World of Trouble (9786167611136) by Jake Needham

in LA and was about
half filled with a mix of locals and tourists. He was damn near
starving to death by then, so he ordered a double Fat Burger,
fries, and a Coke from the cheerful Filipino girl behind the
counter and sat down to wait for it.
    ***
    THE MAN WAS a Caucasian dressed in khaki trousers and
a plain white, short-sleeved shirt. Neither tall nor short, neither
heavy nor skinny, neither young nor old, he looked ordinary in
every respect. His appearance was completely forgettable, which was
why he was so good at surveillance.
    At first he was afraid he might have been
spotted and Shepherd was about to launch himself on a cleaning
route. A shopping mall was a textbook location for it. But soon it
became obvious that Shepherd wasn’t doing anything of the sort. He
had no idea anyone was on him. The man could have been driving a
float from the Rose Parade and Shepherd wouldn’t have spotted
him.
    The crowds were thinner in the part of the
mall where Shepherd was walking now and the man started thinking
about making his move. Somewhere public was good, of course, but
not too public. He was just wondering if this might not be
the best chance he was likely to get when Shepherd suddenly started
walking very fast and darted into a storefront about thirty yards
ahead.
    For a moment the man panicked. Shepherd must
have spotted him after all and had just been lulling him into a
sense of false confidence. Now Shepherd was moving and he had been
caught flat-footed. Walking as fast as he dared without calling
attention to himself, he headed for the same storefront into which
Shepherd had vanished. He glanced at the sign as he got closer. Fat Burger. What the hell was that ?
    When the man walked in, he almost fell over
Shepherd. He was sitting on a molded yellow plastic chair at a
small black Formica table. His back was to the door and he was
watching the opposite end of the room where half a dozen
red-and-yellow uniformed girls worked behind a counter.
    The man suddenly understood he hadn’t been
spotted at all. This was some kind of fast food place and Shepherd
had just gone in to eat. He kept walking toward the counter and
ordered a Coke. He paid for it, turned around as if he were looking
for something, and glanced in Shepherd’s direction. One of the
red-and-yellow uniformed girls had just delivered his order to him
on a red plastic tray and Shepherd was so involved in digging into
it that he wasn’t paying the slightest attention to anything
else.
    The man went to a table by the wall and took
a chair that faced in Shepherd’s direction. He sipped at his Coke
and watched for a while. There was no one else seated in the area
around Shepherd and he appeared totally absorbed in his food. After
watching for five minutes, the man decided this was the best chance
he was going to get. He knocked back the rest of his Coke, stood
up, and walked toward Shepherd.
    ***
    SHEPHERD FELT RATHER than saw the man approaching. He
didn’t look up. He still had a few bites of his Fat Burger left and
they were far more interesting to him than some guy walking by his
table. But the man didn’t walk by his table. He stopped, stood
right next to it, and cleared his throat.
    “How did a guy like you end up working for
somebody like General Kitnarok?” the man asked.
    Now Shepherd looked up. He wasn’t sure he had
heard right.
    “A man like you, Mr. Shepherd? With your
background and reputation? How did you get mixed up with General
Kitnarok?”
    The guy was a middle-aged Caucasian with a
completely forgettable face. Shepherd was certain he had never seen
him before.
    “No, Mr. Shepherd,” the man said as if he
were reading his mind. “We’ve never met.”
    Shepherd picked up a paper napkin, folded it
over once, and wiped his mouth. Then he just sat and looked at the
guy and waited to see what was coming next.
    “I’m Special Agent Leonard Keur of the
FBI.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “Do I look like somebody who’s