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My immediate thought was to head to JFK Airport, get out to Vandenbergh ASAP, and collect my $10 million. But the man in the fedora had been specific: I was to follow my zig-zag itinerary. That way, no one would suspect me of carrying the chip.
I called Ophelia. She was getting off work. She said she'd love to have dinner with me and see a show. We met at a restaurant called Hill's Empire Steak House. It was themed after the Great Northern Railroad. Ophelia looked radiant in her Phase IV outfit. She said she wore it just for me. After supper we went to a Broadway show called Pooch. It was a musical about an electric Amtrak locomotive. It was hard to hold back the tears when Pooch was sent to the scrap heap.
We went for a drink after the show. In the middle of our conversation Ophelia paused, and said she had to get something off her chest. She said the minute she saw me she was attracted to me. When she learned I was traveling around the country by train she simply fell in love. "I dunno," she said, "there's just something about a guy with a $100,000 who's traveling all over on Amtrak that really appeals to me."
Needless to say, I didn't go back to The Plaza Hotel alone.
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