The Ninth Step Read Online Free

Homeland Security agent. “So why are you guys here?”
    The man gestured for his colleagues to move toward the door. “Call your supervisor,” he said over his shoulder. And in they went.
    Jack didn’t like feds. Their Big Swinging Dick attitudes didn’t impress him one bit. They were definitely not team players. He remembered a double homicide in Bensonhurst, a Mob case, where a bunch of FBI agents had actually started hauling away the bodies before the NYPD had even gotten on the scene. And 9/11 had made it starkly clear how uncooperative the different governmental agencies could be, with the Feebs and the CIA withholding vital intelligence from each other. Things had supposedly gotten better since then, each agency pledging to pull together, but everybody still liked a good pissing match. And the three-letter guys—FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS—were the cockiest of all.
    Jack pulled out his cell and called Lieutenant Frank Cardulli, the head of his unit. “Hey boss, I’ve got a weird situation here at—”
    Cardulli cut him off. “I know. I got a call just a minute ago from downtown. They say we have to let these guys do their thing.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “I don’t know.”
    A second later the door of the deli swung open; out came the owner and his clerk, followed by Richie Powker and the M.E.’s crew. Looking anxious, they moved out past the crime scene tape and a good few yards down the block.
    Ten minutes later, the boys in the bodysuits came back out. Their leader followed. “All clear.”
    “Was there a problem?” Jack asked. He couldn’t imagine why there would be any radiation inside a deli, but he knew that he didn’t want any on him .
    “We didn’t get a reading,” Charlson said. “Not this time.” He moved off toward the van.
    “Whoa,” Jack repeated. “You wanna tell us what this is all about?”
    The man shrugged. “I can understand that you guys don’t like anybody stepping on your toes, and I apologize for the inconvenience.” He took out a card and handed it over. “If you find out anything about the perpetrator, I’m going to need for you to call me right away. And if you get a bead on him, I’m gonna really emphasize this: don’t try to bring him in yourselves. There’s a definite radiation risk. Call me and we’ll take care of him.”
    Richie Powker made a face. “What’s all this about radiation? The guy killed the vic with a can of beans.”
    The Homeland Security agent shrugged. “I know this must seem confusing, and I’m sorry, but I’m simply not at liberty to talk about this. Thanks for letting us do our job here; we appreciate your cooperation.” He turned, strode away, and joined his colleagues in the van.
    Off they went.
    “‘ Simply not at liberty, ’” Richie mimicked, sourly. “I hate feds.”
    Jack went back into the deli. The first thing he noticed was that the can of beans was missing. It took him another minute to discover that the videotape was also gone.

CHAPTER FOUR
    A S HE HANDED OVER the admission fee to the New York Aquarium, out by Coney Island, Nadim Hasni noticed that his hands were still shaking. He willed them to stop, without success, but luckily the girl behind the ticket window seemed lost in her own private daydream.
    Nadim moved into the cool interior of the entrance hall, grateful for the dim lighting and the near emptiness of the place. A weekday morning. On weekends the place was usually packed, full of tourists and New Yorkers out on family expeditions.
    Nadim’s nerves still jangled. It was a small miracle that he had managed to get here without being noticed or stopped, sitting on a public bus, in broad daylight, trembling. Well, it wasn’t exactly as if he were covered in blood, though he couldn’t help feeling as if he was. He thought of his windbreaker, how he had quickly stripped it off outside the deli, after he saw the red stains splashed across the front. He had folded it up, strode several blocks, then stuffed