The Housewife Assassin's Garden of Deadly Delights Read Online Free PDF Page A

it into the food chain.”
    “And that the public never learns how close we came to a full-blown pandemic,” I mutter.
    “Wow,” Arnie mutters. “Talk about mass chaos! People will stampede grocery stores in search of food distributed prior to this week. And no one will touch any food products made with corn.”
    “Except for fruit and vegetables, corn is in practically everything,” I add in agreement. “Despite FDA packaging regulations, many food products contain traces of corn and are incorrectly labeled.”
    “Don’t forget: even fields that haven’t been planted with GMOs are sometimes cross-pollinated,” Abu points out. “If the wind doesn’t shift a few errant seeds, birds pluck the plants buds and drop them on their way to their nests.”
    Emma’s eyes open wide. “Oh, my God! If word of this gets out, American farmers and ranchers will be financially devastated!”
    “Even worse, they’ll be dying, like everyone else,” Arnie mutters.
    “Hopefully not, if we can rope this in as quickly as possible,” Ryan declares. He nods to Arnie, who clicks a button on his computer.  
    A photo of a corporate campus appears on Arnie’s computer screen. It is comprised of a round six-story building. Like spokes, long and narrow buildings branch out from it. The entire campus is surrounded by a tall fence.  
    “SeedPlenish’s corporate headquarters happens to be located here in the LA Metroplex—Irvine, to be exact. You’ll all be going undercover there.” Ryan faces Arnie. “You’re assigned to the IT department, working with the Optimization Modeling group. In that position, you’ll be able to scan through its marketing and distribution channels. You can also tap into the main database in order to provide the rest of the team its security coverage.”
    Arnie gives him a thumbs-up.
    “Abu, you’ve been hired as a truck dispatcher,” Ryan informs him. “That way, we’ll be able to monitor SeedPlenish’s distribution routes for its corn seed.”
    Abu nods.
    Next, Ryan turns to Jack. “Acme Financial Services has been contracted to conduct a financial audit. You’ll be heading it up. This gives you the opportunity to look for recent investment capital from Asian corporations that may be acting as a front for the payoff to SeedPlenish to put the death seed in play. You’ll also help us identify which of SeedPlenish’s key accounts will be tapped to put this product in play. That way, we can do an end-run as quickly as possible.”
    Jack nods as he takes notes.
    “Dominic, your cover is that of a reporter with The Financial Times . You’ll be doing a feature on SeedPlenish’s research division—specifically, the Biotechnology team, which is headed up by Dr. Lauren Rutgers. Because the SeedPlenish public relations department has already promised to bend over backwards to get you what you need in order to score a great article in such a prestigious newspaper, she’ll be at your disposal to answer any and all questions you have.”  
    “‘Bend over backwards’?” Dominic smirks. “Now, that sounds promising!”
    But then he sees her profile picture in her dossier, which shows a somewhat short, mousy woman, wearing a lab coat.
    Dominic winces. “Crikey! Not so easy on the eyes.”  
    To shut him up, Emma nudges him.
    “Donna, there is an opening for a file clerk to the director of SeedPlenish’s Plant Breeding Laboratory. His name is Dr. Thomas Wellborne. He’s renowned in the biotech field, a recipient of both the Biotech Humanitarian Award, and the Astia Life Science Innovators Award.” The picture that now appears on the screen shows a balding, broad-shouldered man in his early forties. What little hair he has is already graying. He too wears a lab coat. “We need to determine the stage of cultivation for the seed strain.”
    “In other words, if it’s still in the lab, we can stop it before it gets on a truck, and mission accomplished,” I reason.
    Ryan nods. “The quickest