Carbon Black by Declan Milling

Author:Declan Milling [Declan Milling]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909477377
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

24

The train eased slowly around the bottom of the Schwarzwald at the most south-westerly point of Baden-Württemberg, towards Freiburg, following the Rhine back up to Mannheim, then on to Frankfurt. To the west, the Vosges mountains were silhouetted sharply by the morning sun against a blackening sky. The predicted cold front was sweeping in and a curtain of grey hastening towards them. Soon the shroud enveloped them, lashing the carriage with rain. Emil stared out into watery impressions of scenery slipping past.

“Don’t worry about the media.” Dominik broke into his thoughts. “Especially don’t worry about Nelson. The evidence is clear. I know what happened. You know what happened. The police report and medical evidence support what we know happened.”

“Do we? Do we know what happened, really?” Emil looked at him. “I have no recollection of events between leaving the function and waking up at the shooting range.”

“Yes, but the police had to admit the medical examination showed puncture marks in your shoulder. It’s clear, you were drugged. And somehow given alcohol while you were unconscious. But why?”

“That’s the easiest part of it. Look at how quickly it found its way into the press: obviously to discredit me. And the GCMO. Maybe they’re hoping that if my reputation is destroyed, somehow this will stop, or slow down, or affect the validity of the PNG endorsement.”

“Seems like a pretty ineffectual way to stop the endorsement. If you don’t do it, then I will, or someone else will. They can’t destroy the reputation of everyone at GCMO.”

“Maybe by destroying my reputation, they think they’ll critically wound the organisation – as a whole.”

“It seems a bit out of character. Hacking attacks maybe, but not physical intimidation and abduction.”

“Dominik, you’ve seen for yourself how militant these people are getting. They want to stop us. They’ve become more extreme. Extremists will do whatever it takes to achieve their ends.”

“Still, it is a bit odd.”

Dominik shifted his position on the seat, catching his breath at the sharp pain from his rib cage. He exhaled cautiously. Adjusting his position again, more tentatively this time, peering out at the dim, blurry landscape. The rain was mounting an increasingly ferocious assault, the train surging on past flat fields of partially harvested late summer crops, dissected by rivulets fast becoming teeming currents. They had the compartment to themselves and the thundering outside accentuated their silence as each toyed with his own thoughts.

Emil gazed into the middle distance, somewhere out in the sodden fields and villages they were flying past, his thoughts running back over things again. He couldn’t understand Dominik’s uncertainty, his reticence – he got a good kicking out of them as well – but he seemed to be making excuses for them. And why else would they be targeting me? Emil withdrew into his thoughts, their conversation over long before Mannheim. Then, with a start, he realized they were crossing the Main and rolling down into Frankfurt main station. Low cloud had settled over the city, swallowing the tops of the taller buildings.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.