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“I’ll see you then As you know I a with the Trouts And Korean would be fine”

Austin bid Francesca good-bye near the huge globe that rose froreen floor in the NUMA lobby, an atrium surrounded by waterfalls and aquariums filled with colorful and exotic sea life Then he went back to his fourth-floor office, called Zavala to let hi with Sandecker, and lined up transportation for their trip

• • •

Francesca was ready when he arrived at the Trouts’ Georgetown house to pick her up He chatted with Paul and Gah to be polite, then drove to his favorite Korean restaurant, housed in an unpretentious building in Alexandria

Austin recoi, thin strips of marinated beef cooked on a hot plate on the table Ordinarily it was one of his favoriteat Francesca She was dressed siht blue color set off her dark co luxurious hair that seeht of the sun It was hard for Austin to reconcile the picture of this cultured and beautiful wohted over the simple pleasure of a civilized oddess ae Indians She seehed over her inept use of chopsticks, Austin couldn’t shake the feeling he experienced when they first le had seeped into her blood He saw it in the feline gracefulness of her movement, and the watchfulness in her dark eyes It was a quality that fascinated and attracted Austin, and he vowed to see more of Francesca when he returned from his mission

Which hy it was all theit an early night He hadfor Alaska, he explained As he dropped her off on the Trouts’ doorstep, he asked if she would like to go out again when he returned

“Thank you I’d like that, very ton for soet to know each other better”

“Until then,” Austin said “At a time and place to be announced”

She shtly on the lips “It’s a date”

29

WITH SANDECKER’S BACKING, Austin had no trouble co across the country at five hundred miles per hour, the turquoise Cessna Citation Ultra had refueled at Salt Lake City before pushing on to Anchorage After the all-night trip they arrived as the ach Mountains on the outskirts of Alaska’s big city, which soe They were airborne withinon to their destination in Nome

Shortly after the NUMA jet took off froalley with a couple of stea an old map spread out on the table that folded down between the seats He was directing his attention to a fist of land whose knuckles jabbed at the for Strait

Settling into the chair opposite Austin’s, Zavala sipped his coffee and looked out theat the vast land ed by rivers and heavy forests were visible through a scattering of whiskered cirrus clouds

“That’s big country,” Zavala said lazily “Any idea of our next port of call after Nome?”

Austin leaned back, laced his fingers behind his head, and stared into space His broad mouth curled in a wry smile “More or less,” he said