Free Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross Page B

asleep in. I claim one corner of the table, opposite the windows with their daydream-friendly view of downtown Darmstadt, and plunk my tablet down on the leather place mat beside the hotel notepad. "Coffee?" asks Franz.

    "Yes, please. Milk, no sugar." I pick up the agenda and carry it over.

    "What's the routine?" he asks. He actually sounds interested.

    "Well. We show each other our authorizations first. Then the chair orders the doors sealed." I wave at the far end of the suite: "Rest room's through there. Chair this time is — " I riffle the sheets " — Italy, which means Anna, unless she's ill and they send a replacement. She'll keep things tight, I think. Then we get down to business."

    "I see. And the minutes ..."

    "Everyone who's got a presentation is supposed to bring copies on CD-ROM. The host organization[6 The Geheime Sicherheit Abteilung to their mothers, although everyone else calls them the Faust Force.] provides a secretarial service, that's the GSA's job this time."

    Franz's brow wrinkles. "Excuse me for saying, but this sounds as if the meeting itself is ... unnecessary? We could take it to email."
    I shrug. "Yup. But then we wouldn't get to do the real business, over coffee and biscuits."
    His expression clears. "Ah, now I see — "

    The door opens. "Ciao, guys!" It's Anna, short and bubbly and (I suspect) a little hung-over, judging from her eyes.

    "Oh, my head. Where is everybody? Let us keep this short, shall we"

    She makes a beeline for the coffee pot. "Tell Andrew he is a naughty, naughty man," she chides me.

    "What's he done now?" I ask, steeling myself.

    "He got my birthday wrong!" Flashing eyes, toothy grin.

    "A, what is it, a fencepost error."

    "Oh, uh, yeah, I'll do that." I shrug. I'm still uncomfortable in this type of situation. Most of the people here were grades above me until six months ago, and half of them still are, I'm very much the junior delegate and Andy — who used to be one of my managers — is the guy into whose boots I've stepped. "Last time I saw him he was kind of busy. Overworked dealing with fallout from — " I clear my throat.

    "Oh, say no more." She pats me on the arm and moves on to say hello to the other delegates who're letting themselves in. We ought to have a full house of security management types from Spain Brussels, and parts east within NATO, but for some reason attendance today looks unusually light.

    Delegates are beginning to arrive, so I head back towards my seat. "Who's that?" Franz asks me quietly, with a nod at the door. I glance round and do a double-take: it's Ramona.

    She's almost unrecognizable in a business suit with her hair up, but being this close to her still makes the skin crawl in the small of my back.

    "That's, Um, Ms. Random. An observer. We're privileged to have her here." My cheek twitches and Franz stares at me from behind his rimless spectacles.

    "I see. I was unaware that we had that type of guest present."

    I get the feeling he sees a whole lot more than I told him, but there's not a lot I can say.

    ''Hello, darling, slept well?'' she asks. I start: then I realize she's still on the other side of the room, coolly pouring herself a cup of coffee and smiling at Anna.

    ''No thanks to you,'' I think at her.

    I hear a rude noise. ''A girl's got to eat sometime.''

    ''Yes, but midnight snacking — '' Invisible pink elephants.

    Think of invisible pink elephants, Bob. Think of invisible pink throbbing elephants in the night — no, cancel the throbbing — I sit down dizzily. "Is something wrong?" asks Franz.

    "Supper disagreed with me," I say weakly. Ramona's supper, that is: pfai de gros ingenieur. "I'll be okay if I sit down." A hot flush is trying to follow the shivers up and down my spine. I glance at her across the room and she looks back at me, blank-faced.
    People are heading towards the table, apparently following my lead. To my annoyance Ramona oozes into the chair next to me then stares sharply at Anna's end of