Free Robert Charrette - Arthur 01 - A Prince Among Men by Robert N. Charrette Page A

connection for a Latin cartel.
    This was exciting.
    He wondered who the woman was and what she had done. Wait a minute: Bennett had said that what she might do was more important. John wondered who she was and what she was going to do.
    This was better than a date.
    Wasn't it?
    He looked at the empty seat across from him.
    It was better, wasn't it?
    CHAPTER
    5
    The sign said that the Schmidt Institute was a Psychological Trauma Center, but Holger Kun knew better. He knew a nut house when he was in one. Better than most people. This place made the back of his neck itch. And the insides of his elbows. He suppressed the urge to scratch. Not good form, that. Made the orderlies notice. They knew. They knew.
    The woman at the reception desk gave him directions to the research department. Having no desire to get lost, he followed them precisely, even though it meant waiting five minutes for the elevator. He could have burned off some of his nervous energy climbing the stairs, but she had said, "Take the elevator to seven." Explicit directions. He followed them.
    The entry to the research department was secure. Holger buzzed and waited for the orderly inside the first door to open the lock. Once inside, he showed the man his pass. The man's mouth twitched and he spent an inordinate amount of time reading the pass. Finally he nodded and, using the controls at his desk, closed the outer doors. The inner doors wouldn't open until the outer panels were locked again. A decent enough system, though far better for keeping people in than out. But then, that's what this system was supposed to do.
    A blast of chemical stink hit him when the inner doors opened. Underneath it, he could smell the vomit and the piss and all the other foul odors that went with these places.
    "First left, then last door on the left," the orderly said just before the inner doors closed behind Holger.
    Those doors wouldn't open again until the orderly gave them the command. Or until Holger did something about them. But there wouldn't be any need for that, would there?
    The doors along the corridor were all fitted for security and observation. They had heavy locks with keypads, pass-through drawers, and peepholes to supplement the monitors set into the walls beside each frame. Holger avoided looking at the monitors.
    The rooms were well insulated; he heard nothing save the sound of the air-conditioning equipment.
    He took the turn. The door he was looking for would have been obvious even without the orderly's directions. It was the only one that was open.
    The room was bigger than he expected, part of it out of his sight around a comer. There were several workstations scattered around, but only one was occupied. The woman seated there was middle-aged; her hair, cropped tight to her head, was more gray than brown. She wore no makeup to soften the lines of her face. From what he could see beneath the obligatory lab coat, she was well formed, if skinny. She matched the ident file perfectly.
    His new boss.
    Yeah, but he didn't have to like it. His request for transfer to another department had only gotten him an internal shift to Spae's team. A demotion, too, since he was Spae's team. The doctor was in no better odor with the big butts than he was. He knew why he was on their shitlist, but her file didn't show what she'd done to piss the bastards off. Spae had been one of the Department's first recruits. What had she done to fall from favor?
    He stepped to the side of her chair.
    "Dr. Spae?"
    She made a noise without bothering to look up from the console she studied. After a moment, he decided that she probably had meant her noise as a confirmation that she had heard him. Self-important whitecoat.
    "I'm Kun."
    This time she looked up. She showed no sign of recognition.
    "From the Department."
    "Kun?" The light of understanding lit in her mismatched green and blue eyes. "Ah. The new bullyboy. Sit down. I'm working now, we'll push the papers later."
    Holger found himself a