Free Tyranny of Coins (The Judas Chronicles) (Volume 5) Paperback by Aiden James

the flight. However, my recent unpopularity with my immortal buddy and beloved wife would certainly impact how long poor Alistair had to tolerate his old man’s presence.
    Of course, I’m joking… well, sort of.
    “Me, too, Ali.” I nursed my preferred scotch on the rocks. It seemed far too early in the day for liquor, but I hated to see my son drink alone. Too many bad memories of what things were like for him when I re-entered his life, shortly after he began work on his master’s degree in South Carolina. “But you and Roderick have always admonished me to not ignore the Lord’s bidding.”
    “And you’re sure that’s what it is this time?” He eyed me seriously. “Are you sure you’re not in a hurry to secure three coins at once, instead of just one?”
    “You sound like your mother,” I teased quietly, though realizing Beatrice’s sonic ears—or even Amy’s—might land me in deeper purgatory. “As I assured her, I’m in no hurry to leave any of you here. I know you and I haven’t spent as much time together as we used to. I miss that, Ali, more than you know. But, life has its ebbs and flows, and I have no doubt you and I will be spending lots of quality time together again before you know it. Your mother and I look forward to more double dates like the one we did last month, when the four of us flew to San Francisco for a weekend. And, down the road, after you and Amy are married and have had time to establish your own roots—”
    “Pops, as long as villains like Krontos Lazarevic and Viktor Kaslow exist, hoping for anything beyond exchanging our vows together is foolish,” he said, shutting down the fatherly talk before it got rolling. “Not to be harsh—I know you mean well. But, we are at war. Or, more accurately, we are refugees fleeing a madman who is completely unpredictable. We might find him, or his mafia, waiting for us at Schönefeld Airport , or in the lobby at the Esplanade Hotel in Berlin.”
    “And to think that sort of thing used to excite you,” I mused, trying not to chuckle. “Of course, having the women we cherish along for the ride raises the stakes significantly. Hard to embrace the adventure when that’s the case, I know.”
    “Hey, I heard that,” chimed in Amy from behind us. “I’d say your cherished women have held up pretty damned well in the past.”
    “Yes, you have,” I replied, while sharing the pain in Alistair’s grimace. He would be lost without her, as I would without Beatrice. It brought to mind how close the gals came to meeting their end at the hands of Dracul, less than five months earlier. And, yet, neither one had ever mentioned the experience, because it was wiped clean from their reality.
    Roderick and I alone still held the experience of me nearly losing Beatrice, Amy, and Alistair in Dracul’s castle of horrors. Not to mention our horrified surprise to later learn it was Krontos pulling the dimensional shifts that altered the event imprint upon our particular earth plane. Only a master of metaphysics could fully appreciate experiencing one very real set of events being overridden permanently by a totally different outcome than originally perceived.
    “And, unlike last time, when we flew overseas to find you, maybe we can actually participate,” Amy added.
    Her words seemed to drain the color from Alistair’s face. Despite his increasing carelessness as he regained his youth, he still knew better than to tempt fate. He didn’t need to share Roderick’s and my near brush with death in Montenegro to know what Krontos was capable of. And, yet, he didn’t dare sound weak in front of his fiancée.
    “Only if absolutely necessary, babe,” he said, raising himself to gaze at her over his seat. He added a bright, confident smile. “I’m all for a little adventure in hunting for a coin or two, but I do think we’d be at a distinct disadvantage in a gun battle with the mafia dudes Roderick and Cedric described.”
    “Only if they’re