Read Online Chimera by David Wellington - Free Book Online

terrible. You and I both swore an oath to protect the American people. It’s
you who’s going to have to uphold that oath, because there can be no one else,
now.”
    â€œI’ll—I won’t let you down,” Chapel promised.
    â€œI know what we’ve handed you, Captain. I know how
I would feel about being given a mission like this and then being told I
couldn’t know any of the details. We’re playing a rotten joke on you, frankly,
and I’m sorry. It was Banks who insisted we send you out into this with an
incomplete briefing, as well.”
    â€œI understand the need for secrecy, sir,” Chapel
said.
    â€œI daresay you do. What neither you nor I understand—at least not completely, not yet—is
just how much is going on behind the scenes. Banks is playing a very deep
strategy here. He’s keeping me from telling you everything I know. But he can’t
keep you from finding things out on your own.”
    â€œSir?”
    â€œKeep your eyes open, out there. Put the clues
together. If you’re going to actually pull this off, that’s the only way. Figure
out what we’re not telling you—and why we can’t tell
you. Banks won’t like you peeling back the lid of his box of secrets, but he
can’t stop you, not if you’re smart about it.”
    Chapel nodded in understanding.
    â€œWhatever you do,” Hollingshead said, “keep
yourself alive. It’s imperative to me that you don’t get killed out there.”
    â€œI—sir, that’s—”
    â€œBecause, Captain, I don’t have time to find a
replacement. Now get going! I’ve got a little surprise for you en route. You’ll
get to meet your new partner.”
    He shook Chapel’s hand and headed back into the
Pentagon.
    Leaving Chapel all alone—with a job to do.
    BROOKLYN, NEW
YORK: APRIL 12, T+6:29
    In Brooklyn an old woman was just being
roused from sleep. The bedside light came on with a click, and Dr. Helen
Bryant’s eyes flickered open. She had been in the middle of her midday nap and
felt somewhat annoyed at being awoken. Then she looked up and saw a face looming
over hers and fear caught flame inside her chest.
    â€œPlease,” she said, clutching the sheets in her
fists. “Don’t hurt me. I don’t keep any drugs here. They’re at my clinic.”
    The face hovering over her was broad and cruel.
Male, perhaps twenty-five years old. His hair and beard were hacked short, as if
he’d cut them himself, and his eyes were hidden by large sunglasses. If she’d
been a little more awake, she might have known what that meant.
    â€œRelax,” he told her, his voice a low growl that
held a purr of violence ticking over like an idling engine. She tried to sit up,
but a thick hand pressed down between her breasts and pushed her back. She
couldn’t fight that hand—it was like struggling against an industrial press. She
could feel the bones of her rib cage flex as he pushed down harder. “I said
relax. My name is Brody. You know what I am.”
    â€œYou’re not here for drugs,” she said, because she
was beginning to understand who Brody was. What he was.
    â€œI said you know what I am,” Brody said. “Don’t
mess with me.” He leaned down over her, close enough she could smell the dirt on
his skin. “I came a long way to find you. I had to know.”
    He reached up and took off his sunglasses. She had
known already what she would see underneath, but still she gasped. His eyes were
black from side to side. There were no irises, no whites, just featureless shiny
black. Looking into them she felt like she was looking into a darkened
room—anything at all could be in there. There would be no predicting Brody’s
behavior, she knew. He seemed calm enough now, but he could erupt in violence at
the slightest provocation. He was strong enough that if that happened, one
little