The Blistering: Chapter XVII

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The Drop

"Man, Damascus drivers are amazingly polite!"

"John, it's Friday, the Muslim holy day. Everybody is at home. This is like driving on Sunday morning."

"Well, that explains why the morning paper had so many sales fliers in it."

"Look," Marsha said, "Just keep up with Ali and Tom."

They were following Ali, the CIA agent, and Tom, the EPA agent to the site of the pelt drop off. Tom had showed up this morning in a silver hybrid. Good God, Cardinal had thought. These EPA guys believe in global warming after all. Now they were cutting across the cluttered streets of Damascus, to an abandoned warehouse where Tom had arranged to exchange seal pelts with a group of Arab collectors. The EPA had been making these deals for months in exchange for intelligence about oil production in Saudi Arabia. Now they knew they were over their heads and wanted out. "We'll bust 'em out," Cardinal had said.

"No, no, just look tough," Tom answered. "I will break it off verbally. You're just here to back me up in case things get complicated."

"You are making a mistake," Marsha said. "John Cardinal will make sure things get complicated."

Cardinal grunted in unconscious support.

As the hybrid darted back and forth through the streets, Cardinal jerked the wheel of their jeep, dodging pedestrians to keep up. The hybrid turned a corner and pulled up across the street from an abandoned building.

Cardinal turned to Marsha. "We're at the drop. You wait here. Seriously. If things go bad we are going to need a driver. Get behind the wheel and keep the engine running. If somebody comes by selling carpets, don't buy one, no matter how good a deal it is."

"Keep talking like that and I might drive off and leave you," Marsha said. "Don't worry, I'll stay out here. I am not interested in watching you butcher up a bunch of Arab smugglers."

"That's the spirit. Hugs and kisses, babe."

 Next episode: Delivered and Sealed