by James, Aiden
We had already checked in our luggage and made it through security at LaGuardia Airport. At the moment, I sat between Alistair and Cedric, as Beatrice and Amy were engaged in girl talk to where my son finally had enough and took a rare opportunity to hobnob with his old man.
“Meaning what?” I asked.
Beneath his amber-tinted sunglasses, I could see the cyclone of gold specs immersed in Roderick’s glowing blue irises. In other words, I had just pissed him off with my flippant response. To his credit, he caught himself in time to not berate me for my reckless behavior in front of everyone else. He released an exasperated sigh.
“Our contact, Thomas Wilburn?”
“Yeah, what about him.”
“He’s disappeared—that’s what about him!
“What in the hell?!”
“My thoughts exactly, William,” he said. His voice momentarily went into surround sound as he trembled from anger. “Michael says the dealer holding the coin is also missing. He has already called in the best teams to search for Thomas and our dealer.... If you hadn’t been such a selfish ass and stayed focused on our business, we might’ve gotten there quickly enough to save Thomas, and likely retrieved your coin!”
He turned away, shaking his head as he prepared to sit down in the row of seats across the way. Largely deserted at this hour, our gals and a young blonde woman with her two toddlers playing at her feet were the only other occupants.
“You don’t know that,” I said, softly. Roderick hesitated before taking a seat. But he didn’t turn to face me… yet. “Krontos has outsmarted us at nearly every turn. You know this, my brother. Who’s to say he wasn’t prepared to make his move at any time? Perhaps, he’s been waiting on us to make our move first.”
No response, and I confirmed the bristling from Alistair and Cedric was more directed at me than at Roderick. Their matching uncomfortable expressions told me as much. Apparently, they hoped I would take my tongue-lashing from Roderick and drop the issue. At least the young mom cast me an empathetic glance. But, Beatrice’s cautionary nod served as the strongest reminder this should be a private spat. Meanwhile, Roderick’s response was a mere huff. He sat down and gazed past me to the large terminal window, as if I was no longer present.
Too bad he and Krontos weren’t on better terms, as our adversary might be all too willing to grant that wish.
“Very funny,” Roderick deadpanned, drawing looks from our companions, who then turned their attention to me.
“Sorry. Truly, Roderick, I am.”
I frowned, considering he might be right in what I had unwittingly rendered by wanting to spend a meaningful New York moment with my wife and kid. Before anyone suggests I could’ve waited until our mission was finished, life doesn’t always play out that neatly. Those who have dealt with the untimely loss of a loved one know exactly what I’m talking about. Tomorrow is promised to no one.
“So, are we still going to fly to Germany, or should we see if we can cancel our tickets and get a refund?” Amy asked, when her quiet conversation with Beatrice reached its end.
“Germany’s a pretty country, man,” said Cedric, putting his laptop back inside its case. He eyed us all, wearing the smirk Roderick and I have long loathed. “But this time of year? Man, it’s starting to get frigging cold out there. So, I’m in agreement with Amy. If we aren’t one hundred percent sure about this, then let’s cancel this cluster-fuck before things get worse.”
And so it went for the next twenty minutes, until eight minutes remained before our flight began boarding. I believe all of us waited for Roderick to stick a permanent dagger into our trip, since his brooding deflated the group’s waning enthusiasm. I might’ve gone with the flow, especially when considering Beatrice’s lament from the night before. Venture overseas, and though increasingly unlikely, I might return home to the States with three more silver shekels, lacking just two more to find. Or, return now to Sedona, and let the winds of fate take Krontos and his evil designs where they may. Long-term survival would be dicey, but having five coins missing from my collection could ensure a blissful life with my family that lasted decades, if not centuries.
“We must go to Germany,” I announced, picking up my laptop and preparing to head to the boarding area once the ticket counter attendant made her first call for the first class passengers to prepare boarding the airplane. “Despite all the bullshit going on, it is where we’re supposed to be. Whatever comes next will be revealed when we get there.”
