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Stories from the Verse
A Dozen Verses
Chapter 138: Kondor 304
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Slade 295
The trio gathered in Kondor’s conference room. Not wanting to seem as if he were the chairman, he sat in the center of one side rather than at an end of the oval table. Then Zeke and Amanda both sat across from him, making him feel like they were opposing counsel at a deposition or something. The words, I guess you wonder why I called you all here, passed through his head, and he shook it to chase them away.
“So,” he began, “any ideas on our next step?”
“Reconnaissance,” Amanda said.
“Yeah?” Zeke responded. “How do we do that?”
“Shouldn’t be hard,” she replied. “I packed a niqab. There are tours of the sheik’s palace, and I can go in as a British Muslim visiting on vacation. I don’t think they would recognize me anyway, but with the niqab my hair, neck, and the lower part of my face are all covered, and it looks very conservative muslim. It also would mean that the men wouldn’t talk to me, particularly the guards, because my clothes would suggest I’m not allowed to talk to men who are not part of my family.”
Zeke sort of stared; Kondor spoke. “I’m not sure I like the idea of risking you like that--”
“What risk?” she replied. “I’d be seen as a tourist. It’s more a question of whether I can learn anything useful without calling attention to myself.”
“Yes,” he continued, “I was going to say that it’s the best idea anyone’s suggested so far. The question is, how do we help?”
This time Zeke did have something to offer. “I’ve got this surveillance gear Gear gave me before we left. It’s short range, but we should be able to sit out on the street in a rented car and watch what she sees, and communicate with her.”
“Those glasses I had at the auction?”
“Something like them.”
He looked from one to the other, and then said, “It sounds like a plan. Zeke, rent us a car--something with good air conditioning and tinted windows. Amanda, get the schedule for the tours.”
As to the old stories that have long been here:
