[JJ06] Quicksand Read Online Free PDF Page B

heartily. Deep laugh lines creased his forehead. This was a man used to enjoying himself. I wondered how long he’d been in this line of work. He had a full head of dark brown hair that was starting to grey around the temples. I placed him in his mid-forties, about ten years older than Lane. If he hadn’t been manipulating me, I would probably have described him as quite handsome.
    “You mean the room is bugged ?” I asked.
    “I knew I chose the right man for the job,” North said, wiping a tear from his eye as he got control of his laughter.
    I felt on the verge of hysterical laughter myself. Here I was in an opulent hotel in Paris where I’d been lured under false pretenses, having a civil conversation with an ex art thief and a forger, unsure of whether I was free to go, all while under surveillance. It was one of those situations where I really needed to laugh so I didn’t cry.
    “Of course the room is bugged,” North said. “But I don’t see any harm in letting you two catch up in private before we get to work. If you’ll leave your cell phones with me, you can choose any location you’d like that’s nearby—within reason.”
    “Jones, you choose,” Lane said. “North knows me too well. Anywhere I can think of, he might have already bugged.”
    North barked out another burst of laughter.
    “The rooftop,” I said.
    “It’s windy and cold,” Lane said. “And...”
    “You never would have suggested it? Then it’s perfect.”
    North thought for a moment before nodding. “If you can find your way up there, I don’t see why not. Oh, and Lane,” he added, all levity from his voice gone as he spoke the name. “Convince her. I don’t want to destroy her life.”
    Destroy my life? What an odd way to phrase a threat.
    North handed me the stack of documents in exchange for my cell phone, and walked behind us on our way to the elevator. He punched the button going up to the top floor, then waved goodbye as the doors closed behind us.
    In the short ride to the hotel’s top floor, I thought Lane and I might share a quick kiss to take the edge off of the stressful situation. Instead, he took the plastic-covered pages from me and held them up to the light.
    “Nice to see you, too,” I mumbled to myself.
    “One second,” he replied distractedly, running his fingers along the edges of the plastic. “Unless technology has progressed exponentially in the last few years, there’s no way these are bugged.”
    He handed them back to me, and I tucked them gingerly into my shoulder bag, careful not to bend them.
    After getting off the elevator on the top floor, which dropped us in front of the hotel’s restaurant, Lane scanned our surroundings.
    “This way,” he said, leading us to a service door. A red slash on a sign indicated people weren’t to enter, but the door wasn’t locked. We climbed the last flight of stairs leading to the roof of the hotel.
    A burst of cold air hit me as we opened the metal door. It was apparent why the door below had been unlocked. Dozens of cigarette butts lined the space next to the door.
    Though the roof was flat, it was covered with chimneys and other obstructions. Lane took a few minutes to circle the roof. I didn’t know if he was making sure we were alone or looking for surveillance devices.
    Standing near the ledge, I could see for miles across an overcast Paris. The city was full of so much life and so much history. A living history I was now part of. I was so entranced by the sweeping views of the snaking Seine river with its stone bridges, the modern buildings mixed with ancient ones, and the famous Eiffel Tower rising lower into the heavens than I’d imagined, that I was surprised by Lane’s presence back at my side.
    I was even more surprised when he pulled me into a kiss that I felt through my whole body. My shoulder bag nearly fell to the ground as he swept me into his arms. The scent of his aftershave and the feel of his strong lips took me back to where