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Sully grabbed his duffel and walked around to shake Chigaru’s hand "I think we’ve got it as under control as we’re ever going to I’ll see to it that the second half of your money is wired into your account before ht"

Drake fished another bottle of water out of the cooler in the car The ice had melted alh to be sweet relief

Chigaru gave a small bow, then dropped the car keys into Sully’s hand "Good hunting, my friend"

Jada and Drake thanked him as well and then fell into step with Sully, headed for the hotel Chigaru reainst the trunk of the car with his sunglasses glinting in the late afternoon sunlight

"What, he’s just going to hang around out here?" Jada asked, her voice low

"A guy that suave? I’ to pick him up," Drake said

"You’re just jealous that you’re not that suave"

"Suave is overrated and very last century I’ed and sometimes adorably aard," Drake replied

Before Jada could fill the obvious opening with good-naturedthees were dancing a little too close at a junior high school mixer

"Can you two cut it out with the cute banter?" Sully said "You’reme nauseous"

Drake smiled innocently He would have liked to tell Sully that he was just trying to keep Jada’s ypt to begin with, but he didn’t want to talk about it with Jada right beside theed for transport," Sully told Jada "I figure he’ll be gone within the hour"

Drake glanced over his shoulder at Chigaru, who leaned against their car, s, as if he hadn’t a care in the world Even at a distance, the ht have been little more than a minion for hire, but it was clear he didn’t see it that way

"As soon as it gets dark, I’ll sweep the car," Drake s," Sully said "Maybe explosives"

She paled "We just drove more than two hours in that car"

"He wouldn’t blow it up with himself inside He’s an entrepreneur, not a suicide bolanced back at the parking lot They were alaru leaning against the car She pressed her lips together in irritation

"It just seehed softly "There’s always so to pay more, darlin’ Remember that Money can’t buy lanced over the lake--visible to hi palo-fast boat jet into view It ines aand falling on its oake as it settled and drifted, the nose turning to point toward the hotel like an arrow Or a bullet

Narrowing his gaze, he saw a second, apparently identical boat about a hundred yards farther out, also drifting with its nose pointing toward the Auberge du Lac The sudden arrival of the second boat couldn’t have anything to do with them--he knew that would be too much of a coincidence--but both of the crafts seemed to have an air of purpose around them, as if they were there on business rather than pleasure

Then Sully called his naht, and he saw that Jada was holding the interior door open for the in the cool, air-conditioned interior of the hotel, and the go-fast boats were forgotten

As late as the 1940s, political figures froe du Lac for lobal relations The hotel still had the flavor of that bygone era, with its lazy ceiling fans and huge round arched s and the ork in the lobby that seemed to hint at the architect’s love of Swiss ski chalets It seemed to Drake like the sort of place that Rick and Ilsa would have escaped to for a romantic tryst if only Casablanca had ended differently

Sully glanced right, then split off to the left, taking up a position with his back to a pillar From there he could watch them at the check-in counter and still watch the door and ht the teressions had passed Once they had stepped into the lobby, they had entered the territory of mystery Somewhere here there were clues as to why Luka Hzujak had been cut up and dumped on a train platform in an old steamer trunk, and Drake’s usually ht of the man’s death

Drake and Jada approached the front desk The ave only the hint of a sray hair and seaone the sa first to Drake and then to Jada "Madam How may I help you?"

"We have reservations This is Mr Merrill," Jada said, indicating Drake as she gave the name on his fake passport "You’ll have mine under Hzujak"

She spelled her last narab her real passport when they had stopped at the apart out in back in New York She had traveled under her new, false identification--just as Drake and Sully had--but here it was important that she be Jada Hzujak

The clerk tapped keys on a co He’d seen so in the reservation he didn’t like He took their passports--Jada’s real one and Drake’s fake--and set theht of hand, and then he was handing Drake a s a pair of plastic key cards

"There are two booked into your roo with a Mr David Farzan?"

"Right here," Sully said, his gruff voice carrying though he had spoken in a sort of stage whisper He waved a hand as he strode up to the desk to join them and slipped his fake passport onto the counter

The clerk s Sully’s fake passport, keying in the passport nuentle to your liking, but if you need anything at all, just ring the front desk"

He frowned as he realized they didn’t have any luggage other than the duffels but did not comment Instead, he handed another envelope to Jada with her single key card inside and returned her passport

"Miss Hzujak, you’ll be in Room 151"

Jada stiffened, then shook her head "No, that’s wrong"

Drake and Sully exchanged a look, realizing as happening

"I spoke to someone on the phone," Jada said emphatically "I’m supposed to have Room 213"

The red-jacketed man narrowed his eyes "Yes, I see there is a note in the computer system to that effect But that room is unavailable"