The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the Time of Zombies Read Online Free PDF

tired.  “How about if we just cut through this crap?  Where did you go in the airport?  None of the soldiers saw you inside the terminals.”   He pulled my driver’s license from the wallet and seemed to be studying it intently.
         “I was in one of the coffee shops, and then I was upstairs speaking to Steve Travers, the head of airport security.  After that, I was back at the coffee shop, and then I was wandering around the place until I came out here to meet you nice folks. I guess your soldiers couldn’t keep up with me.”  I smiled endearingly at the colonel, but he did not return the expression.
         “Turner, you might think this is a colossal joke, but I assure you that it is not.  In fact, under the circumstances, I am fully authorized to take whatever action is necessary to contain this situation,” the officer looked and sounded thoroughly exhausted and seemed to struggle with the effort of speaking.  “There wouldn’t be a whole lot of questions if I felt one smart-ass reporter presented a problem and had to get rid of that problem.” 
         His message was abundantly clear.  Clearly, I had pushed the wrong buttons, and I was intelligent enough to realize that.  I was silent for a few moments because I wanted to show Granger that his threat had not been missed.  Finally, I said, “Colonel Granger, I am not here to cause any problems for you. I am simply trying to do my job by getting the story of what happened and giving that story to the public.”  It must have been evident how many times I had repeated these same words in similar situations. 
         Granger’s expression offered no clue to his thoughts as he said, “Well, I can appreciate the fact that we both have jobs to do here.  However, I’m not gonna lie to you.  My job trumps yours.” 
         “I can see that,” I answered agreeably.  “So I guess the thing to do is just get out of your hair.” 
         Colonel Granger looked carefully at me for a moment.  The blank expression he wore gave me no clue as to what he was thinking.  All at once, he flashed a grin.  “You’re right!  I have a lot of things to do.  The best thing would be for you just to take off.”  He surprised me by laughing.  I was also surprised by the complete lack of genuine humor in the sound.  “Let me just give you your ID and wallet back.”  He made a show of looking at the license as he handed it to me.  “So how are things at 445 Almond Drive, Mister Turner?”  Before I had a chance to answer, he asked “Are you married?  Kids?”  He looked at me with cold, steely eyes that left no doubt as to the intent of his questions about my personal life.
         “Yes, I am married but no kids,” I answered hesitantly as I took my license from him. 
         “And how long have you been a reporter at... uh...the newspaper?” 
        I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the questions but answered, “I have been at The Marin Gazette for about six years.  Before that, I was a high school teacher.”  I am not sure why I added the part about having been a high school teacher, but it felt as though it might be beneficial to be seen as more than just another pain-in-the-ass reporter.
         “Well, that ’s great,” Granger continued without any genuine emotion.  “I suppose that during your time at the Gazette you have had some experience with stories that were held back from print.”
        I nodded slowly thinking about a bit I had written on a county official giving special consideration to a certain construction company which had made a large contribution to his re-election campaign.  On the morning it was set to run, Carole had informed him that the piece was being shelved due to a threat of retaliation.
         My thoughts came back to the airport to find Granger looking at me closely, “So I am going to assume that you realize that sometimes releasing news must take a backseat to