Chapter 17

 

A petite, attractive dark-haired brunette got off the Washington Yellow Line metro stop. She walked briskly in the direction of the National Institute of Health Library while fighting a head-on blustery northern wind encasing the Washington DC area in its coldest day of the mid winter season. She was clad only in a light black unlined outer coat; her cotton nurse’s uniform underneath provided virtually no protection from the frigid temperature. As she entered the library, a sleepy attendant at the front desk asked if he could help her. He noticed she was quite attractive, but she had pulled her hair tightly into an unflattering bun looking somewhat like a rapidly aging schoolteacher. In his eyes, her puffy cheeks further diminished what could have been a very attractive woman. 

Hoping to strike up a conversation, he smiled and said, “Nice weather for a polar bear out there.” She didn’t return the smile or respond to the banal comment, but headed directly to the specialized medical research area that she was seeking.

All day long, streams of medical personnel filtered in and out; they completed their research and left. She continued to breeze through several medical books focusing her reading only in the single area that interested her. When the lights flickered twice, signaling the end of the library day, she put the last illustrated book she was reading under her coat, and left the building. She knew how to prevent the alarm from going off, for that would have notified security that one of their treasured books was being stolen. It was about nine at night as she returned to her metro stop and took her train to the Pentagon City exit where her car had been parked. She left the gated area, paying the attendant and thinking, it has been a productive day. I now know where I’m going from here.