Rogue Angel - 10 - Serpent's Kiss by Alex Archer

Author:Alex Archer
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780373621286
Publisher: Gold Eagle
Published: 2008-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

19

“Look, Annja,” Doug went on, “it wasn’t my decision to pull the funding for the excavation. I was fighting for you. I’m still fighting for you. I’m writing a memorandum right now that’s fighting for you hard-core.”

“Don’t strain yourself,” Annja said. She sat at a small table in the cybercafé only a few blocks from the pier and listened to Doug Morrell plead his case. She almost felt sorry for him because he sounded sincere, but she was distracted by the excitement about getting the excavation under way.

Captain Shafiq and his crew were finishing up with the supplies and equipment. Lochata was stating their case to the ASI and pulling in favors from the university. They believed they’d be ready to set sail by 2:00 p.m. That was less than three hours away.

“Doug,” Annja said, “it’s no big deal. Don’t sweat it.”

“Don’t sweat it? After you strong-armed me to get the money for your spelunking trip?”

“Marine archaeology,” Annja corrected, “is more like diving. Spelunking has to do with caves. We’re not in a cave.” She took a bite of her sandwich. “Unless there’s a cave down there on the ocean floor. Then it’s diving and spelunking. But as of right now, there’s no cave.”

Doug took a deep breath. “You don’t want to leave the show.”

“I’m tired of chasing monsters, Doug,” Annja said. “It gets in the way of archaeology.”

“Not always.”

“Most of the time.”

“Everywhere we send you, you find time to archaeologize,” Doug said.

“That’s not a word.” Annja felt good about having the upper hand for a change.

“Whatever. The point is, I know we’ve sent you to places that you would never have been able to go. And while you were there you’ve always found really cool stuff. Admit it. You know it’s true,” Doug said.

“Are you trying to play hardball with me?” Annja asked.

Doug hesitated. “Yes. Is it working?”

“No. I just wanted to make sure. I don’t hear you do that often. It’s kind of cute.”

“Cute?” Doug spluttered in indignation.

“Endearing?” Annja offered.

“We need you on the show,” Doug said. “It isn’t just Kristie’s, um, assets that sell Chasing History’s Monsters.”

Now, that was a pleasant surprise. Everybody she talked to felt that Kristie Chatham and her assets were the major attractions of the show.

“Put that in writing,” Annja said.

“What?”

“What you just said. The asset thing. Put it in writing.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Am I? Television stars tend to make outrageous demands. I’m practicing.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I can’t do that.”

“But you can kill me and put out a memorial DVD.”

“Hey,” Doug said quickly, “I wasn’t the one who killed you.”

“The memorial DVD was your idea,” Annja said.

“Okay, before we get off track here, the whole problem was that memorial DVD. Once everybody found out you were still alive, the funding immediately got cut.”

Annja was surprised. She hadn’t told anyone she was still alive who didn’t already know. “I told you keeping something like that secret was a mistake,” she said.

“Yeah,” Doug said bitterly, “but no one expected you to be the one that blew the whistle.

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