Read Online Origin - Season Two by Nathaniel Dean James - Free Book Online

off worrying about your own relationship, don’t you?”
    Mitch nodded somberly. “I’ve kind of screwed things up, haven’t I?”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. These things happen. At least now the two of you will have a chance at a fresh start.”
    “Yeah, if her dad doesn’t disown her first.”
    Heinz looked at him curiously. “You two still not getting along?”
    Mitch let out a long sigh and chuckled. “I always thought it was the mothers who were supposed to get in the way. Did you know he asked me not to marry her?”
    Heinz looked startled. “He said that?”
    “A week before the wedding. He said she was infatuated with me because I’d come from the outside , and that it wouldn’t last.”
    “Does she know?” Heinz asked.
    Mitch shook his head. “It would only make things worse.”
    Heinz put a hand on Mitch’s arm. “Listen, Mitch. I know I’m a little old, but I haven’t always been. If you need someone to talk to, I’m a pretty good listener.”
    “Thanks. I appreciate that. I better get going. I told Sarah I’d help pack up.”
    “Can I make a suggestion?” Heinz said.
    “Sure.”
    “Go back in there and make peace with Richelle first. She’s a lot more sensitive than she lets on. And she has a lot of respect for you.”
    “She does?”
    “Trust me, I know her. She may not have been too happy about the way you arrived, but she knows you’re one of the few people around here—maybe the only person—with the brains to do what we’re doing with RP One. I happen to think so too. Go in there and tell her what an asshole you are then go help your wife.”

Chapter 11
    Dubai
    Saturday 9 June 2007
    1400 GST
    Francis was beginning to get worried when he saw Jasper walk into the arrivals terminal. He resembled nothing less than a deer caught squarely in the headlights of an onrushing train. Francis had a sudden vision of the whole plan going up in smoke as Jasper lost his nerve and approached the first police officer he saw with an incoherent story that would quickly turn into a Pandora’s box. Titov appeared a moment later and walked over.
    “You made it,” Francis said.
    “The flight was delayed,” Titov said.
    Jasper’s instructions, received by phone shortly before they boarded in Frankfurt, were to wait in the arrivals hall, and that’s exactly what he was doing when an Asian man in a light beige suit approached him.
    “Japanese?” Titov said.
    “Chinese or Korean,” Francis said.
    “You can tell?”
    “Not always.”
    Francis handed Titov a set of car keys and his parking ticket. “You better get the car. I’ll keep watch.”
    Francis followed Jasper and his host through the terminal and out to the pickup point. Jasper, having now lost sight of Titov, was starting to look even more nervous. The man he was following made no effort to talk to him, but stayed a few paces ahead. When they stopped, he made a short phone call and stood back, leaving Jasper to stew in the discomfort of his new surroundings.
    The car arrived less than a minute later.
    It was a black SL500 Mercedes, and it didn’t pull to the curb, but stopped in the road, earning an agitated blast of the horn from the driver behind. Jasper’s host opened the door and ushered him inside, then rounded the back of the car and got in himself. Francis tried to get a look at the driver but the windows were tinted almost to black. Then they were gone, speeding away with a deliberate haste that made Francis even more uneasy than he already was. A moment later Titov pulled up behind the wheel of a white Porsche 911.
    “Go,” Francis said as soon as he was in. “Black Mercedes. They’re in a hurry, by the looks of it.”
    Titov revved the engine, threw the car into first gear and pulled away a little quicker than he had intended.
    “And if you could try not to get us killed or arrested, that would help too,” Francis said.
    Titov smiled. “Any particular reason you settled on such a discreet model?”
    “It