The Antiterrorist: A Jake Corby Sci-Fi Thriller (Mysterious Events Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a creative plan, but so far, they haven’t come up with any workable ideas.”
    “But the situation is even worse,” Charli said.
    “Worse?”
    “Yes.” Hallstrom ran a hand through his hair. “The terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack, and they say they’re going to finish off the ISS unless their demands are met.”
    Charli had one hand on the rails of my bed. “They call themselves the Ninety-Nine-Percent Solution. Our mad scientist, McClaren, and a guy called Weston Broker are the leaders. Recognize this man?” She handed me a photo.
    I looked at it, remembering the man immediately. I tapped the picture. “Yes, that guy directed my interrogation. Looks like a yuppie in L.L. Bean clothing. He seems confident.”
    Hallstrom nodded. “That guy is a former venture capitalist who has organized an alliance between militia groups, McClaren, and radicalized investors. Their philosophy is a mixed up combination of Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, and Occupy Wall Street. Here’s what they sent us.” He pulled a pack of papers from his briefcase and handed it to me.
    “All this? This is, what, eighty pages?”
    Hallstrom nodded. “Just read the summary at the top. You’ll get the idea.”
    I took a look.
    Dear fellow citizens of the world. The information revolution and the globalization of commerce has been a disaster for the human race. The United States government has spent our hard-earned taxes, taxes which were illegally levied, to benefit only the wealthiest of its citizens and the all-powerful corporations while ignoring the needs of 99% of its citizens.
    Our group has arisen to strike a retaliatory blow which will serve as a wake-up call to our leaders and express the revelation of the mass injustice that has been perpetrated on us …
    I flipped through some of the other pages. “I get the idea. Do they have any specific demands?”
    Hallstrom checked a page on his clipboard. “Let’s see. They want to abolish income tax, they want some big corporations disbanded, the list goes on and on.”
    I frowned. “But what about specific, immediate demands?”
    “Right,” Hallstrom said. “They have a list of twenty so-called political prisoners, some of whom are dangerous criminals. If they aren’t released by December 10th, the group says it will destroy the ISS.”
    “Can we move the ISS? Change its orbit?”
    Charli shook her head. “Apparently not. If it weren’t damaged, we could, but the way it is now, no.”
    “Well, that gives us three weeks. And I should be pretty well healed by then.”
    Hallstrom scoffed and put his hand up. “I’d love to use you, Jake, but you’d better sit this one out.”
    “We’ll see,” I said.
    I heard a small gasp at the door and looked over to see my wife, Mary.
    I’ve never figured out what I did to deserve her. She’s forty-one, five years my senior, but strangers still suspect she’s my trophy wife. Everyone notices her eyes first, large and deep and the color of amber. They work together with the rest of her exquisite features to provide color commentary for everything she says. She has a trim figure that lies somewhere between yoga instructor and gym rat.
    Her frown, as she crossed to the bed, let me know how angry she was that I had gotten myself into the situation that resulted in my injuries, but a softness in the set of her mouth told me how happy she was to be with me again. I put my water cup back on the side table, misjudged the distance, and spilled it, getting a puzzled glance from her. She doesn’t miss much.
    She managed to give me a full-body hug— ouch— without the usual awkwardness of an embrace with someone who’s reclining.
    “Director Hallstrom and Charli Keller, I’d like to introduce my wife, Mary, who owns and runs a successful graphic design company down in Mexico City.”
    That earned me an eye-roll from Mary. She knew I always felt the need to let people know she’s her own woman, not a submissive little housewife.