Book Excerpt
A short, elderly man, dressed in an expensive suit, hastily made his way along the dark, unlit New York streets. Every now and then he glanced at his watch, as if he was afraid of missing an appointment. In the deathly pale light of the moon, he could see the hands of his watch moving toward midnight.
The man looked around nervously. He peered cautiously into the darkness, seeking out his invisible pursuer and then anxiously wiped his sweating brow with a handkerchief, unable to shake off the sense of some kind of unseen presence.
Crooked shadows, blurred figures, muffled sounds...
He seemed to be not in a modern metropolis, but in a grim, mediaeval
ghost town.
Suddenly, the man heard a voice.
“Your passport please, sir.”
“What?”
“Your passport, sir,” repeated the Kennedy Airport employee
cheerfully.
The fleeting vision vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, as the
man came to.
“Yes, yes of course,” he said, somewhat hesitantly taking the
document from his jacket pocket and handing it to the passport control officer.
“Are you OK darling?” The slim, young brunette, with aristocratic
features, looked tenderly at her husband.
“Yeah, Jess. I was just thinking about something.”
“Welcome to New York,
Mr Peterson!” said the officer politely, as he handed back the passport.
In no time at all, Mr and Mrs Peterson had left Kennedy Airport and were in a
cab on their way to the hotel.
New York greeted them with sunshine, congestion and a dizzy pace of life.
Jessica was already anticipating persuading her husband, Morris, to take her
around the most exclusive boutiques in Manhattan, but seeing the anxious look on his face, she
took his hand and said, soothingly:
“Don’t worry, darling. We’ll be free of it tomorrow.”
“Unless it kills me first,” Mr Peterson muttered.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Morris. That’s just a pile of nonsense. You
shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Jessica responded, reassuringly.
The hotel that Mr and Mrs Peterson arrived at exuded real class and
luxury. Their suite was decorated in a classical style and seemed to have been
made for lovers of the extravagant. The antique French chairs, the kingsize
four-poster bed, the Dutch Masters on the walls, and all the other luxury items
would have made an impression on even the most sophisticated connoisseur of
fine interiors.
Jessica twirled around in front of the mirror, taking pleasure in
her perfect figure. She could just picture herself dressed in the latest
fashions from the New York
catwalk.
“Darling, would you mind if I went out to meet some of my old
classmates today?” Jessica asked sweetly. “I haven’t seen them in such a long
time, and I would so like to have a cocktail or two with them, as we look back
on our wild student days.”
“Just don’t be long,” Morris replied absently, his mind elsewhere.
“Shall we breakfast here at the hotel?”
“Oh, yes!” Jessica could hardly contain herself.
Mr and Mrs Peterson went down to the first floor, to the restaurant.
At such an early hour, the place was empty apart from an elderly lady who
looked something like the Queen of England, a young girl with an Asian
appearance and a respectable looking gentleman who was dressed to the nines.
Morris and Jessica placed their order.
Deep in thought, Mr Peterson placed a small antique item on the
table and took an auction program booklet out of his case.
“Darling, do you mind if I go and powder my nose?” Jessica asked.
“No, you go ahead,” said Morris, his head buried in the booklet.
Once inside the ladies' restroom, Jessica checked to make sure there
was no one around, and then took out her cell phone.
“I told you not to call me on this number!” she uttered, angrily.
“Yes, tonight, just as we agreed… No, he doesn’t suspect a thing. Morris is all
wrapped up in this auction… Are you crazy? It’s too risky! I have to go now.
See you!”
Jessica went back to the table and started chatting away as if
nothing had happened. Using all her charm, she managed to snap Morris out of
his reverie and cheer him up, before asking him, innocently, to take her
shopping. Her husband agreed almost instantly.
The day flew by, and soon it was evening, when Mrs Peterson went off
to meet her old classmates, and did not make it back until morning. Returning
to the hotel in the early hours, she was surprised to see that, even at that
time of day, there were people on the leather couch in the lobby. Seeing her,
they stood up and approached. Taking a second look, Jessica realized that these
were no ordinary guests.
They were cops.
Author Bio
Our names are Jake and Kate Persy and we’re young, self-publishing
writers. We’re a happy couple and our motto is ‘The best moment to be
happy is right now’. We have a healthy, active lifestyle.
We love having fun and that’s why we’ve written Codename: Chimera. It’s been an exciting experience. We wanted to write an interesting mystery that you can sit back and enjoy and we hope that’s what we’ve done.
We love having fun and that’s why we’ve written Codename: Chimera. It’s been an exciting experience. We wanted to write an interesting mystery that you can sit back and enjoy and we hope that’s what we’ve done.
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