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gs still unsteady. The attractive brunette looked up at him from behind her dark glasses, and asked, “Ça t’amuse de faire attendre les gens?” Do you like to keep people waiting?
Abel cleared his throat and tried to look relaxed. “J’ai eu un contretemps.” Something came up.
“Really,” she said in a doubting tone. “Like standing across the street pretending to read a magazine?”
“I was merely trying to be cautious.” Abel wondered how in the hell they knew what he looked like.
“Not cautious enough.” She tilted her head. “I noticed you met my business associate.”
Abel glanced back at the newsstand. The corner wasn’t crowded, but neither was it empty. People were coming and going in all four directions, but no one was standing there looking back at them. Abel was still a bit off kilter, and all he could manage to say was, “So that was your partner.”
“Yes.” She smiled. “He’s a rather resourceful man. Not the type of person you want to upset.”
Abel recalled the man’s hot breath on his neck, and he suppressed a shiver. He composed himself and gestured toward the chair with the umbrella on it. “May I sit?”
“By all means.” She grabbed the umbrella and hooked it to her arm rest. She did not bother to introduce herself. If they agreed to proceed to the next step she would provide him with an alias.
In an effort to lighten the mood, and get beyond his own professional embarrassment, Abel said, “I apologize for making you wait, but I am always a bit jumpy during these initial meetings.”
“You do this type of thing often?”
The dark sunglasses made it impossible to get a complete idea of the woman’s face, which he supposed was intended. “Often enough, but I have a short list of contractors that I usually use.”
“If you have other skilled people, why are you talking to me?”
The waiter approached before he could answer. Abel ordered a cup of coffee and when the waiter was gone he said, “My services have been retained by someone who would like a problem to go away. A very interesting problem. One that I’m not sure I’m comfortable using any of my ordinary contacts on.”
She studied him from behind her one-way glasses. “If things don’t go as planned, you don’t want anyone tracing the job back to you?”
She was a smart woman. Abel conceded the point saying, “That is part of it.”
“And the other part?”
Abel put on a humble face. “Some jobs require nothing more than brute force. I have many people who fit this profile, and to be honest, I do not enjoy doing business with any of them. Other jobs require a bit of cunning and deceit.” Abel shrugged. “I have a few people who aren’t so rough around the edges and are competent enough. Still other jobs require a true professional. Someone who is creative with solutions and adept with follow-through. I have maybe one man who I would put in this category.”
“So why not use him?”
The waiter appeared with the fresh cup of coffee. Abel held his answer until they were alone again. “I considered it, but in the end I decided there was one limitation that might prevent him from succeeding.”
“What, may I ask, is that?”
There was a line that Abel had predetermined he would not cross. This bit of information fell just shy of that line. “We are nearing a juncture in our conversation that I like to refer to as ‘the point of no return.’ ”
She nodded, but offered nothing more.
“I will answer this one question, and then it is my turn to do some asking.”
“You may ask all you’d like.” She pushed her chair back slightly and recrossed her legs.
“Some jobs require that nothing is left to chance. This is one of those jobs, and whoever takes it must be fluent in English. My man is not, and I feel that this could be a potential problem either before or after the job.”
“Is your target British or American?”
Abel ignored her question, and instead asked, “Can your partner speak in both the British and American dialects?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now I would like to go over your résumé.”
