Destroyer (Expansion Wars Trilogy, Book 3) by Joshua Dalzelle

Author:Joshua Dalzelle [Dalzelle, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2017-10-05T06:00:00+00:00

Pike walked casually through the entrance of the Royal Clipper, an expensive hotel in the Britannia District and the place he'd watched Vice Chairman Akio Tanaka enter along with his impressive security entourage. Counting his blessings that he was still wearing Aston Lynch's expensive suit, he assumed a practiced air of pure arrogance and brushed past the doorman without a word. As he walked by, he noticed a man loitering near the edge of the building that, to a trained agent, stood out like a sore thumb. Pike ignored him and saw that the man didn't take any special notice of him as he ascended the steps.

The Royal Clipper was pure old world. The exquisite woodwork that adorned the lobby looked to be actual wood and not the synthetic facsimile that most builders used. The art on the walls looked like it had come from England, the one on Earth, and most of the staff could be heard speaking in that clipped Britannic accent.

Vice Chairman Tanaka's security staff didn't pay Pike a bit of attention as he walked by, his mannerisms of a mid-level bureaucrat so practiced he was virtually invisible. He walked slowly into the bar area and took a seat, pretending to be absorbed by what was on his comlink as he waited for the bartender.

"Sir, I'm afraid this is—." The bartender didn't get any further before Pike, anticipating that the Royal Clipper catered only to government types, had his ident card exposed in its leather wallet and slid it across the bar.

"Whiskey … neat," Pike said without looking up.

"At once, sir."

Aston Lynch was still listed as an official aide to the President of the United Terran Federation. For a place like the Royal Clipper that tried to provide an atmosphere where government officials could relax and spend money without worrying about media or civilians, Mr. Lynch was exactly the type of clientele they liked. He was just low enough on the food chain that he'd be more apt to spend big trying to impress his betters.

Pike watched out of his peripheral vision as Vice Chairman Tanaka was escorted to the elevators. The team was good. Three men went in first, probably to secure the target floor, while one remained near him. The other two were posted up a few meters away where they could continue to scan the room for threats. They would go up after the other four had Mr. Tanaka secure in his suite. There was no way Pike could easily slip by them without making a huge, loud mess and he doubted his boss would appreciate him freelancing within the capital over a hunch.

"Your drink, sir," the bartender said, placing an exquisitely cut crystal glass in front of him with a whiskey that smelled fairly cheap despite the price they were about to charge for it. He just grunted and pressed his thumb on the proffered tile to authorize a tab started in his name.

As he nursed his drink, he watched the man he'd noticed earlier walk into the hotel lobby, still looking wildly out of place.

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