TECH-NOIR PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER FLASH FICTION

They Kept Saying ‘We’ll Circle Back.’

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The Zoom call opened like every other. A row of tired faces, digital backdrops flickering, the occasional voice cutting in and out. I nodded along, my official title flashing under my name: Operations & Logistics Specialist. A fancy way of saying I kept things running smoothly at one of the largest high-tech gold mining and extraction sites in the world.

I was here for something else, though. Eighteen months inside DynaCore Extractives, tracking unusual shipments and encrypted communications that never added up. On the surface, it was just another ruthless corporate giant, but underneath… something else entirely.

“Let’s touch base on the extraction yields,” someone said. Petrov, regional oversight lead. The company’s enforcer, the guy who didn’t blink. “We’ll circle back to the irregular reports.” His eyes lingered on me a second too long.

That phrase. We’ll circle back. They’d said it in the last three meetings, each time in connection to something I’d flagged. Each time, someone else disappeared. We’ll circle back…