Delta: A Spy Novel

Chapter Four

            “A taxi?” Pierre said blankly. “Why would you take a taxi?”

            “Well,” I said, in mock patient tones, “you say it takes an hour to drive to his manor, so you think maybe I don’t want to walk?” Josh laughed.

            Pierre looked strangely at me. “Well, duh, I understand that,” he said. “But why can’t we just take a car?”

            “A car?” I repeated, looking incredulously at him.

            “And where are we supposed to find this car?” Josh asked skeptically. “That’s why we took a taxi here in the first place, because we didn’t have a car.”

            “I got one.” Pierre’s tone was completely casual.

            I exchanged a look with Josh, raising my eyebrows. “You mean you rented one?” I said carefully.

            “Nope.” Pierre sounded very smug. “It’s my own car.”

            “You have your own car?” Josh repeated in astonishment. “You’re in France, you’ve been here for maybe three days, and you get your hands on your own car?”

            Pierre rolled his eyes, thrusting his hands in his pockets. “Well, Delta set up the contract for me, obviously,” he said in a superior tone. “And I’ve actually been in France for a week.” He looked at Josh. “Come on, think. Doesn’t Young usually supply us with a car?”

            Josh scowled at him. Truthfully, his question had been reasonable. Generally we had to rent the car… which didn’t always work out that well because sometimes the car would be in, well, a slightly worsened state than before when returned. Let’s just say life could get a little dirty.

            “Well, where is this car?” I said, coming to his defense. I was amazed that he had one, and wondered just how close Pierre was to Young. I hadn’t been aware of this special relationship between them…

            Now Pierre openly smirked. “Follow me.”

He led us to the parking lot behind the motel, where several cars were parked. I spotted a Porsche, which was quite obviously very new and could have cost no less than fifty K. This was to my surprise, because the motel wasn’t exactly the snazziest place in town. I looked around for a minivan or something as such that we would probably have. While Delta wanted us to do our best, they weren’t always the most generous with their money loans, so I didn’t expect us to have a Mercedes.

            Although it would be nice.

            Pierre stopped at the Porsche. “Here we go,” he said breezily, pulling the keys out of his pocket. I stared at him.