Stephen Coonts’ Deep Black: Biowar by Stephen Coonts & Jim DeFelice

Author:Stephen Coonts & Jim DeFelice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2004-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

“Tell me about your days as an undergraduate, Dr. Dean.”

“A lot of partying,” said Dean.

“You’re the same age as Dr. Kegan.”

“Yes, I am. I lost a few years.”

“So I’ve heard. Where did they go?”

“You want my life story?”

“After a fashion.”

Dean’s phony life story tracked his real one to a point, substituting the twenty years he’d spent in the Marine Corps for a gig as a high school biology teacher with a drinking problem. That allowed for the perfect intersection of his youth, which couldn’t be conveniently altered, and gave him just enough of a sordid past to suggest he might be interesting. His phony teaching record, college transcripts, a few academic papers, and even two DWI convictions had been sprinkled surreptitiously into the official records by Desk Three.

“St. James?” asked Hercules.

It sounded familiar—was it a school Keys had gone to?

“Bluff,” said the voice in Dean’s head.

“Um, a church?” asked Dean.

“Chester High School,” said Hercules.

Charlie laughed. His head pounded harder.

“I’m afraid I don’t remember much of my time at good ol’ Chester Central School District,” he said. “Eventually I was informed that my services were redundant.”

“Too much of the grape.”

“Vodka, actually. Though for a bit there I wasn’t all that particular.”

“You don’t look well.”

“I don’t feel that well,” said Dean. “I think I ate something bad last night.”

“Where did you eat?”

Was that part of the test?

“A restaurant, uh, Kingel or Kindel or something along those lines.”

“If you’re in Vienna again, I would recommend Zum Kuckuck,” said Hercules. “Very nice. Expensive.”

“Maybe you’ll foot the bill, huh?”

Hercules leaned over in the seat as they drove, and tugged at Dean’s sleeve.

“What?”

“Show me your arm.”

Dean rolled up his sleeve.

“No bruises?”

“Bruises?”

“Welts anywhere?”

“He thinks you have it,” whispered Rockman.

Have what? Charlie wondered.

“Not that you know,” said Chaucer.

Charlie pulled his hand back. “I didn’t realize I was supposed to get a physical.”

“You may be feeling the aftereffects of the Demerol,” said Hercules, sitting back upright. “Okay, let’s go back.”

“Back where?”

“I’m afraid that my associates don’t quite believe you’re who you claim to be, and so we have a little quiz for you to pass before we can proceed. Given the amount of money at stake, I’m sure you understand that we want to protect our investment fully.”

“I don’t know anything about money,” offered Dean.

Hercules laughed. “You really are naive, aren’t you, Dr. Dean?”

“I’m not a doctor,” said Dean.

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