Read Online Gideon's Corpse by Douglas Preston - Free Book Online

suicide bomber. And all his appointments end ten days from now. ”

13
     
    T HEY EMERGED INTO the street, the sodium lights bright after the dim apartment. Gideon blinked, tried to adjust his eyes.
    “Ten days,” said Fordyce, shaking his head. “Do you think they’ll still try to maintain that schedule after all this?”
    Gideon said, “I think it’s quite possible they might accelerate it.”
    “Jesus Christ.” A chopper passed over, flying low, trailing a net of radiation detectors, and Gideon could hear and see the lights of others hovering in the sky over various parts of the city.
    “They’re looking for the terrorists’ lab,” said Fordyce. “How far do you think Chalker could have gone, irradiated like that?”
    “Not far. Quarter mile, at most.”
    They had almost reached the barriers. Gideon pulled off his respirator and said, “Let’s keep the suits.”
    Fordyce looked at him steadily. “I’m beginning to think you like stirring the pot.”
    “We’ve got ten days. So, yeah, let’s stir the pot. Vigorously.”
    “So what do we need the suits for?”
    “To get our asses into the terrorists’ lab. Which we are going to go looking for—right now. The warehouses of Long Island City are right across Queens Boulevard—that’s an obvious place to start. I’m telling you, after getting irradiated, Chalker couldn’t have gone far from the scene of the accident. He was barely mobile.”
    Fordyce at least didn’t say no. They reached the car, pulled off the suits, and tossed them in the back. Gideon kept the communications device, tucking it into his pocket and retaining the earbud, so that he could listen in on the chatter. Fordyce fired up the vehicle. As they moved beyond the barriers and eased through the rubberneckers—incredible they were still out at three AM —a change began to take place in the crowd. There was a movement, a wave of fear, even panic. People started moving away, slowly at first, and then faster. There were shouts and a few screams, and they began to run.
    “What the hell’s going on?” Fordyce said.
    Gideon rolled down the window. “Hey, you, what’s happening? Hey!”
    A scruffy teenager on a skateboard careened past them, and others streamed by. A man came huffing up, face red, and seized the rear car door handle, yanking open the door.
    “What’s going on?” Gideon shouted.
    “Let me in!” he cried. “They’ve got a bomb!”
    Gideon reached back, shoved him out. “Find another car.”
    “They’re going to nuke the city!” the man cried, coming forward again. “Let me in!”
    “Who?”
    “The terrorists! It’s all over the news!” He lunged again at the car as Gideon slammed the door, Fordyce shooting the locks.
    The man pounded on the windows with sweaty fists. “We’ve got to get out of the city! I’ve got money. Help me! Please!”
    “You’re going to be fine!” Gideon shouted through the glass. “Go home and watch Dexter .”
    Fordyce punched the accelerator and the car lurched out into the street; he quickly crossed the boulevard and gunned his way into a quiet industrial side street, away from the panicking crowds. It was incredible: lights were going on in all the apartment buildings surrounding them.
    “Looks like the news finally broke,” Fordyce said. “The shit’s really going to hit the fan now.”
    “It was only a matter of time,” said Gideon. His earpiece was starting to ramp up, voices swamping the public frequencies. The response teams were evidently becoming taxed by panicking people and emergency calls.
    They were moving slowly along Jackson Avenue, amid a wasteland of old warehouses and industrial sites stretching off in every direction.
    “Needle in a haystack,” said Fordyce. “We’ll never find it on our own.”
    “Yeah, and once they find it, we’ll never get in, especially after that stunt we pulled back there.” Gideon thought for a moment. “We’ve got to find a lead that no one else has thought