Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(65)

The two of them sat and chatted for a few minutes, talking mostly about their rooms. Sarah said her bed was too soft, but other than that she thought the room was wonderful. Noah shrugged, not sure what to say about his own room other than the fact that he had slept well.

Neil was the next to arrive, which didn’t surprise Noah. The boy was often up as early as he was, and had even come over and tapped on the back kitchen door a few times back at the house, joining Noah for his first cup of coffee in the mornings. As far as he was able, Noah felt that he truly liked the kid. There were things about Neil that reminded him of his pal Jerry, from his foster home days. Jerry wasn’t as tall, but he was also shy and clumsy, and could be just as sarcastic.

Moose and Jefferson showed up together only a few moments later, and Noah signaled Tina when he saw them enter. The waitress hurried over, rushed off to get more coffee, then scribbled their orders down as fast as she could. “Okay, I’ll get these in and we’ll get them right back to you,” she said, and then she was gone again.

Neil watched her go, shaking his head. Moose looked at him, then turned to look at the girl before turning back to Neil.

“Neil, you think she’s cute? Want to tap that?”

Neil slowly turned his face back so that it was facing in Moose’s direction, but shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out where on earth she could find that much energy this early in the morning. If we can follow her to its source, we might have something as valuable as gold. I mean, even meth couldn’t give her that much, could it? I think she’s found a whole new drug, and I want some of it.” He slowly turned his face back to look at the rapidly bustling waitress.

Sarah laughed, and Moose chuckled. Noah looked at Neil, then looked at the girl. “Maybe she’s just one of those people who likes early mornings,” he said, and all four of the others turned to look at him. He looked from one to the other, until he had looked at all of them in turn. “What?”

“Neil was making a joke, Noah,” Sarah said.

Noah nodded. “I know,” he said. “I was just adding my own observation.” He looked at his three teammates again. “If I hadn’t been with you guys, I would’ve laughed along with you, but you all said I didn’t have to pretend with you. I mean, if you want me to go back to it, I can.”

Sarah shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It was just that we forgot about that. For a second there, it seemed like you just didn’t get the joke.”

“I didn’t, not really. I mean, I realize it was a facetious statement, about her finding a new drug, but I don’t really understand exactly what makes it funny.”

Moose knuckled his shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, Noah,” he said. “That was our bad, not yours.”

Jefferson was looking at Noah. “You know, knowing about your—what condition?—knowing about it is one thing, but actually seeing it, that’s something altogether different. It must’ve been rough, growing up like that.”

Noah shrugged. “I guess it probably was, but I don’t have anything to compare it to, so I can’t tell you for sure. On the other hand, to me, from what I’ve seen of what emotions do to people, I sort of feel like the lucky one.”

Neil’s eyebrows went up, and he nodded sagely. “You have learned wisdom, Grasshopper,” he said. “The rest of these mortals might not understand it, but I would give just about anything to be like you in that regard. I’ve had all the emotional pain I can take; I’d be glad to be completely unaware of what it is.”

Moose looked at him. “That’s why you’re such a smart ass,” he said. “You try to keep everyone at a distance, so no one gets close to you and can hurt your feelings. Right?”

“Why, Milton, you missed your calling, you should have been a psychiatrist,” Neil said. “That’s exactly what my last four shrinks all said, so you’re at least as smart as them.” He rolled his eyes.

“Call me Milton one more time,” Moose growled, “and you won’t have to worry about ever getting your feelings hurt again.”

“Enough,” Noah said. “Today’s a big day. We get to actually go to work, finally.” He turned to Jefferson. “You got a suggestion on a hotel for me over there?”

Jefferson nodded. “I did a little research on that last night, and I think the place you want to go is the Hampton Inn. They’ve got good security, and the taxi drivers that are allowed to pick up there aren’t as likely to try to kidnap you as most of them.” He blinked. “Not that I think any of them could actually manage to do it, but you might as well avoid what problems you can, right?”

“Good point,” Noah said. “Okay, I’ll have Sarah drive me over there in a couple of hours and drop me off. Neil, will your little transmitters work there, too?”

“Of course they will, they’ll work anywhere. The way they’re made, they turn on when you peel them off that paper, and then you can stick them anywhere they won’t be noticed. The little micro batteries in them are good for about two, maybe two-and-a-half weeks.”

Sarah started looked at him. “Two weeks? The battery in my cell phone won’t even last all day, how can something that small have a battery that will last two weeks?”

Neil rolled his head onto its side and peeked at her from under his eyelids. “The battery in your cell phone doesn’t cost even a tenth of what one of those little dots is worth. I guess when you’re willing to spend enough money, you can get just about anything you want.”