The Athena Factor Read Online Free PDF Page A

chains, rings, or watches. When he wasn’t doing power lunches, he liked to play tennis or golf. Rumor had it that some kid with dreams of being an actor detailed his Z8 once a day.
    â€œHey, the guy was in a hotel uniform,” Dot shot back. She was sitting at the head of the table and had come dressed casually in a pink skirt, white blouse, and tennis shoes. “I was there. I looked the guy in the face and dismissed him. I still don’t know how Lymon acted as fast as he did.”
    â€œAre you sure you’re okay?” Rex turned to Sheela, rising from his chair.
    â€œI’m fine. Lymon was on the guy,” Sheela insisted as she and Lymon took seats.
    â€œWhat about this needle?” Rex insisted. “Was he trying to inject you with something?”

    â€œWe don’t know,” Lymon said. “Nothing squirted out of it during the scuffle. I just got a glimpse, but it looked as if the plunger was down. I’d say it was empty.”
    â€œThat’s nuts!” Rex cried. “What was he after? Blood drive?”
    â€œHave you given any thought to suing?” Felix asked as he squared his legal pad in front of him.
    â€œSuing?” Lymon asked incredulously.
    â€œIt was a hotel uniform.” Felix pulled a diamond-studded Montblanc from his pocket; thin white fingers caressed it like a tobaccoholic would a Cuban cigar. “They have responsibilities to their guests, and they obviously tripped all over themselves in Sheela’s case. As a result of their negligence, Sheela Marks’ life was placed in jeopardy.”
    â€œBullshit!” Lymon shook his head. “So … you thinking about suing me, too?”
    No humor lay behind Felix’s eyes. “Lymon, we don’t know what to think of your actions during the last forty-eight hours.”
    An old and familiar tightening began in Lymon’s chest as his gaze burned into the lawyer’s.
    â€œStop it!” Sheela slapped a hand on the table. “It wasn’t Lymon’s fault! Or the hotel’s. We’re not suing anybody.”
    Rex pushed a folded copy of the Los Angeles Times across the table. His thick thumb jabbed at a below-the-fold headline. The slug line read:
    QUEEN OF SCREEN ASSAULTED: SHEELA MARKS SHAKEN BUT UNHURT
    A picture of her receiving her Oscar got as much space as the story. From what Lymon could glimpse, it was a rehashing of the police report.
    â€œThe hotel couldn’t have prevented it,” Lymon added softly. “This guy was a pro.”
    â€œHuh?” Rex and Felix muttered in unison. Tony had straightened, a quizzical look in his dreamy blue eyes.
    â€œHe was too good at his job.” Lymon shoved the paper
back at Rex. “It wasn’t any secret that Sheela was staying at the St. Regis. She had reporters up to the suite for three days before the assault. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out her departure time from the hotel. We’d advertised the fact she was doing the Late Show , and people know when it tapes. The studio sells tickets, right? Stars generally want to spend as little time as possible in the greenroom. So that gives the guy about a thirty-minute window to intercept Sheela. The hallway is the perfect choke point. I say the guy is a pro because he worked this out without me seeing him. His surveillance and planning were perfect.”
    â€œSo he did his homework. That doesn’t make him professional.” Tony crossed his arms.
    â€œThe police never found a print. Everything was either wiped down, or smudged. The door he stepped out of was always locked, but when the guy went into that broom closet, he didn’t jimmy the lock. He had a key. We watched on the security camera tapes later. He knew his target, knew what he wanted with her, and he damn near got it.”
    All eyes but Sheela’s were on him.
    â€œWhy?” Felix asked, irritated.
    â€œWe don’t know,” Sheela said