There Fell a Shadow

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Book: Read There Fell a Shadow for Free Online
Authors: Andrew Klavan
weeks, months of … of boredom. Of nothin’ but the heat and the mosquitoes. Then there’d be some sudden rush of vengeance out of all them jungles around the cities. The rebels would come whompin’ down on some little town, kill the men, rape the women. Then the government’d hit back and a bunch of rebel sympathizers’d up and disappear. And then … and then it would all calm down. All sink back into the heat and the boredom. It didn’t seem to us like anything would ever really … happen.”
    He took a long breath. It shuddered as it came out. He wiped his mouth with one hand. “And now it was comin’. Finally. All of it. The bloodshed … not just bloodshed … the … the torture, the mutilations. The long, long killings in the hot, hot sun. Mangrela was goin’ to fall, man. Me and Wexler, we knew we had to get back.” He lifted his eyes to me. Eyes as haunted now as those of the man in the bar. “Not just to get the story, Wells. Not just to get the story. We had to get out. That’s where the yank choppers were. The capital. And once the capital belonged to the rebels, we were finished. All of us.”
    His whole body shook once in the chair as he let out the memories of a decade ago. He blinked—hard. He was fighting the liquor, but soon it would win. He wanted to get it all out first.
    â€œWe didn’t even know if we could make it back,” he said softly. “I left that morning, as soon as we got the news. Wexler thought he’d have a better chance in the dark.” Colt’s eyes filled. I could barely hear him. “It gets awful dark in Sentu at night. The stars … I was afraid to travel in the dark.” He started to bring his drink to his lips, then lowered it. Another shot would probably have finished him. “Even in the day, it was a nightmare. The shellfire never stopped. The jungle was exploding everywhere. The roads … the dirt roads. They were filled with refugees … children, women, bleeding, desperate, dead. And soldiers—you couldn’t tell what side they were on anymore. They’d stop you, check your ID. You didn’t know if they were goin’ to blow your head off or let you pass. They didn’t know. It depended on … God knows … luck, their mood. It was chaos. It was a jungle where all the animals were humans, and all the humans left were either murderers or dead.… They stared at you out of the undergrowth. And the shells kept falling.… Wells, I’ve never been so afraid.”
    I stared at that weathered face of his. It was not the face of a coward. Not at all. It was the sort of face you wanted beside you when the shooting started. Calm, hard, unwavering.
    â€œYou see what I’m sayin’?” he said to me quietly. “You see what I’m tryin’ to say?”
    I opened my mouth to answer. I didn’t answer. I didn’t see. I didn’t understand why he was telling me this. I was drunk and I couldn’t make sense of it.
    Colt ran his hand up through his dense brown hair. With the other arm, he pushed to his feet. As he did, his drink fell from his loose grip. The glass tumbled onto the rug, spat its liquor into the shag. I saw the shag darken with scotch. I heard, in my mind, the beer glass shattering when he dropped it in the tavern. I couldn’t shake the idea that everything was connected.
    Colt towered over me where I sat. He swayed. He put his hand to his forehead.
    â€œI didn’t just go back there for the story,” he said. “Not just to get the story. Not just to get out.” Stumbling, he headed for the bedroom door.
    â€œColt,” I said. It came out slurred.
    He reached the doorway. He faltered, leaning against the jamb. I heard him say something. His voice cracked as he said it. I couldn’t make out the words.
    He straightened, swayed. This time, I heard it.
    â€œEleanora,” he

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