by Nate Granzow
"Richard, wait."
No reply.
"Richard, please."
It was too late.
But instead of a gunshot, only a dull clunk sounded from behind me. Turning around, I watched as the ambassador slumped to the lawn, unconscious. Harold stood over his father gripping a garden spade, an anxious look on his face.
"Cogar, are you okay? Look, I'm sorry for everything," he said, extending his hand and pulling me to my feet. "This whole thing, it's fucked up. I never meant to hurt anyone, especially you, man," he said, wiping at his eyes. "No one's ever risked their life for me the way you did, and I won't ever forget it. You have my word."
28
A Short Goodbye
With my leather duffel bag slung over a shoulder and one hand holding Jessica tightly, I stood just outside the line for the airport terminal's security check. Over her shoulder, the text scrolling across the bottom of a suspended row of televisions silently detailed the ambassador's resignation pending a myriad of drug abuse charges. Somehow attempted murder hadn't made the list of infractions. I guessed that one would stay between the Chamberlain family and me.
"I'm going to miss you, Grant," Jessica said, looking at me wistfully.
"Come with me and you won't have to."
"You know I can't. I need to settle things here," she said softly, "and I think there might be new opportunities for me with all the change at the embassy." Slipping a finger between the buttons on my shirt, she smiled somberly.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't typically hang on to relationships, particularly if they've run their course. I like to think of myself as a realist: Ships pass in the night, and one's perception of love changes from day to day. Besides, time and distance apart are murder on a relationship, particularly since most battlefields don't have great phone reception.
But part of me was troubled by the thought of letting Jessica go. In the short time we'd been together, we'd become inseparable. Sure, the sex was legendary, but we’d also taken long walks hand-in-hand, cuddled like teenagers at the movie theater, and spent entire days chatting at museums and the zoo—all mundane ways to kill time that would normally have had me begging for an assignment out of the country. But for the first time in my life, I didn't mind.
I'd struck upon a connection with this woman that surpassed simple physical attraction or teenage lust. I felt as though we understood one another perfectly, overlooking all but the finest qualities in one another while exhibiting a subtle, unspoken devotion free of demands or expectations. Ironically, I felt freer in her arms than anywhere I'd ever been. It was the kind of love that makes the very word seem clumsy and inadequate.
"I don't want to lose you," I said, the words spilling out before I had time to rein them in.
She looked at me quizzically.
"You're not going to lose me, Grant. I'll wait for you. It's not as though you're leaving forever. But to remind you of what you're missing while you're gone—"
Grabbing my wrists, she slid my hands from her waist down her hips. Then, lacing her fingers around the back of my neck, pulled herself against me and pressed her soft lips to mine: warm euphoria flooding my senses, an almost electrical charge passing between us.
When she pulled away, she said, "Your flight doesn't leave for another hour." She smirked playfully as she guided my head to her chest and whispered, her lips brushing my ear, "Plenty of time to have another naughty."
Despite being exhausted with the thought of my nine-hour flight to Cairo, I boarded the plane with the sweet taste of Jessica's kisses still lingering on my lips, and I found myself the most satisfied I had been in a long time. The feeling was fleeting, though, vanishing entirely as I looked from my ticket to the seat numbers printed above the aisle to the man in the seat beside mine.
"Hello, Cogar."
"Hey, Perry."
Shanghai Meth Ring Discovered, Brought Down
By Grant Cogar
SHANGHAI – In a major victory in the battle against methamphetamine production and distribution in China, the Shanghai police have seized a warehouse used in the drug's manufacture in the Pudong waterfront district.
A brief exchange of gunfire was reported, and is believed to have resulted in the death of 12 armed gang members as well as the alleged ringleader of the operation. Though no definitive evidence has yet been brought forward, it is believed that the methamphetamine being produced at this warehouse was distributed internationally—flooding throughout Southeast Asia. "Let this be a reminder that those who choose to become involved in these illegal activities will be caught and dealt with swiftly. It is not a question of if, but when," said Shanghai Police Chief Cheng Shunkang.
An handsome American news correspondent was reported to have been on the scene during the police raid, and is said to have aided the police in bringing down the operation, as well as rescuing a wounded man taken hostage during the firefight. The police have not released the identity of this mysterious journalist-turned-policeman, but did confirm his actions. Shunkang referred to the mystery man as "one very lucky, very heroic individual."
Cogar will return in Cogar’s Revolt