She hurled herself back into Condor’s arms. He got held tight.
This, he prayed to the meds: Let me remember this, this.
Helicopters vibrated the world.
Burnt flesh stench. Shattered glass. Purple smoke swirls. Megaphone commands.
When the three of them sprawled on the sidewalk in front of the shot-to-shit rest stop, before she cell phoned the Panic Line and like a pro triggered the make sure it holds cover story of them as random survivors not identified in official police reports, named in newspapers or broadcast by television crews who showed up on their own helicopters while flying ambulances were ferrying out the sobbing wounded, before all that, her face pressed against asphalt, Malati whispered to the silver-haired man laying beside her:
“Is it always like this?”
And he said yes.
for Harlan Ellison
About the Author
JAMES GRADY is the New York Times bestselling author of Six Days of the Condor, which became the Robert Redford movie, Three Days of the Condor. Besides working as a screenwriter for CBS, FX, HBO, and major studios, Grady’s journalism includes time as a muckraker for political columnist Jack Anderson and writing a cultural column for AOL’s PoliticsDaily.com. His short fiction has won two Regardies Magazine awards, been nominated for an Edgar, and appears in several “Best Of” anthologies. Born and raised in Montana, Grady and his wife, writer Bonnie Goldstein, live inside DC’s Beltway.
Special thanks to Joshua Wolff and Loki Films.