Karl's last flight, part 4
©2006, Basil Sands
The three operatives suddenly lost their sense of humor and looked intently at Karl.
Blood drained from his face as he realized Liam was serious. Karl knew these kind of things happened in their line of work, he remembered back to the stone cold look in the eyes of the Special Operations soldiers and Marines he had worked with in the eighties. These men were the next generation of the same breed, killers.
The redeeming quality in men in their trade though was that they were not the cold-hearted machines the movies and books made them out to be. They were typically also highly intelligent, and patriotic. They didn't simply kill for the sake of watching someone die, they did it for a purpose. As long as Karl was of value to them, and did not pose a risk to their operation, he sensed he would be alive.
"Right, well then, I suppose it would be in my best interest to be as useful as possible then." Responded Karl.
Liam's grin turned up again, this time a bit more cheerfully. "I agree, sir. I would hate to have to kill you, especially with if you could be of use to us."
"So, Karl," Kharzai spoke, "you obviously served in the military before, which branch were you in?"
"Marine Corps, I was a Harrier pilot."
"Oorah and Semper Fidelis to you!" exclaimed Liam. "A fellow Sea Soldier. I knew there was something I liked about you."
"Oh outstanding!" muttered Kharzai, "Now we have two of the few and proud to deal with."
"You're just jealous my fuzzy Persian friend, because you never worked for such a fine brotherhood of warrior elites." Replied the Irishman.
"Jealous? Hmmm…I'd say it's more like 'satisfied' that I've never had to endure those haircuts. You know me though….once a spook always a spook."
Gilles still looked serious, "Alright gentlemen, we need to get moving on the plan. Troops will probably be in the area of the wreckage soon, and they will find their way here. We need to evacuate and pick up at number two residence"
"This is true," Kharzai frowned theatrically, "Sadly I will miss this grand mansion. But, that having been said we do need to boogie on down the road and get to killing some people…other than Karl here." He smiled and winked at Karl.
"Tell me what to do and I'm on it." Karl said, feeling only a bit easier, "Remember though, I am an old fart compared to you guys. I haven't been in commando mode for nearly 20 years."
"So, Karl, " asked Liam, "In all your travels did you ever imagine you'd end up here, with a bunch of party animal warriors on the edge of the apocalypse?"
"Well, I must admit, I always wanted to see the world, but this was not one of my suitcase dreams as a child." He replied.
"You just stick with us grandpa, we'll get you through." Kharzai feigned walking with a cane, continuing in a voice imitation of an old man, "Now Gilles, find the old guy his walker and a box of depends so we can get this party going."
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