Jeff finds himself in Silicon Valley where he is asked to investigate claims by a gregarious Frenchman that his neural network electronic technology actually works. He meets up again with the enchanting Nancy, the FBI agent he had worked with in Atlanta where they fell in love while he was still married, and again in Washington DC Kathy puts romance back into Jeff’s life as he finds himself hounded by financially-desperate Europeans so determined to push their questionable technology―men so desperate that they will stop at nothing, even Jeff’s murder. The excitement will make the reader gasp, tragedy will make the reader cry, romance will make the reader sigh.
Chapter 13 of Silicon Gulch … The assassins come after Jeff!
Wednesday, 10:02 AM: Deadly Greeks
Jeff enters the conference
room with his dummy twin seated, goes into the next room, sitting with gun
pointing toward the door―soon he hears the TATATATATATATA!
of machine gun fire in the other room. He shoots through the door and kills
one of the assassins! Then they shoot through the door coming after Jeff!
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Thanks for taking time, and enjoy!
- Chris Lamela
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Author contact: chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST
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Wednesday,
10:02 AM: Deadly Greeks
Jeff woke up, the TV still on silently glowing across the room. Light sky was glaring at him through the open window. He rolled over, the clock said six fifty-six. Four more minutes before the phone would ring.
He rolled over stretching, yawned, swinging his feet to the floor. He
was brushing his teeth when the desk phone rang. Walking into the room he
picked it up to hear the recorded words about this being his automatic wake-up
call. Setting the receiver back down he went to the shower.
The water felt so good, he soaped his hair twice. He shaved carefully,
turned the water off stepping out reaching for a towel. Enjoying the big fluffy
towel he dried himself slowly, reaching the towel up to wipe steam from the
mirror, combed his hair, brushed his teeth again, turned to step into the room
naked.
"Good morning!"
"Jesus!" Jeff jumped back. Nancy was sitting on the bed with a
big grin. "You scared me!"
"You didn't answer your cell phone, I
needed to make sure you're okay." She scanned him up and down, "Plus
it's been a while since I've seen you naked." She smiled at the rise she
was getting from Jeff's body.
"You had your chance on Monday night."
"I had a plane to catch."
He walked over to his clothes laid across the big stuffed chair in the back
corner picking them up, putting them on slowly trying to stay turned toward her
amused face.
"So what's up?" he asked fastening his last button, holding
his arm up to smell the arm pits satisfied that his shirt didn't stink too much.
"Breakfast first then over to the Merdian for show time."
He reached for his coat putting
it on.
"You have your gun?"
Jeff pulled the little Colt Cobra
out of his pocket doing his now-practiced Maverick
routine of flicking open the cylinder to examine the load, flicking it back
with a quick flip of his wrist.
"Good, hopefully you won't need it."
Soon he was downstairs in the main restaurant at a corner table with
Nancy and Arnie, plates in front of them. Jeff looked up to see Ted, the bodyguard
that had been with him in DC walking to the table.
Arnie looked up smiling, "Ted!"
Ted stood in front of the table reaching his hand to Jeff, "So here
we are again, funny how I keep running into you!"
"Yes, funny thing,"
Jeff glanced a smile to Nancy.
"Want to join us Ted?" Arnie asked with a mouth full of food.
"Already ate. So what's the plan?"
Arnie outlined the planned sting that will be happening in a half-hour,
Ted said that he had already received instructions. Arnie motioned to everyone
to finish up.
Ten minutes later they were standing in the parking lot of the Embassy
Suites instructing Jeff that he would drive with them around the back of his
hotel then take a freight elevator to the top floor. Jeff would then get into
the regular elevator going down to the lobby. He was be at the conference room
door at exactly five minutes before nine, go into the room casually, that
everything would be set up, all he had to do was go into the front door of the
conference room, through the door on the right into the next conference room to
wait until it was over, that agents would be totally surrounding the whole deal
so not to worry.
In another ten minutes they were stepping out of the freight elevator on
the top floor of the Merdian. Nancy turned to Jeff straightening his coat
collar. "Now be calm, we have the place totally covered. But be safe. If
for some reason something goes wrong use your intuition. I've seen you in these
situations and your judgment is very good. Just trust yourself to do the right
thing. Okay?"
Without a glance at the others she reached out to kiss Jeff on the lips,
"Now go."
He turned walking down the hallway looking back, Nancy flashing him a
thumbs-up before she stepped back into the freight elevator.
A minute later Jeff was walking deliberately
casual through the lobby toward the conference rooms entrance glancing around
the lobby seeing nobody watching him. He passed through the conference rooms
entry, turning left he was soon at the door that he had been naked in with
Paula twenty-four hours ago. Ah yes, my
lovely parlor three!
