Dark Pilgrim by John Minx

Author:John Minx [Minx, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Hat Press
Published: 2017-07-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Jacob disembarked at Grand Central Station forty minutes later. Exiting onto East 42nd St, he turned left and walked a single block, far from alone, with hundreds of onlookers gravitating towards the UN complex. But as he could see, they were all of them being forced to a standstill thanks to a massive security presence up ahead. It was an official checkpoint, stretched out across the road, in the shadow of The Chrysler building. Part of a one mile wide security perimeter that was now in effect, surrounding the UN complex, and which Jacob had been told to expect.

As the bystanders gathered, a little shy of the roadblock, two officials were directing a handful of enquiries towards a cordoned off area where a small queue had formed. A flashing neon sign above the pedestrian lane reading Authorized Personnel Only.

Cutting through the congestion, heart in mouth, Jacob came forward and showed his Biometric pass to one of the pair. Which, at this preliminary stage, was enough to elicit a nod from the woman who permitted him to join the back of the line.

There, corralled into a narrow corridor fenced off on both sides, Jacob counted a total of sixteen people ahead of him. No more than thirty yards from this first checkpoint, he could see what it consisted of exactly. There was a full body scanning barrier, and separate protocols for fingerprint and ocular verification, all consistent with what he’d prepared for. But the same couldn’t be said of that other device in operation, charged with inspecting people’s bags.

Moulded from some kind of metal alloy, it had an an irregular shaped hole at the centre of it through which handbags and briefcases were intended to pass. Looking on, Jacob watched as a large Hermes bag stopped directly in line with it. Then several green lasers shot out from the inner rim, forming a mesh that seemed to bind to the elegant hold-all, taking the full measure of its surface layer before they permeated its every last cubic inch.

It looked absolutely state of the art, this equipment, and hadn’t been among those devices referred to during Jacob’s final briefing back at TRYST. In fact it looked like a huge advance on any of those technologies. One that might expose him, and flag up the Attractor, before he’d taken so much as a single, meaningful step. Now there was movement up ahead and the queue shuffled forwards. As he shuffled forwards with it, Jacob put a hand in his inside pocket and fingered the hard edge of his security pass for reassurance. But any comfort it offered was minimal and soon offset by what he saw.

Adding to Jacob’s alarm, it looked like the complex scanner had made a discovery. Its outer rim swelling up with a yellow light as if the machine had suddenly turned septic. Presumably a sign that all was not well with the tan briefcase under interrogation. That, anyway, was how the officials appeared to interpret it. Two men in dark suits detaching themselves from a standing desk nearby.

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