Page 29 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

“I thought this might come up, so I brought her with me. If you have a moment now, she’s right outside.”

Braun looked at his watch again. “I’m leaving in three minutes.”

“I won’t even need that long.”

Lawrence exited the office and returned with the woman. She was slight with dirty blond hair pulled back into a messy bun. Behind her too-large glasses, her eyes bounced around as if she’d never before been in an executive’s office. Perhaps she hadn’t.

“Mr. Braun,” Lawrence said. “May I present Jillian Courtois.”

“Hello, Ms. Courtois,” Braun said.

She bowed her head and mumbled something, without ever looking directly at him.

“I’m sorry?” he said.

“H-h-hello, Mr. Braun,” she said, just marginally louder.

“Mr. Lawrence tells me you are very good at your job.”

With more confidence than her previous uttering, she said, “I am.”

“He wants to put you on something he’s been working on for me. Do you have a problem with that?”

She shook her head. “W-w-why would I?”

“It’s a rather sensitive job.”

Her brow furrowed. “I’ll just be providing information, right?”

Braun nodded. “But I can’t have you talking about it to anyone.”

“Who would I talk to?” she asked, genuinely mystified.

“I see what you mean,” Braun said to Lawrence. “Try her out. But if she can’t keep up, take her off the project.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence and Jillian left, and Braun went down to the garage, where he found Dieter waiting for him in the back of the company’s Mercedes-Maybach.

While the chauffeur drove them to dinner, Braun told Dieter about the addition of Jillian. “If you have any problems with her, let me know.”

“Will do,” Dieter said.

They soon arrived at the restaurant and were ushered into a private room in the back. Their potential client, an Uzbek national named Orif Kim, joined them a few minutes later.

Introductions were made, and soon they enjoyed a lovely dinner of pork loin and white asparagus.

Once the dishes were cleared, Braun instructed the staff to give them some privacy, then said to Kim, “I understand you might be in need of our services.”

Kim looked around the room. “Is it safe to talk here?”

“You can rest assured that it is,” Braun said. “I happen to be one of the restaurant’s main investors, and had this room built to specifications that prevent anyone outside fromlistening in. In addition, it was scanned for bugs before you arrived, and none were found.”

“You are very thorough.”

“It’s our job to be thorough.”

“That’s good. What I’m about to say is purely fictional, of course.”

---