* * * * *
Su Kim Khan didn’t like how the people in this little Toronto truck stop were looking at him.
The moment usually passed so much faster. You just don’t stare at Su Kim Khan for very long before getting back to whatever you were previously doing. Because once you got a good look at him, you definitely didn’t want him looking back at you.
Today was different, though. It was not easy for the people in this truck stop to look away from the tattooed, six-foot-ten Korean man wearing a full-length ladies' ermine coat and no pants
With impressive indifference, Khan took a seat at the counter and picked up a menu. Some older men in a corner booth stopped talking and proceeded to stare. Khan stared back. The men hadn’t been paying attention to the countertop TV before, but they quickly turned to it in unison. Khan turned to it as well, and it was a good thing he did.
A commercial was on. A preview for a talk show, something about the anticipated second appearance of Jesse Cannon. Khan squinted at the screen, taking in the clips of Jesse's previous appearance, hearing his voice through the dusty speakers. Before the commercial even ended, he stood up and laid the menu down. Not a soul looked his way.
He walked out of the truck stop diner and immediately over to the first running car he spotted, a little tan sedan emitting a cloud of foggy exhaust. A big-haired woman was behind the wheel. Whether she was just parking or just about to leave didn’t make any difference. Her day was about to change dramatically.
Khan coolly opened the passenger side door and climbed in. He reached across the woman and grabbed her door handle with one hand, and with the other, held his switchblade up where she could see it.
"Take me to Odette," he said.
C H A P T E R 9
Vessel, Book I: The Advent Page 28