The conviction in my voice surprised everyone. It wasn’t what I expected—not from any of us, and definitely not from me. But, as I began to visualize our return to the ranch, a peculiar sensation suddenly flowed through my entire being. With it came the conviction I needed to find Krontos and stop him from whatever he was planning to do next—even if it meant everyone else remained in America.
“Are you sure?” Roderick stood and removed his sunglasses to study me, for the moment unconcerned someone might glimpse his preternatural eyes.
“Yes, I am,” I assured him, glancing at Beatrice, who couldn’t hide her disappointment. Her smile till now had been a façade, being a good sport on behalf of everyone else. But the talk of retreating to Sedona had given her hope we would abort the trip overseas. I shot her a loving look before returning my gaze to Roderick. “I feel the weight of The Almighty’s hand upon my soul. There will be no peace until we resolve our feud with Krontos. The situation goes beyond our little group. We must find a way to stop him, or live to regret what he intends to bring upon every nation that stands in his way.”
Roderick nodded and smiled, surely surprised and pleased by my apparent change of mind. Cedric smiled, too, as if this was the course of action he preferred all along—despite his most recent comments. But for my beloved wife, kid, and soon to be daughter-in-law, there was only sadness.
* * * * *
“I hope you know what in the hell you’re doing this time, Pops.”
Alistair sipped on the nine-hour flight’s first gin and tonic, while looking out over the Atlantic from his window seat. He and I sat together in the first class section of the Delta jumbo-jet to Berlin. Comfortably sandwiched between Roderick and Cedric in front of us, and Beatrice and Amy behind, all of us intended to share each other’s company throughout the flight. However, my recent unpopularity with my immortal buddy and beloved wife would certainly impact how long poor Alistair had to tolerate his old man’s presence.
Of course, I’m joking… well, sort of.
“Me, too, Ali.” I nursed my preferred scotch on the rocks. It seemed far too early in the day for liquor, but I hated to see my son drink alone. Too many bad memories of what things were like for him when I re-entered his life, shortly after he began work on his master’s degree in South Carolina. “But you and Roderick have always admonished me to not ignore the Lord’s bidding.”
“And you’re sure that’s what it is this time?” He eyed me seriously. “Are you sure you’re not in a hurry to secure three coins at once, instead of just one?”
“You sound like your mother,” I teased quietly, though realizing Beatrice’s sonic ears—or even Amy’s—might land me in deeper purgatory. “As I assured her, I’m in no hurry to leave any of you here. I know you and I haven’t spent as much time together as we used to. I miss that, Ali, more than you know. But, life has its ebbs and flows, and I have no doubt you and I will be spending lots of quality time together again before you know it. Your mother and I look forward to more double dates like the one we did last month, when the four of us flew to San Francisco for a weekend. And, down the road, after you and Amy are married and have had time to establish your own roots—”
“Pops, as long as villains like Krontos Lazarevic and Viktor Kaslow exist, hoping for anything beyond exchanging our vows together is foolish,” he said, shutting down the fatherly talk before it got rolling. “Not to be harsh—I know you mean well. But, we are at war. Or, more accurately, we are refugees fleeing a madman who is completely
unpredictable. We might find him, or his mafia, waiting for us at Schönefeld Airport, or in the lobby at the Esplanade Hotel in Berlin.”
“And to think that sort of thing used to excite you,” I mused, trying not to chuckle. “Of course, having the women we cherish along for the ride raises the stakes significantly. Hard to embrace the adventure when that’s the case, I know.”
“Hey, I heard that,” chimed in Amy from behind us. “I’d say your cherished women have held up pretty damned well in the past.”
“Yes, you have,” I replied, while sharing the pain in Alistair’s grimace. He would be lost without her, as I would without Beatrice. It brought to mind how close the gals came to meeting their end at the hands of Dracul, less than five months earlier. And, yet, neither one had ever mentioned the experience, because it was wiped clean from their reality.
