Read Bug Man Suspense 3-in-1 Bundle for Free Online Page B

Gabriel, due to the extreme pressures we may all be forced to work under, I’ll also be conducting informal interviews along the way just to keep an eye out for unhealthy coping mechanisms. So if I ask you, ‘How are you doing?’ please don’t brush me off—because I really do care and I really want to know. Thank you.”
    She concluded to scattered applause. At this point the meeting broke up and people began to slowly rise and mingle. Nick just sat there, slumped down in his chair.
    â€œTerrific,” he grumbled. “A perfectly good disaster ruined.”

5
    â€œTalk to you later,” Nick said to Jerry. “I need to grab Denny before he gets away.”
    â€œGo easy on him,” Jerry said. “He’s got a big job this time.”
    Denny spotted Nick charging toward him, and he held up one hand as if to repel the advance. “Now, take it easy, Nick. I know you’re upset about this, but the decision has already been made.”
    â€œWhat fool made that decision?”
    â€œYou know how the system works: DMORT is part of the National Disaster Medical System; NDMS is part of FEMA; FEMA is part of Homeland Security; and DHS is part of the president’s cabinet. So who made the decision? I don’t know—somebody a lot higher up than me. Don’t shoot the messenger, okay?”
    â€œIf I did, they’d never recover your body.”
    â€œC’mon, Nick. Living people are sort of the priority, you know?”
    â€œNo, they’re just one of the priorities. Look, I know we need to rescue the living—I’m okay with that—but we owe something to the dead too.”
    â€œNick, let me fill you in on something: In case you haven’t noticed, this whole setup is a logistical nightmare. Everybody knows it’s going to be bad tomorrow, and everybody’s ready to help—the National Guard, the Coast Guard, the Department of Transportation—and those are just a few of the government agencies. We’ve got a hundred parties in the private sector waiting to pitch in too. And every agency’s got some grand contingency plan they worked out years ago, but nobody counted on anything quite like this. The problem is, nobody knows exactly who’s in charge.”
    â€œIt should be FEMA,” Nick said.
    â€œIt should be, yeah. And FEMA used to be a cabinet-level position, remember? That was before 9/11. They had the president’s ear back then; they had clear lines of authority. But after 9/11 they lost their cabinet seat, remember? They got shelved under Homeland Security, and now it isn’t clear who’s making the decisions. It’s tough to know where the orders are coming from, and it’s even harder to know who to complain to when the orders don’t make sense.”
    â€œThen you don’t think it makes sense either.”
    Denny paused. “I think I’m not the boss,” he said, “and neither are you. But since you asked me, I agree with them—I think all available resources should be focused on rescuing the living first. Think about it: If we wait to recover the bodies, then what you said is true: We might lose a lot of forensic evidence—we might even lose the ability to identify some of them. But if we wait to rescue the living, we’ll just have more bodies to deal with later. C’mon, Nick, I know you like bugs more than people, but after all—we’re here to serve the living.”
    â€œI’m here to serve the living,” Nick said, “but there are different ways to do it. One of them is by taking care of the dead.”
    â€œAnd we will—as soon as the rescue operations are finished.”
    â€œI just don’t see why we can’t do both. Surely they could spare a few of us.”
    Denny paused again, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t think the decision was purely logistical. When all this is over, I think the people in