Folie II

Folie II Part 44

When Kyle woke up, in the late afternoon, Angie was seated in the chair in front of the mirror, dressed in a bath robe, forcefully combing through her long, still wet, wildly wavy and curly hair; cursing under her breath ...

'I haven't treated it in days ... and it's turning on me; I need to hit the saloon sometime soon or it's going to kill me,' she said irritably as she noticed Kyle staring at her in the reflection of the mirror. 'You should probably take a shower as well ...'

'Yeah ... sure. That sounds like a great idea, actually,' he yawned, as he jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

When he came back, Angie had changed into the clothes Salma had bought for her; a neon red zip-up jacket with puff sleeves, grey track suit pants and red Nike sneakers. She had decided to tie her hair back into a single pony tail ... but she didn't seem happy about it.

'You like?' she asked Kyle nervously.

'Dude, you look hot – like all the time – in anything you wear ... What's with your insecurity about that, anyway?' he said with a shrug. 'Take it easy. It's a great look.'

'I guess so ... Salma's got good taste,' Angie said with a grunt. 'But my hair just isn't it, you know?'

Kyle shrugged again, gabbed the shopping bag with his new clothes and returned to the bathroom. He stepped out minutes later wearing a white t-shirt with pushed up sleeves, a navy blue vest, grey neck scarf, black stovepipe pants with a pair of timberland boots.

'You were right about Salma. Man, I am loving these threads,' Kyle said with a wide grin.

'So, like ... how are you feeling?' Angie asked him with an expression of concern.

'My arm is as good as new,' he said as he flexed the knuckles of his left hand. 'My jaw's a little numb. I can't seem to taste anything with my tongue yet ... but I'm awesome. How are your shoulder and knee ...?'

'Oh, great ... Yeah um, Akina put these, like, ethereal salt stones, or whatever, on the wounds and healed them. I was all good in, like, half an hour,'

'Damn, well, that sounds cool ...'

'Yeah ... but um, listen ... about Demina ... I –'

Angie broke off as they heard a knock at the door ... A moment later Ana Maria walked in ...

'You're both up ... good,' she said curtly. 'It's time for us to meet Copperhead, come with me.'

Kyle and Angie exchanged wary looks ... before following Ana Maria. Akina and Salma were waiting for them outside the elevators; one of which they took all the way down the building, past the basement floor and deeper below ...

'Whoa ... just where exactly we are headed?' Kyle asked the nuns.

'You'll see soon enough?' Ana Maria told him.

When the elevator came to a stop, some 5 floors beneath the basement garage, they stepped out to the entrance of a massive underground lobby that mirrored the one in the hotel's first floor ... A middle-aged man, dressed in an all-white, 1960's styled suit was waiting for them there. To Kyle's apprehension, he resembled Copperhead; his hair was graying, his brows were thick, his nose was broad and his jaw was strong. Unlike Copperhead, however, he had kind and welcoming light blue eyes. He smiled as they approached him ...

'Welcome to the Conrad Underground,' he greeted them cheerfully, 'I'm your ... er, how do I put it? Uh, yes, your concierge for the night. My name is Thomas Cole,'

'Hello Thomas ... we hadn't met yet but we spoke briefly on the phone,' Ana Maria said.

'Miss Vasquez, I presume. Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you in person. Please follow me,' he said beckoning them to follow him.