Liberty by Stephen Coonts

Author:Stephen Coonts [Coonts, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Washington (D.C.), Detective and mystery stories, Illegal arms transfers, Fiction, Grafton; Jake (Fictitious character), Suspense, Cairo (Egypt), Thrillers, Terrorism, Nuclear terrorism, Espionage
ISBN: 9780312989705
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2004-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Liberty

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The days passed swiftly as spring brought more rain and warm weather to the Washington area. The cherry blossoms came and went, the crowds filled the tourist attractions, the trees leafed out, and the grass grew mightily. The sight and sound of lawn mowers became part and parcel of the Washington scene.

Jake Grafton saw little of it. It seemed he only got home to sleep. Eating was a breakfast sandwich or burrito at a fast-food joint on the way to work or a sandwich at his desk. Occasionally he made his way to the CIA cafeteria, only to bolt his food and run when his cell phone or pager summoned him.

A lot seemed to be happening, but it was difficult to make sense of it.

Toad Tarkington called from New York on a secure telephone located in the offices of the joint terrorism task force. “You ain’t gonna believe this, boss, but we found another of the goddamn things.”

“Where?”

“Seems to be under a new apartment building in midtown Manhattan.” He gave Jake the address. “There are not many new building in this section, but the old one on this site was condemned by the cit about ten years ago when the landlord didn’t do repairs after a fire From what I can learn, a developer acquired the property, tore the old building down, and built a new, taller one in its place. Four floors of parking under the thing. We drove the rig to the lowest level. No shit, we’ve got a hot spot under the floor.”

“Same indications as you found at Hains Point?”

“Yep. Harley is pretty sure. He can talk your leg off about various l- Is of radiation, which particles can penetrate dirt and which can’t, , tne bottom line is it looks about the same to me.”

“When did they erect this building?”

“I talked to the super, visiting in a low-key, bullshit way, trying to info without sending the guy to general quarters. Told him we !,ere an independent contractor looking for leaking sewer gas. He housht it, I think. Says the city issued the occupancy permit for the building six years ago. The thing filled up immediately even though the apartments are pricey. You know how living space is in this

town.

Jake played with the telephone cord while Toad talked. The damn thing was knotting up again. “How long do you think it will take to cover the major avenues in the city, up and down the rivers, both sides of the harbor?”

“A week to do it right, I think.”

“Do it right.”

“Yes, sir.”

He passed this info on to General Alt and Sal Molina, who would, Jake knew, pass it on to the president and the National Security Council.

“So what do you think we should do about this one, Admiral?” Molina said when Jake had finished his recitation.

“My recommendation is do nothing right now. Whatever is down there has been there for six years. A few more weeks or months isn’t going to make any difference.”

“I’ll pass that along. Needless to say, the National Security Council is tied up in knots over the first one.

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