“Good, think he’ll be able to keep his mouth shut?” asked the voice on the other end.
“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter if he does or not. We can always arrange an accident and hand over his research to someone else. It’s the rocks that matter.” Frank swallowed his drink and made a face.
“Stay on top of everything. I want this, and he is not replaceable.”
The line went dead. Frank stared at the phone for a second before punching in a number.
“Collins,” a gruff voice responded.
“It’s Monroe, how are things coming along?”
Papers being shuffled and power tools echoed in the background. “We’ll be ready. Electrical is almost done, and then we can move quicker, since we’ll have operational elevators. Hauling this crap down fifteen levels is eating time.”
Frank poured more vodka into his glass and downed it. “No excuses, just get it done.”
He hit end and tossed the phone on the worn dresser. He glanced around the room and wondered how much the company was paying for this dump. The bed was dirty and unmade, water stains riddled the wall in eerie interpretations of Rorschach inkblots, and the carpet seemed to unravel and disintegrate as he watched it.
Only a few more days and he would be able to go home where it was warm and sunny. First, he needed to put a few security measures in place to ensure Dr. Covington kept his mouth shut. He pulled his FNP-9 out of its holster, checked the safety and placed it on the nightstand. Sitting, he tried not to think about the two additional years he had left on this assignment.
Part of him knew he should be happy they trusted him enough to head up one of their most important projects, but he’d rather be working in the weapons division. Making sure some geek got all his lab equipment to examine rocks was not his idea of fun. With a sigh, he leaned back on the bed, vodka bottle in hand, glass forgotten.
End of sample
Contaminated is available from Amazon here
The Coalition: Part II The Lord Of The Living (COALITON OF THE LIVING Book 2) Page 12