Roderick and I alone still held the experience of me nearly losing Beatrice, Amy, and Alistair in Dracul’s castle of horrors. Not to mention our horrified surprise to later learn it was Krontos pulling the dimensional shifts that altered the event imprint upon our particular earth plane. Only a master of metaphysics could fully appreciate experiencing one very real set of events being overridden permanently by a totally different outcome than originally perceived.
“And, unlike last time, when we flew overseas to find you, maybe we can actually participate,” Amy added.
Her words seemed to drain the color from Alistair’s face. Despite his increasing carelessness as he regained his youth, he still knew better than to tempt fate. He didn’t need to share Roderick’s and my near brush with death in Montenegro to know what Krontos was capable of. And, yet, he didn’t dare sound weak in front of his fiancée.
“Only if absolutely necessary, babe,” he said, raising himself to gaze at her over his seat. He added a bright, confident smile. “I’m all for a little adventure in hunting for a coin or two, but I do think we’d be at a distinct disadvantage in a gun battle with the mafia dudes Roderick and Cedric described.”
“Only if they’re packing the latest assault rifles,” said Cedric from in front of us. “Otherwise it might be a fair fight.” He chuckled, and I do believe Alistair could’ve strangled him for stoking the fire.
“The biggest thing is to be precise with our decisions and movements in response to what we find in Berlin,” said Roderick, for the moment not turning around to look at us. Thankfully, he had the foresight to purchase the other seats in our curtained-off section ahead of time. Still, voices carry—especially my druid buddy’s voice when he gets on a roll. “And, since none of us fully understands how Krontos is able to eavesdrop from anywhere, and affect changes to environment, interactions, time, etc., I think it would be best if we kept things loose and unfocused on why we’ve made this trip. Perhaps a new joke or two that we’ve recently heard in Sedona, or we can settle for one of William’s or Cedric’s colorful spy stories to start us off. Just anything that has nothing to do with why we’re here.”
The chuckles and sidebar conversation between Beatrice and Amy abruptly stopped. Talk about a wet blanket on a dying fire. Well played, Roderick.
When the silence turned awkward, roughly a minute after his admonishment, Alistair snickered to himself.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“What if all this precaution stuff is for naught?” he said thoughtfully. “What if Krontos has already played his first move in this latest cat and mouse routine, and we are already unwitting lab mice working through the maze he’s created?”
Indeed. It’s not like Roderick or I hadn’t considered this possibility before then. But hearing it from Alistair’s lips made it sound much more chilling. From that moment until we landed in Berlin, it was all I could think about. It took nearly every trick I could muster to maintain a casual and merry persona, telling my botched espionage tales with humor, gusto, and Cedric’s colorful asides. All the while, I wondered and worried how cruel and extensive Krontos’ elaborate trap for us could be.
Chapter Eight
It was just after nine o’clock that night when we landed in Berlin, and most of us were affected by jetlag. Well, those of us not named Roderick or myself were affected. Frankly, I was a bit surprised at the severity, since Alistair, Amy, and Beatrice had flown a further distance in June, when they followed Alistair’s whim to pursue Roderick and me in Rome and then they pressed on to Budva.
As for Cedric, after the many hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles he had accumulated during his time with the CIA, I was surprised by his disorientation, too. Tampara and the Yitari people Cedric lived with in Bolivia had transformed his body into one suited for their realm. I guess that meant he was now a novice air traveler in our world, and would have to learn the ropes all over again. Even so, I expected him to be ready for our breakfast meeting by Skype with Michael.
The good news, as far as Roderick and I could tell, was our reality seemed to be intact. It felt natural to our deepest instincts and nothing seemed off thus far, which was a relief. In fact, neither of us sensed Krontos’ presence in any fashion—including the absence of his thugs.
“It might just be the three of us at breakfast, I believe,” I told Roderick, after we had checked into our rooms at the Grand Hotel Esplanade. Although, I heard a television on in Alistair and Amy’s room, Beatrice was fast asleep by the time I met Roderick by the vending machines near our fifth floor accommodations. “I’ll stop by Cedric’s room on the way to your room. Shall we do room service?”
