Shadow Assassin by Elle James

Author:Elle James [James, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Twisted Page Inc

Chapter 8

Alex left the room first and took the stairs to the third floor, and then crossed to the elevator, completing the descent to the ground floor. She crossed the beautiful circular lobby with its polished white columns and made her way to the banquet hall that had been decorated with shiny chandeliers and lovely flower arrangements and topiaries.

Natalya Zotin stood near Sergei Baranovsky and Hans Sutter. Thankfully, Alex wasn’t required to provide translation services for the German during meals, unless he specifically requested her to do so. He hadn’t. Alex suspected he found it a sign of weakness to rely on someone else to communicate his thoughts to others.

Wanting to avoid Natalya, Alex turned and made her way to a table with the Italian and French delegates. She knew just enough Italian to make light conversation and enough French to introduce herself. The evening meal went off without a hitch, the delegates having calmed down during the afternoon discussions. With Petrov indisposed, Baranovsky took control of answering any questions with regard to the pipeline.

During the course of the meal, Lorenzo Ricci, the Italian energy representative, and the French delegate, Gerald Bonhomme, got into a lively discussion of the day’s topics, to include alternative energy sources, current energy sources, transit routes and joint ventures between the EU and Russia.

At one point, Ricci leaned over to Bonhomme and whispered in Italian, “I have heard that the Russians are shorting the EU millions of cubic feet of natural gas each year.”

Alex didn’t catch all the words, but she understood the context. Her ears perked, and she strained to hear the rest of the conversation while pretending to eat the boeuf Bourguignon on the plate in front of her. The meal was excellent, but she didn’t have much of an appetite.

For the first time in two years, people around her knew who she was. She felt vulnerable, like she had a target pinned to her front and back. She stared around the room, searching for anyone staring back. The only gaze she met was Daniel’s. Now that he knew who she was and what she’d done, she was even more determined to learn more about him.

At the moment, the conversation next to her was interesting enough to capture her attention, and she focused on what they were saying while trying not to be too obvious.

“Oui,” Bonhomme nodded. “I have heard the same. The Russians want us to pay for more gas than we are receiving.

The Italian nodded. “We need to address this in tomorrow’s session. I will not agree to the new pipeline if we are being robbed.”

Nothing had been said during that day’s summit session along this topic. The men agreed to bring it up in the next day’s meeting and changed the conversation to favorite vacation spots.

Alex tuned out for the remainder of the meal. When she could leave without being rude, she excused herself and left the banquet hall. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daniel push to his feet and take his leave of the people rising from his dinner table.

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