Delicate Chaos Read Online Free PDF Page B

weather, and each table was garnished
     with a hand-carved elephant, no two the same. The tablecloths were white linen, the wineglasses cut crystal. The clientele
     for this one were some of Washington’s most generous philanthropists. She expected to raise a quarter million dollars. Minimum.
     More was always better.
    Three staff members were putting finishing touches on the tables, but there was a fourth person on the patio. He was dressed
     in business casual and standing next to the roof edge, looking down on the street scene. She threaded her way through the
     tables and approached him. He was tall, well over six feet with a friendly face and wire-rim glasses. She figured him a couple
     of years older than her, maybe forty.
    “Hi. I’m Leona Hewitt.”
    He extended his hand. “Ross Carpenter.”
    “Are you here for the fundraiser?”
    He nodded. “I’m early. I flew in from London a couple of hours ago and set my watch wrong. An hour late. Which got me here
     an hour early.”
    “Not a problem.” Leona waved over one of the servers and they ordered drinks. “So where are you from and what brings you to
     Washington?”
    “Pittsburgh. And I’m here for a video-game conference.”
    Leona tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. “You’re here to play video games?”
    “I wish,” Ross laughed. He accepted the Perrier water from the server and thanked him. “I’m in town on business. My partner
     and I come up with new concepts for video games and then develop them and get the new games on the market.”
    “Video games,” she said, interest creeping into her voice. “Can’t say I understand the appeal. I never played them and grew
     up in a house with no brothers and sisters, so I had very little exposure to them.”
    He nodded and looked away for a few seconds, scanning the street scene below. Two cars jockeyed for one parking spot. “Well,
     lucky for us, most people have at least tried playing them.” He took a sip of water and switched the conversation. “I’m very
     interested in your fundraiser. A friend of mine called and passed along the invite to come as his guest. He knows I’m passionate
     about Africa. And from what he said, your foundation not only provides protection for the elephants, but it pumps money into
     helping the villagers as well.”
    Leona grinned. This was her turf. Her strength. “I’ve worked a deal with the Kenyan government where they’ve given me a tract
     of land around Samburu, with about eighty to a hundred elephants.”
    “Kenya?” Ross asked. “I though they had a functional park system. More than functional, actually. It’s touted as being the
     best in Africa.”
    She nodded, her ringlets bobbing with the motion. “They do have a great parks system, but even the best conservation efforts
     in Africa need help. The poachers are always better funded and armed. If they really want to kill the elephants, they do.”
    “Except in Samburu.”
    “Exactly. The money we raise pays a team of ex-police and military to patrol the roads and plains. They’re well armed and
     know how to use the guns. And the poachers know this. That’s the biggest deterrent to them coming around. So they mostly leave
     us alone.”
    “What do you do for the villagers?” Ross asked.
    Leona spent the next ten minutes giving him the details she had hammered out with the government. How they had agreed to bring
     in engineers and drill wells for drinking water and irrigation. The number of schools they had built and the increase in the
     local hospital’s capacity. When she was finished, he stroked his chin thoughtfully and nodded.
    “Wise use of the money. I like it.”
    “Thanks.” Leona glanced about the rooftop. Twenty-plus people had arrived and were standing about with drinks. She looked
     back to Ross. “I’ve got to mingle. You don’t mind?”
    “Of course not.” He extended his hand. “This is your party. That’s your job tonight.”
    She shook his