Operator - 01 Read Online Free PDF Page B

with large breasts and thick makeup. I look away quickly, scanning the room. Veronica is sitting in a booth talking to another thin, pretty woman with thick dark eyebrows and curly brown hair. Veronica is wearing a black sweater that fits her snugly and a silver necklace with a small pendant in the center. She waves when she spots me and I thread my way through the crowd and slip into the booth next to her friend, who she introduces as Nicole.
    “I think you’ve actually rescued us twice tonight,” Veronica laughs, pointing to a short man with a bad hairpiece wandering back towards the bar with a tumbler of scotch. “That guy would not give up! Why is it that only short bald guys over fifty have any confidence?” she asks and Nicole laughs. Veronica’s eyes crinkle a little at the corners as she smiles.
    “I don’t know,” Nicole replies, “those guys who sent us drinks from the bar seemed pretty pleased with themselves.”
    Veronica frowns and pauses for effect before saying, “If it had been anything but chocolate martinis…” and the two of them burst into laughter that does not end until they are dabbing the tears out of their eyes.
    “Sounds like a big night.”
    Nicole shakes her head. “You have no idea. Most of the time, hitting a bar is like being locked up in seventh-grade gym class. These places are full of guys who are big talkers around their friends and absolute cowards without them. Which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have the charm of a torque wrench when you get them alone. And if you actually find one of them to date, you’re lucky because the only other choices are married guys, the eternally uncommitted thirty-somethings and the real creeps like Jock Awesome outside. Did you get a look at him, by the way?” Nicole asks.
    “Jock Awesome?”
    “That’s what we called George in Russia. You know, the kind of guy that always checks himself out in the mirror? Always has to be right, always in control? He was a freakin’ nightmare.” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
    “He’s sitting in a BMW right across the street.”
    Veronica nods. “I think he’s been out there for a couple of hours because I noticed the car when we walked in. Then we were getting ready to go and I took a look out the window and saw him lurking...”
    “It would make me nervous, too.”
    “What do we do?” Nicole asks. “I was thinking about having the bouncer walk us out, but Awesome could still follow Veronica.”
    “Does he know where you’re staying?” I ask Veronica.
    “I don’t think so. It didn’t come up last night. I don’t see how he would know. There are a lot of B&Bs around here.” Veronica bites her lip and twists the slender silver chain on her necklace as she thinks.
    “How do you think he found you then?”
    “That could be my fault,” Nicole says. “I’m from Kingston, and Awesome knows where I live. He saw me at the funeral today.”
    “Let’s just walk out of here,” I suggest. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t follow you home.”
    “Are you sure? George was an Olympic rower, and then he started taking karate or something … and I think he won a bunch of tournaments,” Nicole says, looking anxious.
    “Don’t worry,” I say.
    A few moments later, Veronica and Nicole step through the door to the bar with me two paces behind. The door to the BMW coupe immediately swings open and George crosses the street in four rapid strides as the club bouncer moves aside to let the girls out. George has worked himself into a rage. His pupils are dilated and his face is flushed red. He’s been drinking. He starts swearing before he reaches the curb, “Fucking bitches…”
    Just as I’m about to move to intercept him, the Samoan bouncer puts his arm out and steps in front of me. He moves swiftly for a man of his size, interposing his bulk between George and the girls.
    “Don’t bother the ladies, pal,” he says as he plants his feet. He is wider than the door to