The Code War Read Free Page B

Waiting.
    David spoke
first . 'Why did you ask? How do you know
about her? Do you know her?'
    Nancy paused before replying, keeping
her gaze steady.
    'Will Elizabeth join us tonight? For dinner. It would be good to
meet her too.'
    'No. It wouldn't be good.' David was
rushing to get his words out. 'She has no reason to meet you. She
doesn't work in the business.'
    'Oh, I thought she was the company
bookkeeper.'
    'How do you know that?'
    'I make it my business to know
things like that .' Another pause. 'So,
will Elizabeth join us tonight?'
    'No, she can't come. She's busy.'
    'Oh. That's disappointing.' Nancy
was anything but disappointed. She could have been interviewing a
candidate for a job, such was her composure. 'Well, in that case, I
can't go either. Sorry. Oh, do you have a piece of paper on
you?'
    'A piece of paper?'
    'Yes, a piece of paper.'
    'I don't know.' David began
searching his pockets while Nancy waited. His smugness was gone,
replaced by worry. He found a company business card in his top
pocket. 'I've only got one of these.'
    'That'll do. Thank you,' said
Nancy holding out her hand and taking the card. There was a cheap
ball-point pen lying on the kitchenette worktop. Nancy picked it up
and wrote on the back of the card. Then she stepped forward
purposefully towards the door, forcing David to move
aside.
    As she turned the handle and
pulled the door open Nancy stopped and turned to her boss. Her face
was only a few inches from his.
    'By the way,' she said
quiet ly. 'Mel doesn't want to go out with
you either.' She slipped the business card back into his pocket and
then pushed past him through the door and back into the
office.
    As the sound of her footsteps retreated
David plucked the card from his pocket and looked at what was
written on the back.
    It was his own home telephone
number.
     
    As Nancy returned to her desk at
the front of the shop, victory in her stride, she noticed heads
turn to follow. Her close confinement with David behind locked
doors in the kitchenette had not gone unremarked. They all wanted
to know what had happened and, more importantly, who had come off
best.
    Nancy answered their unspoken question with her body language. She plucked an abandoned phone from
a paper-strewn desk, heard the dial tone in the receiver and
snapped it back in its cradle with a flourish. She scooped up a
male agent's pencil sharpener and tapped it playfully on his desk a
couple of times before returning his smile with a wink. She rescued
a pair of scissors from another desk that were about to fall on the
floor and handed them to their grateful owner along with a grin.
Her senses were on high alert as she skipped along on her high
heels noticing and enjoying all the curious glances.
    But there was something Nancy didn't
notice.
    She didn't see the short figure with the Asiatic features that
followed her, just a pace behind. She didn't see its red eyes that
never left her for a moment. She didn't see the unusual curved
sword that hung from its side. Or notice its military
bearing.
    No-one did. Even if they had looked straight in its direction they
would not have seen it.
    When Nancy regained her desk and
sat down , the soldierly figure took
station just behind her. It continued its watch. It noted her every
move and word. It smelt her blood and heard her pulse. Its Leader
would want a complete report.
     
    Heaven's
Shore
     
     
    On an outcrop of the last shore on
the fringes of Heaven, far from friends and nearly beyond the
Music's reach, Jabez watched as Nancy's
image faded from view. He closed his hands together and the globe
reduced to the diameter of a marble. He replaced it at his
side.
    Jabez looked out across the divide before him to the blasted land
beyond. He had not been here before. Few angels came this way. But
after he had finished his mission, win or lose, this rugged,
beautiful coast would forever be remembered as the outpost where
the battle for Nancy took place. A contest such as this for