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

packing the latest assault rifles,” said Cedric from in front of us. “Otherwise it might be a fair fight.” He chuckled, and I do believe Alistair could’ve strangled him for stoking the fire.
    “The biggest thing is to be precise with our decisions and movements in response to what we find in Berlin,” said Roderick, for the moment not turning around to look at us. Thankfully, he had the foresight to purchase the other seats in our curtained-off section ahead of time. Still, voices carry—especially my druid buddy’s voice when he gets on a roll. “And, since none of us fully understands how Krontos is able to eavesdrop from anywhere, and affect changes to environment, interactions, time, etc., I think it would be best if we kept things loose and unfocused on why we’ve made this trip. Perhaps a new joke or two that we’ve recently heard in Sedona, or we can settle for one of William’s or Cedric’s colorful spy stories to start us off. Just anything that has nothing to do with why we’re here.”
    The chuckles and sidebar conversation between Beatrice and Amy abruptly stopped. Talk about a wet blanket on a dying fire. Well played, Roderick.
    When the silence turned awkward, roughly a minute after his admonishment, Alistair snickered to himself.
    “What’s so funny?” I asked.
    “What if all this precaution stuff is for naught?” he said thoughtfully. “What if Krontos has already played his first move in this latest cat and mouse routine, and we are already unwitting lab mice working through the maze he’s created?”
    Indeed. It’s not like Roderick or I hadn’t considered this possibility before then. But hearing it from Alistair’s lips made it sound much more chilling. From that moment until we landed in Berlin, it was all I could think about. It took nearly every trick I could muster to maintain a casual and merry persona, telling my botched espionage tales with humor, gusto, and Cedric’s colorful asides. All the while, I wondered and worried how cruel and extensive Krontos’ elaborate trap for us could be.
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    It was just after nine o’clock that night when we landed in Berlin, and most of us were affected by jetlag. Well, those of us not named Roderick or myself were affected. Frankly, I was a bit surprised at the severity, since Alistair, Amy, and Beatrice had flown a further distance in June, when they followed Alistair’s whim to pursue Roderick and me in Rome and then they pressed on to Budva.
    As for Cedric, after the many hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles he had accumulated during his time with the CIA, I was surprised by his disorientation, too. Tampara and the Yitari people Cedric lived with in Bolivia had transformed his body into one suited for their realm. I guess that meant he was now a novice air traveler in our world, and would have to learn the ropes all over again. Even so, I expected him to be ready for our breakfast meeting by Skype with Michael.
    The good news, as far as Roderick and I could tell, was our reality seemed to be intact. It felt natural to our deepest instincts and nothing seemed off thus far, which was a relief. In fact, neither of us sensed Krontos’ presence in any fashion—including the absence of his thugs.
    “It might just be the three of us at breakfast, I believe,” I told Roderick, after we had checked into our rooms at the Grand Hotel Esplanade. Although, I heard a television on in Alistair and Amy’s room, Beatrice was fast asleep by the time I met Roderick by the vending machines near our fifth floor accommodations. “I’ll stop by Cedric’s room on the way to your room. Shall we do room service?”
    “It may be best, since Michael is expecting us to start at seven, and it might take a moment to get everything set up,” he said. “Hopefully, he will surprise us with good news about Thomas and Franz Riefenstahl.”
    “Who is Franz Rifenstahl?”
    “That’s the dealer… Michael