Hellenic Immortal by Gene Doucette Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t hang up.”
    “And are you . . .”
    “I’m on the strip watching one of my tails have an animated argument with his own ear. It’s sort of funny. But I think they’ve already replaced the bugs in my room, and I’m afraid if I go to sleep tonight I’ll wake up with one of those trackers they put on wildlife to follow migratory patterns attached to me.”
    “This is a valid concern.”
    “Is it really?” I asked, surprised. I was kidding.
    “Microdot technology, yes. Probably not legal yet.” Somehow, any long conversation with Tchekhy ends with me being more terrified than when I started. “You will need to blow up their surveillance entirely for at least one hour to allow time for the trail to disappear. As soon as you have a window, you must put as much distance between yourself and Las Vegas as possible. Do you have a car?”
    “I don’t. And buying one won’t work, will it?”
    “No. And a taxi means a driver. You would have to kill the driver.”
    “Yeah, I’m not going to do that.” I would love to tell you I didn’t consider taking this suggestion seriously.
    “No. Likewise airplanes leave trails.”
    Standing on the corner, I was still scoping the people on the strip, passively looking for anyone showing interest in me. I saw Mike. He was in a coffee shop, pretending not to look my way.
    “Let’s say I’ve got that covered,” I said. “Tell me how to open that window.”
    *   *   *
    “Good coffee,” I stated, taking a seat at a table adjacent to Mike, who was attempting to disappear into his newspaper. It was a few minutes after I’d gotten off the phone, and Mike had no doubt spent those few minutes muttering, Don’t come in here, don’t come in here under his breath as I walked over.
    “Don’t talk to me,” he muttered, snapping his newspaper. “Get out of here before they put us together.”
    “Maybe you had too much,” I said cheerily. “It makes you jittery.” This caused Mike to stand, or attempt to, until I put my hand on his wrist. “That will draw even more attention to you. Stay behind the paper.”
    Urgently, he growled, “I can’t help you if I’m locked up.”
    I had positioned myself so that I could look straight out onto the street. None of the people who could have made our conversation extra awkward were in the shop.
    “What do you want?” Mike asked.
    “Well, I was thinking the best way to get you to stop following me was to prove you aren’t in Maui. What do you think?”
    Mike glared over the paper. I wasn’t looking right at him, but it felt like a pretty violent stare.
    “I’m kidding. I want your help. But you do need to relax.”
    “I’m pretty damn far from relaxed here.”
    “Look, they have a four-man team on rotation, I’ve made all of them, and the one with eyes on me right now is busy looking through the trashcan across the street. With the sun glare off the window, he can see me, but not you. Although I might be wrong about that last part, so keep the paper up.”
    “Why is he looking through the trash?”
    “I tossed a prepaid cell phone in there a minute ago,” I said, taking a quick sip of coffee. “I think he thinks I made an important call on it.”
    “Did you? They’ll trace the call.”
    “Not on that phone. I bought two.”
    The paper crumpled, which may have signified either surprise or consternation. “I would hate running surveillance on you, wouldn’t I?”
    “I actually know what I’m doing when I’m sober,” I assured him. I leaned over to pretend to tie my shoe. This put me just below his table. The coffee shop was agent-free, but it was also busy, and I didn’t care to have a lot of people hearing us.
    “I’m going to make sometime alone for myself this evening. Do you have a car?”
    “Yeah. Nice one. You can’t borrow it.”
    “I’m a lousy driver anyway. Wait for me around the corner from here, and be ready to drive extremely fast.”
    “I can do that,” he said. “How’re you