Parallax View Read Online Free Page B

Parallax View
Book: Parallax View Read Online Free
Author: Allan Leverone
Pages:
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little wave. “Nice meeting you.”
    The kid blinked in
surprise, jaw hanging open, his disappointment obvious. Tracie turned and left
him behind, striding across the room to intercept her contact.
    The exchange went
off without a hitch, and the moment Tracie had secured the envelope, she turned
on her heel and began working her way through the dense crowd toward the back
of the club. The bass track thumped and the people shimmied as Tracie headed
for the swinging door behind the bar leading to the back exit.
    She breezed around
the open end of the bar, where three bartenders struggled to keep up with their
drink orders. As she barged through, the one closest to her raised his
eyebrows. “Hey! You’re not allowed back here.” His voice was gruff and
insistent.
    Tracie smiled
brightly and blew him a kiss and continued on. She pushed through the swinging
wooden doors as if she owned the place and moved straight toward the service
entrance in back. To her right, dozens of silver beer kegs gleamed dully in the
washed-out lighting. To her left, far off in the distance at the end of a
narrow corridor, she could see people hard at work in a small kitchen. The
smell of stale beer and spoiled meat hung in the air, heavy and thick.
    Aside from those
kitchen workers, Tracie was alone in the storage area, at least for the moment.
She had thought the bartenders would be too busy to follow her and she was
right. She breathed a sigh of relief, wondering how in the hell it had failed
to occur to the KGB to cover this potential escape route. Apparently they
considered the possibility of a switch remote, given that they were dealing
with a frightened Russian bureaucrat.
    She kicked it into
high gear now and broke into a trot. As she neared the rear exit, a stern voice
from behind her growled, “Stop right there!”
    Tracie cursed
under her breath as she gauged the distance to the door, calculating the odds
of surviving a headlong dash for freedom. It was just a little too far. The
Russian secret police were not used to being ignored, and neither were the
Stasi, and Tracie knew the operative behind her would be expecting full and
immediate compliance, regardless of which organization he represented.
    No choice.
    She stopped and
turned slowly, holding her arms out at her sides, away from her body, spreading
her fingers to show she was unarmed. She hoped the envelope resting against the
sweat-soaked skin of her belly was hidden by her blouse. If not, she would
probably not survive beyond the next few seconds.
    The man who had
stopped her wore the forest-green camouflage summer field uniform of the NVA,
East Germany’s National People’s Army. Tracie took in the uniform and breathed
a sigh of relief. The KGB had indeed thought to cover the back entrance, but
had used a People’s Army lieutenant to do so, rather than a KGB or Stasi
operative.
    She might still
get out of this.
    “What’s your
hurry?” the man said, his weapon trained on Tracie. She said nothing and he
took a couple of aggressive steps toward her. She willed him to take a couple
more.
    A loopy grin
spread across her face and Tracie wobbled unsteadily forward a step, then back.
She allowed her eyes to glaze over. “What’rr you doing in the ladies room?” she
said, intentionally slurring her words. “You shou’nt be in here.” Then she
giggled, hoping she wasn’t overdoing it.
    The tension in the
lieutenant’s posture relaxed slightly and the look of suspicion creasing his
face eased a bit. Tracie thought she saw him stifle a grin. The gun, however,
remained pointed at her midsection. If he fired now, the slug would probably
punch a hole right through the envelope. He took another couple of steps
forward, this time moving with more swagger and less aggression, lowering his
gun and sealing his fate. He was almost close enough.
    As he took another
step, Tracie stumbled to one knee. He was eighteen inches in front of her. Any
closer and he might conceivably be too

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