"Ludlum, Robert - Covert One 1 - The Hades Factor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

ROBERT LUDLUM'S

THE HADES FACTOR

A COVERT-ONE NOVEL

BOOK ONE

ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE HADES FACTOR

by Robert Ludlum and Galye Lynds

St. Martin's Griffin - New York

ISBN 0-312-26437-2

First Edition: July 2000

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

From cells to virus, antigens to antibodies, Stuart C. Feinstein, Ph.D., has been enormously generous in sharing his cutting-edge expertise in the creation of THE HADES FACTOR. Dr. Feinstein is professor and chair of the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition, he is also associate director of the Neuroscience Research Institute.

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PROLOGUE

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7:14 P.M., Friday, October 10

Boston, Massachusetts

Mario Dublin stumbled along the busy downtown street, a dollar bill clutched in his shaking hand. With the intense purpose of a man who knew exactly where he was going, the homeless derelict swayed as he walked and slapped at his head with the hand that was not clutching the dollar. He reeled inside a cut-rate drugstore with discount signs plastered across both front windows.

Trembling, he shoved the dollar across the counter to the clerk. "Advil. Aspirin kills my stomach. I need Advil."

The clerk curled his lip at the unshaved man in the ragged remnants of an army uniform. Still, business was business. He reached back to a shelf of analgesics and held out the smallest box of Advil. "You'd better have three more dollars to go with that one."

Dublin dropped the single bill onto the counter and reached for the box.

The clerk pulled it back. "You heard me, buddy. Three more bucks. No ticky, no shirty."

"On'y got a dollar ... my head's breakin' open." With amazing speed, Dublin lurched across the counter and grabbed the small box.

The clerk tried to pull it back, but Dublin hung on. They struggled, knocking over a jar of candy bars and crashing a display of vitamins to the floor.

"Let it go, Eddie!" the pharmacist shouted from the rear. He reached for the telephone. "Let him have it!"