Douglas Preston - Impact

Passing by the side table, he went through the mail again irritably, pointlessly. No job offers, nothing. He swelled with anger at the idea that they had cheated him out of eight thousand dollars and he recalled Chaudry's cool contempt as he repulsed his offer and threatened him back.

Feeling all nerves, he went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, toweling it dry. The cold water did nothing to help. He couldn't wait to get to Moto's, to be distracted, calm down with a stiff drink. Moping about the house all day long was killing him.

He would definitely talk to the Times . The government wouldn't dare arrest him after that. He'd be a hero. A Daniel Ellsberg.

In the middle of these ruminations, the deep electronic gong of the doorbell rang.

"Mark?" He heard his mother's timid voice from the kitchen. "Would you get that?"

Corso went to the door and looked through the peephole. A man in a tweed jacket stood there, looking uncomfortably hot in the gray, muggy morning air.

"Yes?" Corso asked through the door.

The man didn't respond, instead holding up a battered leather wallet which fell open, displaying a police badge. "Lieutenant Moore."

Oh shit. Corso peered intently through the peephole. The officer continued to hold up the badge, almost as a challenge. The photo seemed right. But it was the Washington, D.C. Police. What did that mean? Corso felt an overwhelming panic. Chaudry had turned him in.

"What's it about?" Corso tried to say, almost choking on the words.

"May I come in, please?"

Corso swallowed. Did he have a right to refuse entry? Did the man have to show a warrant? Maybe it was better not to piss him off. He un-shot the bolt, unhooked the chain, turned the lock, and opened the door.

Officer Moore slipped inside and Corso quickly shut the door behind him. "What's it about?" Corso said, standing in the hall.

The man smiled. "Nothing serious. Now--is there anyone else in the house?"

He did not want his mother hearing any of this. "Uh, no. Nobody." He'd better get the cop out of sight, quick. "In here," he said, gesturing to the parlor. They went in, Corso quietly shutting the door. Maybe he should be calling a lawyer. That's what everyone said you should do. Never talk to the cops without one. "Please sit down," he said, trying to keep his voice relaxed, as he took a seat on the sofa.

The cop, however, remained standing.

"I think I need to talk to a lawyer," Corso said, "as a matter of course. Whatever this might be about."

The man reached into his jacket and removed a large black handgun. Corso stared at it. "Look, officer, you don't need that."

"I think I do." He removed a long cylinder and affixed it to the end of the gun. And now Corso noticed he was wearing black gloves.

"What are you doing?" Corso asked. This wasn't normal. His mind was boiling with confusion and conjecture.

"Don't lose it. No screaming, no weeping, stay in control. Everything's going to work out if you do what I say."

Corso fell silent. The man's soothing voice reassured him but nothing else made any sense. His mind was racing.

The man reached over and picked up the Xbox. The image was still frozen on the screen. "You play, Mark?"

Corso tried to answer, but it came out a gurgle.

The man flicked the switch and the game resumed. He turned up the sound until it was just about deafening.

"Now, Mark," said the man, speaking over the noise and pointing the gun at him. "I'm looking for a hard drive you took from NPF. That's all I want and when I get it I'll leave. Where is it?"

"I said I want a lawyer." Corso choked on his own words, swallowed, trying to recover his breath.

"You don't get it, shithead. I'm not a cop. I want the hard drive. Give it to me or I'll kill you."

Corso's mind reeled. Not a cop? Had Chaudry sent a hit man? This was crazy. "The drive?" he stammered. "All right, yes, yes. I'll tell you exactly where it is--I'll take you there--no problem. . . ."

The door to the parlor burst open. "What in the world ?" shrilled his mother, standing there in her apron, dishrag in her hands, her eyes widening as she saw the gun. " Aiiii! " she shrieked, taking a step backward. "A gun! Help! Police! Police! "

The man pivoted and Corso leapt up to protect his mother but it was too late. The gun went off with a muffled sound and he saw, with utter disbelief and horror, his mother punched back by the round, blood spraying on the wall behind her. Eyes wide open, she stumbled back into the wall, losing one of her shoes, and toppled awkwardly to the ground.

With an inarticulate cry of existential rage Corso swept up the first weapon that came to hand, a lamp from the table, and swung it at the man. He ducked, the lamp shattering against his shoulder. The man staggered back, gun raised.

"No!" he cried. "Just tell me where the drive--"

Roaring like a bear Corso rushed him, seizing his neck in his hands and trying to crush the life out. He felt the gun shoved into his gut; there was a sudden raw punch, once, twice, which drove him back into the wall and then he was somehow on the floor curled up with his mother and all became peace.

50

When she was going to Prince ton, Abbey had made several trips to New York City with her friends, but they had never strayed from Manhattan. As she stood at the edge of Monsignor McGolrick Park in Brooklyn, rain dripping from the rim of her umbrella, she realized this was a New York she had never seen, a real working-class neighborhood of modest apartment buildings, vinyl-sided row houses, keys-made-here shops, dry cleaners, and neighborhood eateries.

"Number eighty-seven Driggs Avenue," Abbey said, consulting a damp street map. "Must be that street across the park."

"Let's go."

Two days before, Abbey's calls to ex-NPF employees had hit paydirt with a technician named Mark Corso. Posing as a journalist doing an expose on unfair personnel practices at NPF, she had really gotten him going. Not only was he pissed off about being fired, but he was eager to spill NPF's darkest secrets--or so he claimed. And he hinted at having some really hot information that would "blow NPF out of the water."

They headed across the park and crossed the street toward one house in an identical row, streaked with damp, curtains drawn. They walked up the steps and Ford rang the doorbell. Abbey could hear it ringing forlornly within. A long wait. He rang again.

"You sure he said four o'clock?"

"Positive," said Abbey.

"He might have had second thoughts."

Abbey dipped in her pocket for the cell phone Ford had given her, and dialed Corso's cell.

"You hear that?" She could hear at the edge of audibility a sound of music inside the house.

Ford leaned toward the door. "Hang up and call again," he said.

She did so.

The music stopped, then a moment later it started again.

"It's got to be his," said Abbey. "Only a NASA engineer would have the theme of Serenity as his ringtone."

There was no way to see in; the drapes were firmly pulled--even the ones on the second floor. The house looked shut up tight. The door had three little windows, arranged diagonally, but they were of rippled, opaque colored glass.

Ford knelt and examined the doorjamb and lock. "No sign of a break-in."

"What do we do?"

"Call the police anonymously," he said, "and watch."

They cut across the park to an old phone booth sitting on the corner. Ford lifted the receiver with a handkerchief and dialed 911. "Eighty-seven Driggs Avenue," he said, in a rough voice. "Emergency. Go there. Now." He hung up. As he came out, Abbey was alarmed by the grim look on Ford's craggy face. She had been going to say something funny but decided against it.