with debris flying through the air.
In stunned disbelief, Diane watched what was happening.
'That-that was a bomb'-terror crept into her voice-'in our room.' She turned to Kelly.
'How-how did you know?'
'The maid.' Diane looked at her, puzzled. 'What about her?' Kelly said quietly, 'Hotel maids don't wear four-hundred-dollar Manolo Blahnik shoes.' Diane was finding it difficult to breathe. 'How-how could they have found us?' 'I don't know,' Kelly said. 'But remember who we're dealing with.' They both sat there, filled with dread.
'Did Tanner Kingsley give you anything when you were in his office?' Diane asked.
Kelly shook her head. 'No. Did he give you anything?' 'No.' They realized it at the same instant.
'His card!' They opened their purses and took out the business cards Tanner Kingsley had given them.
Diane tried to break hers in half. It would not bend. 'There's some kind of chip inside,' she said, furious.
Kelly tried to bend her card. 'In mine, too. That's how the bastards have been tracking us.' Diane took Kelly's card and said angrily, 'Not anymore.' Kelly watched as Diane stepped out onto the road and threw the cards down on the street. Within minutes, they had been run over by a dozen cars and trucks.
In the distance, the sounds of approaching sirens were filling the air.
Kelly stood up. 'We'd better get away from here, Diane. Now that they can't track us anymore, we'll be all right. I'm going back to Paris. What will you do?' 'Try to figure out why this is happening.' 'Be careful.' 'You, too.' Diane hesitated a moment. 'Kelly-thanks. You saved my life.' Embarrassed, Kelly said, 'I feel bad about something. I lied to you.
'You did?' 'You know what I said about your painting?' 'Yes.' 'I really liked it-a lot. You're good.' Diane smiled. 'Thanks. I'm afraid I've been pretty rude to you.' 'Diane?' 'Yes?' 'I never grew up with maids.' Diane laughed, and the two of them embraced.
'I'm glad we met,' Diane said warmly. So am I.
They stood there, looking at each other, finding it difficult to say good-bye.
'I have an idea,' Diane said. 'If you need me, here's my cell phone number.' She wrote it on a piece of paper.
'Here's mine,' Kelly replied, and gave it to Diane.
'Well, good-bye again.' Diane said haltingly, 'Yeah. I— Good-bye, Kelly.' Diane watched Kelly walk away. At the corner, she turned and waved. Diane waved back. As Kelly disappeared, Diane looked up at the blackened hole that was to have been their tomb, and she felt a chill.
CHAPTER 29
KATHY ORDONEZ WALKED into Tanner Kingsley's office with the morning newspapers and said, 'It's happening again.' She handed him the newspapers. They all had banner headlines:
FOG DISRUPTS MAJOR GERMAN CITIES
ALL SWISS AIRPORTS CLOSED BY FOG
DEATH TOLL RISES FROM FOG IN ROME
Kathy said, 'Shall I send these to Senator Van Luven?' 'Yes. Right away,' Tanner said grimly. Kathy hurried out of his office.
Tanner looked at his wristwatch and smiled. The bomb must have gone off by now.
The two bitches have finally been disposed of.
His secretary's voice came over the intercom. 'Mr. Kingsley, Senator Van Luven is on the line for you. Do you wish to take it?' 'Yes.' Tanner picked up the phone. 'Tanner Kingsley.' 'Hello, Mr. Kingsley. This is Senator Van Luven.' 'Good afternoon, Senator.' 'My assistants and I happen to be near your headquarters, and I wondered if it would be convenient for you if we dropped in for a visit.' 'Absolutely,' Tanner said enthusiastically. 'I would be very happy to show you around, Senator.' 'Fine. We'll be there shortly.' Tanner pressed the intercom button. 'I'm expecting some visitors in a few minutes. Hold all my calls.' He thought about the obituary he had seen in the newspapers a few weeks earlier.
Senator Van Luven's husband had died of a heart attack. I'll offer my condolences.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Senator Van Luven and her two attractive young assistants arrived.
Tanner rose to greet them. 'I'm delighted you decided to come.' Senator Van Luven nodded. 'You remember Corinne Murphy and Karolee Trost.' Tanner smiled. 'Yes. It's nice to see you both again.' He turned to the senator.
'I heard about your husband's passing away. I'm terribly sorry.' Senator Van Luven nodded. 'Thank you. He had been ill for a long time, and finally, a few weeks ago…' She forced a smile. 'By the way, the information on global warming that you've been sending me is very impressive.' 'Thank you.' 'Would you like to show us what you're doing here?' 'Of course. How much of a tour would you like? We have a five-hour tour, a four-hour tour, and an hour-and-a-half tour.' Corinne Murphy grinned. 'It would be nice to take the five-' Senator Van Luven interrupted. 'We'll settle for the hour-and-a-half tour.' 'My pleasure.' 'How many people work at KIG?' Senator Van Luven asked.
'Approximately two thousand. KIG has offices in a dozen major countries all over the world.' Corinne Murphy and Karolee Trost looked impressed.
'We have five hundred employees in these buildings. The staff members and the research fellows have separate quarters. Every scientist employed here has a minimum IQ of one hundred sixty.' Corinne Murphy gushed, 'They're geniuses.' Senator Van Luven gave her a disapproving look.
'Follow me, please,' Tanner said.
THE SENATOR AND Murphy and Trost followed Tanner through a side door into one of the adjoining buildings. He led them into a room crammed with esoteric-looking equipment.
Senator Van Luven walked up to one of the odd-looking machines and asked, 'What does this do?' 'That's a sound spectrograph, Senator. It converts the sound of a voice into a voiceprint. It can recognize thousands of different voices.' Trost frowned. 'How does it do that?' 'Think of it this way. When a friend calls you on the telephone, you instantly recognize the voice because that sound pattern is etched in your brain circuit. We program this machine the same way.
An electronic filter allows only a certain band of frequencies to get through to the recorder, so that we have only the distinguishable features of that person's voice.' The rest of the tour became a fascinating montage of giant machines and miniature electronic microscopes and chemical laboratories; rooms with blackboards filled with mysterious symbols, labs with a dozen scientists working together, and offices where a single scientist was absorbed in trying to solve some arcane problem.
They passed a redbrick building with a double set of locks on the door.
Senator Van Luven asked, 'What's in there?' 'Some secret government research. Sorry, it's out of bounds, Senator.' The tour took two hours. When it was over, Tanner escorted the three women back to his office.
'I hope you enjoyed it,' Tanner said.
Senator Van Luven nodded. 'It was interesting.' 'Very interesting.' Corinne Murphy smiled. Her eyes were on Tanner.
'I loved it!' exclaimed Karolee Trost.
