talk.
It was freezing here already. Couldn’t get much colder.
The beginning of
Now that had been a good year. They’d even done that play. He’d been Anthony.
Anthony.
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Ferguson, not praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.”
“Jesus, it’s cold,” said Ferguson, rolling up from the cot and walking to generate some heat.
“ ‘Oh judgment, though art fled to brutish beasts,’” said Ferguson, the words from Antony’s famous speech springing back from some recess of his brain. “ ‘Men have lost their reason!’”
Good God almighty, it was cold.
15
“They went to the airport probably the day Ferguson left,” Thera told Corrigan when she checked in with him after returning from the university. “They delivered some sort of cargo container. It sounded to me like it was the first time they ever did something like that. It was unusual — they were bragging about it — and it was very heavy.”
“A shipping container?” asked Corrigan.
“One of the drivers said it was very heavy, heavy enough that he was worried about having the right license. They’re fined personally if the police stop them and their trucks are overweight.”
“What kind of cargo container?”
“One that goes on an airplane.”
“You’re talking about a unit-load device?” asked Corrigan.
“Like a baggage thing?”
“OK. That’s what it’s called: a unit-load device.” Corrigan typed search terms into one of his computers to get background information. “How could something like that be so heavy he was worried about weight restrictions?”
“You tell me.”
Her room phone began to ring.
“Hang on just a second, Corrigan.”
Thera went to the bed table and picked up the phone. It was the downstairs desk, telling her that someone was asking for her.
“Tell him I’ll be down in fifteen minutes,” Thera told the clerk. “I’m just taking a shower. No. Better make it thirty.”
Thera put the phone down and immediately took out her gun.
“What’s up?” asked Corrigan.
“I’m betting it’s someone from Science Industries. Maybe for Park. Hold on.”
She turned the water on in the bath and stepped back into the room, waiting, half-expecting whoever had come to the desk to try sneaking in while she was vulnerable. But no one came.
“I’m going down,” she told Corrigan finally.
“If I don’t hear from you in ten minutes, I’m calling out the dogs.”
“I’ll need more time than that,” said Thera.
“Don’t take too long. Everybody’s jumpy. Slott wants to send over some of Van’s SpecOps people to shadow you.”
“The last thing I need right now is an audience,” said Thera. She stuck her head in the shower, then wrapped her hair in a towel. “I’ll call back.”
Mr. Li spotted Thera as soon as the elevator doors opened. He rose from the sofa where he had been waiting patiently and walked toward her, admiring her swift stride as much as the trim body that produced it.
“You are Miss Deidre?” he said.
“Just Deidre,” Thera said, holding out her hand.
Li didn’t know whether to shake it or kiss it. Instead, he bowed.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Mr. Li. Very nice to meet you.”
“And I you. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“You were making inquiries about Mr. Park?”
“He and I have a friend in common.” Thera noticed that Li was uneasy about standing in front of the elevators and talking; she decided to keep him there as long as possible.
“Mr. Park has many friends and acquaintances.”
“This one owes me a great deal of cash.” Too harsh, Thera realized; she tried to backtrack. “On the other hand, Mr. Manski has many positive traits.”
“Mr. Manski. Ah, yes, he accompanied us to North Korea.”
“I see. Why, exactly?”
The question took Li by surprise. “The other half of our country is an interesting place. There is a great deal of history. In the future — not very long from now, I hope — we will be reunited.”
“Mr. Manski has very little use for history.”
“Perhaps it was for the hunting, then.”
“What was he shooting? People?”
“Birds,” answered Li, stone-faced.
“I guess. But he didn’t return with you?”
“He told us he was making other arrangements. He said he had business with some northerners.”
“That’s unusual. Mr. Manski doesn’t ordinarily work in the People’s Republic.”
Li shrugged.
“Perhaps Mr. Park can tell me more,” she told him. “When can I meet him?”
“I don’t know that Mr. Park will be available.”
Thera reached up behind her head to the towel, unwrapping it and drying her hair. The gesture was not overtly sexual, and yet Li stood transfixed, watching as if she were unwrapping a great jewel.
“I don’t know what I should do,” Thera said as her hair fell loose. “Would you advise contacting the police? Mr. Manski does owe me a spot of money. A rather large spot.”
“How much?” said Li.
“Oh, dollars and cents aren’t the issue,” said Thera, realizing that Li thought she was shaking him down. “I just want to find him. I hope Mr. Park can help.”
“Mr. Park is a very busy man.”
Thera smiled. “Give him my regards, please.” She turned and walked back to the elevator.
Li hesitated, then followed. “What exactly are you going to do?” he asked as she waited for the elevator.
“Find Mr. Manski and settle up.”
The elevator doors opened. For a flicker of a second, Thera thought that Li would take out a gun and try to force her to come with him. But he remained motionless, watching as she got into the elevator and pushed the button to go upstairs.
“Thank you,” she told him as the doors closed.
