“Not I, El Muerto,” John declared. In lower voice he said, ‘I did watch the news.”
“Same here,” Gus added. “It’s unfortunate some Sunday morning stroller will have their morning ruined.”
“When I didn’t hear it on the news, I drove into Monterrey and called it in from one of the only payphones in the Western Hemisphere,” Nick said. “A payphone that does not have one of those damn security cams around it. We may as well be living inside a bubble.”
“This from the serial killer supreme,” Gus said. “You’re peeved because you can’t be El Muerto everywhere you want. Even good deeds have to be carefully chosen in this day and age.”
“Let’s go sit, and pour the coffee. I smelled the booze wafting out of you and Abdul the Terrible already, Payaso. C’mon. I have to call Cassie.”
The men moved to a great spot on the beach where the scavenger birds flew in to check them out, and peck each other for position in gaining handouts. John, who could never get enough of the birds’ antics brought a stale loaf of bread with him. Gus made him sit twenty feet away from them, because the birds would literally engulf him. John laughed uproariously at the assorted scavengers, talking to them, and scolding them by names he made up as he went along. He could hold a bit of bread in his fingers, and three birds would flutter like huge hummingbirds near his hand. When he tossed the piece, it would be caught in the air.
“I think we need to get John looked at,” Gus said. “Kabong is nuts for those birds.”
“He’s damn entertaining though,” Dan replied. “I think the goofy birds recognize him now. I only believe he’s in denial about them being flying rats. Good coffee this morning, Nick.”
“That’s because Rachel brought the fine china down to serve it in. There is a difference.” Nick fingered Cassie’s private number. She answered on the second ring.
“Nick! Oh my God, I love ‘Assassin’s Folly’. Linda called me. She’s sending you a galley with very few changes. They want to publish it in the next couple weeks. They need a hit, so they’ve cranked up the marketing barrage already with hints in all the major outlets. Linda doesn’t want anything delaying the release. She thinks springing it out in the public by surprise will make a real splash, instead of the usual months of teasing crap. Best of all, not one word about plot changes.”
“That’s great, Cass. Listen, what kind of contacts do you have in a place like Olympia, Washington? I know they have a big Barnes and Noble bookstore there. I have another bit of personal business in the same area, and I thought doing a book signing would be great since ‘Assassin’s Folly’ is coming out.”
“Holy shit, Batman! Let me call Linda. Maybe she could do a rush printing of a couple thousand books, and we could do a real extravaganza there with the first raw print run. I’ll call you right back!”
“I…” Nick began, but realized his agent had hung up on him. “I know it’s wrong, but load me up with one, Gus.”
Gus and John, who had returned from his birdman duties, grinned at each other, and then shrugged in unison. Dan laughed.
“I think you’re a little late to the feed, Muerto,” Dan explained. “I believe Heckle and Jeckle imbibed your share of whatever might have originally been saved for you.”
“Just as well.” Nick watched Rachel trailing Jean and Deke near the shoreline. He sipped his un-Irish coffee wondering not for the first time how long his string of blessings would last. Being a cynical psychopathic killer, Nick believed it would end soon. Glancing at his friends, he hoped it would be just him. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, deciding it was never a good thing to develop a conscience.
“Muerto… you have visitors.” Gus nudged Nick out of his reverie.
Nick glanced toward the small line of beach parking places in the dirt. US Marshals Tim Reinhold and Grace Stanwick plodded gingerly down into the beach sand toward them. Not so long ago, they handled Rachel, Jean, and Deke in the witness protection program. During the cross-country journey in which Nick freed his chosen family from needing witness protection, Grace and Tim became aware Nick was one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Since then, with Nick’s rogue assassin days behind him, he had consulted on some deadly cases, helping them rise in the Marshal’s Service. Thanks to his intervention on Tim and Grace’s behalf in the cases leading all the way to the Attorney General’s Office, official ties with the Marshal’s service, FBI, as well as the NSA and CIA were now part of his life. Nick also the had full backing of the new CIA Director, Paul Gilbrech, because of his willingness to be a secret enforcement arm on United States soil. Nick smiled, cursing himself inwardly for the jinx he instigated to bring the Marshals for a visit.