Reign of Coins by Aiden James Read Free Book Online

piece!”
    “If you leave here tonight, he won’t,” Roderick warned. “Kaslow is working for Mr. Morrow, and you and I both know your Soviet archenemy knows what you are!”
    I stopped.
    “The bullshit you speak of won’t cease until Alistair is dead and you end up in some other time and place,” he continued, lowering his voice again since I hadn’t moved. “Kaslow could try to do that without any further incentives. From what we understand, you are the reason he took the job with Morrow. It’s an added bonus that means more to him than the millions he is being paid.”
    “And, how in the hell do you know all of this?”
    I turned to face him, and slowly returned to where he waited.
    “I wish I could tell you everything—and someday I will, I swear, Judas,” he said. “But, right now you have a job to seriously consider…. Long ago, you trusted me to find a vocation that would protect your cover—the same one that has protected me for more than one hundred and seventy years.”
    “And, look how much good it’s done!”
    “If you stop and seriously think about it, you will see this arrangement has served you well,” countered Roderick. “In fact, it has succeeded very well. If not for the folks in Washington pulling a few strings to get you a nice furlough in Glasgow after World War II, you might never have met your beloved wife, Beatrice.”
    “What good is that now, since my cover has been annihilated?” I hated the whine creeping into my voice, and more that I couldn’t control it. “We could be sitting ducks for anyone wanting to get back at me for certain deeds I fulfilled for the great ‘U.S. of A’!”
    “That’s why you’ll need to wait in your room until we give you instructions for your next move.”
    “And, if I refuse and proceed to book the next flight out of here?”
    “Then, you’ll have your freedom, Judas,” he said. “But, in the end it might cost you far more than it was ever worth. You and I used to talk about second chances…do you remember, my friend?”
    “Yes…I do.”
    “Long ago you saved your son from chemical destruction to his body, and later in life you provided hope to an elderly woman—your wife—who might’ve died hopeless without your frequent trips to Good Shepherd Nursing Home.” I no longer tried to fill in the blanks of how he knew all of this without actively participating in my life. “Those unique opportunities were not wasted when you saw them. Don’t waste them now.”
    “I’ll have to think about it…I can let you know my decision in the next few hours.” True, he had brought up some good points, but still…. “If it puts Alistair in danger at all—especially since Kaslow is looking for me in this city as we speak—then all bets are off!”
    “That seems fair,” he said, and suddenly glanced to his right. A pair of hotel patrons walked toward us. Likely, the young man and woman went about their personal business with nary a clue about a Russian hit man on the prowl, or the fact two unusual human beings conversed nearby.
    “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me if Paul and the gang knows your true identity, as well,” I said, trying to end our conversation on a lighter note. “I’ll be terribly disappointed if it’s only poor Judas who’s been discovered, and the pasty druid gets off scot-free…. Anything else you’d care to share about these demons in three-piece suits?”
    He glanced again at the couple, who seemed to have stepped up their pace as they grew nearer to us.
    “Just that you’re not alone in having your secrets uncovered,” he said, right before disappearing into the shadows again. “Our friendship has endured many trials in the past, and we’ve been exposed many times before now. Remember, as it was for us while we moved through centuries with our anonymity intact, it will someday be that way