A Wild and Lonely Place Read Online Free PDF

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    The eyes blinked, then disappeared; only tufts of hair springing from a cowlick remained in view. I waited. After a moment
     the eyes reappeared.
    I smiled.
    They studied me.
    I winked.
    After a moment the right eye winked back.
    It was my first encounter with Habiba Hamid.
    * * *
    I said, “Hamid’s a liar, Gage.”
    “I know that.” He eased the van from its parking space.
    “She’s also a lot more nervous about the reason for these messages and the bombing attempt than she lets on.”
    “I know that, too.”
    “So why don’t you call her on it?”
    “Wouldn’t do any good.”
    “The ambassador, Jalil—can’t he exert some pressure on her?”
    Renshaw sighed and turned left toward Van Ness. “Malika Hamid’s assessment of Jalil is correct: the man doesn’t have a clue.”
    “Then why did the Azadis make him an ambassador?”
    “Azad is literally owned and ruled by the Jalils and Hamids. Idiot relatives who have large holdings in oil-rich lands are
     kept happy by the award of political plums. Jalil wanted to come to America because he’s a theater buff, loves Broadway shows.”
    “So why didn’t they send him to New York? Surely there must’ve been a job suitable for an idiot with the United Nations delegation.”
    “At the time there wasn’t anything appropriate to Jalil’s station, but the ambassadorship was open.”
    “Strange system for conducting international relations.” Then I smiled, thinking of some of our own diplomats. “Well, on second
     thought, I guess they aren’t the only country that exports its fools.”
    “No, but they do surround their fools with astute advisors.”
    We were inside the Broadway Tunnel now; I watched its tiled walls slip by the van’s windows. After we emerged onto the edges
     of Chinatown I commented, “Malika Hamid doesn’t seem to need astute advisors.”
    “No, she’s a sharp woman, but she has them too I’ll arrange for you to meet one tomorrow, if you like.”
    “And that is…?”
    He shook his head. “I can’t go into this any farther until I’m sure you’re with us. We need to hammer out terms and sign a
     contract.”
    “Okay—the terms?”
    “Nothing I reveal to you about the Azadis—including the existence of those messages—goes back to Joslyn or anyone else on
     the task force, unless Hamid changes her mind and gives her consent.”
    I frowned, not liking his terms already.
    Gage saw my expression and added, “Of course, we’ll compensate you handsomely. How does fifty percent over what we paid you
     last spring sound?”
    That sounded handsome indeed, but I still didn’t respond.
    “You’ll also have free access to our resources and our personnel.”
    “I’d need someone from your data-search section assigned to help me—Charlotte Keim, if available. She did some work for me
     last fall, and I like the way she operates.”
    He hesitated, then nodded.
    “And I’d have to be given a free hand—no briefings, debriefings, or instructions.”
    “You’d report only to me.”
    “And only when I felt I had something to tell you.”
    He smiled thinly. “I can’t imagine you working any other way.”
    “We have something else to settle, Gage. As I asked you before, why such largess?”
    His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he negotiated around a double-parked truck in front of a Chinese produce market.
     “All right—my reason’s really quite simple. When the bomber moved his activities to San Francisco, I realized he was stepping
     up the pace. For whatever reason, he’s got it in for the Azadis, and he’s going to get his revenge. I’m not sure if the other
     bombings were a smoke screen for his real intentions, or related, or what. But I knew he’d strike at the consulate soon, and
     I know he’ll strike again. He’s damned serious—so serious that he thinks nothing of taking out a nine-year-old girl.”
    I nodded.
    Renshaw added, “We held him off today, but we can’t hold him off