The God Extinction: A Dan Kotler Archaeological Thriller by Kevin Tumlinson

Author:Kevin Tumlinson [Tumlinson, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Happy Pants Books
Published: 2019-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

FBI Headquarters, Manhattan

Agent Brown stood and was leaning against the frame of the office window, watching Ludlum as the details were laid out. Ludlum told her about Denzel’s arrest, and about Ammon. She left out the details about Denzel’s plan and Maalyck’s part in it. She wasn’t sure how much Brown knew about the exchange, and had the feeling that Denzel was keeping it on the down low.

Ludlum was also standing, hands on the back of the chair in front of Denzel’s desk and her back to the closed door of the office. When she was done giving her report, Brown shook her head and cursed.

“This just got a lot worse,” she said.

Ludlum nodded. “What do we do?”

Brown shook her head. “Officially, the US has no presence on that site. Agent Denzel is there as a civilian. Unofficially … well, he’s one of ours. I’ll make some calls. Someone in the State Department will want to know this is happening.”

Ludlum huffed. “At least we have a lead on Dr. Kotler’s abduction,” she said.

Brown regarded her for a moment and gave a slight shake of her head. Then said, “At least there’s that.”

Ludlum picked up on the tone and had a sudden flash of irritation. “Agent Brown, do you have some sort of problem with Dr. Kotler?”

Brown chuckled. “A bit, yeah. But only that he always seems to be at the center of everything, when trouble goes down. His professor tries to steal state secrets. His brother is kidnapped. His girlfriend, also kidnapped, during that Viking thing. Not to mention his other girlfriend being the head of one of the biggest international smuggling operations in history. And Kotler himself … he’s been abducted so many times, his milk cartons could fill the dairy aisle of a Costco.”

Ludlum regarded her for a moment, feeling the frustration and anger welling up. And then she sighed, nodded, and said, “You’re right.”

Brown’s eyes widened. “I am? I thought for sure this was the part where we started yelling at each other. I know you and Kotler are an item.”

“Sort of,” Ludlum said. “We’re … taking it slow.”

Brown laughed. “Taking it slow. I’ve heard that one before.”

“He’s had some … unique problems with relationships,” Ludlum said.

They both paused for a moment, and then both broke out laughing. It was loud and long and hard, and Ludlum ended up leaning over the chair in front of her, putting her hands over her face. She straightened up and saw that Agent Brown was also rubbing tears from her eyes, still laughing.

“I’m sorry,” Ludlum said. “I know you’re doing what you’re trained to do. Be suspicious. Look for the out of place details.”

“That’s right,” Brown nodded. “That’s what I’m trained to do. But Liz, it’s not personal, ok? It’s just that something bugs me about Kotler, and I’m not sure what it is. And because of that, I have to be cautious. I have to look closer.”

Ludlum considered this and nodded. “You’re not wrong, you know.”

“About which part?” Brown asked.

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.