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Chapters (36)
  1. VECTOR
  2. Copyright page
  3. Dedication
  4. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  5. Epigraph
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. EPILOGUE
  34. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  35. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
  36. GLOSSARY

“Jesus Christ, he’s out to kill civilians, not government people,” Curt complained. “Here we are, patriots, trying to save the country, and we’re forced to deal with a terrorist. What’s this world coming to?”

“I think his wish for the Soviet Union to get back together involves a lot more than wanting to protect the nukes. I think he’s a Commie.”

Curt started his truck and pulled out into the lane. It was like a slalom course trying to avoid all the trash cans. “Maybe he is a Commie. But whatever he is, he has no concept of security. It’s too bad, because if the authorities get even a hint of what’s coming, we’ve got to reevaluate the whole operation. When we first started planning this, it seemed like it would be so easy.”

“What are we going to do about him?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know. The trouble is we’ve got to play along in order to get our hands on the bioweapon. He made that pretty clear with his threat to sabotage the whole setup, which I suppose means he’d trash the lab.”

“So we’re going to get him the pest control truck?”

“I don’t see where we have much choice,” Curt said as he pulled out onto Oceanview Avenue. “We’ll get him the truck, but we’ll also keep the pressure on him to come up with the eight or so pounds of anthrax powder as soon as possible. The sooner we can launch Operation Wolverine the better.”

SEVEN

______

SEVEN

Monday, October 18

6:45 P.M.

Jack scooted across First Avenue at Thirtieth Street just before the light turned green for the traffic heading uptown. He coasted to the medical examiner’s office loading dock and nodded to security as he carried his bike into the building. He waved to Marvin Fletcher, the evening mortuary tech, who was busy in the mortuary office getting ready for the evening’s body pickups.

After locking his bike in its usual spot, Jack got on the elevator and headed up to the second-floor toxicology lab. It was later than he’d planned on getting back to the office. Going through all the Corinthian Rug Company’s records had taken much more time than he’d expected.

John DeVries, the chief toxicologist, had already left for the day. Jack was reduced to asking a night tech if the deputy chief had called about putting a rush on David Jefferson’s specimens. David Jefferson was the prisoner-in-custody death Calvin was pressuring Jack about. Unfortunately, the night tech had no idea about the case.

Back in the elevator, Jack went up to the DNA lab on the sixth floor. Ted Lynch, the director, wasn’t available, so Jack left his collection of culture tubes from the Corinthian Rug office with a technician. In the morning he wanted Ted to search for anthrax spores with the PCR.