Page 8 - Deutschisch
P. 8
Book One
July
(25 months later)
Tuesday
20:45
Pride and fear sat uneasily on the hotel
manager's face. Like an ill fitting photo-fit the top
of his expression didn't match the bottom.
Dannaks could see it in his smile and his eyes. The
smile was fixed and nervous and prolonged well
beyond sincerity. It was the sickly grimace of a
schoolboy caught red-handed: a liar's smile. And
the mania glistening in his eyes said that even he
knew he was deceiving no one.
Anyone would think heads of state were visiting.
Then, in a way, this was something of a state visit.
Hadn't they just arrived in a mini motorcade?
"Someone will come tomorrow," said the young
officer, who had not introduced himself and
couldn't be more than twenty years old. A boy
dressed like a soldier, fresh-faced and aghast with
the burden of responsibility.
"When?" asked Dannaks's colleague, Reupke.
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