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Authors: Alex Archer
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me?”
“What about your partner, Lieutenant Greene?”
“Arnie’s back at the hotel. The conference breaks up Sunday night, Monday morning. Only got two and a half days before all those archaeologists spread to the winds. He’s giving me what he thinks is the grunt end of this. He’s taking the cushy side in the air-conditioned hotel.”
“Lakeside,” Annja repeated.
“It’s about thirty-five minutes from here, less if I push it. Just off I-94. And I tend to push it. I won’t ask again.”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
He thrust out a folder. It was the one that had been in Edgar’s room.
“I’ll drive. You can read.” He held the door open for her. “And you can buy us a couple of sodas from the machine on the way out. I want one with caffeine.”
Annja gladly reached into her pocket for a handful of coins. A dose of caffeine might be good for her, too.
Chapter 9
The Asian woman in the tight green dress was not here for the conference. She clung to Garin as they stood on the lawn across the street from the Madison Arms, pretending to admire the capitol building.
“I’m hungry,” she told him, clicking her manicured red nails against his plastic-coated name badge. “You went to lunch without me.”
“You were still in bed, sweet Keiko. And you eat so little anyway. Like a bird.”
She pouted. “I’m bored, Gary. You said I’d have something to do while you were at this convention. All these anthropologists—”
“Archaeologists, Keiko.”
“They’re boring. So many of them are...old.”
Not nearly as old as I, he thought.
She playfully entwined her fingers with a loose strand of his hair. “Can’t we go see something?” She leaned close and whispered into his ear. “A movie? A dirty one? Is there a zoo? I adore penguins.” She sucked in her lower lip. “No, not the zoo. It might rain, and I just had my hair done. We could go to a mall with boutiques. I love to shop. Somewhere, Gary. Please?”
He’d met Keiko in Chicago, where he’d been for the previous two weeks on business. A waitress at a restaurant he frequented, he’d taken her back to his hotel one night, and she’d been returning there ever since.
Garin appreciated athletic and inventive young women, and so Keiko had been a fine distraction. But he didn’t need her to be a distraction now. He reached deep into his pants pocket and pulled out a small clear envelope filled with white powder. He pressed it into her hand. “This should ease the boredom.”
She smiled wickedly. “Share it with me?”
“Not now. I’m meeting a man here, and then there are a few lectures I intend to catch.”
She pouted, but he could tell it was a put-on face. “All right, Gary. I’ll go to our room and ease the boredom. ” This last she said trying to parrot his voice. She tilted up on tiptoe and kissed his ear. “And then maybe I’ll go shopping by myself and spend a lot of your money.”
He listened to the gentle shoosh of traffic behind him, slowing, probably due to the light changing, and then in the lull he heard Keiko’s shoes click clack across the pavement as she returned to the hotel.
Garin stood motionless for several minutes and took in the other sounds. A jackhammer started up somewhere out of sight, chewing into asphalt; honking—taxis everywhere had the same tone, it seemed; the faint burst of a siren that just as quickly stopped; the laughter of a child playing nearby on the grass in the shadow of her mother. Madison sounded “wholesome,” at least on this cloud-scattered day. Wholesome and a little...he used Keiko’s favorite word...boring. But he read the news and knew that here, in front of the capitol building, there were rollicking protests...over government, taxes and whatever other causes stirred up the residents. Campouts in the rotunda. Often they played out on the national networks. And there was the university, with its notorious Halloween weekend to consider. Still, the city seemed rather
“What about your partner, Lieutenant Greene?”
“Arnie’s back at the hotel. The conference breaks up Sunday night, Monday morning. Only got two and a half days before all those archaeologists spread to the winds. He’s giving me what he thinks is the grunt end of this. He’s taking the cushy side in the air-conditioned hotel.”
“Lakeside,” Annja repeated.
“It’s about thirty-five minutes from here, less if I push it. Just off I-94. And I tend to push it. I won’t ask again.”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
He thrust out a folder. It was the one that had been in Edgar’s room.
“I’ll drive. You can read.” He held the door open for her. “And you can buy us a couple of sodas from the machine on the way out. I want one with caffeine.”
Annja gladly reached into her pocket for a handful of coins. A dose of caffeine might be good for her, too.
Chapter 9
The Asian woman in the tight green dress was not here for the conference. She clung to Garin as they stood on the lawn across the street from the Madison Arms, pretending to admire the capitol building.
“I’m hungry,” she told him, clicking her manicured red nails against his plastic-coated name badge. “You went to lunch without me.”
“You were still in bed, sweet Keiko. And you eat so little anyway. Like a bird.”
She pouted. “I’m bored, Gary. You said I’d have something to do while you were at this convention. All these anthropologists—”
“Archaeologists, Keiko.”
“They’re boring. So many of them are...old.”
Not nearly as old as I, he thought.
She playfully entwined her fingers with a loose strand of his hair. “Can’t we go see something?” She leaned close and whispered into his ear. “A movie? A dirty one? Is there a zoo? I adore penguins.” She sucked in her lower lip. “No, not the zoo. It might rain, and I just had my hair done. We could go to a mall with boutiques. I love to shop. Somewhere, Gary. Please?”
He’d met Keiko in Chicago, where he’d been for the previous two weeks on business. A waitress at a restaurant he frequented, he’d taken her back to his hotel one night, and she’d been returning there ever since.
Garin appreciated athletic and inventive young women, and so Keiko had been a fine distraction. But he didn’t need her to be a distraction now. He reached deep into his pants pocket and pulled out a small clear envelope filled with white powder. He pressed it into her hand. “This should ease the boredom.”
She smiled wickedly. “Share it with me?”
“Not now. I’m meeting a man here, and then there are a few lectures I intend to catch.”
She pouted, but he could tell it was a put-on face. “All right, Gary. I’ll go to our room and ease the boredom. ” This last she said trying to parrot his voice. She tilted up on tiptoe and kissed his ear. “And then maybe I’ll go shopping by myself and spend a lot of your money.”
He listened to the gentle shoosh of traffic behind him, slowing, probably due to the light changing, and then in the lull he heard Keiko’s shoes click clack across the pavement as she returned to the hotel.
Garin stood motionless for several minutes and took in the other sounds. A jackhammer started up somewhere out of sight, chewing into asphalt; honking—taxis everywhere had the same tone, it seemed; the faint burst of a siren that just as quickly stopped; the laughter of a child playing nearby on the grass in the shadow of her mother. Madison sounded “wholesome,” at least on this cloud-scattered day. Wholesome and a little...he used Keiko’s favorite word...boring. But he read the news and knew that here, in front of the capitol building, there were rollicking protests...over government, taxes and whatever other causes stirred up the residents. Campouts in the rotunda. Often they played out on the national networks. And there was the university, with its notorious Halloween weekend to consider. Still, the city seemed rather
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