63
Preparations
Dove no longer appeared in the dining room at noon. Lee, when she returned from Istanbul, scarcely noticed, and the rest of staff took it for granted. She’d heard nothing of Ngunda’s farewell. She almost never took coffee breaks—had her coffee in her office—and worked alone most of the time.
On the day after Ngunda’s goodbye, Lor Lu had video cubes of it distributed to all staff families. Ben and the girls had watched together, as most families had. Lee had been in Helsinki by then, or somewhere over Europe, and when she’d returned from Istanbul, people’s attentions were on other matters.
And Ben and the girls deliberately avoided mentioning it.
Thus the transformation of Dove never really came up in her presence. She had, of course, been exposed to comments a few times, but hadn’t paid enough attention to wonder what they meant.
Lor Lu had told Ben that Dove wanted her along on the bus tour. And that he himself preferred she not know yet, either about Dove, or about going on tour. It would distract her from what she was doing. He would, he said, wait till shortly before the tour. He trusted her operating style and attitude to protect her from learning accidently.
To Ben they seemed like odd decisions, but he trusted them.
* * *
It was twelve days after the farewell meeting when Lor Lu stopped at her office with a surprise. “Lee,” he said, “Dove has listed you to be on the bus tour.”
“Me?”
“Right.”
The order stunned her. For it was an order, not an invitation or suggestion; that was clear from Lor Lu’s wording and tone of voice. And the tour group would leave in only five days. “Why me?” she asked.
“Why don’t you ask Dove?”
“I— But . . .” She frowned. “What about the girls?”
“They’ll be in school. And Ben will be here; they’ll be fine.”
“How long will it be?”
“It’s planned for three weeks, but it may be shorter.”
She sat as if dropped there, her mind blank. “You won’t be able to take much,” Lor Lu went on. “A large suitcase that will ride in luggage, and a small one overhead. The bus is a deluxe sleeper. The seats recline way back, and there are pillows. We’ll stay in motels or hotels every third night or so, to shower and do laundry.”
The word “we” brought her out of it. “You’ll be there too?”
Grinning, he nodded. “I’m very good at playing by ear, dealing with things off the cuff. That will be important on so unstructured a tour.”
“I won’t be the only woman, will I?”
“One of five.”
For several long seconds she thought, then looked earnestly at Lor Lu. “I really don’t want to go,” she said. “I really really don’t.”
Beneath Lor Lu’s mild, steady gaze, her eyes lowered. She thought of the extras and privileges she’d been granted: the deluxe office, and the high-powered legal help against Mark’s threat to the girls.
But she still didn’t want to go. The thought somehow frightened her. “It is necessary that you go,” Lor Lu said abruptly, and turning, left.
She’d never seen Lor Lu abrupt before, and wondered if he was angry at her. Giving him time to reach his office, she dialed him. He wasn’t back yet, so she got herself a cup of tea, added sugar and milk, then tried again.
“This is Lor Lu.” He sounded as cheerful as ever.
“Lor Lu, it’s Lee.” Embarrassingly she giggled.
For an instant on the screen his eyebrows rose, then he grinned. “The alliteration,” he said.
She nodded, serious again, wondering what had come over her. “I called to tell you I’ll go on the tour. I mean—of course I will.”
The grin changed to a warm smile. “Good. See Norman for a briefing sheet and instructions. Do it now. Put aside whatever you’ve been working on, even if you’re in the middle of a sentence. From this point until told otherwise, you are assigned solely to tour duties.”
She watched the picture click off the screen. Four days. Could she learn her tour duties in four days? And what in the world could they be?