Gideon's Corpse Read Free

retching.
    “Exploit the pause,” came Hammersmith’s voice. “You need to gain control of the conversation. Ask him, How can I help?”
    “Reed,” said Gideon. “How can I help?”
    More retching—then silence.
    “Let me help, please. How can I help you?”
    “ There’s nothing you can do! Save your own ass, get away from them. These bastards will do anything—look what they did to me! I’m burning up! Oh Christ, my gut—! ”
    “Ask him to step out where you can see him,” said Hammersmith in Gideon’s ear.
    Gideon paused, recalling the snipers. He felt himself go cold; he knew if any of the snipers had a clear shot, they’d take it. Just like they did with my father… He also reminded himself that Chalker had a family in there, at gunpoint. He could see some men on the roof of the row house. They were getting ready to lower something through the chimney, a device that looked like a video camera. He hoped to hell they knew what they were doing.
    “ Tell them to turn off the rays! ”
    “Tell him you really want to help him, but he needs to tell you how.”
    “Reed, I really want to help you. Just tell me how.”
    “ Stop the experiments! ” Suddenly Gideon saw movement in the doorway. “ They’re killing me! Turn off the rays or I blow his head off! ”
    “Tell him we will do all that he asks,” came the disembodied voice of Hammersmith. “But he has to step out where you can talk to him face-to-face.”
    Gideon said nothing. Try as he might, he couldn’t get the image of his father out of his head: his father, hands in the air, shot in the face…No, he decided, he wasn’t going to ask that. At least, not yet.
    “Gideon,” said Hammersmith, after a long pause, “I know you can hear me—”
    “Reed,” Gideon said, cutting off Hammersmith, “I’m not with these people. I’m not with anyone. I’m here to help you.”
    “ I don’t believe you! ”
    “Don’t believe me, then. But hear me out.”
    No response.
    “You say your landlord and landlady are in on it?”
    “Don’t go off script,” warned the voice of Hammersmith.
    “ They aren’t my landlady and landlord ,” came Chalker’s response, ramping up, hysterical. “ I never saw them before! The whole thing’s a setup. I’ve never been here before in my life, they’re government agents! I was kidnapped, held for experiments— ”
    Gideon held up a hand. “Reed, hold on. You say they’re in on it and it’s a setup. What about the kids? Are they part of it?”
    “ It’s all a setup! Aaaahhh, the heat! The heat! ”
    “Eight and ten years old?”
    A long silence.
    “Reed, answer my question. Are the kids acting? Are they conspirators, too?”
    “ Don’t confuse me! ”
    More silence. He heard Hammersmith’s voice. “Okay, this is good. Follow up.”
    “No confusion here, Reed. They’re children. Innocent children.”
    More silence.
    “Let them go. Send them out here to me. You’ll still have two hostages.”
    The long silence stretched on, and then there was a sudden movement, a high-pitched scream, and one of the kids appeared in the doorway—the boy. He was a little kid with a mop of brown hair, wearing an I ♥ My Grandma T-shirt, and he came out into the light, keening in fear.
    For a moment Gideon thought Chalker was releasing the kids. But when he saw the nickel-plated .45 shoved into the boy’s neck, he realized he was wrong.
    “ You see this? I’m not kidding! Stop the rays or I kill the kid! I’m counting to ten! One, two— ”
    The mother was screaming hysterically in the background. “Don’t, please don’t!”
    “ Shut up, you lying bitch, they’re not your kids! ” Chalker turned and fired the gun once into the darkness of the house behind him. The woman’s screaming stopped abruptly.
    With one brusque movement, Gideon stepped out from behind the Plexiglas cubicle and walked into the open area before the house. There were shouts, cops yelling at him— get back, get down, the man’s