We All Fall Down Read Online Free Page A

flesh.
    “The lightbulbs we’re talking about were stolen from the bioweapons lab at Fort Detrick. Danielson was worried that story might start to percolate. Maybe the press begins to dig, asks questions about what else walked out of there.”
    Wilson rocked his head from side to side. “Maybe, maybe. Thing is, I had nothing to do with Lawson. You don’t have to believe me. I don’t give a fuck. But if you think about it, why would I have been involved? It was a federal mess from the beginning.”
    “Is that what you dragged me in here for? So you could clear your conscience?”
    “The thing today, the bulbs falling in the subway.”
    “What about them?”
    “You’re wondering why there’s no urgency, no panic. All that shit.”
    “The thought crossed my mind.”
    “Danielson told me about Fort Detrick. Told me he went down there himself a couple of weeks ago. Talked to the folks on-site. Accessed their inventory logs.”
    “And?”
    “All the bulbs used in their experiments contained anthrax that had been irradiated and rendered harmless. No exceptions.”
    “You believe that?”
    “I do.”
    “If Danielson knew the stuff was harmless, why did he have the Canaries installed in the first place?”
    Wilson snorted. “Who knows? Play around with a new toy. Do a favor to some lab that wants to show off a new product. It’s all ‘you suck me, I suck you’ kind of stuff. Thing is, Danielson wasn’t expecting a reading to pop up. Even a false positive. And he’s determined to keep it from the brass back in DC.”
    “That’s why he’s using me, instead of his own men, for security?”
    “Probably thinks you can do the job, and keep your mouth shut.”
    “Why would I keep my mouth shut?”
    “That’s between you and Danielson. Unless you want to clue me in?”
    “I gotta run, Mr. Mayor.”
    Wilson fingered the lapel of his coat. “One more thing.”
    “What?”
    “I need to come out of this looking a certain way.”
    “Let me guess. If this somehow blows up in Danielson’s face, you want to be clean?”
    “All I ask is you keep me apprised as things develop.”
    “So you can stay ahead of the curve.”
    “So we both can.” Wilson took out a business card and pushed it across the table. “These are some numbers where you can reach Rissman. He’ll be plugged in to me. Like I said, this thing should be over by this afternoon, and no one will be any wiser.”
    “And if it isn’t  … ”
    “Keep us in the loop.”
    I slipped the card into my pocket. The mayor got up and left.

CHAPTER 7
    They had three black vans waiting in the parking lot behind the university lab. I got into the backseat of the middle one. Molly Carrolton hoisted herself into the driver’s side and buckled in. Ellen Brazile came out of the building last, wearing dark sunglasses and talking on her cell phone. She finished her call outside the car, then folded her long frame into the seat beside Molly. I looked behind me at a solid wall of aluminum cases.
    “Bringing a few toys, huh?”
    “I’ll be honest, Mr. Kelly. The last thing I wanted was you tagging along.” Brazile stared a hole through the front windshield as she spoke.
    “Maybe we’ll grow on each other.”
    “I doubt it.” She took a sip from an aluminum bottle that had CLEAN printed in block letters on its side. I took a look at the plastic bottle of Evian they’d given me upstairs and wondered. Carrolton accelerated to the back bumper of the van, riding point.
    “What do you know about anthrax?” This time Brazile favored me with a glance. She might have even blinked.
    “I know what weaponized anthrax is. And I know if it’s already been dispersed into the subway there’s little you, or anyone else, can do to prevent a lot of people from dying.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong. Molly and I are scientists. We don’t care about politics. We don’t care about whatever power struggles might be going on in Washington.”
    “You work for the