Timebomb by Gerald Seymour

Author:Gerald Seymour
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781468300093
Publisher: The Overlook Press

He was in the minibus.

It should have been the time that Shrinks exuded authority and competence, was listened to. He sat hunched and stayed silent.

A full half-hour earlier he had slid back the minibus door, gone to the car and said to Lawson that, in his considered opinion, their man was in extreme danger and, following the description given him of the night’s events, was in no realistically fit state to defend his cover. Lawson had responded, ‘When I want your contribution I’ll ask for it, and right now I do not,’ then pulled his door shut. The younger man, Davies, had rolled his eyes and shrugged, and Shrinks had returned to the minibus.

He had not worked with Lawson before. A little of a fearsome reputation had reached him, but he had dismissed that as jealousy – there was enough of that at VBX – but he had been on the team long enough to believe each last syllable of the drip of criticism addressed to Christopher Lawson. Small mercies, but at least the man was an interesting subject. ‘Interesting’, but not the centre of his attention.

His focus was on November. From the far end of the long approach to the warehouse yard gate he had seen the cars drive in. Then he had had Deadeye’s binoculars passed abruptly to him, and there had been a flash sight of November’s head, front passenger seat, blurred, then gone. Precious little to work from, and the features had been expressionless, but he’d seen wide-open eyes and the pallor that stress brought. He had gone to the car, to Lawson, to tell him that the agent was defenceless and critically vulnerable, and his cheeks had flushed at the blatant rejection. Where would his advice have led, had it been accepted? Obvious. To go in and get the man clear – he had heard, faint but clear above the cries of wheeling gulls, the sounds of a chain-saw. Lawson, that ‘interesting subject’, had shown no hesitation and not a modicum of doubt in dismissing him. God, if he ever had that man, with certainties by the bucketful, on a couch … His own science, that of forensic psychology, was inexact and men who apparently harboured no doubts had always fascinated him.

Shrinks – he hated the name but it had stuck – worked two days a week at VBX and had been allocated a cubbyhole on the second floor in the Medical Section; the other three days he spent at University College Hospital in old Bloomsbury where he was attached to the Department of Psychiatry. Most of his colleagues at UCH treated varying degrees of mental illness, but he researched all aspects of human behaviour – and at VBX he sat in on selection of recruits panels, had influence in the planning of courses and monitored the progress of the younger officers. Normally he was listened to and what he said was used and seemed valued; this was the first time he had been ignored, then rejected, when he had stepped out to let his opinion be known.

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.