Oracle (12 page)

She had just settled back in to read more when the room phone started ringing. The noise startled her; who used regular telephones these days? It had to be the front desk, but why they would be calling, she couldn’t imagine. She picked up and answered tentatively in Spanish.
“¿Bueno?”

“
Jade?” It was Professor. He spoke quickly, not waiting for her to acknowledge. “Listen. You need to grab Paul and get out of there, now. They’ve found us.”

Professor noticed the
blonde woman right away—not a surprise really—but it took him a while to realize that she wasn’t merely another foreign tourist idling an afternoon away in the National Museum. From a distance, she looked drop dead gorgeous; super model thin but with the kind of noticeable assets that could only be the product of silicone and a surgeon’s knife. A closer look, which wasn’t easy because she seemed to be making a real effort to keep her distance, revealed that, despite her rather plain attire—a simple silk blouse and cotton slacks, both in hues of beige—she was every bit as glamorous as he had thought she would be, and that the rest of her beautiful appearance was as artificial as her bust line.

Jade probably would have noticed as much at a glance; women had a way of mentally dissecting other women, pinpointing all the flaws and perceived weaknesses in an instant, sizing them up as potential rivals, or at least that
’s what Professor assumed. It took him a little longer to spot the plastic surgery scars and the unnaturally smooth forehead that hinted at botox treatments. These things didn’t necessarily diminish her beauty, but they did reveal a little about her character, which seemed important since he was now quite certain that she was following them. Twice, he caught her craning her head to look around other museum visitors, and then looking away quickly to avoid being noticed.

Definitely following us
.
Not very good at it, though.

That realization had hit him like a slap. The blonde was a distraction to keep him from noticing the other shadows they had picked up. He quickly picked out two more observers, both men, both trying a little too hard—and failing—to look inconspicuous in their dark suits. Professor thought they looked like Secret Service agents—the kind in movies though, not the real deal.

Either this is amateur hour, or those guys are also part of the distraction.

He had to assume the latter, but if there were others, they eluded his best efforts to detect. As their tour of the museum ended, he noted Blondie and the two suits heading out as well, making no effort to conceal the fact that they were all working together.

That was when he had decided to break away from Jade and Dorion for a little covert surveillance of his own. He had expected one of the suits to split off and follow him, but the trio kept their spotlight-intense gaze on his companions. He ducked into the museum gift shop, purchased an overpriced brown felt “Explorer” fedora for a quick disguise and a city map, and then headed back out in time to see the procession—the followed and the followers—heading down
Avenida Central.

He fell into step behind Blondie and her two stooges, and using every trick he knew to make sure that he wasn
’t secretly being followed, made his way back to the hotel. Blondie entered less than a minute behind Jade, and when Professor went in, he saw her at the reception desk, conversing with the clerk.

He thought the woman might be trying to pry some information out of the clerk, but after a few minutes, it became apparent that she was booking a room of her own.

For the first time since noticing the blonde, Professor felt a twinge of doubt. Had he read the situation wrong? Was the woman just a rich tourist with a pair of bodyguards, who happened to be spending the night at the same hotel? Was he just being paranoid?

Is it paranoia if they
’re really out to get you?

Hodges betrayal had caught him completely flatfooted; he still had no idea why it had happened, or whether his former partner was working with the Dominion or someone else. Given the current situation, paranoia seemed like the appropriate response.

He moved to the lobby phone and started making calls.  The third call he made was to Jade’s room.

“
¿Bueno?”

“
Jade? Listen. You need to grab Paul and get out of there, now. They’ve found us.”

“
That’s impossible.”

Her reply was so immediate that he knew it was merely a defensive reaction. Denial remained the most basic response to a threat.
“No time to debate it. Get Paul and take the stairs to the restaurant. I’ll meet you there. We won’t be coming back.”

He hung up before she could say anything more and made his way through the hotel to the luxurious patio restaurant. He had been hoping for a nice relaxing dinner here; now there was no telling where or when he would get his next meal.

He checked again to make sure that he had not been followed. There was no sign of Blondie or the others, but that only made him even more suspicious. A basic rule of life and especially combat, was that the threat you saw was rarely the one that killed you.

He positioned himself near the doors to the kitchen
, but where he could maintain line of sight with the stairwell. When Jade and Dorion showed up, he would lead them through the kitchen, making sure to stay just a step or two ahead of Jade in order to keep her from asking too many questions. He wasn’t too worried about the staff accosting them. That was the great thing about the denial tendency; when confronted with something out of the ordinary, most people automatically tried to find the simplest possible explanation, or just pretended not to notice. If they walked through the kitchen like they knew what they were doing, the cooks and servers would probably leave them alone, at least for the thirty or so seconds they would need to reach the service entrance.

The door to the stairwell swung open and
Jade stepped out into the foyer, followed by Dorion. As soon as she spied Professor, Jade’s expression twisted into something that was equal parts irritation and concern, and Professor knew a storm of questions was headed his way.

A chime sounded to signal the arrival of the elevator, and in the corner of his eye, Professor saw the blonde woman stride out of the car and into the foyer. He saw her eyes lock on Jade, saw her go rigid in recognition, saw her start to reach into a pocket.

Damn!

“
Jade! Run!”

Jade moved without
hesitation, almost without conscious thought. When someone, especially someone you trusted, told you to run, you didn’t ask questions. She had questions of course, and she hated not having answers, but she knew better than to stop and ask. She grabbed Dorion’s arm and dragged the man toward Professor.

