Like an irritating mosquito or a black mouse scurrying into a dark corner. Only it was so much bigger. It meant so much more. A black bag. Gaia knew it instantly. She was sure of it. All thoughts of broken hearts and obligatory dates had disappeared. Suddenly Gaia’s attention had zeroed in on that bag like a high-powered telephoto lens. A few seconds later she had crouched stealthily behind a bookcase, peering through the available space between two huge red encyclopedic volumes. It was only a few moments more before she hit the visual jackpot. There he was. The pock-marked EMT slob. In his white shirt and his grimy corduroys. The coincidence that never was. Gaia’s eyes narrowed as she watched him step over to his wooden table and glance furtively back toward the spot she had just been sitting in for hours. The spot that was now empty. He’d stepped away. The idiot had stepped away from what was now quite obviously his little surveillance post, perhaps to stuff his face with more Rice Krispie Treats.
