Free Lazar's Intrigue (The Jack Lazar Series) by Kevin Sterling Page B

hadn’t been filled out either. Jack could only assume Hesterling
had the file, and he hoped the little bastard hadn’t removed it from the
building.
    Searching
Hesterling’s office was an intimidating idea, considering the devastating circumstances
should he be discovered. But just the thought of Hesterling’s atrocities
revitalized Jack’s determination, and he jaunted down the hall toward the
corner office without thinking any longer about it.
    The
room was completely dark, and Jack could almost sense an atmosphere of evil
there. Or maybe it was just his imagination. Nevertheless, he engaged the
lights to reveal the collection of odd items Hesterling had placed or hung en
masse around the office, most of which he had obtained during his safaris in
Africa. Some of them were parts of animals Jack wouldn’t even dream of killing.
    Jack
always thought Hesterling’s massive desk was an expensive eyesore, with its
green stone surface and an almost orange-stained wood exterior. Hesterling
bragged incessantly about how he had practically stolen it in Morocco for a
thousand American dollars, but Jack thought it more appropriately belonged in a
long lost episode of Daktari than a professional office. In his opinion,
people like Hesterling would never have taste, regardless of how much money
they managed to accumulate.
    The
desk and credenza were piled with papers, but Jack knew from experience that
the clutter was organized in some mysterious way. Even though the stacks never
seemed to move or change in size, Hesterling could always obtain the document
he was looking for. He would reach for the correct pile as if every one of them
were meticulously catalogued in his head. Jack considered searching through
them for a moment, but he knew the Antonucci file had to be in a more secure
location.
    Settling
into Hesterling’s executive chair, Jack began to rifle through the desk drawers,
initially without any success. But the right-hand file drawer was locked, and
it seemed logical to Jack that he hit pay dirt.
    How
could he force the drawer open without causing noticeable damage to the desk? Not
possible. But damage or no damage, the information he searched for was
essential to his investigation, and Hesterling would ultimately discover the
file was missing anyway.
    Jack
rose to his feet and grabbed hold of the drawer’s two handles, positioning
himself to rip it out of the desk’s lower cavity. He yanked at it with all of
his strength, but the drawer remained firmly in place. He wrestled with it
again, still with no results. If Jack didn’t know better, he would have thought
Hesterling’s desk was exercising its revenge for Jack’s poor opinion of it, not
to mention how he felt about its owner.
    Studying
the project again, Jack stroked his chin with his forefinger and thumb, and he
elected to give it one more try. Without mercy. He took hold of the handles and
closed his eyes before whipping his body back, this time ripping the drawer
violently out of the desk, its lock cylinder virtually destroying the wood
frame around it. His momentum threw him backward, and he fell against the
credenza, knocking Hesterling’s presumably organized stacks of papers
everywhere. Several other items, which had been hung on the wall, crashed to
the floor in pieces, and it looked like an earthquake of mammoth proportions
had surgically struck Hesterling’s office.
    Jack
realized he made a terrible racket, and he stopped to listen for anyone who might
be coming to investigate. He had already been there much longer than it took to
pick up a couple of Lakers tickets, so it was possible Jesse might venture
upstairs to check on him.
    Nothing
but silence.
    Jack
picked himself up from the fall and found he was remarkably unharmed. He set
the drawer on the carpet in the middle of the room, away from the mess he had
created, and he searched through it quickly while his heart raced, the hard
reality of his undertaking beginning to sink in.
    A
sense of