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Stories from the Verse
Old Verses New
Chapter 93: Kondor 73
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Chapter 92: Brown 31
Kondor woke late and took a leisurely brunch in the hotel restaurant. He thought he might as well enjoy the finer things while they were available, but he also worried that all this soft living might start softening him. Perhaps he should look for a gym or Y.M.C.A. or whatever they had in this world where he could stay in shape.
There was a man in the restaurant who Kondor thought was entirely out of place. His clothing was below the norm for the establishment, and he seemed to be lingering overly long over coffee, toast, and a newspaper. He seemed more like someone tailing a suspect than someone enjoying brunch. You're imagining things, Kondor chided himself. After all, he could hardly say that even his new fatigues were the style expected here. Probably the man was meeting someone here and just trying to be patient. The fact that he frequently glanced at Kondor could hardly be held against him. After all, an armed soldier wearing a large quantity of gold jewelry sitting in the restaurant of a five star hotel had to be at least a curiosity. To think more of it than that was unnecessarily paranoid.
His lunch was billed to his room, so he left a tip and decided to stretch his legs. A walk would be ideal. He could head uptown and see what else the city had to offer. Perhaps he might even find a gym.
The desk clerk asked if he needed a car. "No," he said. "I'm just going to get some air, take a walk, and see what's close at hand besides the museum and the stores. But thank you." He noticed that the man with the newspaper was paying his bill, and looking at him again; he smiled, trying to look less conspicuous, and headed for the door.
As he stepped onto the street two men turned toward him.
"How does that go?" he asked himself. "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you?"
"Joseph Kondor?" one said, flashing identification of some sort. "N.I.B. Could we have a word with you?" The man with the newspaper stood in the doorway behind him.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eight other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #113: Character Movements. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
