I don’t need to tell any of you dear readers that my autobiography, The Falcon’s Call has sold over 10 million copies and been translated to 6 different languages. I had previously leaked excerpts on my MySpace blog before it was released and thought it would be nice to give a sneak preview to the unabridged version that will go to press with 300 new pages and a forward by Kurt Vonnegut’s ghost. Here’s some of chapter 6.
He woke me up by slapping me across the face. I tried to get up but noticed that I was tied to a chair. My grunts echoed off the damp, stone walls as I struggled to break free but my muscles were stiff and sore, my head swimming. I struggled to speak just to see if I could. “The bullet train…”
“The train and all of it’s passengers are safe thanks to you, Señor Young. You seem to have a…knack for getting out of tough situations.” Even with my vision blurred, I could tell that El Toro was looming over me, tapping the air bubbles out of a syringe. “You get out of all these scrapes and save all these people, Señor Young, but you can’t save one poor, simple, Guadalajaran priest!” He jammed the needle into my chest and pushed down on the plunger. I bit down on my lip, not giving the bastard satisfaction of hearing me scream.
“What did you-”
“Adrenaline, Señor Young. You lost a bit of blood and as much as I would love to see you slowly die in that chair, I have use for you. I patched you up the best I can but I am used to drawing blood, not stopping it.”
I was definitely more alert now. Alert enough to realize we were no longer in Morioka. The air was thick with humidity. I raced to think of how to escape when I notice he didn’t bother to take my cufflinks. I carefully unhooked one and began to unscrew the disc from the bolt, making conversation to buy me time. “We’re in the Phillipines.”
“Excellent deduction. Just outside of Surakarta.”
“Mayor Jokowi wouldn’t like knowing you have me prisoner.”
“The law is not likely to find us out here. It’s just you, me and Congressman Stone.” El Toro turned on the light to reveal an unconscious Stone tied up to a chair in the corner of the room. He slapped him in the face to wake him up and grabbed another syringe from the table. I could feel the rope starting to give as I slowly sawed through it. I needed to keep him talking. “Going to give him some adrenaline, too?”
“Oh, no. Our esteemed guest here only gets the finest Sodium Pentothal.” He jammed the needle in the congressman’s neck. “The congressman will tell us where the Amulet is and you will take me right to it with all your fancy false identities, passports and security clearances.”
Stone started to show that the truth serum was taking effect. El Toro would most likely kill him once he got the answers he wanted and as much as Stone deserved to die, he had to stand trial for what he’s done. Having finally cut through the rope, I ignored the pain in my legs as I dashed to the table and grabbed a syringe. “That amulet belongs in a museum and you belong in jail. Let’s dance.” I lunged at El Toro with all my might.