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I flipped open the laptop and was in the process of cabling it to the printer when the three of the around in the corner, setting up the baked goods Robertonext to the desk

I shook Roberto’s hand before he sat down He barely glanced atcovert glances at the rubber tree, looking confused But she didn’t say anything, just kept helping the delivery the chairs, even bringing in the patio chairs fro for everybody Only when she’d finished and left the room did Roberto speak

"I told the people downstairs that I needed ten minutes alone with you before they came up We’ve already lost nearly half of it So we’d better hurry Give ed a jump drive into one of the co the printed pages It didn’t take hi else I need to know?" He sounded suspicious I suppose it’s only natural He’s a criminal defense attorney People lie to their attorneys all the time

So I told him the rest of the information Sadly, there was no way for Bruno not to overhear

16

I have a reasonably large office But it was fairly croith everybody crammed in there Gibson had taken a seat in the patio chair nearest the balcony doors He was quiet, subdued, and acting very ether So either he had told them already or he hadn’t and didn’t want to Either as fine with me

The Feds were both alike and opposites Their names were Erikson and Rizzoli The former was very Nordic and handsoer ads Rizzoli was about average height, built blocky, and as Italian as pasta, evenI wouldn’t have believed possible if I hadn’t seen it for ents were dressed in identical conservative suits and carried themselves in a way that just screa center, but the ra that is easy to spot once you’ve seen it

The king’s retainers had long names that I couldn’t hope to pronounce They were impeccably dressed, their suits hand tailored, top-of-the-line, and up-to-the-minute in European fashion I could also feel a frisson of power that told ics I’d had on ht even ask if theirs caainst it They didn’t look like they’d have a sense of hu In fact, despite thedressing, they looked like they were just the sort of people to use that kind of weapon They were big and inti, with heavily eastern European features Maybe the plan had been to scare lish was almost perfect, except for a bit of stilted formality and the occasional odd turn of phrase In my head I labeled them Tweedledee and Tweedledum Dee was the senior; Dum, the more powerful

They asked questions

I answered

The Feds asked questions

I answered

Then back to the retainers

It grew tiresome Then tedious The time for breakfast passed Then lunch I kneas supposed to drink so, but I didn’t think it wise to ask for a break So I crossedthe questions

We’d all had coffee, but while the men apparently had cast-iron bladders, I didn’t Maybe it was so contest Whatever Eventually, I gave in and told everyone I needed a bathrooot in there, but the box was erator? It didn’t really matter, because I didn’t thinkten et one When I ca down on the cinnamon rolls The smell started to drive me crazy, so I decided to join them

Bad mistake

I took a bite I chehich, by the way, is a seriously tricky proposition when you have fangs) And I choked Badly

I couldn’t s it

I tried washing it doith coffee

No luck