Read Online Lethal Outbreak by Malcolm Rose - Free Book Online

his partner. ‘He’s cautious. Checking the area out first.’
    ‘We’ll see.’
    Five minutes later, having completed one lap, the runner came to a halt nearby, dropped onto the dry grass and began exercising with some press-ups. ‘Goodhart and Lexi Four, presumably.’
    ‘Yes.’ Troy opted for a casual approach. ‘Enjoying your freedom?’
    ‘Yeah, man. The only good thing to say about doing time is that I got in shape. Not much to do but work out in the prison gym. Apart from that, Kindale was the pits.’ The major detective stifled an ironic laugh. ‘I reckon the governor spent more on feeding his dogs than the inmates. And when the dogs were sick, they got a visit from the vet straightaway. Prisoners didn’t get to see doctors or medicine unless they were halfway to the crematorium.’ He switched to squat thrusts. ‘And the cockroaches! They crawl all over you at night. I went to bed in gloves to stop them chewing my fingernails while I was asleep. But they still getinside your ears to eat the wax. Sometimes, you’d swallow one. You can feel it moving around in your stomach.’
    ‘Mmm. Nice,’ Lexi said.
    Dominic Varney smiled grimly. ‘No need to ask who’s the outer.’ For a moment, he stopped exercising and took some deep breaths. ‘I like this park. No security cameras.’
    ‘TRAPT,’ Troy prompted.
    ‘Ah, yes. The boss said you’d want to know.’ He stood up and began a series of star jumps. On each jump, he rotated so he could survey the whole of the darkening park furtively. ‘Not many members, not well organized, weren’t planning anything illegal. No one planning a massacre. Basically a small, sad bunch of losers and bigots. Best to leave them alone, man.’
    Troy walked across the track, onto the grass, and held up his life-logger showing a picture of Precious Austin. ‘Was she one of them?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘How about … ?’ He pressed keys until he got an image of Fern Mountstephen.
    Dominic shook his head. ‘Never seen her.’
    ‘And this one?’
    Dominic didn’t recognize Eric Kiss either. He also drew a blank with Brandon Kane Six. But he hesitatedover a picture of Saul Tingle. ‘Er … no. Not at TRAPT anyway.’
    ‘Have you come across him somewhere else?’
    ‘Um. He looks vaguely … No. He’s like someone else. That’s all.’
    ‘Were there any outers in TRAPT?’
    ‘I’ll answer that,’ Dominic said, ‘in four and a half minutes.’ Then he took off along the path.
    When Troy sat down next to Lexi again, she said, ‘I guess you have to be bonkers to do undercover work.’
    ‘Mmm. You also have to be an expert at deceiving people.’
    Lexi frowned. ‘Do you think he’s lying or something?’
    ‘I’m not sure. He’s hard to read. That’s what makes him good at his job.’
    ‘What’s bothering you?’
    ‘He said, “No one’s planning a massacre.” Almost as if he knows about the missing SUMP. But Cheryl McVeigh wouldn’t have told him. She wants it under wraps. Too many cooks spoil the sausage.’
    Lexi shrugged. ‘Perhaps it was just a jokey comment – and a coincidence.’
    ‘He would’ve become a militant separatist to infiltrate TRAPT. I just hope he hasn’t stayed that way.’
    A detective often had to think the same way as acrook. Both moved in the margins of society. Especially an undercover officer. But something would have gone horribly wrong if a detective and a criminal had become indistinguishable. The thought brought back unwelcome memories and made Troy shudder.
    Only slightly out of breath, Dominic went back down to ground in front of the bench and began more press-ups. He carried on talking as if there hadn’t been an interruption. ‘I didn’t take a DNA testing kit – or ask to see their fingertips – but I doubt it. They didn’t think kindly of outers.’
    ‘Can you give me all the names you remember?’
    Dominic chuckled. ‘Here’s the thing. They never used real names. They gave themselves nicknames. I think it