Tyranny of Coins (The Judas Chronicles) (Volume 5) Paperback by Aiden James Read Free Book Online Page B

too late to place a friendly wager on the Monday night football contest coming on in twenty minutes. But Roderick’s dig could not go unanswered.
    “Do you even hear yourself?” I rebuked him, while everyone else began clearing the table. Time to put things back in order. “It is indeed my coin and my responsibility, Rod!”
    I moved to him and felt overwhelming sadness emanating toward me. He looked up with a bewildered expression, as if he didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to carry out the impulses prompted by something other than his gut. Was it his mind or heart that had been meanly hijacked? Perhaps both?
    “I should’ve done this days ago, and as your friend and eternal companion on this earth, I’m doing it now,” I told him. He nodded slightly while his eyes flashed defiantly. But I clearly saw the Roderick of old still in there. “I’m taking over from here on out. Whether you like it or not, we are going to Germany, and will leave as soon as I can confirm the arrangements.”
    I half expected unseen fingers to invade my personal space. Perhaps something like an acute headache, and Krontos would use his voyeuristic talent to probe inside my brain. But nothing happened.
    After making sure Beatrice was up to entertaining Alistair and Amy in my absence, I headed for the office Roderick and I shared. Cedric accosted me before I reached my destination, as I thought he might.
    “Man, this is almost too damned jacked-up for me to deal with,” he said, his left fingers caressing a pencil as if it was the cancer stick he craved. “Just promise me that you won’t back down on what you said in there. I remember long ago reading how the Nazi influence in Europe was so gradual the Jews became blind to the encroaching danger—like frogs in warm water that’s steadily brought to a boil. Know what I mean, man?”
    “Alistair came home with that fun frog fact when he was a young lad in Glasgow,” I said, chuckling at how the group’s perception of me had gone from bullheaded ass to demure pup, after I allowed Roderick to lead us from Abingdon undeterred. It seemed high time I took the reins again. “Don’t worry about me changing my mind, Cedric. Everything points to us going to Germany, and I‘d need a damned good reason to abort the idea.”
    “You’re not worried about Krontos carrying out his earlier threats against Beatrice, Alistair, and the rest of us?” His warm brown eyes danced as he studied my facial reaction to his question. There wasn’t a reaction… at least not a physical one.
    “I was,” I admitted. “Until the rose and note shit found its way here. There’s no way to protect my beloved wife and son, as well as you and Amy. Besides, the six airline tickets delivered to us the other day confirmed my hunch he views us as one big happy family. Trying to hide any of you from Krontos will do no good, and might make things exponentially worse.”
    “Good. So, we’re definitely traveling with you to Germany. Right?”
    “First to New York, and if that goes without a hitch, then yes, we’ll be on our way to Berlin,” I assured him. “Regardless how this turns out, we’re operating as a complete group going forward.
    Cedric nodded. “I’ll never forget Paititi, man. Everything seemed perfect until news of the coming war with Bochicha and his son, Hurakan, reached King Bashaan. He dismissed that shit as if it would never get serious enough to worry about,” he said, glancing longingly toward the living room where Beatrice, Amy, and Alistair erupted into boisterous laughter. The tension release called to us both… although I needed to take care of our travel arrangements first. “If Krontos is successful in restoring his Silver Trinity of Death, I believe things will go very badly for all of us. Hell, the entire world will be up shit’s creek if it comes to that.”
    Cedric’s voice cracked and he looked like he wanted to add something, but grimaced instead. With a nod, he