The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme 11)

Rhyme and Sachs would brainstorm about where the bombs might be and realize that, yes, of course, they were in the batteries for the crime scene lights. Since they might go off at any time and it would take awhile for the Bomb Squad to break through the sealed cases and render-safe, or extract the IEDs, the Department of Environmental Protection would take the drastic but necessary step of shutting the massive gates of Water Tunnel 3's Midtown valve, squelching the supply of water flowing to the pipe Billy was now walking beside.

As soon as that happened the pressure in the pipe would drop to nearly nothing.

Which would allow him to drill a one-thirty-second-inch hole through the iron - a feat impossible when the line was active because the pressure would force the water out of the hole at the speed and with the cutting force of an industrial laser.

With the pressure off he could then inject into the water supply pipe what he'd brought with him here, in the metal thermos. The last poison of the Modification.

Botulinum, a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, is the most poisonous substance on earth. A half teaspoon could easily kill the entire population of the United States.

While it is generally very difficult to come by the more toxic substances in the world - say, radioactive poisons such as polonium and plutonium - botulinum is surprisingly available.

And we have vanity to thank for that.

The bacteria are the basis for Botox, a muscle relaxant to relieve spasticity. It's mostly known, though, for cosmetic treatments to smooth skin (its toxic qualities inhibit a neurotransmitter that creates wrinkles).

The stockpiles of the spores are carefully guarded but Billy had located a source and broken into a cosmetic surgical supply company in the Midwest. In addition to a good selection of drugs and medical gear, he'd managed to steal enough spores to create a botulinum factory, which had been silently - and airlessly - producing a stockpile of the bacteria and the toxin and more spores.

The idea of weaponizing such a delightfully deadly substance was hardly original, of course. But no one had ever done so before - for a very simple reason. Delivery was nearly impossible. The toxin must be ingested or inhaled or enter the body through mucous membranes or open wounds. Contact with skin alone is not enough. Since it is very difficult to deliver a large amount of aerosol toxin, that meant an attack would have to be via food or water.

But salt, heat, alkaline substances and oxygen can kill the bacteria. So will chlorine, which is added to New York City's water supply, along with the anti-tooth-cavity additive fluoride, orthophosphate to counterbalance lead contamination and hydroxide to increase the alkalinity of the supply.

Billy, however, had learned to grow a concentrated form of botulinum that was resistant to chlorine. Yes, some of the toxin he injected into the water supply would be destroyed, or its deadly effects dimmed, but the estimate was that enough would survive and be carried to households throughout Midtown and lower Manhattan and much of Queens. The death toll would probably be four thousand or so; the sick and severely injured would be many times that.

One group would be particularly hard hit: children. Infant botulism poisoning occurred with some frequency (often children younger than twelve months who'd eaten honey in which spores naturally resided). Billy had considered their deaths and he didn't feel troubled by them. This was a war, after all. Sacrifices had to be made.

The city would react quickly, of course, with the Health Department and Homeland Security racing to find the source of the illness. There'd be some delay as officials thought chemical nerve agents - the symptoms are similar - and with some luck medical workers would start injecting atropine and pralidoxime, which actually increase botulism's lethal strength. Some would diagnose myasthenia gravis. But then would come the serum and stool tests and finally mass spectrometry would confirm what the disease truly was.

By then, of course, the damage would be done.

A secondary consequence, which would cause even more extensive, if less lethal, damage was also predicted by the Modification: The city would soon find the source of the toxin but wouldn't know how far-flung the poisoning was. Was the Bronx in danger next? New Jersey or Connecticut?

The only thing the authorities could do - the utterly incompetent city, state and federal governments - was shut down the entire water system. New York City, not a drop to drink, not a drop to carry away sewage. Or clean. Or generate electricity (most of the city's power came from electric generator plants whose turbines used steam). The East River and the Hudson would become a Ganges, a source of bathing, waste and drinking water ... and disease.

A plague, not a flood, would destroy the city.

But the plan's success depended on the one remaining key factor: closing the Midtown valve to allow Billy to inject the poison. If that didn't happen, the Modification would fail. The upstream reservoirs and aqueducts - easily accessible - were monitored in real time for any kind of toxins; the plan required that the poison had to be introduced into the supply here, south of Central Park, where it was theoretically impossible to taint the system and was therefore not guarded.

Billy now chec

ked his location. Yes. He was close to the best spot to drill into the pipe.

But he needed confirmation that the water supply had been shut down.

Come on, he thought, come on ...

Impatient.

Timing was everything.

Finally his phone hummed with a message. He looked down. Aunt Harriet. She'd sent him a link. He tapped the screen and turned the phone sideways to read the article. The story was time-stamped one minute ago.

TERROR ALERT IN NEW YORK

Water Supply Targeted

By Unknown Bombers

Officials in New York City are shutting down the largest mains supplying water to Manhattan south of Central Park and much of Queens, to prevent the risk of flooding, in response to an apparent terrorist plot.