Book 1 of the H&K Series : Path of Knowledge

Chapter 16

Hank smiled at Katharine as he came back into the airport bar. Tess and Karen sat next to her, chatting about the whirlwind of activity that had occurred in the last month.

Karen smiled at Hank as he sat down, a knowing look on her face.

"What was so important that you had to interrupt our lunch?" Katharine asked.

"I had to finalize some business downtown," Hank replied without a hint of a grin. "Sometimes, you just have to check in to make sure people are following instructions and doing things the right way. It also helps when you have some help from someone's assistant to make the full impact of a situation clear." Hank was referring to Adrian Smith.

"Here's to not having to hide out or look over our shoulders anymore," Karen said, raising her glass of wine in the air. The other two women raised their wine glasses as Hank raised his pint of Guinness.

"Hear, hear," the others echoed.

Karen eyed Hank for a moment as he sat his glass down. There was something in his eyes that didn't bode well it seemed.

"Everything okay, honey?" Katharine asked.

"Everything is fine, just thinking that I forgot about that consultant job in Dallas," Hank replied. "It's a week, and the company hasn't called to complain or anything. I just need to call them later to make sure the job is still on. After lunch, of course. It's only noon in Dallas anyway. They should be at lunch as well."

"Another round?" the bartender asked as she came over to the table. The bar was empty this time of day.

"Please," Hank said, looking up at the bartender. The bartender's eyes went wide. "Hank Logan?" she asked, nearly exclaiming.

The three women at the table looked first at the bartender and then back at Hank. The bartender was in her early forties with shoulder-length brunette hair and brown eyes. She had a few curves but obviously worked out. Hank looked into her eyes as his mind wandered back to the first time, he had visited the airport bar.

*****

After a few months in South America, Hank requested a leave to fulfill a promise he had made to a fallen comrade. Lowell arranged for leave and transport. A few days later, Hank found himself in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was dreading the drive out to the city of Lancaster and Copeland's parents' home, but he had a promise to fulfill.

It was six in the evening on Friday night as Lisa the young brunette bartender busied herself restocking the beer coolers behind the bar for the late-night crowd as three separate individuals sat at the horseshoe-shaped bar, each at a respectable distance from the others. At the end of the bar sat an older handsome gentleman in his late fifties wearing grease-stained coveralls, broad shoulders, salt, and pepper hair with a goatee, absently slowly turning his shot of brandy with his right hand. Tears flowed down his cheeks from his dark-blue eyes as he slowly shook his head, lost in his own world. On one side of the bar sat a lovely, slender, green-eyed young woman in her late twenties wearing a light-blue dress with spaghetti straps, with long dark hair, sipping at a glass of white wine. Across from her sat a young man around her age wearing jeans and a plain white T-shirt, with brown hair cut in a very short military high and tight. He had been the last to enter the hotel bar and had just sat down. The bartender finished her restocking before turning to the newcomer. The bar could easily hold sixty-plus occupants.

"I have an odd request," the young man spoke in a southern drawl, addressing the bartender.

"Yes?" she replied with a quizzical expression on her face.