Read Affair Of Risk for Free Online Page A

which put a whole new light on the situation. A very dangerous light. Telling herself to be calm, Kendra withdrew her room key from the muff and fitted it to her door lock. Her adrenaline was flowing now, pumping faster and faster through her veins.
    She did not allow the sudden increase in energy and alertness to destroy her outward calm. She forced herself to think and act coolly, deliberately, professionally.
    She walked into the thickly carpeted room and turned with great casualness to close the door. As she had known there would be, a man appeared suddenly in the opening.
    "May I help you?" she asked with mocking politeness, her hand on the door. He was a sleazy looking character, she decided dispassionately, lacking Wolfs interesting flair as well as his scars. This man didn't look as if he'd fought his way to his current station in life. He looked as if he'd arrived via more slimy, less physical means.
    He was of an indeterminate age, probably late thirties,
    with a knife blade of a nose, a thin frame, and hard blue eyes. He also didn't look overly intelligent. His rather worn suit implied his current job didn't pay well, but then Kendra decided this was the sort of man who could make a new suit of clothes look old and shabby within minutes of putting it on. Some attempt had been made to control his straggling sandy hair with hair oil, but it hadn't been very effective.
    "Miss Kendra Loring?" he rasped, stepping over the threshold and reaching for the edge of the door.
    "What do you want?" she asked placidly.
    "A little information," he told her derisively.
    "Sorry, you'll have to get in line. You're not the only one looking for information from me tonight." Kendra firmly pushed the door shut, only to have him retaliate with a strong shove.
    "No jokes tonight, lady. I ain't in the mood."
    Kendra carefully stepped out of her high-heeled sandals. "If you don't leave me alone, I will call the front desk," she announced icily.
    "You'll never make it to the phone," he told her with a slow, anticipatory smile.
    "Did Radburn send you?" she inquired with apparent interest, her eyes never leaving his pinched face. This was a man who would telegraph his actions, and he was clearly confident that because he was facing a woman, he was in complete control.
    "You and I are going to have a little talk," he hissed, moving with abrupt force into the room and yanking the door shut behind him. "And just to make sure you don't get any clever ideas about screaming ..."
    He started toward her with outstretched hands.
    CHAPTER THREE
    What happened next took place so quickly, so efficiently, and so automatically, Kendra didn't have time to be astonished at her own ability. She only knew the skill was there when she needed it, just as her instructor had promised.
    In the short span of time it took for the weasellike man to reach for her, Kendra's mind switched gears. In a flash she was standing barefooted on the mat back in the San Francisco dojo, dressed in the loose white trousers and jacket called a judo-gi. The man coming toward her seemed incredibly off-balance to her trained eye, and she waited for him almost impatiently.
    The technique she used would have appeared deceptively easy to an observer, who would have no way of knowing the importance of timing to the success of the throw.
    When the attacking man grasped her, Kendra stepped backward about six inches, forcing him to move his weight onto his left foot in order to steady himself. She shifted her weight again, sweeping her opponent's left foot from under him with the sole of her right foot applied just under his ankle.
    Simultaneously she pulled down on his left lapel and used a pushing, circular motion with his right sleeve. There was an astounded expression on the narrow, slit-eyed face as the man fell heavily to the green carpet. She had used his own momentum and weight against him with
    swift sureness, which had turned him from attacker to victim.
    As soon as the throw was