Iris Johansen - Silent Thunder

"Well, if you want to be literal about it. But since I'm a pretentious son of a bitch, I happen to like metaphors. When people sit at my bar, I want them to blow up all their inhibitions, all their preconceived notions, and start from a new place. Take a vacation from themselves, you know?"

"Interesting. It sounds like something I need to do."

"Then you've come to the right place. What brings you to Panama City? You're not from here, are you?"

"It shows?"

"Afraid so."

"You're obviously a student of human nature. Why don't you tell me what I'm doing here?"

"Oh, I figure you're in town for a conference. You looked at the schedule, and this morning's sessions were a little on the dry side, so you decided to log a little beach time."

"Wow."

"Impressed?"

"Dane, you couldn't be more wrong."

He smiled. "Okay, so I'm a lousy student of human nature." He held up the Bacardi bottle. "Another?"

"Sure."

He poured her another shot. "Normally, I'd go right to the second possibility-you're tagging along with your husband, and he's the one here on a conference. He's in a Hyatt ballroom learning about new actuarial analysis techniques, and you're trying to find ways to fill your days."

"You don't think that's the case?"

"Nah. A woman like you doesn't tag along with anybody. People tag along with you ." He smiled. "Am I getting warm?"

"Warmer." She glanced at a small black-and-white monitor behind Dane. It offered a view of the bar's parking lot, where a single car, a Nissan Z-98, was parked. Kirov crouched next to the car, working on the lock.

Dane chuckled. "Warmer, huh? Okay. How about this: It's been years since you've taken a vacation, and your company's human resources department insisted that you take off for a couple of weeks. But now that you're here, all you can do is think about work."

"That's depressing. You've got me totally pegged. And here I thought I was a unique and fascinating individual."

"We all get lucky sometimes." He shifted position, as if about to turn toward the monitor.

Hannah quickly leaned closer to him. "I'd say you're an excellent student of human nature, Dane. How does your wife manage you?"

He turned back toward her. "I'm not married. Life's too short for the ties that bind. There are too many gorgeous ladies that need my attention."

She shot a quick glance at the monitor. Kirov was in the car's front seat, rifling through the glove compartment.

"I'm sure you give it to them."

"Another drink?"

"Not yet."

He refilled her glass anyway. "On the house."

"How can I possibly drink this? There are at least thirty other bars along this beach I need to visit by tonight."

"You'd only be wasting your time. You're already sitting at the best place in town."

Hannah laughed and stole another glance at the monitor. Kirov was gone.

She drank the shot, slipped off the stool, and tossed a twenty onto the bar. "I might come back and give you my verdict at the end of the night. Will you still be here?"

"I'll make sure that I am. I close at 1:00 A.M."

She gave him a brilliant smile. "Have a nice day, Dane."

He's gorgeous," Hannah said five minutes later, when Kirov opened the car door for her. "He's like something out of Baywatch , only better."

"I forgot to tell you what a charmer he is." His lips tightened. "You're definitely mellow."

"Trust me, if I'm a little woozy, it's not because of his charm. I just downed three rum shots in the space of five minutes."

"I'm surprised you're still on your feet."

She shrugged. "I've had practice keeping up with hard-drinking sailors. So what did you find out?"

"Not much. I found the auto registration, but he used the bar as his address. There were receipts indicating that he often eats drive-through fast food on the way home after work. There was a gym bag with workout clothes in the backseat."

"Which he probably wears to work off all that fast food. Nothing else?"

"No. It was always a long shot, but there was no DayRunner, PDA, or anything that could lead us to Pavski. There was a luggage tag on the gym bag that had Dane's name and phone number. I might be able to use it to get a home address."

"Even if it's unlisted?"

He shrugged. "Eugenia has made me a bit paranoid, so I'd like to stay away from my usual contacts if I can."

"So what are we going to do?"

Kirov turned the wheel sharply and pulled into a convenience store parking lot. "Wait here."

Before she could reply, Kirov jumped out of the car and walked quickly to a pay phone. He thumbed through the Yellow Pages telephone directory, deposited some coins, and made a call. She watched as he repeated the process several times, then finally hung up and climbed back into the car.

"What was that about?"

Kirov scribbled something down on a scratch pad. "It was about getting Dane Niler's address."

"Who gave you that?"

"Papa John's Pizza."

Hannah thought about it for a moment. "You called every pizza place in the vicinity of those other fast-food restaurants…"

"Exactly. When one orders a pizza delivery, the first thing the store does is ask for a phone number. That pulls up the customer address in their database, which the order taker reads aloud to confirm. I only had to call three other restaurants before I found one that Niler had previously ordered from." He handed her the pad. "Let's map this through the GPS device."

"Are we going to break in?"

"Hell, no. Believe me, we don't want to go in there. Think about it. Niler is one of the world's leading experts in explosive booby traps, and he could have a most lethal idea of what constitutes a home security system."

"Then I'm surprised you were willing to break into his car."

"It was a risk, but people in Niler's profession don't usually like to drive around town in cars packed with explosive materials. Too dangerous. A little fender bender could blow him to Kingdom Come." Kirov shrugged. "I might have to resort to bare-knuckled diplomacy to find out if he knows anything."

"There may be another way."

"How?"

"I think he and I have a date tonight."

"What?"

"I told him I'd meet him at closing time."

"Five minutes alone with him, and you-"

"I didn't really think I'd go. I was flirting with him, trying to keep his eyes off the security monitor, and I said I might drop by at closing time-1:00 A.M. He said he'd be there."

"Sounds like a date to me," he said grimly.

"I'll go back to his place with him, get the lay of the land, and see what kind of booby traps he may have in place. If I get a chance, I'll check his caller ID logs on his home and cell phones. Anything else I should look for?"

"This isn't a good idea. When you decided you wanted to play vamp to distract him, I didn't like it, but I went along. The risk wasn't that great. But this is different."

"Vamp? I wasn't trying to vamp him. You said he liked women, and I knew I could keep his attention for five or ten minutes. If I was Cinderella's ugly stepsister, I could have done that."

"But not as well. I'd bet you bowled Niler over."

"He's not that easy. The beach is crawling with women who want to sample an episode with a passing ship in the night."

"But not one who looks like she thinks as well as she fucks."

The rawness of that curt sentence stunned her for a moment. "I'm going to do it, Kirov. You can be my backup."

"Your support team again?" he said sourly.

"We'll use the speakerphone function on your cell. I'll keep it on me, and you can listen to every word."

"It's still a risk. He may be Mr. Charisma, but I assure you, he's smart, and he can be very dangerous."

"I can do this, Kirov. It might get us one step closer to Pavski."