hearing multiple gunshots—even before Amy finished her panicked interruption of what my boy was saying. She and Alistair joined me as I peered down below us. Immediately my heart sank. In the fading sunlight, a gray Volvo sedan sped out of the parking area, while our limo driver and his assistant ran over to a body lying nearby…face down in a growing pool of blood.
Even from upstairs I could tell who it was.
Cedric.
Chapter 10
“So, now what in the hell are we supposed to do?”
Alistair had fallen into his panic mode, destroying my hopes of delaying this response until later in the trip. Then again, maybe it was best to get it out and over with right then.
“Well, obviously it’s too damned dangerous to continue here.” I fought to keep my tone detached emotionally. “I’ve already made an initial inquiry into flights out of Tehran tomorrow morning. You would at least get to view the sites in Frankfurt you lamented about yesterday, and then we’ll continue back to the states on Monday.” I added a ‘father knows best’ smile to help sell the notion.
“No... no , we can’t leave yet!” Amy protested. At the moment, we sat around the small table in my room. Alistair and Amy had waited there for my return, nursing their mutual misgivings in my absence. “You’ve got to understand, William, that I’m not leaving without my brother!”
“Do you really need further proof that we aren’t welcome here, in dear old Iran?” I was growing more and more irritated. We had already been over the ‘why we need to leave’ portion of our discussion twice already. “You must have a serious death wish, little lady, and sure as shit these bastards will step up their assaults the longer we linger around here! I can’t think of a more effective ‘Keep out!’ sign than a bullet riddled body left at your doorstep—especially a body as U.S.A. medal honored as was Cedric Tomlinson!”
Yeah, I was getting seriously pissed. I must admit that I don’t do so well with bullheaded females.
“But, Cedric’s not dead, Pops,” Alistair corrected me. “You said so yourself, that he’s in serious condition after surgery. Is he really going to be all right, or was that a load of bullshit you served up fifteen minutes ago?”
Yes, it was the truth. Somehow—miraculously—the nine bullets that hit his torso missed Cedric’s heart, liver, and any other immediately vital organs. Two hit his stomach, and three other bullets pierced his lungs. That alone could’ve killed him— would’ve killed anyone less ornery than Cedric Elijah Tomlinson the Third. But the man is one stubborn SOB.... It makes me wonder what he’d be like if he ever were to become immortal in the flesh.
Of course, some credit needs to go to the ambulance service and the paramedics, nurses, and the surgeon who wasted little time in getting the bleeding stopped and the bullets removed. And all at the fraction of what it would cost in America if he’d been gunned down in the streets of D.C.
“Yes, he is going to be okay...that’s the current prognosis.” I pictured what Agent Sam Daniels told me less than a half hour earlier. I decided right then to take a more relaxed posture, since I was getting nowhere with these two by using a heavy-handed approach. “The assassins might still return for him, and I’ll bet our presence anywhere near Tehran or Stanislav’s operation in the Alborz will weigh heavily in that score.”
Alistair nodded slowly as if trying to digest my point of view.
“Then maybe you two should go back to the states!” huffed Amy.
She leaned back in her chair with her arms folded severely across her chest. Her face was flushed, and her lips became a thin line. She didn’t need to do anything else to tell me that she’d just become a thousand pound dead weight. Amy wasn’t budging on her conviction to stay in Iran.
“We’re not going anywhere without you. And, despite what you might be scheming to
Even from upstairs I could tell who it was.
Cedric.
Chapter 10
“So, now what in the hell are we supposed to do?”
Alistair had fallen into his panic mode, destroying my hopes of delaying this response until later in the trip. Then again, maybe it was best to get it out and over with right then.
“Well, obviously it’s too damned dangerous to continue here.” I fought to keep my tone detached emotionally. “I’ve already made an initial inquiry into flights out of Tehran tomorrow morning. You would at least get to view the sites in Frankfurt you lamented about yesterday, and then we’ll continue back to the states on Monday.” I added a ‘father knows best’ smile to help sell the notion.
“No... no , we can’t leave yet!” Amy protested. At the moment, we sat around the small table in my room. Alistair and Amy had waited there for my return, nursing their mutual misgivings in my absence. “You’ve got to understand, William, that I’m not leaving without my brother!”
“Do you really need further proof that we aren’t welcome here, in dear old Iran?” I was growing more and more irritated. We had already been over the ‘why we need to leave’ portion of our discussion twice already. “You must have a serious death wish, little lady, and sure as shit these bastards will step up their assaults the longer we linger around here! I can’t think of a more effective ‘Keep out!’ sign than a bullet riddled body left at your doorstep—especially a body as U.S.A. medal honored as was Cedric Tomlinson!”
Yeah, I was getting seriously pissed. I must admit that I don’t do so well with bullheaded females.
“But, Cedric’s not dead, Pops,” Alistair corrected me. “You said so yourself, that he’s in serious condition after surgery. Is he really going to be all right, or was that a load of bullshit you served up fifteen minutes ago?”
Yes, it was the truth. Somehow—miraculously—the nine bullets that hit his torso missed Cedric’s heart, liver, and any other immediately vital organs. Two hit his stomach, and three other bullets pierced his lungs. That alone could’ve killed him— would’ve killed anyone less ornery than Cedric Elijah Tomlinson the Third. But the man is one stubborn SOB.... It makes me wonder what he’d be like if he ever were to become immortal in the flesh.
Of course, some credit needs to go to the ambulance service and the paramedics, nurses, and the surgeon who wasted little time in getting the bleeding stopped and the bullets removed. And all at the fraction of what it would cost in America if he’d been gunned down in the streets of D.C.
“Yes, he is going to be okay...that’s the current prognosis.” I pictured what Agent Sam Daniels told me less than a half hour earlier. I decided right then to take a more relaxed posture, since I was getting nowhere with these two by using a heavy-handed approach. “The assassins might still return for him, and I’ll bet our presence anywhere near Tehran or Stanislav’s operation in the Alborz will weigh heavily in that score.”
Alistair nodded slowly as if trying to digest my point of view.
“Then maybe you two should go back to the states!” huffed Amy.
She leaned back in her chair with her arms folded severely across her chest. Her face was flushed, and her lips became a thin line. She didn’t need to do anything else to tell me that she’d just become a thousand pound dead weight. Amy wasn’t budging on her conviction to stay in Iran.
“We’re not going anywhere without you. And, despite what you might be scheming to
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