Read Online The Legacy by Stephen Frey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Stephen Frey
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Espionage, Detective and Mystery Stories, Conspiracies, Large Type Books, Inheritance and succession
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the buildings front door.
Hey, buddy, you gotta stay here while we bring the victim out. A large police officer stepped in Coles way.
Cole glanced at him. Victim?
Yeah. The policeman gestured toward the night sky with his flashlight. There was some kind of explosion up in one of the penthouses and a young woman was hurt pretty bad. We need to keep the entrance clear so the paramedics can bring her out.
A young woman? Coles voice was barely audible.
Yeah.
Do you know which apartment it was?
Huh?
In which apartment was the explosion? Cole asked again, his voice shaking.
I dont know, the policeman said impatiently. Look, youre gonna have to step back. The policeman spotted another resident moving toward the front door and moved away to intercept him.
As the policeman moved away, Cole saw two uniformed paramedics rolling a white-sheeted stretcher out through the lobby and broke past the small crowd that had gathered.
Hey, buddy! the policeman yelled. Stop!
But Cole kept running. As he neared the stretcher, his heart sank. Bandages and gauze covered most of a young womans face, but he thought he recognized the ring on her limp hand. He stopped and grabbed his hair with both hands. Jesus, is she all right?
The paramedics shook their heads somberly as they lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.
Cole!
Cole pivoted toward the voice, and relief flooded through him at the sight of Nicki sprinting toward him. She too had broken through the thin line of policemen.
As Nicki neared the ambulance, she pointed at the hand of the woman on the stretcher with its distinctive ring. Maria! she screamed, lunging for the back of the ambulance.
But Cole caught her as the paramedics closed the door and the emergency vehicle moved away, siren screaming. He wrapped his arms tightly around her as she sobbed into his chest. Its okay, sweetheart, he said comfortingly, the feeling of relief that the victim hadnt been Nicki still pulsing through him.
No, it isnt, she cried.
He nodded. It really wasnt okay, but there was nothing either one of them could do about it. Come on, he urged gently, guiding her away from the apartment building.
Where are we going? she asked through her tears.
Im taking you home.
Chapter 6
FOR THE BETTER part of four decades William Seward had been a history professor at the University of Virginia. Now that he was seventy-two years old, Seward taught just one class and that was in the spring semester. It was an upper-level course covering the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggression, as Seward preferred to call it. The class was his only commitment at this point, at least to Mr. Jeffersons university.
This late in November the leaves had fallen, and as Seward watched from his living room window, he could make out a silver government-issue sedan moving slowly through the bare-branched trees and over the crushed-stone lane leading down into the small valley which his cabin overlooked. The cabin lay secluded in a thick grove of oaks halfway up a small mountain. The site was only a few miles west of the universitys hometown of Charlottesville, but it was remote. The closest house was more than a half mile away. Here Seward could do research in solitudeand direct one of the most clandestine operations ever initiated by the United States government. Operation Snowfall.
Seward moved from the window to the stereo and turned on gentle symphonic music. It helped soothe his nerves. He enjoyed little-known composers others didnt appreciate, but he could listen to whatever he wanted because he lived alone. He wasnt married and had few living relatives.
Seward was tall and angular with thinning hair the color of cotton. His face was kindly, and traces of a slight smile were permanently etched into the corners of his pale lips. With age, his salt-and-pepper eyebrows had become bushy and his lower teeth crookedthe result of refusing to have his wisdom teeth removed because he couldnt risk the potential
Hey, buddy, you gotta stay here while we bring the victim out. A large police officer stepped in Coles way.
Cole glanced at him. Victim?
Yeah. The policeman gestured toward the night sky with his flashlight. There was some kind of explosion up in one of the penthouses and a young woman was hurt pretty bad. We need to keep the entrance clear so the paramedics can bring her out.
A young woman? Coles voice was barely audible.
Yeah.
Do you know which apartment it was?
Huh?
In which apartment was the explosion? Cole asked again, his voice shaking.
I dont know, the policeman said impatiently. Look, youre gonna have to step back. The policeman spotted another resident moving toward the front door and moved away to intercept him.
As the policeman moved away, Cole saw two uniformed paramedics rolling a white-sheeted stretcher out through the lobby and broke past the small crowd that had gathered.
Hey, buddy! the policeman yelled. Stop!
But Cole kept running. As he neared the stretcher, his heart sank. Bandages and gauze covered most of a young womans face, but he thought he recognized the ring on her limp hand. He stopped and grabbed his hair with both hands. Jesus, is she all right?
The paramedics shook their heads somberly as they lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.
Cole!
Cole pivoted toward the voice, and relief flooded through him at the sight of Nicki sprinting toward him. She too had broken through the thin line of policemen.
As Nicki neared the ambulance, she pointed at the hand of the woman on the stretcher with its distinctive ring. Maria! she screamed, lunging for the back of the ambulance.
But Cole caught her as the paramedics closed the door and the emergency vehicle moved away, siren screaming. He wrapped his arms tightly around her as she sobbed into his chest. Its okay, sweetheart, he said comfortingly, the feeling of relief that the victim hadnt been Nicki still pulsing through him.
No, it isnt, she cried.
He nodded. It really wasnt okay, but there was nothing either one of them could do about it. Come on, he urged gently, guiding her away from the apartment building.
Where are we going? she asked through her tears.
Im taking you home.
Chapter 6
FOR THE BETTER part of four decades William Seward had been a history professor at the University of Virginia. Now that he was seventy-two years old, Seward taught just one class and that was in the spring semester. It was an upper-level course covering the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggression, as Seward preferred to call it. The class was his only commitment at this point, at least to Mr. Jeffersons university.
This late in November the leaves had fallen, and as Seward watched from his living room window, he could make out a silver government-issue sedan moving slowly through the bare-branched trees and over the crushed-stone lane leading down into the small valley which his cabin overlooked. The cabin lay secluded in a thick grove of oaks halfway up a small mountain. The site was only a few miles west of the universitys hometown of Charlottesville, but it was remote. The closest house was more than a half mile away. Here Seward could do research in solitudeand direct one of the most clandestine operations ever initiated by the United States government. Operation Snowfall.
Seward moved from the window to the stereo and turned on gentle symphonic music. It helped soothe his nerves. He enjoyed little-known composers others didnt appreciate, but he could listen to whatever he wanted because he lived alone. He wasnt married and had few living relatives.
Seward was tall and angular with thinning hair the color of cotton. His face was kindly, and traces of a slight smile were permanently etched into the corners of his pale lips. With age, his salt-and-pepper eyebrows had become bushy and his lower teeth crookedthe result of refusing to have his wisdom teeth removed because he couldnt risk the potential
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