He opened the door, turned to look both ways, going inside closing it
his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Before him was a figure dressed just like
Jeff. Walking slowly around the figure to the right toward the right side door
he admired that the dummy's coat seemed to be the same color, brown hair, the
figure posed leaning forward pen in hand taking notes, the screen in front of
him a picture of his company's building and logo from their website. He laughed
that he expected the figure to look up to him and say, "Good morning!"
Shaking himself, he walked briskly to the side door opening it. A single
small lamp, like a hotel bedroom lamp glowed dimly from the floor in the far right
corner in the darkened room. He turned back to the door locking it.
He pulled a chair around facing the door, ten feet from the opening
barely outlined in the dim light.
He sat down.
Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out his gun.
He pointed the gun toward the door.
He listened, leaning toward the door.
TATATATATATATA! Jeff heard
gunfire in the other room, loud even through the door.
TATATATATATATA! the gunfire
burst sounded again.
Jeff leaned forward trying to hear through the door.
"WHAT THE HELL!" a voice burst into the next room.
Oh shit, he knows it was a dummy!
"WHAT THE HELL! MONDO GET IN HERE!"
Jeff heard a second voice, "WHAT THE HELL!"
"It's a damn dummy!"
"You saw him come in, where is he?"
Jeff leaned forward hearing a loud whisper, "That door, he's in
that door!"
The second voice tinged with worry, "I don't like this, this is a
trap! Come on let's go!"
"No! We've never missed a mark. Come on, that door, he had to go in
there!"
Oh jesus, they're coming after me!
A second later Jeff heard the door knob jiggle.
Oh my god, they're going to shoot
through the door!
I've been here before!
I know what to do!
Jeff stood up stiff-armed shooting straight through door, PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP!
He heard a voice scream, "MONDO! Jesus, Mondo! Are you hurt?"
Suddenly remembering the unlucky sixth
bullet in Atlanta Jeff pulled the trigger again, PAP!
Jeff realized he was screwed if they shot through the door diving
silently away from the chair walking quietly toward the front of the room along
the wall away from the lamp in the far corner toward the front of the room
hearing, “YOU SHOT ME!” a ferocious roar, “OOOOOOOOOH, YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!
YOU SHOT ME! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!”
TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
the door burst into flying wooden fragment projectiles, puncturing the
opposite wall that filled with little dots puffs of wallboard forming a gray
cloud along the wall. TATATATATATATA! holes appeared in the wall
surrounding the door, TATATATATATATA!
more holes, the circle enlarging through the door.
Silence except for Jeff's ears W-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!
BANG! the center of the door burst open, a shoe appearing kicking
through it, pieces of wood flying into the room.
A head appeared through the jagged hole in the door two-feet wide. A
face looking down, around toward the light to the
back…peering…looking…searching…
Directly at Jeff!
A hand appeared under the face holding an Uzi submachine gun, "YOOOOOOU!
YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" the shooter struggling with the gun in his right
hand trying to twist the gun toward the front corner, Jeff pressing himself
into the corner.
"FREEZE!" PAP! PAP!
PAP! PAP! rang from the other room, "FREEZE!" PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! a
fusillade of gunfire rang, the face disappearing from Jeff's sight.
Silence.
Jeff heard muffled voices coming closer, yelling, but he couldn't make
out the words over the loud ringing in his ears W-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!
Suddenly the door on Jeff's right burst open hallway light flooding into
the room Nancy running into the room desperately looking around the room with
her arms out her right hand holding her pistol, "JEFF!" she ran to the
exploded door looking desperately, "JEFF!"
"Over here," his small voice could scarcely form the words.
She ran to the corner leaning over him in the shadow cast by the small
lamp at her back, "Are you okay! Jeff are you okay!"
"Yes, I'm fine, not shot…" his weak voice trailing off.
Leaning over to pull him from his cowering position in the corner he
suddenly realized his fetal pose, huddled in the corner. "Come here, come
here," she leaned to him.
She held him like an infant, gently rocking him with there-there movement. It felt so good,
like he was in the arms of his grandmother after he fell down and scraped his
knee when he was six.
It felt so good.
If felt so good for feeling so bad.
Jeff
lost track of time like he was floating in a cloud, holding Nancy tight. Her
skin's sweet scent permeated the odors of gun smoke, gypsum, fear.
She leaned to him in a whisper, "From now on you are to avoid deadly Greeks."
She leaned to him in a whisper, "From now on you are to avoid deadly Greeks."
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NOW READ THE NEXT EXCITING CHAPTER OF
SILICON GULCH!
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