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"Short and sweet" He looked after the retreating figure "She reuy talked like a un"

Melody cocked her head coquettishly "Well, there are always the night spots"

"Thanks for the re for the really out-of-theway places where the younger, inside group goes If you don't have other plans, ht life in this town"

"There's a great restaurant not far from here Eclectic and very popular I could meet you there around noon:"

Zavala scribbled the directions and took the elevator down to the lobby He went over to the directory again and listed the subdivisions of Halcon Industries in his notebook There were eight in all Mainly concentrated around , as the PR director had explained He took the elevator up past Ti lobby with a receptionist andHe told the receptionist he ot back in the elevator

He repeated his routine at every other cois The offices were all pretty much the sa and attractive He pressed the button for the very highest office in the Halcon tier, but the elevator sped right by it When he got out he was in the hushed precincts of a law firm

"Excuse me," he asked the secretary, as plain and efficient looking "I just pressed the button for the floor below and ended up here"

"That happens all the time The suites below us are for Halcon executives You need a special code to o there"

"Well, if I ever need legal advice, I'll knohere to come"

He returned to the lobby, hoping he hadn't stirred the suspicions of security staff in his on-a-gain, off-again elevator rides After the destruction of the federal office building in Oklaho an office building He went down to ground level, caught a cab, then another toaround a bookstore until it was time to meet Melody

The restaurant was called the Bomb Shelter, and it was decorated with a 1950s theme They sat at a booth made with seats froirl, born and bred in Fort Worth, and had been with Time-Quest about a year

Over lunch, Zavala said, "Ms Harper was telling uy Mr Halcon Have you ever met him?"

"Not in person, but I see him every day I stay at the office an extra hour after everybody else leaves so I can do so law courses" She smiled "I don't intend to be a receptionist forever Mr Halcon stays late, too, and we leave the same time He comes down in his private elevator, and a limo picks h

im up"

She'd heard Halcon lived outside the city, but beyond that Melody didn't know much about him