Heart of a Warrior

10

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IT TOOK BRITTANY NEARLY A MINUTE TO CONVINCE herself that Dalden's definition of need was a far cry from hers. That he hadn't moved from his position on the couch sort of pushed her toward that conclusion sooner than her body was acknowledging. She knew she should have broken down and bought an air conditioner for the apartment; a blast of icy air would definitely be welcome at the moment.

She settled for sinking into the matching lounge chair next to the couch and inconspicuously fanning herself. Hearing his definition of need would probably help even more, so she asked, "What can I do for you that your embassy can't?"

"I must find the man Jorran in all haste," he told her. "Yet I am not assured of recognizing him if I see him, because he may have changed his appearance from when I last saw him. You would know him, though, as you did me, for someone not from your country."

"Well, that's debatable," she replied, pointing out, "It was only your accent-"

"He will speak differently, as do I."

She chuckled. "I hope you're not talking about having a chat with everyone in town, just to hear their accents."

"If such is needful-"

"Time out," she cut in. "I was joking. We're a small town, but we still have a population now exceeding twenty thousand residents. If even half of those are men, you're talking a heck of a lot of time to track them all down for a little chat. And I was under the impression that you don't have a lot of time."

"Nor do I. Nor will it be needful. Jorran will wish to make contact with the one you call Mayor, so he will most likely be found in the vicinity of this leader."

"What's he want with Mayor Sullivan?"

"His position."

"His position on what?"

He looked confused. Brittany was confused. He tried to clarify. "He will try to become mayor here. I must stop him before he succeeds."

"He's here to run against Sullivan? But I thought he was a foreigner like you?"

"He is."

"Then I don't get it. You have to be an American citizen to run for political office in this country. How could he not know that?"

Dalden grinned, showing signs of relief. "Because he is as ignorant of your traditions as I am."

She grinned back. "Well, there you go, your problem is solved."

He sighed now. "Actually, it is not. I still must find him and remove him from your country before he causes problems here."

"Ah, international incident of the big sort, huh?" It was pretty obvious when he glanced down at the earphone at his feet that he was in need of an explanation. Brittany tried. "A big ruckus that would make the papers in both our countries, to everyone's embarrassment?" When he still looked blank, she added, "Oh, go ahead, pick it up. I'm sure she can make you understand."

He nodded, did so, and after a very long moment of having the earphone attached again, said to Brittany, "Your analysis is appropriate. Will you help me?"

"I'd love to, really I would, but I don't see how I can. You need someone with more time on their hands than I have. But with two jobs tying me up for most of the week, the only time I could help you would be on Sundays, and that doesn't seem nearly enough when you've made it clear you're in a hurry to get this wrapped up."

"You misunderstand, Brittany Callaghan. I wish to pay for your time, for you to work only for me until my task here is accomplished.

He lifted the large medallion off his chest and off his neck, leaning over to hand it to her. Her hand actually dropped before she put some effort into holding it up. The medallion was really heavy, with the added weight of the chain, which was more the size of a bicycle chain than a piece of jewelry, probably weighing ten pounds itself.

She gave him a questioning look, to which he said, "That is a cheap metal where I come from, yet I am told it has high value here. Will it be sufficient to hire you?"

She glanced down at what was probably fifteen, maybe even twenty pounds of disk and chain. "How much gold plating are we talking about?"

"Plating?"

"The percentage of actual gold?"

"There is no percentage. It is only one metal. Are we misinformed, that you do not value pure gold?"

"You have got to be kidding."

She wasn't sure what gold was priced at by the ounce these days, but knew a chain not even a tenth the size of the one in her hand could cost upwards of six hundred dollars, and not even be pure gold at that. She did some quick calculations in her head and realized they were talking about a lot of money-if he wasn't pulling her leg about it being pure gold. And what was she even thinking about? It was way too much for what he was suggesting.

"Look, it probably wouldn't take more than a week to find your guy, even less if he really is going to be hanging out around the mayor. I can take a week off from my jobs, and you can pay me with the currency of your country the equivalent of a couple thousand American bucks. This," she added, handing him back the medallion, "is worth a small fortune, far too much for one week's work. "

He pushed the medallion back at her. "It may require more than one week, and-it is all that I have to pay you with. I have not this currency that you speak of."

"No money, and here you are trying to dump a fortune in gold on me?" she rolled her eyes. "No offense, but you need a babysitter, big guy."

After a moment he grinned at her. "You have just endeared yourself to Martha."

"Who's Martha?"

"The voice in here." He tapped the earphone. "She suggests that 'baby-sitter' be added to the job you will do for me. What is baby-sitter?"

Brittany blushed. "You don't know? I mean, she didn't explain-? Never mind. I was just joking, really. But what happened to your money? Have you just run out, or were you robbed?"

"Neither. I had no requirement of currency until it became needful to hire assistance."

She stared at him long enough to draw her own conclusion and even thumped her head for not thinking of it sooner. "Credit cards, of course. And for some reason, you aren't equating them with money. Okay, no biggie. Your hotel might not advance you a couple grand, but the banks will tomorrow."

The look he was giving her said clearly that she was talking Greek to him again, but after the requisite pause while he attentively listened to Martha's explanations, he said simply, "I am reminded that I cannot return to my place of sleep until the new rising."

"Rising?"

He sighed after some brief coaching from the earphone and clarified, "Many call it a new day."

"Oh, tomorrow!" Brittany said, but then frowned. "Why not?''

He explained, "Because I was called back for an unneedful consultation, I have exceeded my limit for returning there on this rising."

This was said with a degree of grouchiness. Not that it mattered when she was completely baffled anyway. She understood now how frustrating it must be for him, needing translations for just about everything she was saying. That must have been one heck of a lousy language course he took, if such worldly things like credit cards, hotels, and banks hadn't been included. Talk about a simplistic definition for hotel-place of sleep. She mentally rolled her eyes again.

The only other conclusion she could draw was that he came from one of those countries that still got around on camels, where most of their population had never heard of such things. She hoped not.

And then it dawned on her and she asked, "Wait a minute, are you saying you have nowhere to sleep tonight, but tomorrow you will have?"

He nodded. She sighed, telling him, "I'm not even going to try to figure out how that could be possible, when it doesn't sound like you're referring to messed-up hotel reservations. But you're welcome to sleep on our couch, I suppose. My roommate Jan might object, after the scare you gave her. Then again, after she gets a good look at you, she might not. We eat around six. The bathroom is through that middle door behind you. In the meantime, how about telling me a little more about yourself, so I can better understand what's going on here and what's going to be expected of me on this temporary job?"

"And put this back on," she continued, tossing the medallion at him so he couldn't push it back at her this time. "Much as I could use what that thing will fetch, I'm not in the habit of taking advantage of foreigners. We'll find you a buyer for it tomorrow so you can pocket the bulk and just pay me the couple thousand I've asked for, to cover taking off from my regular jobs."

Brittany settled down into the chair to wait while the female on the other end of his earphone did her thing. Sooner than expected, though, Dalden smiled and said, "I am told you eat real food here. I look forward to sharing your meal."

Brittany burst out laughing. She couldn't help it, deciding it was probably his Martha who needed a translator, not him.