"Harry Adam Knight - Fungus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Harry Adam)
of the Duty Officer, confirming his fears. тАЬGet to the Middlesex Hospital as quickly as you can.тАЭ
Carter didnтАЩt bother asking what had come up. Even if the Duty Officer had the details he would be
reluctant to give them over the phone. Security in the civil service was continually getting tighter under
the Thatcher regime and a whole new set of regulations governing what it was permissible to discuss by
telephone had recently been issued. The weather was about the only safe subject left.
He forced himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. The sight of his face in the mirror was
enough to jolt him into full wakefulness. He looked like his father. Or rather what his father had looked
like at 50. The trouble was that he was only 43.
IтАЩm working too hard, he told himself as he threw cold water on his face and then began to clean his teeth.
At this rate IтАЩll be dead of a heart attack long before I reach retirement age. . . just like Dad.
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And yet he enjoyed his job, in spite of the long, unsocial hours, and the pressures, and certainly didnтАЩt
want to be transferred into a less strenuous department. He knew heтАЩd be bored doing anything else.
Dr. Bruce Carter was a medical investigator for the Home Office. His duties ranged over a wide area,
diseases like typhoid, TB and the like. He was also an expert on toxins and was often called in on
suspected murder cases. All in all it was a fairly exciting and challenging job that didnтАЩt follow any
particular routine. He hated routine but he loved challenges.
He parked his car in Goodge Street at 6.25 a.m., pleased with himself at how quickly heтАЩd made it into
town. As be got out of the car he was aware of how quiet it was at this time of the morning. If only it was
always like this, he thought, as he hurried toward the entrance of the Middlesex Hospital.
On the way he noticed something odd; growing out of a drain next to the footpath was a clump of the
biggest toad-stools heтАЩd ever seen. They were white, spherical things almost the size of footballs. He was
tempted to examine them more closely but there wasnтАЩt time. Later perhaps.
Inside the building he gave his name to the receptionist who, predictably, couldnтАЩt find it on her list.
Carter was patient. тАЬTry looking under тАШCтАЩ,тАЭ he suggested politely.
She eventually found a Dr. Bruce тАЬCowperтАЭ on the list and agreed, a shade reluctantly, that it was
probably him. тАЬYouтАЩre to go to the Contagious Diseases Ward, Block C, Level two and ask for a Dr.
Mason. Take that lift there and press the button marked two. Then . . .тАЬ
But Carter was already running for the lift. тАЬThanks,тАЭ he called over his shoulder. тАЬI know the way.тАЭ
On the second floor he encountered a nurse heading toward him from the direction of the Contagious
Diseases Ward. The look on her face disturbed him. Her expression was one of shock. It was rare for a
nurse to display her
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