*Real name Elena Novikov, born nineteen years ago in Moscow, mother and father both deceased, they were young lawyers working for a non governmental organization and were killed in a road accident that was probably an assassination. Her Aunt sold the girl to one of the human trafficking gangs when she was fifteen, she was brought to the United States last year and has been working for one of the higher end prostitution rings. She’s pretty expensive, 400 for an hour, a thousand for a night.*
The silence had gone on a bit longer than she liked, the smile, “You in town on business?”
“Yeah, representing an Indian Tribe in some land negotiations,” He smiled, “And no I’m not a lawyer, I’m just a cowboy, but they trust me and the blue eyed blond bit lets me blend in a bit when I want to.”
Her eyes widened, “A cowboy, really?” She touched his arm, stroked it as if to see if he was real.
Elgin chuckled, “A real live cowboy, though it’s not the life you’ve seen in John Ford movies, those days are long gone.”
“But you ride a horse, sleep under the stars, go to rodeos?” she sounded honestly interested.
“Sure....” and he told her about the life of a modern cowboy, focusing on the funny stories, particularly the ones where he’d made a fool of himself.
She sipped at her martini, he drank the beer, but realized the buzz he’d felt before had been mostly self delusion and fatigue, *You know that could be considered a rotten trick,* he subvocalized at Cutter.