Assassin's Apprentice: Chapter 30

30.

“You’ve just had sex,” Thomas Q said. “Congratulations.”

He was sitting behind Harper’s desk, dressed in black jeans, black sweatshirt, and black canvas hightops. His feet were propped on the desk and he was replacing the white shoelaces with black laces. The room was dark, the only light coming from the outer office where Judy usually sat at the dispatching radio.

Harper waited for some criticism about how she’d just wasted valuable time. Or some clever spyish explanation of how he knew she’d had sex—the dank musky smell, the flush of color in her face, the way she walked. But he continued to fuss with his sneakers, ignoring her.

“Where’d you get the new clothes?” she asked.

“I went shopping at the Bishop mall. Some very nice stores for a small town.”

“The mall’s been closed for hours.”

“Makes shopping a whole lot easier, don’t you think?” He reached behind his back and pulled out a large automatic pistol. “Look what the manager of Baskin-Robbins had hidden in the back room, under the ice cream invoices.”

Harper nodded. “An Israeli Desert Eagle Magnum. Chuck Koontz special-ordered it after they were robbed last summer. Must’ve showed it to everybody in Bishop and Lenning counties. I think he was hoping if enough people knew about it, no one would try to rob him again.”