The Protector Read Online Free PDF

man reached for the call button again and rang the attendant.  As if we were the only passengers on the plane, she was there. “Could we please have something stiff to drink.”
    The red headed lady looked at me with concern and nodded politely to my- self proclaimed protector.  Soon, she came carrying two small bottles of Stoli vodka and two small bottles of some sort of whiskey. She also brought two glasses full of what looked like soda water.  The pounding in my head was getting worse and alcohol wasn’t going to make it go away.
    “Tom was handing over military grade processors to the Israeli’s wasn’t he?” I turned to look directly at him. But he said nothing to neither confirm nor deny my suspicions. I tried to read his face to see if I was even close, but it was unreadable. He wouldn’t look me in the eyes, instead staring at the two empty seats on the other side of the aisle. “Something went wrong didn’t it?” I asked knowing full well the answer to my question.
    I took a deep breath and grabbed one of the vodka bottles that the flight attendant had given him. I opened it and downed it in one gulp. The burning temporarily stopped the pounding in my head as it felt like my throat was now on fire.  “I didn’t give the guy the processor Tom gave me. I gave him another one I pulled off the line.” I finally admitted through intermitted coughs.
    The man who sat next to me was suddenly closer than I had realized.
    “What?”
    “Tom never packages them right and I didn’t think it would make it through customs, so I pulled one off the line and packaged it the way we are supposed to.”  As if a wave had crashed on top of me, it all came flooding through. “Tom’s processor was rad hard wasn’t it?  This wasn’t an academic swap?”
    The throbbing intensified as I laid back in my seat and closed my eyes.  The realization was there and my protector sat quiet.  I wasn’t sure how long we had actually sat in silence before he spoke.
    “Now you see the problem.”
    I turned to face him. His eyes were golden and his glare intent on my face. I nodded I did see the problem. Someone was expecting a very special processor and I, being the brilliant one, gave them a useless piece of electronics.  “So now I have a foreign government mad at me because I didn’t give them what they wanted, I gave it to God knows who? My boss is dead and well I’m not far behind him am I?”
    He nodded. 
    I realized he wasn’t one for sugar coating. “And you?” How did he fit into the whole picture? I had to know.
    “Tom has been doing this for years with the Israeli’s.  We don’t know why, but he sent you in his place this time. We let it slide thinking you would just hand the processor over. You did, we just didn’t anticipate you switching them out.  Nor did we anticipate you giving it to someone other than Hassan.”  He leaned back in his seat. He suddenly looked relaxed and this irritated the hell out of me. I wondered how he could be so relaxed when I had screwed up so bad and now my life was in danger. Then the realization struck – I was the one in danger, not him.
    “How much trouble am I in? You have to take me into custody don’t you?”  The horror of that question had to be written all over my face.
    He shook his head no. “You didn’t know did you?”
    “No.”
    “My job right now is to get you back to the States and then possibly recover the processor.  We go from there.”
    “What about the guy I gave the processor to? They have to know by now it isn’t what they were expecting.”
    He looked at me with all the sincerity I am sure he could muster. “I don’t know Alison, I don’t know.  I won’t until we get back to the states.”
    I reached for the second bottle of vodka, but his hand stopped me before I could quickly open it. His hands were warm and surprisingly comforting. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but not that.
    “Easy!”  He took the bottle and opened