Except now
, Professor was moving toward her. “This way.”

Jade hauled Dorion around and followed, glancing around quickly to see if she could spot Hodges. If he was there, she didn
’t see him.

Professor headed through the lobby and out the main entrance. Jade felt the eyes of everyone in the reception area on her, but quickened her pace knowing that it was too late to try for inconspicuous.

She burst out onto the sidewalk with Dorion in tow and saw Professor, waiting a few steps away. As soon as she met his gaze, he spun on his heel and headed up the side street, pushing through the crowd of pedestrians and blazing a trail for Jade and Dorion to follow.

Jade let go of Dorion
’s arm. “Try to keep up,” she told him, and set off at a run.

Despite her faster pace, Professor remained several yards ahead of her. She had no difficulty picking him out of the crowd, mostly because of the ridiculous hat he had somehow acquired since they
’d parted company in front of the museum. He reached the corner and charged out across the intersecting avenue without slowing. Jade followed, dodging cars and motorcycles, ignoring the shouts and honks of irate drivers, and once she was across the intersection, risked a look back. The crowd they had pushed through was already closing and she couldn’t tell if anyone was actually following them, but Professor wasn’t slowing.

They raced up the block, crossed another busy street, and found themselves in a city park, crowded with people enjoying the island of greenery floating in the midst of the city
’s busy downtown district.

The park was a surreal experience, a jungle in the midst of a modern city, dotted with anachronistic ruins. A paved path led to an open structure, an enormous dome resting on a ring of Ionic columns, like a Roman temple, only without anything inside. They were quickly enfolded by greenery, but looming above them just a few blocks away was a towering hotel with the easily recognizable Holiday Inn logo. They passed a pewter-colored statue of a Spanish conquistador, which evoked a memory of the mummified Gil Perez in the chamber beneath the Pyramid of the Sun, and thirty seconds later went thr
ough another freestanding structure—a pergola resting on columns that looked like it might have been transported from ancient Rome.

Jade risked another glance back and once again saw no evidence of anyone behind them. Dorion however was out of breath and struggling to catch up.

“Slow down,” she shouted to Professor. He looked back, and then slowed to a brisk walk.

“
Who did you see?” Jade asked when she was close enough to speak without yelling. “Was it Hodges?

He shook his head.
“It wasn’t Brian, but someone picked up our trail at the museum.”

“
How did they find us? We were so careful.”

He shook his head uncertainly.
“You know how these people work. Agents everywhere. Maybe someone in Mexico recognized us when we were getting on the plane. There’s no telling who might be watching us, so we have to keep moving.”

“
So we’re changing hotels?”

“
No.” He kept walking briskly offering no further comment until they emerged from the park and onto the side of another busy street where he immediately raised a hand to flag down one of the city’s ubiquitous red taxis. “We have to get out of the city.”

“
Nice of you to include me in your plans,” Jade said, irritably.

“
There wasn’t time—”

“
There never is.” She took a step back, hands on hips, and struggled to keep her frustration in check. The abrupt dash from the hotel had reawakened all her unresolved anger over what had happened in Teotihuacan, and even though she knew that Professor wasn’t to blame for any of it, she couldn’t help but equate his presence with disaster. She knew that what she was really angry about was the loss of control. Hodges had taken it away in Mexico, and now Professor was doing it here.

“
Let’s get one thing straight,” she said, trying but not succeeding to keep her tone diplomatic. “I’m not working for you or Tam Broderick. I’m working for me, and if you plan on sticking around, then you’re working for me too.”

Professor
appeared visibly taken aback. “Jade, I’m trying to save us.”

“
I don’t need you to play hero,” she countered. “I can take care of myself. If you want to help, then you need to start sharing what you know, and stop making all the decisions.”

A taxi pulled to a stop in front of them. The driver got out
, circled around, and opened the rear door for them.

Professor stared back at Jade.
“Oookay,” he said slowly. “We came to Costa Rica because you said you wanted to investigate the spheres, right? And then you said you wanted to visit the site where they were discovered? Am I still on track?”

She frowned, but nodded.

“Do you still want to go there? Because I’ve made arrangements to get us there, but if that’s not what you want to do anymore, I can cancel them.”

Jade could not tell if he was being accommodating or condescending.
“What arrangements?”

“
A rental car. If they’re watching the airports, which is probably how they tracked us here, then we can’t very well fly out. Palmar Sur is about a four-hour drive; if we leave now, we might make it before dark. And it will be a lot harder for anyone to pick up our trail if we’re driving.”

“
That’s a pretty good plan,” Jade admitted, grudgingly. “We’ll go with that.”

“
I’m glad you approve.” He gestured for her to get in the cab. Dorion slid in beside her, and after telling the driver their desired destination, Professor joined them.

The drive to the car rental agency took only a few minutes, barely enough time for Jade to calm down. The only thing worse than not having any control over the situation was the patronizing way Professor was treating her.
Must be that military mindset
.
Take charge, be the hero. Just like Maddock
…

That thought made her even angrier.

“Here we are,” Professor announced as they pulled into a Budget rent-a-car lot. “I asked for one of those.” He pointed at a silver Ford Everest, a big sport utility vehicle that looked perfect for negotiating paved roads and mountain trails alike. “But if you’d rather pick something else out, please be my guest.”