Starfall by Blaze Ward

Author:Blaze Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781644703366
Publisher: Knotted Road Press

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Hollyanne had been listening to the others chatter about Nathaniel and his supposed bodyguard, but when the two entered the shop, it was obvious the woman was far more than that.

The man hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend in his message, but she supposed that it might not be a code that he could have sent to Spencer in an email that someone else might read.

Hollyanne had gotten here early and enjoyed a cup of chocolate fudge ice cream, pulling the bottom part of her Niqab down to eat.

Because they hadn’t known what to expect, she’d gone with baggy pants under a full Abaya in blue with gold patterns worked in geometrically. The cloth around her head was an Amira hijab because of the embroidery around the edges, but she’d been wearing it Niqab-style to cover the lower half of her face.

That way, Nathaniel could recognize her, and probably nobody else.

He’d been ogling the girl’s ass as she shopped for flavors, then turned beet red when he saw her watching. Then white as a sheet as his brain engaged.

Hollyanne winked, just to watch him flinch a little, then went back to her phone that she had supposedly been reading while she relaxed.

Nathaniel seemed to relax as well. He didn’t say anything. Or scream. Or run.

All good signs. Now, if they could only figure out what role the woman filled.

They had the awkwardness of a date. Second date, maybe, because both had been a little more relaxed than a first one always was.

Hollyanne could speak from experience on that. Lots of men out there that ogled her. Maybe wanted to be around her fame.

Few of them ever got up at first light and reminded themselves that they had to outwork everybody else today.

That was what it took to be Pacific Force.

Hollyanne shifted an arm enough to touch the baton she had under her Abaya. So many things you could hide with such an immensity of flowing cloth. The dark-skinned shop owner had looked at her a little askance until she spoke Persian to him, then he had lit right up and overscraped her cup full of yumminess.

Not a lot of Iranians around here. Lots of Turks, but they’d been in West Germany a lot longer.

She listened as Nathaniel and woman were next in line. He spoke in a normal tone she remembered from other adventures. The woman was English. They’d been whispering to each other in English before switching to German to order.

Not exactly a date. Not exactly a bodyguard. Not exactly a minder.

“Hollyanne, this is Jake,” he said over the earpiece hidden under her Niqab. “Say hmmmm if everything is good right now.”

She hummed and scrolled the article she’d been ignoring, instead tracking Nathaniel and the woman as they got served then paid.

The table right in front of her opened up and Hollyanne watched Nathaniel maneuver the tall woman so her back was to Hollyanne and he was facing both women.

Without the bodyguard, Hollyanne would have walked right up to the man and said something.

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