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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] You barely have the accent, but it's there. Do you like it here or did the agency assign you here?" "I asked for it. My family is here, and while attending college, then the academy, I started missing them. I think it was because there was no one special to keep me happy in Washington." "Father, mother, brothers, sisters?" "Yes. All that and more. Most of them live in the South Hills. My folks wanted me to live at home when I moved back to the area, but I couldn't have taken that." "They're frightened by what you do. You would have to lie to them constantly if you lived with them." "Yeah." She suddenly smiled at him, a full wondrous smile. "My dad owns a restaurant; most of my family works there. They're not sure what went wrong with me." "Nothing. You want to save the victims, punish the bad guys, fight evil, and see justice served." Page 66 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html "You know everything about me." He laughed. "No I don't. It's just that you're a lot like me. What's your favorite color?" "Blue, indigo blue, what's yours?" He considered. "Green, leaf green, grass green." She reached up and guided him down on top of her. "Favorite food?" "Indian. Japanese. Cantonese. Like you, I love ethnic food." She laughed. "How do you know I love ethnic?" "It's been on your breath every time we've met. Thai, Japanese, Korean." They fell silent, suddenly intent on making love again. *** They fell asleep very late, twined together into one person. They woke, stiff and cold, on the wood floor of the open tree house just as dawn streaked the eastern horizon. Ukiah found his pants as Indigo stretched. His phone claimed it to be 5:30 a.m. "Max wanted me in the office at seven thirty this morning." He pulled on his shirt and cast about for his briefs. "We're behind on our cases." She moaned. "I've got a debriefing at eight. If I leave now, I can shower at my gym and review the case notes." "I'll be surprised if I can think of anything but you today," Ukiah admitted. Her eyes held a quiet look of joy. She leaned over and kissed him. It was 5:50 a.m. when he glanced at his phone again. He walked her to her bike. She looked disheveled but happy when he finally could step away to let her go. She coasted her motorcycle quietly down the hill and started the engine at the bottom, lessening its deep sudden growl on the silent morning. His moms were blessedly still asleep. He crept upstairs to his room and showered, unable to stop thinking about her. Indigo. Indigo with the gray eyes. He dressed quickly, glancing at his bedroom clock. She had fifteen minutes on him, but she didn't know the roads like he did, and she had a smaller motorcycle. He'd picked one of the more powerful bikes because he'd thought, as a private investigator, there might be times he'd have to go like the wind. He'd never thought it would be because he wanted to catch up to his girlfriend. He kept to a reasonable though illegal speed on the winding country roads, but gunned the bike into the hundreds the moment he reached the flat straight I-79. In minutes he was nearing the I-279 merge and saw the taillight of anther bike. He zipped through the thickening morning traffic and then came level with her. He was so happy to see her that he didn't mind the mirror visor that cloaked her gray eyes. She shook her head and lifted her hand briefly to blow him a kiss. The traffic slowed slightly at the merge, where police often waited for speeders. They wove through the lagging cars, first Indigo leading and then Ukiah. It was a weird, exhilarating feeling to ride beside her, as if they were two hawks flying together. They swooped and twined into the city. Ukiah followed her into downtown, wanting to look at her eyes one last time before heading off to Shadyside. She stopped outside a parking garage in a loading zone and pulled off her helmet. He stopped beside her, killed his engine, and took off his own helmet. "Hi there." A slight tender smile touched her face. "Hi there." She touched his damp hair and shook her head. "You must have broken the sound barrier to catch up with me." "I wanted to see you again." She gazed deep into his eyes and whispered, "You're seeing me." He kissed her fingertips, the palm of her hand, and then took her in his arms to kiss her lips until a van beeped at them, wanting into the loading zone. She reluctantly pulled away. "Let's get together for dinner. Come down to my Page 67 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html office and get me at five." "I'll see you at five," he promised, pulled on his helmet, started up his motorcycle, and headed out to Shadyside. CHAPTER SEVEN Friday, June 19, 2004 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Ukiah pulled the motorcycle around to the back of the offices, unlocked the fourth garage, pulled up the door, and drove in. He left his helmet on his bike, closed, and locked the door again. His phone read 7:25 as he unlocked the back door and walked into the kitchen. Max was there, dressed for the day, finishing up his breakfast of mushroom and cheese omelet. "Hi, Max." He opened the freezer, got out a pair of frozen mini-waffles, and popped them into the toaster. "Good morning." Max folded up his newspaper, then tilted his head at Ukiah. "What's that goofy look on your face?" "Goofy look?" He bent down to look into the toaster's mirrored surface. His reflection wore a broad smile. "You mean the grin?" "Yes, the grin." He shrugged as his waffles popped up. "Guess it's because I'm in love." "Love? With who?" "Indigo." "Who the hell is Indigo? The new girl at 7-Eleven? God, Ukiah, she's ugly." "Agent Zheng. Indigo Zheng. Isn't it a cool name?" He pulled a plate out of an upper cabinet, dropped the hot waffles on it, and found the maple syrup. "When did this happen?" Max looked bemused by the news. "You've only seen her, let's see the morgue, the day you were kidnapped, and yesterday morning three times." "Four." He covered the waffles in syrup. "She came out to the house last night." "She did?" The bemusement vanished, replaced with concern. "How did she find it? How long did she stay? What did you two talk about?" "She tracked me with the wireless phone system. Ancient FBI secret, apparently." He tore off one of the mini-waffles with his fingers and stuffed it whole into his mouth. "She stayed all night. We didn't do a whole lot of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |