The Great Game by Bell D.R

Author:Bell, D.R. [Bell, D.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D.R.Bell
Published: 2013-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

PART 3: NEW LIFE

“Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions;

it’s walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.”

— Aldous Huxley

Wednesday, 4/27/2022, 3:51 p.m. PDT

David was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. What happened today did not lend itself to his usual ways of coping. It was something of entirely different order. Out of habit, he took a shower in order to clear his head, to no avail. Someone thoughtfully left a change of clothes for him, but David kept his own.

A scene from his childhood came to him. He was seven and a kind female therapist was asking, “Can you describe for me the emotion you are feeling now?” What was he feeling? Grief, guilt, gratitude … why did all these different emotions start with the same letter? It was gratitude most of all. Rightfully, he should have died twice today, but at no point did he feel he was going to. He thought he was invincible. Only now the full measure of his luck hit him. Perhaps I am un-killable, he thought. Perhaps I’m being spared for some purpose. David opened his eyes, brought his hands to his face. He was indeed alive.

He thought of Megrano, and James, and Frank. Just a couple of days ago he was in the same room with them making plans, and now all of them were gone. David’s life had been mostly peaceful. Except for his dog Oscar, he’d never had to deal with death. That actually was one of the reasons he’d disappointed his parents by not wanting to go into medicine: he didn’t like to think about dying. The “forever-ness” of it made him uneasy. And now he moved into a different world with different rules. David clenched his fists until it hurt. Somehow he had to make it up to his fallen friends. But how?

David lay there wondering about Teddy, whether the vicious little dog had survived this day. He heard a knock and got up to open the door. It was Sasha, who asked David to come to a study with him.

The study was a large room with a dark wood floor partially covered by a thick Persian rug. Dark paneled walls, two large bookcases, a computer desk, and a few comfortable chairs. Four large portraits hung on the walls, three of stern looking men in suits and ties, one of a smiling woman in an early twentieth century dress. There was a faint smell of cigar smoke. Just like in movies, David thought. Despite the dark interior, the room was full of light from a large French window overlooking a terrace and the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

An older man was there already, whom Sasha introduced as his uncle Miguel, their host. Maggie and Oleg came in. Maggie wore a patterned blouse and a long green skirt, probably given to her by one of the women in the house. Miguel apologized for getting so quickly to business, but he understood that David and Maggie were in a somewhat dangerous situation, and he wanted to start putting together necessary precautions.

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