O R A L P R A C T I C E Lessons 1 - 25 - Shenker

CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS EXACTLY TWELVE FORTY-FIVE WHEN SEBASTIAN ENTERED THE BUSY RESTAURANT.
He saw her immediately. She was sitting at a small table near the window, drinking a vodka
martini. The long blonde hair, the dark blue Calvin Klein suit, the Vogue sunglasses, and
the Gucci shoulder bag: it must be her, Samantha Kovak, his contact inside the
Confederation. She was beautiful - this was no surprise to him - but she was also
younger than he expected.
He took the other chair. He knew what to say. "Samantha?" he asked. And she
replied: "Yes… Sebastian!"
But the identification was not yet complete. They ordered their meal, and started
eating in silence. After a while, he spoke. He remembered his line - he knew what to say:
"What are you thinking about, darling?"
The girl stopped eating and looked at him - tenderly, it seemed, in spite of the
sunglasses. "I was thinking, my dear, that silence must be a sign…"
Sebastian finished the sentence: "…of love?"
Yes, now he was sure. Now he could relax. The only problem was… Why did she
have to be so beautiful? He tried to think about their business, about the job they had to
do together that evening, at the ambassador's dinner party.
It began to rain while they were having lunch. Samantha took off her sunglasses,
and looked at him with a pair of incredible cobalt-blue eyes. Lovely, but… cold, he
thought. Sebastian gave her the ring - it was actually a miniature video camera - and she
put it on.
�
It got colder that evening, and it was snowing when they got to the hotel. They
checked in at the desk, and went upstairs to get dressed for the dinner party.
Samantha had a little surprise for Sebastian: a beautiful blue silk Armani tie.
"Here," she said. "Put this on."
"I can't stand wearing ties," said Sebastian. "Do I really have to wear one?"
"But Sebastian, dear," said Samantha. "It's going to be a very smart occasion. And
- don't forget - the microphone is in this tie. And here's your new shirt, with the radio
transmitter."
An hour later, they went down to the dining room, to meet the other guests. It was
going to be an interesting evening, they were sure of that.
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