The Amber Room Teaser (Chapter 15)

6 man elbowed in between them and tried to block her way. With surprising strength, she pushed him aside and knocked against Danny, spilling his coffee over both of them.

“Out of my way, you fool,” she hissed at him, he could see the panic in her blue eyes. She hurried on through the exit door, closely followed by the more determined mob of followers. Hailing a cab, she dived in and they sped off downtown, along Central Park West.

Danny followed in the direction of the cab, heaving his rucksack onto his back.

Just ahead of him, he saw the man who took the photo of the girl. He was thin, balding and dressed in dark blue trousers and grey jacket.

Danny caught up with him, “Wow, that was interesting, huh? You were in the lecture, right?”

“Yes, yes,” the thin man replied, not looking at Danny and trying to keep an eye on the woman's taxi and hail one for himself.

“Would you believe that the, what did they call it, the Amber Room still exists, I thought it was destroyed?”

“I don't know,” the man replied dismissively and swatted at Danny with his hand.

“Wow, it's really interesting, I'm heading down to Penn Station, do you want to share a cab?”

“No, I don't!” They missed a passing cab.

“Oh, hey, missed that one.”

“Damnation!” In exasperation, the man walked off.

Danny watched, she had disappeared. He waited for the man to get some distance away and then hailed a cab and returned to his apartment.

Danny slouched onto his sofa with a cold Dr Pepper and put his feet up. He pulled at the brown bristles of his chin beard between swigs and reflected on what had happened. He had the lecture notes and references and he made a calendar memo to call one of the lecture authors he knew at the Smithsonian to work on the detail. Wow, he couldn’t get the red-head out of his mind, those ice-blue eyes were unforgettable. He zoomed her face on his tablet, he had caught her image from the hall. Ema, Ema James. Very interesting, lives in Hampstead, London. What's she doing in New York? Her pink, leather notepad was useful, it was obviously precious, monogrammed, all that information, she would definitely want it back. . . . to the end of the chapter . . .