Neither of the Hyatt’s restaurants were open yet, so they walked a few blocks to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was still a bit early for dinner, so the place wasn’t crowded, which suited them just fine. They were escorted to a corner table by a hostess who looked sixteen years old. In reality, she was probably in her late twenties. I must be getting old, Nathan thought as he watched her walk back to her station. When the server came, he ordered a Caesar salad with the dressing on the side. Harv ordered a teriyaki-sticks platter, pot stickers, a shrimp cocktail, a bowl of New England clam chowder, a calamari steak sandwich with fries, and a chocolate shake.

Nathan just stared.

“What,” Harv said.

“You got a hollow leg or something?”

“I’m hungry. What about it?”

“I’ll bet you fifty bucks you can’t eat all that.”

“You’re on.”

Forty minutes later, Nathan fished out his wallet.

On the walk back to the Hyatt, Nathan shook his head. “You amaze me.”

“I know.”

Nathan switched to Russian. “You spot the two agents watching us in there?”

“Yes,” Harvey answered in Russian. “Opposite side of the room. Male-female combo sitting at the bar. They were good. I thought maybe you had missed them.”

“What are we going to do about them?” Nathan asked.

“You want to mess with them?”

“It is tempting, is it not? Did you see them while I was out of town with Henning?”

“No.”

“Means they are watching me, not you.”

“Probably, but I could’ve missed them.”

“You are better at this than me.”

As they chatted in Russian, they passed a homeless man sitting against the brick wall of a liquor store. “Gol-darned for-ners,” he muttered.

Nathan smiled at the comment, removed his wallet, and took out a twenty. “Don’t spend it all in the same place,” Nathan said in English. He used the opportunity to glance back at the Hard Rock’s entrance. Their tails were just walking out the door. They turned and started down the sidewalk holding hands. Yeah, right.

Harvey kept walking without turning. “They coming?” he asked in Russian.

“Yes. I will divert over to the registration desk and let them catch up. You head into the bar and order a glass of wine. I will head up to the room. Give me three minutes, then come up.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Waste some taxpayer money.”

At the registration desk, Nathan spoke softly to the woman behind the counter. She was in her mid-thirties and slightly overweight. Her dark hair was in a bun. As usual, she did a double take at Nathan’s face, but recovered quickly and forced a smile.

Nathan leaned forward and spoke quietly. “There’s a man and a woman following me. When they come through the doors, give me a nod. Okay?”

“You want me to call the police?”