Chapter 21
Bill reached his car without incident. He fumbled around with his keys only to drop them. He cursed and bent over to pick them up. That’s when he saw Caesar standing at the entrance of the restaurant with a cellphone in hand. For one long terrible moment, they just stared at each other.
With a burst of speed born of desperation, Bill bolted away from his car as fast as he could possibly go. At nearly the same time, Caesar pushed a button on his phone, and Bill’s car exploded.
The force picked the lawyer up like a kitten and slammed him forward into another car. Something broke—or more appropriately, several things broke—upon impact. Glass, shrapnel and fire rained over Bill. He had a fleeting look as Caesar disappeared in a swirl of black smoke, and then darkness claimed him.
Sound returned to Bill first. He heard voices in the room. He couldn’t understand what they were speaking about, but the fact that he could hear them brought some comfort to mind. He groaned and tried to open his eyes. When he did, a stab of light caused him to wince. He tried to bring his hand up to shade them, but he couldn’t move either.
“Steady, cowboy,” a rumbling voice ordered. “You’ve been battered about like a flower in a tornado.”
“General Hynes?” he whispered. Bill licked his lips and tried to blink. A blurry blob slowly resolved into the General. “What happened?”
“You got blown up,” he chuckled. “If you must know, you look like it too.”
“You really look in bad shape.” Hynes noticed.
Bill groaned, in no mood for frivolity. “Where’s Karen?”
“She’s outside. The hospital staff are giving her the run around. In a moment, you’ll be dead.”
The lawyer didn’t even feel anything in reaction to that statement. “Is it that bad, or do you intend to finish what you started.”
Hynes grinned. “Oh, I intend to finish it.” He pulled over a chair and sat down. “Just not in the way you suppose. This little explosion has offered us an opportunity and granted me a way to actually help you.”
“How’s that?”
“As I said, you are going to die—not in a literal sense, though your injuries are still touch and go. No, we’re going to give you a new name and a new life.”
Realization dawned on him. “You’re going to put me into witness protection.”
“More or less. The Chinese will think you are dead, which only helps us both. They will stop coming after you and have no proof of our involvement in China. It works for both of us.”
“What about if I like my life?”
“You’ll just have to learn to like a new one. Look Bill, I know this isn’t easy. You’re going to have to pick a new career, a new name, and a new place to live. We’ll set you up right. Karen can go with you, but if we tell her, she will have to go too—same thing. She won’t have a choice to decide or not. You make that choice for her, right here and right now.”
“That hardly seems fair.”
“Then let her think you died. She can go on with her life and you with your new one.”
“I don’t think that’s fair either.”
“Perhaps not, but it is your only choice. The Chinese or Iranians won’t give up until you are dead. So we intend to kill you—or rather make it look like they did a good enough job to kill you.”
Bill already knew what he had to do. He couldn’t imagine living without Karen, and he thought he knew her heart well enough to know that she would rather live with him in a new life then keep her old one without him. He thought back to when this whole thing had begun.
“You know what I wish?”
“What’s that?” Hynes asked.
“I wish I would have shot Frank Vellore the moment I laid eyes on him.”
Hynes nodded sagely. “Aye, that would have saved both of us a lot of grief.”
“How about TACAIR?”
“We will have a new president and we will also have our plane ready, that’s for sure. No more double-crossing.”
Grinning, Bill looked at the door. “Well, go get my girlfriend. Looks like I need to propose to her.”
“Figured you would say that.” Hynes pulled a small velvet covered box out of his pocket. “I took the liberty of buying the ring for you.”
Stunned, Bill opened the box to see a beautiful diamond ring. He looked up at Hynes, a tear forming in the corner of one eye. “You know. This makes up for a lot.”
“I hoped it would.”
“You’re still a no account croc, General.”
“Aye. So my wife tells me.”
THE END
The Author
Victor Elmalih is a Specialist in Foreign Affairs and International Relations. He is a Canadian born in Morocco. He was graduated from different Universities and Institutes in France, Canada and United States. Victor Elmalih is one of the greatest North American authors that unite fiction and reality to provide readers with books rich in actions and emotions.
Acknowledgments
The story is dedicated to the memory of the great writer Robert Ludlum who inspired me by his fascinating stories.
I want to thank Kamla Fisher and Jane Armstrong who have encouraged me to write the story.
I want to thank my professional editor Mr. Geoff Wolak for working the manuscript and giving the story a good touch.
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