Page 64 - Three Adventures

The Nazarene Foreskin

is first the hospital, then the morgue. If you do not care to join me,
please find another cab.”
Ofidian dabbed at his forehead with a daintily embroidered
handkerchief. If the cab had air conditioning, it would not become
operational until the driver, now looking back at his passengers with
a puzzled expression on his grizzled face, started the engine and the
expenditure of precious petrol.
“You will not find him at either location, Mr. Reedle. I will not say
his well-being depends on your cooperation, but you would be well
advised to come with me now to see my client.”
An impasse. Trapped inside the taxi and his sweaty cranium, Scoop
could find no tunnel through the mountain of alternatives before
him. His job depended on Manur, he had to admit; he wouldn’t last a
week in these mean streets without a man of his particular talents.
But he was unlikely to find the right kind of alcohol at the hospital or
morgue. Yet it was likely that Ofidian’s gang played rough, he
conceded; after all, they were art collectors. What would happen
when they learned he had nothing to sell? Finally his anger at being
duped by Ms. Schantz swayed him.
“All right. Let’s go. You are playing a dangerous game. My friend
has relatives you would not want as enemies. I am merely a foreign
correspondent.”
Ofidian gave a short sharp command to the cabby and they were
off, forced to roll down their windows for fresher air. Once outside
the hotel’s entryway, the car headed west toward the coast. Scoop
wondered if he should have left more information about his situation
with Hans Messer, possibly the telephone number on Ofidian’s card.
He became acutely aware of his thirst.
The taxi skirted the Casino du Liban and came to a halt in front of
a tall luxury apartment building miraculously unmarked by the
conflict. Scoop took note of that, recognizing the presence of tenants
respected by both sides.
“I hope the elevator works,” he said as they approached the
doorman, a Sikh with a shotgun who waved them inside with a
sideways nod.
“I have not known it to fail.” Salim slid a card key through a reader
next to the floor buttons. They ascended smoothly to the fifteenth
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