Turn or Burn by Boo Walker Read Free Book Online Page B

since we checked him in the afternoon before. We moved down the empty hall, two of us in front and one behind the doctor. We boarded the elevator. It stopped on the fifth floor. A woman with a briefcase stood waiting. She had on dark slacks and high heels and looked like she was on her way to her 10 a.m. Would probably grab a cup of burnt coffee on the way. I waved my hand and said, “Ma’am, you’re going to have to wait until the next one. Sorry.” She didn’t argue.
    We reached the bottom floor and moved with purpose towards the exit. Ted and I scanned the lobby, analyzing each person, noticing eyes, hands, movements, and gestures. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The bellman opened the doors for us. Francesca had pulled the Suburban up to the front. She was standing with the back door open. She’d cleaned up since the gym. Looked sexy in her simple attire. No heels. Women can’t wear them in this business. You never know how far you might have to walk or run. I could see a little bulge in her suit jacket from her handgun.
    The doctor stepped inside first, and I went in after him. Ted rode shotgun. Francesca drove us around the circle of the lot, weaving past a couple taxis, and then we were off. We’d analyzed the entire run the night before. Only a half mile to cover. Nothing, in the scheme of things. Everything sometimes.

CHAPTER 9
    The clouds had finally parted. We’d only gone a few blocks in the armored SUV when we started to see signs of the madness. I did not like being in that car. Eyes were on us and I was in my head. Was I ready for this? Would I ever be? I’d been thinking that getting back into the action would help, but it didn’t feel that way right then. Seeing the scene around me, and Ted and Francesca sitting up front focused on protection, I realized I didn’t feel like one of them anymore. I felt like a foreigner and part of me wanted to say, Stop! I have to get out. You need to go on without me . But I wasn’t going to do that. I had bought a ticket, and now I needed to take the ride.
    There were all kinds of people, and they seemed to be everywhere. Some were chanting, others screaming through megaphones and waving signs and marching, all for their different reasons. As we suspected, and as I could tell by their signs and banners and shirts, most of them were motivated by religion. But I saw someone waddling through the crowd in a space suit. Another not far away wore a robot costume. It seemed others were there for the fun of it, almost like they were attending the newest Comic-Con.
    On the corner of Seventh and Olive, outside of Blueacre Seafood, a group of people in neon orange T-shirts were standing together in a circle, holding hands. Their eyes were closed, and it looked like they were praying. These kinds of people covered the sidewalks and spilled into the coffee shops and fast food joints and out into the street, angrily shaking their fists and making noise.
    I couldn’t stand protesters. I wanted to grab them all by their necks and scream, “Go get a job, you pricks!” Or, “Occupy this !”
    From what the doctor had told us earlier, the Singularity Summit had grown greatly over the past few years, turning into one of the hottest tickets in the country. What began as a get-together of a couple hundred had turned into an international affair with a growing list of VIPs. And now, this…
    We moved as quickly as we could south on Seventh Avenue. I read some of the signs and banners. Make the Wrong Choice and He’ll Abandon You. Jesus Did Not Have a Computer. Don’t Choose the Highway to Hell. And then there were some that didn’t have the religious message, like: Hubris kills. Pull the plug. That kind of thing.
    The closer we got, the denser the mob became. The cops were in force, too, all wearing neon vests with Seattle Police on the back. Some were on horseback, weaving their way through the crowd. From what we’d seen yesterday, a block in every direction leading to