Contagion Option by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2013-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Park City, Utah

Rachel Marrick didn’t know what she expected when Stan Reader suggested they use his lodge as a base, but she was officially impressed at the sight of the inside of the building. One corner of the lodge was a computer center with technology that was a sprawling mess of electronic growth. Bare wires, shiny boards and laser lights crisscrossed in a wild maze that seemed more like the explosion of life in a jungle made of silicone and black plastic.

“Wow,” she said. There were half a dozen monitors inlaid into the mess. One of them looked like a radar screen for the immediate area. She studied it for a moment.

“That’s an aerial thermal imaging representation of the resort, in real time,” Reader explained. “There’s a satellite in geosynchronous orbit over Northern California using infrared photography to track underground lava flows and steam pressure in an effort to observe possible seismic activity.”

“How did you tap into it?” Marrick asked.

“I didn’t. I helped to design the thermal imagers for a friend of mine. NASA put it in orbit to monitor the West Coast. We can see as far as Hawaii to the east and the Mississippi to the west,” Reader replied. “I also set up a more sensitive minimonitor on the satellite that gives me an aerial view of my current surroundings, as long as I’m under its umbrella of influence.”

Marrick raised an eyebrow. “You always like to have an eye in the sky watching you?”

Reader frowned. “My investigations have garnered me enmity from very dangerous people. There is a fatwah called against me for my assistance to the FBI and other government agencies.”

Marrick’s eyes narrowed. “I hope you’re great at keeping your friends alive. Ever since you turned up, there have been people out to kill me and my partner. Kirby was nearly killed when that bank collapsed, because you brought him in there. And then, he risked his life throwing you out the window of another burning building while being shot at by the same men trying to kill you. I’ve got a cop’s death on my conscience, and jangled nerves from being nearly murdered myself. But Kirby, he’s nearly dead twice, because he won’t let you down.”

Reader took a deep breath. “I would never allow Kirby to come to harm.”

Marrick glared at the scientist for a long moment. “If he does, you better pray that I’m dead, too.”

She turned from the computer center and walked over to Graham who had returned from looking at the perimeter of the lodge.

KIRBY GRAHAM SHOOK some snow off his boots and noticed Marrick approaching him. Reader, who looked like he’d been hit by a steamroller, turned toward a keyboard to type feverishly away.

“What was that about?” Graham asked.

“Setting some ground rules,” Marrick answered. “Are you okay?”

Graham frowned. “You’re threatening him?”

“Just making sure whatever karma he’s bringing us doesn’t stay around,” Marrick told him. “After all, before he showed up…”

“Before he showed up, the Dugway UFOs were just considered a bullshit

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