by Krister Persson
>Martin dashed over to Jordan's side with his gun drawn as people began >to scream in panic. Jordan drew his own gun and looked around >franticly. He saw someone moving quickly across the platform toward the >exit.
>"There!" Jordan cried pointing, "Go!"
>Martin nodded and moved to follow.
The Metro station was filled with people and that made it very hard for Martin to follow the person who had pushed Amanda.
"FBI! Out of my way!" he yelled, but people were too terrified to really grasp the severity of the situation. Instead Martin had to push his way through the crowd. He almost felt like he was back on the field again, dodging linebackers.
When Martin finally made it out of the station, he only caught a glimpse of someone going down an alley on the other side of the street. He was so caught up in the chase, he didn't even hear the screeching noise of people slamming the brakes of their cars in a frantic effort not to hit the "madman" running across the street waving a gun. Martin rounded the corner and dashed down the alley, only to find it completely empty, save for an old, rusty dumpster. There wasn't even any fire escapes leading down to the alley. It was as if the man had vanished into thin air. Carefully Martin peeked over the edge of the dumpster, but it was more or less empty too.
"What the hell?" he thought to himself and scratched his head. People usually didn't just disappear like that. He searched the entire alley to come up with a clue, but found nothing. As he was leaving, he noticed a small piece of paper on the ground. It looked like a business card. He picked it up and examined it. All it said was:
THE PRAETORIAN GUARD
** Are you your brother�s keeper? **
The paramedics had arrived by the time Martin got back to the Metro station, but there was nothing they could do to save Amanda's life. Jordan was talking to a sturdy looking police officer, trying to explain the whole situation without giving away too much information. Jim was nowhere in sight, but Martin figured he was hiding from the police. It wouldn't have looked good with three FBI-agents present at a murder scene, minutes before the murder even took place. Martin too stayed in the background. When he was sure Jordan was looking at him, he formed a silent "Eve's Caf�" with his lips. Then he left the station and walked across the street to a small, nicely decorated coffee shop. He ordered a cup of strong black coffee and sat down at a table towards the back of the caf�. Ten minutes later Jordan entered, ordered a cup of tea and sat down at Martin's table. Jordan's stomach was too upset for him to drink coffee.
"Where is Jim?" Jordan asked Martin.
"I don�t know," Martin replied, "I thought he was with you."
"He is probably on his way back to the office. We'll catch up with him there. So - did you find anything?"
Martin handed Jordan the business card and told him what had happened in the alley.
"The Praetorian Guard....I've heard that mentioned somewhere before," Jordan said.
"Weren�t they the hand picked bodyguard of Julius Caesar? I think they were the ultimate fighting force in ancient Rome. But I don't see what they have to do with anything..."
"Me neither, but perhaps we'd better run this by the rest of the team. They might have heard of any modern day reference to The Praetorian Guard."
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[NRPG] I'm back!!! Thank you so much for your patience. It's been a rough time for me with the divorce and all, so I really appreciate you waiting for me. I'm not fully out of the woods yet, but I'm getting there :-) Next post won't be as short as this one, I promise.
Peter: I left the ending open, for you to decide if Jim had anything to do with Amanda's death.
Alton: Feel free to add to the conversation in the coffee shop. Did Jordan find anything of interest?