Read Online Point of Impact by Tom Clancy - Free Book Online Page B

think of it, maybe we ought to skip Pud's and go to that new place, you know, Cannibal Moe's, instead. I hear they have a real good chicken fried thigh there."
    "Nah, Alan, I think we should go to the new Donner's Pass Pizza, and pick up a pizza with fingers and nipples. Or maybe the spaghetti and eyeballs."
    "Fuck off and die," Jay said. "You know what I mean."
    The two men looked at each other and shook their heads in mock sadness.
    "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Alan said. "The man is in love. Next thing you know, he's gonna be wearing a cowled robe to work and doing Gregorian chants up and down the halls."
    "Yeah, and sprinkling rose petals everywhere and smiling at everybody like a fool."
    "Go away," Jay said.
    They did, cackling down the hall as they went.
    Well. That certainly went well, didn't it? Maybe you might want to be a little bit more low key in your conversion to vegetarianism, hmm?
    Too late now. By tomorrow morning, this would be all over the building. He knew the jokes would be coming, and he had better recode his lock and his access, or his computer would be full of crap, too.
    Still, he grinned. He could stand a little ribbing. He was, after all, the new, improved Jay Gridley, much more mellow than the old Jay had been. Much more.

    Chapter 8.
    Washington, D.C
    Toni came up from sleep all of a moment. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. Two A.M., and she was wide awake, not a trace of drowsiness. Well, wasn't that terrific?
    What, she wondered, had awakened her? Another hormone-fueled dream she couldn't remember?
    She glanced at Alex, who slept soundly, tangled in the sheet and a couple of pillows. Sometimes he snored, and that might do it, but while he was breathing deeply, he wasn't making any noise to speak of.
    She listened carefully, but the house was silent. No footsteps skulking down the hall, no creaks of doors being stealthily opened. No feeling of intrusion.
    Was it because she needed to go pee?
    No, not really, she always needed to go pee these days, and the urge wasn't particularly strong. She had fallen asleep plenty of times needing to go more than now. Still, as long as she was awake ...
    She got up, went to the bathroom, did what she needed to do, and padded back to bed. Alex didn't stir. You could come in and walk off with the place, and he wouldn't wake up, he slept heavy. He had told her he hadn't done that before they got married, but now that she was here, he could could relax. That amused and pleased her on one level; on another level, it was mildly irritating. So she had to be responsible for their safety after hours? Not that she wasn't qualified, but still ...
    She slipped carefully back into bed and began practicing her djurus mentally, going through them step by step in her mind's eye, striving to capture all the details of each move. That usually would put her to sleep before she got very far along, but it wasn't working tonight. She managed to go all the way through the eighteen on the right side, and was halfway through doing them on the left when the phone rang.
    It managed less than half a cycle before Toni grabbed it. "Hello?"
    "Toni? It's me, Mama."
    Toni felt her bowels and belly twist suddenly. Mama would never call at two in the morning unless somebody was seriously injured or dying. "Is it Poppa?"
    "No, dear, Poppa's fine. But I'm afraid it's Mrs. DeBeers."
    "Guru? What happened?"
    "She had a stroke. About fifteen minutes ago."
    Toni glanced at the clock again. Exactly when she had awakened. Was this some weird coincidence, or were she and her elderly teacher psychically connected as Guru sometimes said?
    "She's on the way to the hospital," Mama continued. "When it happened, she managed to reach her medical alert button, and the paramedics and ambulances woke us all up. Poppa is going to the hospital with your brother. I thought you'd want to know."
    Alex finally woke up. "Toni?"
    She waved him quiet. "Which hospital, Mama?"
    "Saint Agnes."
    "Thanks for calling me, Mama.