The Encounter (7 page)

                                                        ***

              Lawrence stood in the lobby fidgeting and watching each elevator as it emptied out. Finally she was there. He waved at her. She looked in his direction. He waved again, and then met her half way.

              Glancing at her watch, "Am I late?"

              "No, I'm early." They started for the street entrance together. "I hate to be late. Did you see Mr. Ward?"

              She didn't answer at first, then stopped at the entrance and looked him. "Yes, and we need to talk about that."

              "What's to talk about? It's a great opportunity."

              "You might have
asked
me first."

              Lawrence rubbed the back of his head. He was a little confused. Why wouldn't she want it? He thought, holding the door for her as they left the building. He wanted to know more about her. Maybe lunch would get her to open up a little.

CHAPTER FOUR

The cafeteria handled its usual lunch crowd. Lawrence and Margaret joined the end of the line. Margaret was ahead of him. She asked for the fruit salad and the server handed it to her. Lawrence chose a green salad. She had no real taste for animal protein and stopped in front of the vegetable steam line.

              Lawrence looked at the server. "The roast beef, please." While his plate was being filled he watched her. She selected four vegetables. The server passed him his plate. He looked at her tray. "Vegetarian?"

              She glanced at his selection and said, "Most of the time."

              The line moved on. He paused to get a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a bowl of fried okra. She passed the desserts without taking anything.

              He picked up a bowl of red jello. "I thought you liked the cheesecake?"

              She looked back having no idea which one was the cheesecake. "Okay, I'll try the cheesecake... Would you mind?"

              "No. Here you go." He handed her a slice of cheesecake.

              At the drink station she asked for a cup of hot water. He took down a glass of tea and another with ice water.

              It was their turn at the cashier. He told the girl to put them together. He paid for lunch and they both walked into the dining area.

              He paused to look. "You see a booth?"

              She pointed with her tray, "over there."

              A Bus Boy was just clearing one. They walked to the booth and waited for him to finish. When it was cleared they started moving their lunch to the table.

              Margaret slid into her side of the booth. Lawrence took both trays to the condiment station and returned with a bottle of steak sauce.

              She watched him slide into the booth. " You’ve studied Martial Arts." The statement hung in the air for a moment.

              "Ah, yeah, Kung Fu actually. How about yourself? You look pretty fit."

              She reached into her bag for her little box. "No. I was just curious about the picture."

              "In my office?" He emptied sweetener into his tea. "It was a birthday gift from my parents." He stirred his drink. "Not something I would've done for myself, but you know how parents are."

              She tapped some of the contents of the box into her cup. "Yeah. I do."

              He picked up the steak sauce. "Herb tea, What kind?"

              She was moving her cup in a circular motion. "Not
exactly
. Something I've acquired a taste for."

              He applied the sauce to his meat. "You mind if I taste it?"

              "I don't think you'd like it."

              He held out his hand. "Can I decide?"

              She hesitated. "I really don't think you'll like it". His hand was still there. "Okay..." She handed him her cup. "Careful, it's hot."

              He took it and brought it toward his mouth. He paused, sniffed, then eased the cup to his lips and sipped. For a moment his expression was frozen in time. His eyes widened. He set the cup down, spilling some of it.

What came out of her cup was closely akin to puréed Jalapeno pepper seeds. He tried to swallow, but his throat wouldn't cooperate. It drew his mouth up. He looked at her for help.

              She couldn't help but grin. She handed him his glass of water. He took it and spit the stuff into the glass. He set it down, picked up his tea and emptied it. He set down the tea glass, picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. She was watching him. She smiled, and then actually laughed a little.

              He caught his breath. He was embarrassed and a little irritated. She was enjoying it a little too much, but she'd warned him and he'd insisted.

              He looked at the cup. "How on Earth could you ever develop a taste for... for whatever that is?"

              She took the cup. "You probably can't"

              "What?"

              "Never mind. Let's talk about, me taking over for you while you're gone. It would've been nice if you would’ve asked me first."

              "I apologize. I guess I thought you'd jump at the chance to get out of the typing pool." He looked around for the lady with the teacart. She was working her way in his direction. "Mr. Ward and I both think you can handle it. It's just for two weeks. Besides, I need someone to keep an eye on my office."

              "Why does someone have to keep an eye on your office?"

              He handed the waitress with the cart his glass. She filled it and handed it back. "Thank you". He said. She moved on. "Well, around this place, you leave for any length of time and everything in your office tends to get borrowed. You know, the stapler, the hole punch, that sorta thing."

              "Let me get this straight. You want me to guard your hole punch?"

              "Yeah. Sorta..." He grinned and took a bite of his okra.

              "And all along I thought..." A beeping came from the bag beside her. Her heart jumped. She picked up the bag, set it in her lap, reached in and turned off the sound.

              He swallowed and said, "Your cell phone?"

              "You could call it that." She looked behind her to the dining room exit, then back. "Would you excuse me please? I'll be right back."

              He said jokingly, "Drug deal, huh."

