Chapters (42)
- DEDICATION
- EPIGRAPH
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- ALSO BY RICHARD KADREY
- CREDITS
- ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Morty frowned and touched his head. “Where’s Phil?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him for a while. Can ghosts have an aneurysm?”
“You know, if you took a Xanax, maybe it would calm him down, too.”
“I’m not taking any pills. I just want out of this thing before we turn into the Fourth of July.”
“What shook you up so much back there?”
“Spiders. Lot and lots of spiders. There was a tarantula the size of a pickup truck. It reared up on its hind legs like a goddamn grizzly bear.”
Morty nodded. “Oh yeah. They call those bird-killing spiders. They’re all over the Amazon. I saw a documentary. You know, what’s really interesting about them—”
“Morty.”
“Yeah?”
“Give me a Xanax.”
They bumped through the ground back into the sewer pipe. Coop watched the GPS readout and the clock. The clock he understood. He wished he’d paid more attention to the GPS on the way in.
“How much longer?” he said.
“You’re really jumpy.”
“Morty. How much longer?”
The Missile shivered and stopped. Morty smiled at him. “We’re here. I told you it was faster back.”
Coop grabbed Morty in a big bear hug as they felt something hook onto the front of the Missile and pull it out of the ground. Coop looked at the countdown clock.
It read 1:58.
The moment the missile leveled out, Coop pushed the hatch open and jumped out. He looked around and ran to Nelson. “We’re back. Turn off the timer.”
Nelson looked at him. “What timer?”
“The two-hour timer. The bomb.”
Nelson laughed. “You poor dumb animal. You believed I was going to blow up federal property? I know Giselle thinks you’re a moron, but Bayliss kind of liked you. Wait till I tell her I made you piss yourself with the oldest gag in the spy game.”
Coop’s shoulders relaxed a little as the Xanax kicked in.
“Did you get the box?” said Nelson.
“Yeah,” said Coop. “It’s right here.” He turned and swung his whole body around, slamming a fist square into Nelson’s nose. Nelson fell back onto the asphalt. Coop unzipped his backpack and tossed the box onto Nelson’s lap.
He went back over to Morty and put an arm around his shoulder. “Thanks for the Xanax. I’m feeling a lot better.”
THIRTY-ONE
IT WAS TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING. THERE WAS COFFEE, but it was still too early. Plus, Nelson had a wide strip of surgical tape across his nose. But it was the lack of donuts that made Coop think there was a better than even chance that he was about to be arrested.