"Like hell," Thom
said, echoing Hamlin's words of a moment ago.
Keegan replied, "Better
me than him, and you know it."
Realizing Keegan was
correct, Thom gave a disgusted shake of his head, muttering, “It's the age
thing again. He thinks because he's older than sin that makes him top man on
the totem pole."
"How old is he?"
Manny wanted to know.
"Nine centuries and
counting."
"Okay. Well our
combined ages are just barely more than Cerdic's thirteen centuries, so I
hardly think—"
"Then don't,"
Keegan told him, chuckling. "I'm the designated target if we can come up
with a way to let him know I'm here without making it seem like a set-up."
"I'm damned sure
there's more than enough reasons. Alasdair can come up with something. The
problem is how do we get the news to Cerdic?"
"Through Mr. Shadrick."
Hamlin nodded as he said that. "Yeah, I'd be willing to bet my bottom
dollar he knows what you are at this point, Manny. So if Keegan shows up at the
house looking for you when he's around, and he just happens to overhear the two
of you having a very private talk about the reason Keegan's needs your help."
"Not a bad idea,"
Keegan said after a moment's consideration.
"Better yet—" The
others looked at Thom as he spoke. "What if Keegan needs a safe place to
stay. That's why he's at the house, to arrange to stay here with Manny."
"That would work even
better," Manny agreed, waving off Hamlin's start of a protest. "He
needs a safe house because someone knows where he lives—"
"A Scriostóir who wants
my head on a platter." Keegan took
out his cell to make a call, wandering away from the others as he talked.
Finally, he turned back, a smile on his face. "According to Alasdair,
Cerdic was bitter rivals with a Scriostóir named Rafael, who just happens to be
in the area, if you count Trenton as 'the area'. If he thinks this Rafael is
after me, he just might want to beat him to the punch, and get his own back at
you in the process."
Manny smiled. "That
sounds logical to me, knowing Cerdic. So we have a plan, we just have to
augment it."
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