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"This is wonderful." She laughed. "Aren't they magnificent?" |
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The orcas endured the finger-pointing and flashbulbs with the bored indifference of priests listening to grade-school confessions and finally submerged just before the ferry touched land. Long before the boat was secure, the passengers were in their carsengines fired up, motors revving and bloodless, white-knuckled hands gripping padded steering wheels. As soon as the gate went up, the entire complement shot down the ramp and raced up the road to Victoria in a kind of moving traffic jam. Kyna promptly got into the spirit of the chase. Using her driving skills and the Lincoln's bulk and larger engine, she was able to intimidate her smaller Japanese- and English-made competition and made it to the provincial capital in record time. |
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Victoria was a small slice of Old London transplanted to the New World. The city's winding streets were lined with old chipped-brick buildings and staid English restaurants where you could still get steak and kidney pie with a mug of Guinness stout. The center of commercial activity was the harbor, a beautiful crescent-shaped area overflowing with flower gardens and wrought-iron fences. In the middle of the crescent was the Provincial Capitol Building and the ivy-covered Empress Hotel, and right down in front was the multinational yacht club. |
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Kyna found a place to park in the public lot down at the water's edge. She unlocked the trunk and held up her raincoat in one hand and her cardigan in the other. "What do you think?" |
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The skies were clearing, but the air was cool enough to raise goose bumps. Up the hill, the sidewalks and awnings were shedding water from an early shower, but that only made the place more magical when the sun broke through and turned the gardens into fields of glitter. |
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"The sweater," Cyrus replied. |
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Kyna's meeting was set for right after lunch so they killed the meantime combing the streets and narrow alleyways in hot |
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