Din Eidyn Corpus (Book 2): dEaDINBURGH (Alliances) Read Online Free Page A

keep them silent, at least for a while, regarding the presence of cameras in the dead city. That status quo wouldn’t last. They were a dangerous loose end that needed to be removed. Their deaths would have to be part of a larger attack; just another spectacle for the show. Ratings were good – hell, they were great – but it never hurt to stoke the fire, especially with his upcoming project going into phase one next year.
    Timing was crucial, though. Spring. It would have to be spring, four months away. It was a long time, especially in the dead city, but the payoff made the gamble of allowing them four more months of life was worth it.
     
    Fraser reclined into the soft leather and commanded an image of his estranged son to appear. The boy looked so much like her . He had his mother’s courage, and her ridiculous, stubborn adhesion to what she considered morally correct. Something else had plucked at Fraser when he’d spoken to the teens over the Holo-Net. Joey’s voice had stabbed at him and made decades roll away in front of Fraser’s mind’s eye. The young man spoke with the voice of his own late father. Fraser detested the boy for unknowingly prodding that wound.
    Flicking a finger to dispel the image, Fraser drained his glass, refilled the whisky, dash of soda this time, and thought bitterly to himself.
    You’ve had all the help you’re going to get from me, Joseph.
     
    A few minutes later, Fraser stepped from the back of his car and entered the lobby of a UKBC facility in Camden. Riding the lift, he pushed every thought from his mind save business. Stepping out on the white-tiled floor, Fraser made for the level five lab at the end of the hallway.
    The chemically-clean smell of the room filled his lungs, invigorating his sense of purpose. It always did. The sanitised surfaces, busy computer banks and pristine floors were his idea of how every room should be. If time allowed, he’d visit the lab more often simply to breathe in the clarity of the place.
    “Mr Donnelly. Thank you for coming.”
    The lead scientist, Angus Ramsay, reached out with a latex-gloved hand to welcome the company chairman. Giving the professor’s hand a firm squeeze, Fraser jutted his chin towards a group of technicians working in the main section of the lab.
    “We need the room,” he stated simply.
    Professor Ramsay gave a little nod.
    “Right, everyone out. The adults need to talk.”
    He smiled at his own joke and looked to Donnelly for approval. Fraser ignored him as the technicians filed out.
    Swiping at a Holo-Screen, Ramsay locked the doors and engaged the privacy glass around the lab. The set-up also sound-proofed the room.
    Ramsay pulled at his right glove, placed it in the palm of the left, and tugged the left glove over, forming a neat little parcel which he threw in the trash. He smiled gormlessly at Donnelly again.
    “So, what’s the story, gaffer?”
    Fraser winced inwardly at the man’s manner, but kept a professionally neutral expression.
    Resting his backside on the nearest, Virkon-cleaned desk, Fraser asked, “How’s progress on the Beta-Strain?”
    Perennially keen to share his own genius – and despite his quirky personality, the man was a genius – Professor Ramsay beamed at his boss.
    “Very good, sir.” Ramsay made a double click of his fingers to punctuate his excitement. “As you know, it was the original mutation of the plague organism, Yersinia pestis , which led to our Zombies .” Ramsay giggled at his use of the word. Noting that he was the room’s only inhabitant laughing, he forced an embarrassed cough and continued. “The original mutation occurred when genes shared from the parasite Toxoplasma gondii enhanced the plague bacteria’s innate ability to influence the behaviour of its host organism.”
    Fraser nodded along. The science was familiar to him, but a refresher never hurt, especially if it was in the context of leading into new information.
    “Yes, well, this ability originally