Jealous Storm, Jack Stroke [best sci fi novels of all time .txt] 📗

woman was standing with a couple of friends, the only people around Ben’s age in the place. Conceivably any of them could have been Baumer’s daughter, but they weren’t. It was clear from the way Baumer interacted with the woman in the gold dress that this was his daughter. Perfect.

Shuffling closer, Ben overheard Baumer call her Nicole. Now he had her name. Even better.

Downing the remains of his champagne for additional courage, Ben waited for the young woman to step away from her friends. Making contact alone would be easier. Except she didn’t move and neither did they. Oh well. Usually this type of thing would have been challenging to the point of overwhelming. Not that Ben had difficulty talking to girls. Except that was at school and stuff. He simply wouldn’t approach anyone like this, coming up cold at a party, with no introduction. Except this wasn’t him. Right now he was somebody else. Buoyed by his success with Miriam, he stepped forward.

“Hey, there, Nicole,” secret agent Ben said, flashing his most confident smile.

The young woman in the gold dress looked up and down.

“I’m Dash.”

“Dash?”

“Sure. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”

She screwed up her face. “Trying to talk to my friends without being interrupted by some creep.”

Uh oh.

“What did you do? Watch a YouTube video on how to talk to girls at a party? Am I supposed to be impressed because you know my name and spout some awful pick-up line?”

“No, I…” His mind span. “I… I like your dress. Sparkly.”

A moment or two of horrible silence followed.

“Are you kidding me? I don’t know who you think you are, Dash, but please stop talking to me.”

She and her friends purposefully moved on. Crap. A waiter approached. Ben reached for another champagne.

“No,” the waiter said, moving the tray out of reach.

“No?”

It wasn’t just a waiter. It was Shake. How had Ben not recognised him? Shake appeared completely different somehow, completely blending in despite his white hair. Hadn’t he driven away in the Tesla?

“That was terrible,” Shake said.

“Sorry, I…”

“Never apologise. No one is interested. No one cares.”

“Okay.”

“Fix it.”

“What? Speak to her again?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve… I can’t.”

“You have to. That’s the job. The next step won’t work if she despises you. Understand? We need neutral or better.”

“Yeah, but —”

“No buts. No excuses, remember? Get it done, Benny. Failure is not an option.”

It took several minutes for Ben to locate Nicole again. When he did, Ben watched her from across the room, trying to be as subtle as possible. Talk to her again? Shake couldn’t be serious. Finally she split from her friends. Ben hoped this might help slightly. He certainly needed help.

He moved and attempted to intercept her. In his head the move was subtle, a kind of gliding alongside her, in her flow. In reality it was more like he stood in front of her and blocked her path, big and awkward and clumsy.

“Umm, hello, again.”

She nodded.

“Look, I’m sorry about before. I was just… I didn’t mean to sound like a creep.”

Nicole moving. Ben tailed her.

“That’s not me. I was just… I don’t know. I was trying…”

It wasn’t clear she was listening.

“Anyway, I just wanted to…”

Nicole stopped alongside the biggest guy Ben had ever seen. Ben was reasonably tall himself and yet looking up at this guy was like staring up a mountain. He was dressed all in black with a number on his left breast.

“You’re all right, Miss Baumer?”

“I’m fine, Francis.” She turned to Ben. “Sorry, what was your name again?”

“Umm, Dash.”

“Right, Francis. This is Dash.”

Francis nodded, looking Ben up and down.

“If you see him talk to me again at all or even if he comes within ten feet of me, I want you to throw him out.”

“No problem. Throw him out gently?”

“Well, that’s up to you.”

Nicole disappeared into the crowd without so much as even a look back. Francis smirked at Ben, daring him to take even a single step in her direction.

Secret agent Ben hurried the other way before Francis decided to save them all some trouble and simply toss him out right now.

30

The sun had well and truly disappeared as Amber waited outside the Park Inn. Countless beautiful hotels to stay at in Port Simmons and of course Ellis chose to meet in the rattiest place available. She watched the room doors from across the road. No chance of being spotted this time. No bright yellow crappy Corolla for a start. Years of training and experience helped too. Thoughts of her old car made Amber smile. It had been a truly awful vehicle. In for repairs more than on the road. Yet she loved it.

According to the message she’d seen Ellis was supposed to arrive here at ten. It was no surprise he was late.

Staking out the Park Inn hadn’t been her original plan. Early that afternoon, after returning the phone back to Ellis’ pants pocket, Amber had snuck out of cabin three at Paradise by the Bay. The cabin had only a single entry and exit point, making it tricky if anyone was watching. There wasn’t anybody about though.

Back in her own cabin, Amber dialled the number she had lifted from Ellis’ phone. She had no plan for what she would say or do if the individual answered. It didn’t matter. The call went directly to an automated message bank. She was prompted to leave a message by a robotic recording rather than a real person. Immediately she hung up and tried again. She would have liked to have heard the woman’s voice at least, as though that may have told her what to do. She fell back on the bed.

A knock roused her from her stupor.

“Hey, kid,” Vaughan said as she opened the door. “Was wondering where you had disappeared to.”

“No disappearing, just here.”

“Want to come for a swim? Thought you might want to do something physical since your exercise buddy has gone away… Amber? Hello?”

She did her best to snap out of it. “Sorry, just distracted. Something I need