“It may be best, since Michael is expecting us to start at seven, and it might take a moment to get everything set up,” he said. “Hopefully, he will surprise us with good news about Thomas and Franz Riefenstahl.”
“Who is Franz Rifenstahl?”
“That’s the dealer… Michael sent a text earlier with what they had learned about him,” Roderick explained, after cautiously scanning the hallway. We were definitely alone. “Look, we can go over this in my room tonight, or when you stop by in the morning.”
As tempting as it was to get the details right then, often these updates can turn out much longer than expected. Especially in a situation like this, where my own curiosity about what happened to Agent Wilburn and the German guy named Riefenstahl was heightened. Then there was also the story behind the obvious protocol breach of enlisting CIA personnel for this mission—highly inappropriate. My assumption was that it came as an owed favor to Roderick, and at worst, would be treated as a harmless misappropriation if Thomas made it out of this alive. Roderick’s expression told me this wasn’t likely, and would have additional unpleasant news to share with Cedric and me at daybreak.
“It can wait until morning,” I said, grasping his shoulder as I held him in my gaze. “I don’t often say it, Rod, but I really appreciate you. Thank you for sticking with me and keeping me on point.”
“Are you sure?” he said, smiling impishly. “The dynamic of pursuing your coins is changing. Or, rather, it has changed.”
He didn’t have to spell it out, as it was the exact same thing I had been telling myself since Alistair, and later, Beatrice, got younger. My passion for ending my long stay on this earth was waning. Instead, I was becoming more and more like the other immortals we’ve known for so many centuries. None of them are in a hurry to die. Just me, and now it was no longer the case.
“I’m sure.”
I watched him move down the hall to his room. Just like in our Sedona ranch home, he preferred his distance. But at least we parted ways that night wearing smiles. Maybe, it could be the thing to bridge the gap between us that had steadily widened for far too long.
* * * * *
Beatrice slept harder than she had in months—her need for rest likely impacted by her stress-laden misgivings from the past few days. After leaving her a note reminding her I would be in Roderick’s suite, should she need me, I set the Do Not Disturb sign outside our door and stepped over to Cedric’s room across the way, quietly moving past Alistair and Amy’s room.
There was no answer when I knocked, and for a moment I worried something had happened to him while I slept.
“Please tell me Cedric is here,” I told Roderick, as he opened his door to let me in. “Everyone else is sleeping.”
“Gotta admit I’m touched, Willie Boy,” said Cedric, calling from beyond the partition separating the living area from the bedroom. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sound this worried about my welfare!”
He peered around the corner, smiling wryly with a steaming cup of coffee in hand.
“Good to see another vice has returned,” I teased, offering a knowing smirk to Roderick as I stepped inside. “When did you resume the caffeine?”
“This morning. Right after Roderick told me the news,” said Cedric, motioning for me to come over to the dinette, where an array of pastries surrounded two tall silver pots, one for coffee and the other tea. “I’m damned close to opening the floodgates to all my vices, William. You heard the latest shit yet? If you haven’t, you might want to hit Roderick up for a highball or two to go with breakfast.” He pointed to the scotch bottles sitting atop the mini-fridge.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said, feeling my smile fade. The look on Roderick’s face confirmed the revelation wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Michael will be joining us on video in about fifteen minutes,” said Roderick, moving over to the dinette to pour himself a cup of coffee. He motioned to see if I wanted one, and I waved him off for the moment. “I wish I had good news to report.”
He moved to his laptop sitting open on a coffee table, and turned it toward me.
“The Berlin police fished out two bodies from the River Spree last night,” said Roderick, playing a German news broadcast from the night before, showing emergency vehicles gathered close to a river’s edge. “Michael sent his latest update at four o’clock this morning, confirming the bodies are Agent Wilburn and Mr. Riefenstahl. The official autopsy reports will take a few days, but Michael said both bodies appear to have multiple gunshot wounds.”
