of his feet on the belt, but Victor had chosen a machine close to the door to make sure he heard it.
He glanced over his shoulder to see a woman enter. She was in her mid twenties, dressed in workout gear, with blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was slim and toned and he didn’t have to look at her longer than a half a second to know for certain there could be no hidden weapon on her person. Victor dismissed her as a threat and continued his run.
Her fragrance would have informed him of her approach even if the mirrors had not let him keep track of her movements. He was on the end of the row of treadmills. There were another five to his right. She chose the one next to him.
He glanced again in case he had missed something the first time, but there wasn’t room to hide a pencil in her clothes, let alone a gun. She was looking his way and saw his eyes flick in her direction.
‘Hey,’ she said.
He nodded to acknowledge the greeting, but didn’t say anything in return.
In his peripheral vision he saw the young woman tap the screen of her machine to set up her workout and began at a quick walk. She looked across at his readout.
‘Wow,’ she said, ‘that’s an impressive time.’
He nodded again, and smiled briefly – polite but distracted. ‘Thanks.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘Sorry,’ he said, speaking between inhales, ‘I’m in training for a race. I need to concentrate.’
‘Sure, no problem,’ she said. ‘Oh, by the way, did you drop this coin?’
Victor found Muir waiting outside his room. She didn’t see him straightaway, because she was looking left in the direction of the elevators as Victor rounded the corner from the stairwell. She didn’t hear him approach because his footsteps were quiet even without athletic shoes and carpet to further muffle the sound, only facing him as he entered her peripheral vision. Her shoulder blades came away from the wall next to his door, her legs straightened and she arched her back. She’d been waiting there a long time. She had a key card between her fingers.
‘I took a wild guess that you wouldn’t like it if you found me inside your hotel room,’ she said, waving the card for emphasis.
‘Not as much as you wouldn’t.’
She wore grey trousers and a blue blouse underneath a smart leather jacket that was tapered at the waist and flared out around her hips. It made her look less thin than she had the day before but could do nothing for the sunken cheekbones. Her boots had a two-inch heel. Her dark hair was loose and wavy. Behind her glasses her eyes looked tired, but she had applied extra makeup to try and hide the dark circles and bags.
‘My body clock is still all over the place,’ she explained, ‘and I figured you would be an early riser.’
He ignored her and moved to insert his own key card in the slot.
Muir took a rapid step back. ‘Why don’t I wait for you downstairs while you take a shower?’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘You really hum.’
He looked at her.
She said, ‘Shall we say I’ll see you in the lobby in about twenty minutes?’
‘We have nothing further to discuss. If you had managed to get clearance to answer my question you would have said so by now.’
‘You’re right. I don’t have clearance. I spent half the night trying to get it.’
Victor pushed open his door. ‘Have a good flight back to Washington, Miss Muir. I trust you understand it’s in your best interest to forget you ever met me.’
‘Wait,’ she said, and went to grab his arm.
Her fingers didn’t find their target. Instead they were twisted back on themselves, and her wrist joint hyper-extended. She gasped and sank downwards as he applied pressure. He released her before any serious damage was caused, but only just.
‘Go back to Washington, Miss Muir.’
‘Wait,’ she said again, grimacing as she rubbed her wrist. ‘I haven’t got clearance, but I’m going to answer your question anyway. I’m going to break the rules because I need your help and I don’t have time to waste waiting for a guy in an office to grant clearance on facts you’ve already worked out for yourself.’
‘That’s a sensible attitude to take.’
‘I thought you’d agree. I’ll tell you everything you want to know downstairs, okay?’ She sucked in air between her teeth and tried to rub the pain from her wrist.
‘Not