The man waited patiently. He had dark blond hair and sort of tawny-colored eyes. There was an intensity to his expression that reminded her of predators watching prey. A shiver rippled through her as she thought of gazelles being brought down for the kill. Unfortunately in her current condition she was more water buffalo than gazelle.

He looked confident, important, and powerful. Not the sort of person who should be stopping to help an unattractive pregnant woman in trouble. Men like him sent assistants to take care of life’s unpleasant details.

“Do you speak English?” he asked, enunciating each word clearly.

“What? Oh. Of course.” She sucked in a breath, not sure what could be wrong with her. She would blame her sudden mental hiccup on food poisoning, only she hadn’t eaten anything that day. “I’m, ah-” Francesca cleared her throat. Brain function returned and she launched into her spiel.

“Hi. I’m Francesca. I’m supposed to be delivering these packages here-” She motioned to the closed and locked office door. “But there seems to be a problem.”

The man glanced first at the boxes, all carefully addressed to the defunct company, then to the door where a hand-lettered sign said that Malcolm and White Data Tech was no more.

“Bringing these here was the last thing my boss told me to do before he left town,” she went on. “If I don’t get them delivered, he’s going to kill me.”

In an effort to look terrified, Francesca thought about how little she had in her checking account and how that pesky electric bill was going to come due soon. Eventually she would reap the rewards of her postgraduate education, but until she could actually slap the letters Ph.D. after her name, she seemed destined to a life of poverty.

“You’ll have to risk his fury,” the man said calmly. “These boxes aren’t going anywhere today. That company closed the door about ten days ago. From what I’ve heard, the main players skipped town with the last few dollars left, leaving several employees with lots of angry customers and no paychecks. What’s your name again?”