Spiral Read Online Free PDF Page B

nothing.
    Carter felt suddenly, terribly alone.
    For a while he watched the snow, then stared down at the ECube nestling in his palm like a tiny Chinese puzzle box. He squeezed it, and it came to life. Small blue digits flickered across its alloy face. He looked from the ECube to the roaring fire - and for a moment was undecided ...
    He could destroy it. Walk away.
    He had sworn that he was through with Spiral.
    Because…
    When he was through with Spiral, then he was through with Kade.
    Carter shivered, staring into the flames.
    Spiral did not know about Kade. But then, nobody knew about Kade. Kade was a ghost that Carter would rather forget: a dark and psychopathic slice of his personality that had found itself a voice; a dark and menacing angel squatting in his mind. A demon ready to feed, to prove itself again as it had in Egypt and China and Poland ...
    Carter sighed.
    He turned from the flames and slumped into the embrace of the deep and comfortable sofa. Samson climbed to his feet ponderously, for the dog was large for a Labrador - hence his fitting and none too subtle name -yawned, padded over to Carter, climbed up slowly next to the man and placed his wide head on Carter’s lap. Samson gave a huge dog sigh and Carter rubbed gently at his velvety ears.
    Protection, Natasha had said. Carter’s mouth was dry and he realised that she - and Spiral itself - understood him perfectly. No more killing. No more demolition. No more destruction ... Those days were over. Gone. Dissolved into dust, just like Cairo.
    Protection.
    The protection of the niece of a senior Spiral weapons researcher.
    No killing ... no bombs ... no cool collective violence...
    ‘Talk to me,’ he said to the ECube. Instantly it locked onto his voice pattern and linked with a click to the Spiral mainframe...
    Spiral Mainframe
    Data log #887
    CLASSIFIED FFUCH/111/SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT
    Data Request 117554#887
    Count Feuchter; German professor, born in Schwalenberg, educated in Munich, London and Prague. Great-grandfather killed by the Nazis during World War II after being tortured somewhere on the German/Austrian border. Mother and two sons fled to Italy, then to England for protection after the war was over; Feuchter comes from this bloodline.
    Expert in computing systems, specialising in processor function and artificial intelligence. Currently pioneering military processor after setting up Spiral_Q, with co-programmer and system developer, Durell. Spiral_Q - currently based in Rub al’Khali, Saudi Arabia, also named The Great Sandy Desert. The technologically advanced research station has been set up with the knowledge of the Saudi government in what is a largely completely unexplored region of desert; the Saudi government has been bribed with technology and information to turn a blind eye on the operations there, and no satellite locks have been discovered: the station is, therefore, invisible to most of the snooping eyes of the world.
    QIII Military Proc - classified; Level Z access required.
    Caution activation: Feuchter has been the victim of various death threats; suspect terrorist activity, probably Middle Eastern influences with sights set on the ‘rumoured’ processor which is in development. German Special Forces are involved with protecting Feuchter on home ground. One weak link could be his niece, daughter of his murdered brother; she travels with him everywhere and could be a target for kidnapping, even murder in order to blackmail Feuchter or garner information on the QIII.
    Keyword SEARCH>>DURELL, QIII [lvlz], NEX [lvlz] SPIRAL_Q
    Carter peered out through the smoked glass as the engines whined. He grinned like a young boy - unable to contain himself - as he felt the power of the machine beneath him wind up like a turbine.
    The Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche eased up from the snow, suspension bobbing as it was released from the aircraft’s dead weight, and Carter watched the Scottish mountains drop away beneath him.