The First End (23 page)

“What about if I like my life?”

“You’ll just have to learn to like a new one.
Look Bill, I know this isn’t easy. You’re going to have to pick a
new career, a new name, and a new place to live. We’ll set you up
right. Karen can go with you, but if we tell her, she will have to
go too—same thing. She won’t have a choice to decide or not. You
make that choice for her, right here and right now.”

“That hardly seems fair.”

“Then let her think you died. She can go on with
her life and you with your new one.”

“I don’t think that’s fair either.”

“Perhaps not, but it is your only choice. The
Chinese or Iranians won’t give up until you are dead. So we intend
to kill you—or rather make it look like they did a good enough job
to kill you.”

Bill already knew what he had to do. He couldn’t
imagine living without Karen, and he thought he knew her heart well
enough to know that she would rather live with him in a new life
then keep her old one without him. He thought back to when this
whole thing had begun.

“You know what I wish?”

“What’s that?” Hynes asked.

“I wish I would have shot Frank Vellore the
moment I laid eyes on him.”

Hynes nodded sagely. “Aye, that would have saved
both of us a lot of grief.”

“How about TACAIR?”

“We will have a new president and we will also
have our plane ready, that’s for sure. No more
double-crossing.”

Grinning, Bill looked at the door. “Well, go get
my girlfriend. Looks like I need to propose to her.”

“Figured you would say that.” Hynes pulled a
small velvet covered box out of his pocket. “I took the liberty of
buying the ring for you.”

Stunned, Bill opened the box to see a beautiful
diamond ring. He looked up at Hynes, a tear forming in the corner
of one eye. “You know. This makes up for a lot.”

“I hoped it would.”

“You’re still a no account croc, General.”

“Aye. So my wife tells me.”

THE END

Victor Elmalih is a Specialist in Foreign
Affairs and International Relations. He is a Canadian born in
Morocco. He was graduated from different Universities and
Institutes in France, Canada and United States. Victor Elmalih is
one of the greatest North American authors that unite fiction and
reality to provide readers with books rich in actions and
emotions.

The story is dedicated to the memory of the
great writer Robert Ludlum who inspired me by his fascinating
stories.

I want to thank Kamla Fisher and Jane Armstrong
who have encouraged me to write the story.

I want to thank my professional editor Mr. Geoff
Wolak for working the manuscript and giving the story a good
touch.

A special thank goes to the efforts of
Smashwords who helped make the edited manuscript a published
work.