Honour Among Thieves

McKenzie. He checked his watch. It was 8.17 a.m. With a bit of luck he might still make the meeting on time. He began to look for a seat. 'That'll be a dollar,' said the driver, staring at his retreating back. T. Hamilton McKenzie rummaged in his Sunday suit. 'Oh, my God,' he said. 'I've left. . .' 'Don't try that one, man,' said the driver. 'No cash, no dash.' McKenzie turned to face him once again. 'You don't understand, I have an important appointment. A matter of life and death.' 'So is keeping my job, man. I gotta stick by the book. If you can't pay, you've gotta debus 'cause that's what the regulations say.' 'But -' spluttered McKenzie. 'I'll give you a dollar for that watch,' said a young man seated in the second row who'd been enjoying the confrontation. T. Hamilton McKenzie looked at the gold Rolex that had been presented to him for twenty-five years' service to the Ohio State University Hospital. He whipped it off his wrist and handed it over to the young man. 'It must be a matter of life and death,' said the young man as he exchanged the prize for a dollar. He slipped the watch onto his wrist. T. Hamilton McKenzie handed the dollar on to the driver. 'You didn't strike a good bargain there, man,' he said, shaking his head. 'You could have had a week in a stretch limo for a Rolex.' 'Come on, let's get going!' shouted McKenzie. 'It's not me who's been holding us up, man,' said the driver as he moved slowly away from the kerb. T. Hamilton McKenzie sat in the front seat wishing it were he who was driving. He looked at his watch. It wasn't there. He turned round and asked the youth, 'What's the time?' The young man looked proudly at his new acquisition, which he hadn't taken his eyes off for one moment. 'Twenty-six minutes after eight and twenty seconds.' McKenzie stared out of the window, willing the bus to go faster. It stopped seven times to drop and pick up passengers before they finally reached the corner of Independence, by which time the driver feared the watchless man was about to have a heart attack. As T. Hamilton McKenzie jumped off the steps of the bus, he heard the clock on the town hall strike 8.45 a.m. 'Oh God, let them still be there,' he said as he ran towards the Olentangy Inn, hoping no one would recognise him. He stopped running only when he had reached the path that led up to reception. He tried to compose himself, aware that he was badly out of breath and sweating from head to toe. He pushed through the swing door of the coffee shop and peered around the room, having no idea who or what he was looking for. He imagined that everyone was staring back at him. The coffee shop had about sixty cafe tables in twos and fours, and he would have guessed it was about half full. Two of the corner tables were already taken, so McKenzie headed to the one that gave him the best view of the door. He sat and waited, praying that they hadn't given up on him. It was when Hannah arrived back at the crossing on the corner of Thurloe Place that she first had the feeling someone was following her. By the time she had reached the pavement on the South Kensington side, she was convinced of it. A tall man, young, evidently not very experienced at shadowing, bobbed rather obviously in and out of doorways. Perhaps he thought she wasn't the type who would ever be suspicious. Hannah had about a quarter of a mile in which to plan her next move. By the time the Norfolk came in sight, she knew exactly what needed to be done. If she could get into the building well ahead of him, she estimated she only needed about thirty, perhaps forty-five, seconds at most, unless the porters were both fully occupied. She paused at the front window of a chemist's shop and stared at the array of beauty products that filled the shelves. She turned to look towards the lipsticks in the corner and saw his reflection in the brightly polished window. He was standing by a newspaper stand at the entrance to South Kensington tube station. He picked up a copy of the Daily Mail - amateur, she thought -which gave her the chance to cross the road before he could collect his change. She had reached the front door of the hotel by the time he had passed the chemist. Hannah didn't run up the steps, as it would have acknowledged his existence, but mistakenly pushed the revolving door so sharply that she sent an unsuspecting old lady tumbling onto the pavement much sooner than she'd intended. The two porters were chatting as she shot across the lobby. The red