Zero History

38. GETTING HOTTER
Bigend was having the No. 7 Breakfast: two fried eggs, black pudding, two slices of
bacon, two slices of bread, and a mug of tea. “They get the black pudding right, here,” he
said. “It’s so often overcooked. Dry.”
Milgrim and Fiona were having Thai noodle dishes, which Milgrim found an
unexpected option in a place serving the sort of breakfast Bigend was having, but Fiona
had explained that the Thais had quite seamlessly integrated the two, much in the way
Italians had once learned to offer the full English, in a setting of pasta, but even more
convincingly.
It was a tiny place, crowded, not much larger than Bigend’s Vegas cube, the clientele a
mixture of office workers, builders, and the arts-oriented, consuming lunch or late
breakfast. The china and tableware were random, unmatched, and Bigend’s mug of tea
bore a smiling teddy bear.
“You don’t think Foley was following me in Paris?”
“You went back to the hotel,” Bigend said. “I phoned and said that Aldous would be
picking you up. You were using a phone Sleight gave you, but I didn’t say where you
were going, or who you were meeting. Fiona followed the Hilux.” He nodded in her
direction.
“No tails,” said Fiona.
“But I’d phoned Hollis first,” Bigend said, “to find out where she’d be, in order to send
you there. They might have overheard that. But if your Foley was there just as you
arrived, I imagine he either followed Hollis to Selfridges or knew that she’d be going
there.”
“Why would they be interested in Hollis? What does she have to do with Myrtle Beach
and those army pants?”
“You,” said Bigend, “and me. They may have seen us all together at lunch, the day
before. Sleight has allies within Blue Ant, almost certainly. They would assume that Hollis
may be involved with our contracting project. And she is, of course.” Bigend forked a
large piece of bacon into his mouth, and chewed.
“She is?”
Bigend swallowed, drank tea. “I’d like to see what the Gabriel Hounds designer could
do for us for military contracting.”
Milgrim glanced at Fiona, curious to see whether she’d respond to the mention of the
brand, but she was deftly picking shrimp from her noodles with chopsticks. “Hollis is
upset,” Milgrim said to Bigend. “Her boyfriend.”
“Really? She has one?”
“Had,” said Milgrim. “They aren’t together. But she’s learned he was in an accident.”