A Game of Chance by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page B

be cancelled, Wilkins had told him how she had swung her carry-on bag at him, one-armed, and that the damn thing had to weigh a ton, because it had almost knocked him off his feet.
    By now, Wilkins and the other three, "Ms. Fayne." and the two security "policemen," would have vanished from the airport. The real airport security had been briefed to stay out of the way, and everything had worked like a charm, though Wilkins had groused at being taken down so roughly. "First that little witch damn near breaks my arm with that bag, then you try to break my back," he'd growled, while they all laughed at him.
    Just what was in that bag, anyway? She had held on to it as if it contained the crown jewels, not letting him carry it even when she was right there with him, and only reluctantly letting him take it to stow in the luggage compartment behind them. He'd been surprised at how heavy it was, too heavy to contain the single change of clothes required by an overnight trip, even with a vast array of makeup and a hairdryer thrown in for good measure. The bag had to weigh a good fifty pounds, maybe more. Well, he would find out soon enough what was in it.
    "What were you going to do with that guy if you'd caught him?" he asked in a lazy tone, partly to keep her talking, establishing a link between them, and partly because he was curious. She had been chasing after Wilkins with a fiercely determined expression on her face, so determined that, if Wilkins were still running, she would probably still be chasing him.
    "I don't know," she said darkly. "I just knew I couldn't let it happen again."
    "Again?" Damn, was she going to tell him about Chicago?
    "Last month, a green-haired cretin snatched my briefcase in the airport in Chicago." She slapped the arm of the seat. "That's the first time anything like that has ever happened on one of my jobs, then to have it happen again just a month later—I'd have been fired. Heck, I would fire me, if I were the boss."
    "You didn't catch the guy in Chicago?"
    "No. I was in Baggage Claims, and he just grabbed the briefcase, zipped out the door and was gone."
    "What about security? They didn't try to catch him?"
    She peered at him over the top of the oversize sunglasses. "You're kidding, right?"
    He laughed. "I guess I am."
    "Losing another briefcase would have been a catastrophe, at least to me, and it wouldn't have done the company any good, either."
    "Do you ever know what's in the briefcases?"
    "No, and I don't want to. It doesn't matter. Someone could be sending a pound of salami to their dying uncle Fred, or it could be a billion dollars worth of diamonds—not that I think anyone would ever ship diamonds by a courier service, but you get the idea."
    "What happened when you lost the briefcase in Chicago?"
    "My company was out a lot of money—rather, the insurance company was. The customer will probably never use us again, or recommend us."
    "What happened to you? Any disciplinary action?" He knew there hadn't been.
    "No. In a way, I would have felt better if they had at least fined me."
    Damn, she was good, he thought in admiration—either that, or she was telling the truth and hadn't had anything to do with the incident in Chicago last month. It was possible, he supposed, but irrelevant. Whether or not she'd had anything to do with losing that briefcase, he was grateful it had happened, because otherwise she would never have come to his notice, and he wouldn't have this lead on Crispin Hauer.
    But he didn't think she was innocent; he thought she was in this up to her pretty neck. She was better than he had expected, an actress worthy of an Oscar—so good he might have believed she didn't know anything about her father, if it wasn't for the mystery bag and her deceptive strength. He was trained to put together seemingly insignificant details and come up with a coherent picture, and experience had made him doubly cynical. Few people were as honest as they wanted you to believe, and the people