Caribbean Tales: Spy on Me

"Good," replied Shanice. "What does Pearson have to say about Roland?"

"He's a known quantity now, so we'll want to keep him in the mix. I imagine you have worked up something of a profile on him?"

"I have," said Shanice demurely.

"Good, just write it up for Monday. There's a return ticket waiting for you at the airline -- flight leaves at 6:00 PM. You might as well play the tourist for the rest of day."

"Awesome, See you on Monday."

Later that morning, Shanice walked to a different stretch of beach, closer to the hotel, where people wore bathing suits. She swam in the Caribbean, allowed the sun to darken her a little, and collected her thoughts. Then she went back to the hotel, showered, and slipped out the back door again to go down to the jerk chicken place.

An ethereal mist came down from the skies. Shanice felt refreshed by it as she walked to the snackette. She ate her lunch under the awning, looking at her watch, and when 12:45 came and there had been no sign of Roland, she slowly arose and returned to her hotel room. Did the hotel have Wi-Fi? Of course they have it, thought Shanice with a wry smile, they just hosted a nerd convention. She turned on her laptop and logged into the email account for "Rochelle."

There was a message from Roland: "Have to take a rain check. I had a lovely time. I wasn't entirely honest about my relationship to M, but I assure you that it's strictly business -- R." Shanice composed a reply: "Catch you on the rebound -- R," and hit the "send" button.

She closed her laptop, gazed out the window for a moment, and then went to her luggage, where she fetched her MP3 player and selected Sparrow singing "Big Bamboo." She went out on the balcony, made herself comfortable in the armchair, and gave herself to the breeze as the big, bright afternoon clouds came sailing grandly in from over the sea.

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