Read Online Silent Night (Sam Archer 4) by Tom Barber - Free Book Online
Authors: Tom Barber
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paused.
‘Anyway, this guy calls me yesterday. He said I’d been recommended by a man I shared a cell with in the joint.’
‘What was his name?’
‘The dude from prison? Hurley.’
‘Is that his real name?’
‘That’s what the boys in the yard called him. The guy on the phone said he had a proposition for me. Four hundred bucks for one job. He had a box he wanted me to deliver beside a trash can in the Park.’
Jorgensen frowned. ‘And you didn’t think something might be suspect about this?’
‘I don’t know what the city is paying you, man, but four bills for one gig is good money,’ Cantrell said, looking up at him. ‘I wasn’t asking questions. And besides, I’ve done this before. You guys are always tailing someone who needs to keep his business going and a man has to feed his family. I figured there was a gun or some drugs inside for someone else to pick up.’
‘Why didn’t you ask what was in the box?’ Marquez said.
‘Wasn’t any of my business,’ Cantrell said. ‘Gentleman told me best not to look, so I didn’t.’
Marquez looked at Jorgensen, both of them assessing what Cantrell was saying.
‘OK, so where did you get the box from? Did you pick it up from somewhere?’
‘No, he gave it to me.’
‘You saw him?’
‘Yeah.’
‘What did he look like?’
‘He was a white boy. Kinda fat. He was covered up though, from the cold. Had one of those stupid hats on, with things coming down over his ears.’
‘What about his clothing?’
Cantrell thought for a moment.
‘Nothing special. His jacket was red. Like the ones those guys with axes wear.’
‘Lumberjacks.’
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
Marquez nodded, pulling her phone. ‘Keep going.’
‘Anyway, the man gave me the box. It was all wrapped up with string. Told me not to open it and to place it at the drop-off point. A trash can in Central Park , halfway along the fence down at Sheep Meadow. He paid me on the spot too, which was kind of dumb. Most guys in my position would have just taken off with the cash and whatever was in the box.’
‘So why didn’t you?’
‘I got a reputation to uphold. All a man has in his word. In my business, most guys lose it real fast. And once it’s gone, it ain’t ever coming back.’
‘It saved your life,’ Marquez said, pushing Redial and lifting her phone to her ear. ‘Would you recognise this guy if you saw him again?’
Cantrell nodded, flashing a smile. ‘You make the weed and gun just a bump in the road, I’ll point him out in a crowd for you, Detective.’
Marquez nodded as the call connected to Briefing Room 5 at the Bureau.
‘Rach, I need your help,’ she said. ‘We need to track someone from last night using the city camera system.’
As she spoke, Cantrell turned to Jorgensen.
‘She calls the shots, huh?’
Jorgensen looked down at the smaller man.
‘You have no idea.’
NINE
Downtown at the Flood Microbiology building, Archer and Josh were absorbing what the doctor had just told them.
‘Tuberculosis?’ Josh repeated.
She nodded. ‘TB. One of the world’s most infectious diseases. It killed 1.4 million people in 2011. You mentioned chemotherapy. People generally know that radiation can be used to treat cancer in very high doses. But as I said, it can be severely debilitating. Healthy cells die too. Medical physics is constantly trying to find a way of targeting radiotherapy more accurately. And that’s where my father came in.’
Josh and Archer listened closely, concentrating, tuning everything else out. Although the lobby behind them was noisy, it might as well have been empty.
‘Given what happened to my mother his interest lay in curing lung cancer. His idea was to create a radioactive virus that could be inhaled. Once in the lungs, the virus would irradiate cancerous tumours from the inside. The TB would act as the cell in which the virus could replicate. Like a breeding ground and a vehicle to get into the lung
‘Anyway, this guy calls me yesterday. He said I’d been recommended by a man I shared a cell with in the joint.’
‘What was his name?’
‘The dude from prison? Hurley.’
‘Is that his real name?’
‘That’s what the boys in the yard called him. The guy on the phone said he had a proposition for me. Four hundred bucks for one job. He had a box he wanted me to deliver beside a trash can in the Park.’
Jorgensen frowned. ‘And you didn’t think something might be suspect about this?’
‘I don’t know what the city is paying you, man, but four bills for one gig is good money,’ Cantrell said, looking up at him. ‘I wasn’t asking questions. And besides, I’ve done this before. You guys are always tailing someone who needs to keep his business going and a man has to feed his family. I figured there was a gun or some drugs inside for someone else to pick up.’
‘Why didn’t you ask what was in the box?’ Marquez said.
‘Wasn’t any of my business,’ Cantrell said. ‘Gentleman told me best not to look, so I didn’t.’
Marquez looked at Jorgensen, both of them assessing what Cantrell was saying.
‘OK, so where did you get the box from? Did you pick it up from somewhere?’
‘No, he gave it to me.’
‘You saw him?’
‘Yeah.’
‘What did he look like?’
‘He was a white boy. Kinda fat. He was covered up though, from the cold. Had one of those stupid hats on, with things coming down over his ears.’
‘What about his clothing?’
Cantrell thought for a moment.
‘Nothing special. His jacket was red. Like the ones those guys with axes wear.’
‘Lumberjacks.’
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
Marquez nodded, pulling her phone. ‘Keep going.’
‘Anyway, the man gave me the box. It was all wrapped up with string. Told me not to open it and to place it at the drop-off point. A trash can in Central Park , halfway along the fence down at Sheep Meadow. He paid me on the spot too, which was kind of dumb. Most guys in my position would have just taken off with the cash and whatever was in the box.’
‘So why didn’t you?’
‘I got a reputation to uphold. All a man has in his word. In my business, most guys lose it real fast. And once it’s gone, it ain’t ever coming back.’
‘It saved your life,’ Marquez said, pushing Redial and lifting her phone to her ear. ‘Would you recognise this guy if you saw him again?’
Cantrell nodded, flashing a smile. ‘You make the weed and gun just a bump in the road, I’ll point him out in a crowd for you, Detective.’
Marquez nodded as the call connected to Briefing Room 5 at the Bureau.
‘Rach, I need your help,’ she said. ‘We need to track someone from last night using the city camera system.’
As she spoke, Cantrell turned to Jorgensen.
‘She calls the shots, huh?’
Jorgensen looked down at the smaller man.
‘You have no idea.’
NINE
Downtown at the Flood Microbiology building, Archer and Josh were absorbing what the doctor had just told them.
‘Tuberculosis?’ Josh repeated.
She nodded. ‘TB. One of the world’s most infectious diseases. It killed 1.4 million people in 2011. You mentioned chemotherapy. People generally know that radiation can be used to treat cancer in very high doses. But as I said, it can be severely debilitating. Healthy cells die too. Medical physics is constantly trying to find a way of targeting radiotherapy more accurately. And that’s where my father came in.’
Josh and Archer listened closely, concentrating, tuning everything else out. Although the lobby behind them was noisy, it might as well have been empty.
‘Given what happened to my mother his interest lay in curing lung cancer. His idea was to create a radioactive virus that could be inhaled. Once in the lungs, the virus would irradiate cancerous tumours from the inside. The TB would act as the cell in which the virus could replicate. Like a breeding ground and a vehicle to get into the lung
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