Home > Work > The Collectors (The Camel Club, #2)
1 " She glanced around at the tombstones. “You’re surrounded by death here. Way too depressing. You really might want to think about getting another job.”“You see death and sadness in these sunken patches of dirt, I see lives lived fully and the good deeds of past generations influencing the future ones. "
― David Baldacci , The Collectors (The Camel Club, #2)
2 " For DeHaven it was well worth the extra money to a federal budget that had always allocated more to war than it ever did to peaceful purposes. For a fraction of the cost of one missile he could purchase on the open market every work the library needed to round out its rare books collection. Yet politicians believed that missiles kept you safe, whereas actually books did, and for a simple reason. Ignorance caused wars, and people who read widely were seldom ignorant. "
3 " He spent the next two days in careful, decisive preparation efficiently conducted around his day job. The three imperatives of his mission were embedded in every action he performed: (1) keep it simple; (2) provide for every contingency; and (3) never panic no matter how much your plan goes awry, which it occasionally did. However, if there were a fourth rule, it would have to be: exploit the fact that most people are fools when it comes to things that actually matter, like their own survival. He had never suffered from that shortcoming. "
4 " Jerry "
5 " lawyer,” Caleb "
6 " Damn it, why couldn't I have a photographic memory!""Thank God you don't," Caleb exclaimed in a disgusted tone."What makes you say that?" Reuben demanded hotly."Because then she'd be calling you Ruby, and I'd have to be sick to my stomach. "
7 " mouth to start screaming. Not a bad way to go, actually. Seagraves calmly laid down the rifle and peeled off his jumpsuit, "
8 " Yours and everybody else’s,” the guard said "
9 " fifteen major intelligence agencies eating up 50 billion in budget dollars a year spread over 120,000 employees, "
10 " In his previous career with the federal government he’d adopted false identities and traveled across the world. Fortunately, changing identities was stunningly easy to do in the computer age. A few clicks of the Dell, a server somewhere in India hummed, and from one’s fancy laser printer out popped a new you with all the official bells, whistles and available credit. "
11 " In his previous career with the federal government he’d adopted false identities and traveled across the world. Fortunately, changing identities was stunningly easy to do in the computer age. A few clicks of the Dell, a server somewhere in India hummed, and from one’s fancy laser printer out popped a new you with all the official bells, whistles and available credit. Seagraves could actually buy all that he needed on an Internet site that required a carefully guarded password. It was akin to a Macy’s department store for criminals, sometimes dubbed by its felonious clientele as “EvilBay. "
12 " The truck pulled through, and the gate was locked behind it. “Well, that’s all we can do here,” Caleb said in a relieved tone. “My God, do I need a decaf cappuccino after this nightmare of an evening.” Stone said, “We need to get inside the fence.” “Right,” Reuben agreed. “Are you both insane!” Caleb cried out. "
13 " Stone threw some weeds into a garbage pail and then spent some time shoring up an old tombstone that marked the resting place of a prominent African American preacher who’d lost his life in the fight for freedom. Odd, thought Stone, that one had to fight for freedom in the freest land on earth. "
14 " Everything should collect something...it just made you feel more alive and connected to the world. "
15 " For DeHaven it was well worth the extra money to a federal budget that had always allocated more to war than it ever did to peaceful purposes. For a fraction of the cost of one missile he could purchase on the open market every work the library needed to round out its rare books collection. Yet politicians believed that missiles kept you safe, whereas actually books did, and for a simple reason. Ignorance caused wars, and people who read widely were seldom ignorant. Perhaps it was an overly simplistic philosophy, but DeHaven was sticking to it. "