              "What drugs?" She was serious.

              "Never mind." Strange, he thought. Sometimes she was on top of things and sometimes it was like she'd been born yesterday.

              She started sliding out. "Go on with your lunch. It's getting cold." She stood up with her bag and walked toward the exit.

              What about
your
lunch, he thought, such that it is. She was still a little unsettling to him. He barely knew her, but the attraction was strangely compelling. Well, he'd have two weeks to think about it. He picked up his knife and fork and went after his roast beef.

              Margaret took a left out of the dining area and looked for some place out of the way. She followed the signs to the lady's room. She pushed the swinging door open and stepped inside. She appeared to be alone. She walked in front of the stalls making sure they were empty.

              The device was part of a communications link, through her ship, to her world. Her Mother worried a lot and her timing was usually bad or maybe the Council had made their decision.

              She had the place to herself. She entered the back stall and shut and locked the door. She sat on the toilet, took out her communicator and placed the bag on the floor. She hooked the device over her ear and a small heads-up display appeared in front of her face.

              Because of her father's position in the government, her com-link had been fitted with a special module that allowed her to send and receive scrambled transmissions. Until now, it had never been used.

              It wasn't a voice transmission. Line after line of her native script began to scroll down the screen. As she watched, her heart rate and respiration doubled. Her lips moved slightly as she read. She took a sudden breath. Her eyes began to tear.

It was the worst of all news. An assassination attempt had been made against her father. The attempt had failed with her father but a second attempt on her family had left her little brother dead. She'd had an uneasy feeling from the first night she'd arrived. Now she knew why. Her family had been moved to the Ministry. She was the only one out of pocket. The leader of the faction responsible for the plot was being pursued across her quadrant of the universe. It was possible he knew where she was and might try to have her picked up. She was instructed to terminate her mission and rendezvous with a military vessel dispatched to bring her back.

              The transmission ended. She cried. All she could see was her little brother smiling and waving the day she left. She tightly closed her eyes and froze that image in her mind forever. She dropped the com-link back into her bag. A thought suddenly struck her. The transmission had taken several days to arrive. She jumped up and left the stall at a dead run.

              Lawrence was in the middle of taking a drink from his tea glass when Margaret ran past the dining room exit, toward the street entrance.

              It took a moment to register. He set down his glass. "What the hell?"

              He slid out and ran to the exit. He looked toward the outside doors. She was gone. He took a step toward the entrance, and then remembered something. The rest of the lunch crowd watched as he ran to the booth, grabbed her little metal box, slipped it into his pants pocket, and then rushed from the dining room.

              Lawrence didn't waste time going to the corner light. She apparently hadn't. He crossed the street through traffic. Horns sounded, tires screeched and a few unkind words were thrown his way. He somehow avoided becoming a hood ornament and entered the lobby of the office tower.

              He paused just inside the doors. She was nowhere in sight. He moved quickly, checking the elevator banks, nothing. Where had she gone? All he could think of was the office. He started for the twelfth floor elevator bank when he spotted the Information Receptionist returning to her desk. He cut her off.

              "Miss"

              "Yes?" Looking at him.

              "Did you?" He caught his breath. "Did you see a young lady, with long black hair, run through here just now?"

              "I don't know about the lady part. She almost knocked two people down."

              He was anxious and asked, "Which way?"

              She pointed. "I followed her into the garage. She got on the elevator. You know her?"

              "Yeah. Thanks" He ran for the garage entrance.

              She watched, and then yelled after him. "Well, tell her, both of you, to slow down."

              He was already through the doors. There was no one at the elevator. He stopped and looked both ways. "What the
hell
’
s
goin' on here?"

              He ran from the elevator. His truck was parked on the first floor. He slipped off his jacket and fished out his keys at the same time. He reached the driver's side of a red Toyota Four-Runner, unlocked and opened the door. He tossed in the jacket, climbed behind the wheel, shut the door, started the truck and backed out. She was above him, somewhere. He started for the up-ramp.

              The elevator opened on the sixth floor. Margaret stepped out and paused. She had to get back to her ship. Once there, she'd be relatively safe.

              There wasn't the slightest breeze. Her eyes and ears told her nothing. The air was heavy with a collective human scent. She started for her car.

              Lawrence drove slowly through the second floor. He didn't know what she was driving. He looked from side to side checking each car. A car passed him. There was a man behind the wheel. He watched the car turn down the ramp to the first floor.

              Margaret walked to her car, just a little farther. She was thinking about her little brother. Her eyes began to tear again. It was a senseless, stupid death. She loved him very much. All she wanted right now was to get her hands on the one who killed him.

She was jolted back to reality when her nose picked up something, not human. A chill went up her back. She slowed, looked left and right, then behind her. She couldn't see or hear anything, but she could smell him. She ran for it. She dug out her keys as she rounded the back of her car. Her hand shook as she tried to fit the key into the lock. She got it open, slid in and shut the door. She put the key in the ignition. There was a loud pop. A ball of light grew to the size of a basketball and part of the front of her car was gone.