Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci Read Free Book Online Page A

that would bugger the imagination.
     Evil has no geographic boundaries. Anyone who thinks otherwise is barmy.”
    After a few moments of silence Dominic changed subjects. “So how do you see the plan formulating?”
    She gave him a stern look. “In a way that I don’t want to discuss in a public place.”
    “Sorry. I’m heading out to Harrowsfield tonight.”
    Reggie relaxed. “So am I. The professor wants to start early. And the couple in the flat above mine are screwing their brains
     out every hour. All I hear is ‘Oh God, oh God, yes, do me!’ I turn my wireless up all the way, but it’s still driving me mad.
     Do you want to ride out together?”
    “No, I’ll take my motorbike.”
    “You mean your crotch rocket?” she said wryly.
    “What? Oh, you’ve been talking to Whit about more than missions.”
    “Pretty rainy to be doing the two-wheeler, isn’t it?”
    “I’ve got all-weather gear.” He added wistfully, “I like it better at Harrowsfield than I do my place in Richmond.”
    “I like it that I’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep.”
    “I’ll see you there then. I have to stop for some petrol first. Cheers.”
    As they got up to leave she put a hand on his shoulder. “Dom, when the moment comes all you need to focus on is that justice
     is finally being done. That’s all. And you’ll be fine. I promise.”

CHAPTER

    10
    T HE NEXT MORNING Reggie woke early. She sat up in her bedroom on the third floor of Harrowsfield and shivered. This part of the house was
     never heated. She looked out the window. The rain had passed and she thought she could actually see some sunlight breaking
     through the cloud cover. She washed her face with water from the tap, changed into sweats and sneakers, left the mansion through
     the rear, and started her run. Five miles later, sweaty and her lungs percolating nicely, she returned to the house. The smells
     of coffee brewing and bacon and eggs cooking drifted out from the kitchen. She quickly showered, enduring the last minute
     of rinsing with only cold water as the old pipes muttered and clanked in protest of their usage. She changed into jeans, flats,
     and a black V-neck sweater with a white tee underneath and headed downstairs.
    There sometimes could be as many as twenty people at Harrowsfield, though today she knew the number was closer to ten, some
     of them historians doing research in the library or in a set of offices set up on both the main and second floors. Their one
     goal was to identify the next monster the team would go after. There were linguists immersing themselves in some language
     from lands where new evil lurked. Still other researchers were poring over old cable communications, pilfered diplomatic records,
     and handwritten accounts of atrocities smuggled out of third world countries. The task was harder now, she knew. The Nazis
     had been meticulous record-keepers. Subsequent sadists, operating in many different places, weren’t nearly as accommodating
     in leaving a trail of their pervasive wickedness.
    Mallory had used great care in vetting all of the people who worked here. There was no formal recruitment, of course. One
     couldn’t put an advertisement in the paper seeking justice-minded vigilantes comfortable with killing folks who desperately
     deserved it.
    In her case, Mallory had sought Reggie out at university where he was a visiting scholar. After a months-long courtship of
     sorts, he’d broached the subject of bringing to justice Nazis who’d fled Germany before the fall. When she’d enthusiastically
     agreed with the goal, he’d gone a bit further, finally ending with the theoretical possibility of saving the world the price
     of a trial by also playing the roles of judge, jury, and executioner.
    More months had passed while he allowed her to stew on that. When she’d voluntarily returned to him with more questions, he’d
     answered them, to a certain extent. When he could sense her commitment deepening