Today’s
excerpt is from Assassin I Am, a stand alone book featuring Fred Dupree, and
several old friends. Fred visits with
his pilots and they both agree to start flying again in spite of their
lingering injuries. Enjoy and have a great day.
m.j.
Ray was already
there and inside by the time Fred arrived.
After Fred greeted the two men, their wives, and children, the three men
retired to Erv’s den. Erv hobbled along
on crutches, because he had been instructed to stay off the walking
cast—reaching up to a spot just below his knee—for a few days.
When the two
pilots seated themselves, Fred handed each of them one of the envelopes
containing the money. As they opened the
envelopes, Fred sat down and joked, “Don’t spend it all in one place. Same deal as last time we came upon some
found money. This is tax-free, as long
as you don’t mess up and draw the interest of IRS for the way you spend it.
“While you guys
have been goldbricking, I made a trip back to St. Louis and settled the score
for the loss of our plane—and nearly the loss of us. Those responsible for sending those jerks to
kill us have been dealt with.”
Erv asked, “Have
anything to do with the ‘ISIS’ raid on a mosque in St. Louis? Did you perchance give ISIS a hand?”
“No comment—you
know that. But off the record…yeah. Anyhow, on to the future. Good old Harvey has rounded up a new plane
for me…but it needs pilots. When will
you guys be ready to fly again?”
Ray answered
first, “I’m good to go right now.”
Erv nodded
agreement. “Me, too.”
“Erv, is this
gonna cause any friction with your family?”
“Nope. As soon as we found out you were meeting Ray
here, my darling bride just looked at me and grumbled, ‘Go ahead, idiot. But if you get another broken leg, I’m
stealing your crutches.’ So if you can
put up with me taking a week and a half to get on and off the plane, I’m happy
to go with you guys. The three of us
have been together long enough to keep a good thing going.”
“Glad you feel
that way. I’m planning on heading to Los
Angeles in the morning…or at least sometime tomorrow. By the way, it isn’t the three of us any
longer. The nice lady you met for such a
short time before we got our plane shot up is now my new partner in crime.”
Ray muttered,
“The hell, you say.”
“Don’t worry
about her, guys. She can outshoot me, is
one tough cookie, and smart as hell…Marine for six years. Her dad and brother were Marines, too…both
killed in action.”
Erv shook his
head. “No way—we’ve been to the range
with you.”
“Sorry to say,
she beat me fair and square. Harvey has
the targets to prove it up.”
Ray asked, “You
find a trail on the guy you were chasing down?
That why we’re going to L.A.?”
“Yeah, in
part. Got some other fish to fry there,
also. With some sort of decent luck, I
might get lucky and kill two birds with one big, fat rock.”
Erv nodded. “Let us know when—and where our new plane
is.”
Fred stood up,
shook hands with both men as they stood, too, and said, “Will do.”
As he turned to
leave, Erv swatted him on the rear end with one of his crutches and asked, “You
getting any of that hot little customer who outshot you?”
“A gentleman
doesn’t kiss and tell.”
Ray joked, “So
when was it you became a gentleman?”
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