface and How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism

Spellbinding . . . a twisty, timey-wimey roller coaster that morphs seamlessly from treasure hunt to conspiracy thriller to escape room. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Rabbits chases the mysteries at the heart of gaming and popular culture. Cancel your evening plans and follow Terry Miles down the rabbit hole. Max Gladstone, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author

Rabbits is a story for readers who don t think the stakes in Ernest Cline s Ready Player One were nearly high enough. And for those who think The Matrix didn t have nearly enough conspiracy theories or coincidences. . . . And for anyone