The Jason Betrayal by Jack Bowie

Author:Jack Bowie [Bowie, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Budapest Marriott, Budapest, Hungary

Friday, 7:00 a.m.

Walker had gotten a reasonable night’s sleep. She had awoken at two a.m., restless and fuzzy-headed, but she had managed to get back to sleep. When she awoke again at seven o’clock, she was refreshed and ready for the day.

As she swung out of bed, she had finally noticed the view out her window. Her room was just a single, but still offered a fantastic vista across the Danube to the Royal Palace. The scene was beautiful. She needed to return to this city.

Her first stop was to her laptop. Before she had gone to bed the night before, she had gotten Donnelly’s room number from the front desk—they were only too willing to accommodate the attractive conference attendee who had left her purse in the room—and had stuck a miniature wireless camera to the molding outside of his door. The camera had been another of the special items she had retrieved from her apartment before she left D.C.

She pulled up the video. Donnelly had entered his room a little after ten o’clock, only a bit tipsy from the reception and likely dinner. His door had remained closed until he exited, seemingly refreshed, at seven-thirty this morning. So there had been no clandestine overnight liaisons. It had been a hail-Mary, but she felt better having done it.

Then she went downstairs to the hotel’s gym and worked out for thirty minutes, showered, dressed and had a light breakfast in her room.

Time to go to work.

Walker spent the rest of the morning sticking her head into sessions, looking for Donnelly. The search had been unsuccessful, but she had managed to confirm her complete lack of understanding of the fine points of cryptographic technology. How anyone was able to sit through three days of these mind-numbing presentations was beyond her.

Her stomach had started growling a few minutes before noon. She joined the crowds exiting the last morning session and made her way to the DNB Budapest upstairs. The restaurant was busy, but she finally spotted Donnelly in an isolated corner booth studying the menu. A surprisingly spook-like location. He continued to be a puzzle.

“Ian,” she called as she approached. “Good afternoon.”

He looked up and smiled broadly. “Sydney. Good afternoon to you as well. I hope you slept well.”

“Fine, actually. I think the wine at the reception helped.” She took a seat opposite Donnelly and opened her menu.

“Did you take in any sessions this morning?”

She did her best to keep a pleasant face. “Ah, I did sit in on a few. They were very … interesting.”

Donnelly’s smile took a wry twist. “I’m sure.” He picked up his menu. “What looks good to you?”

* * *

It had been a friendly, and innocuous, lunch. The only uncomfortable moment was when Donnelly had launched into a lecture on the new cryptographic capabilities in Walker’s cell phone.

That’s what I get for checking my email.

“This was nice, Ian,” Walker said after the waitress had cleared their table. “You said there was something you wanted to ask me?”

For the first time since she had met him, Donnelly looked uncomfortable.

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