“But John, he needs to be warned!” Asia said pulling back against Maria’s grasp on her.
Maria didn’t let go, “John would want you safe! Now come on!” Asia gave up and went along grudgingly with Maria, as her lips moved in a prayer for the one she loved.
Utah’s thighs and calves snapped with muscular power, as he churned away in a hard run panting like the bellows of an iron forge, in his supreme effort to save two instead of just one.
“Stop! Utah you need to stop before you burst your heart!” Shalako said, wrapping hard against Utah’s back, but the young man gave a negative shake of his head, as his air starved lungs gasped loudly for continued life.
Shalako saw a projecting wood slat and grabbed a hold of it. The sudden jerk was too much for Utah to manage, as he was already unsteady on his feet. He tumbled forward onto his knees, the heavy commando falling off one shoulder and Shalako off the other.
Shalako grimaced, as the impact with the ground sent razors of pain cutting out through him, but he recovered and got up to his knees beside the young man on all four still trying to catch his breath.
Shalako laid a hand on Utah’s heaving sweat soaked back, “Bless you for trying Utah, but you were a fool to try it!”
Utah glanced to the side at Shalako, “Like you wouldn’t have, if you were able to!” He husked out.
Shalako chuckled painfully, Utah had him there. “It’s true; I guess that makes us both fools. You remind me a lot of myself, when I was your age I do have to admit.”
“There’s a few differences don’t you think?” The young man with coal black skin said on a bitter note.
Shalako had noticed that about him in the brief time he’d known Utah. He patted Utah’s back, “You’ve got a chip on your shoulder don’t you son.”
Shalako’s other hand came away from his bloody stomach wound and smeared the blood on his hand down the side of Utah’s face before gripping the young man’s chin hard, “How red your blood is, is the only color that matters out here and don’t you forget it!” Shalako let go of Utah’s chin and crawled over to lean against a concrete wall. The pain was a constant thing, but he’d had so much of it in his life that it more or less throbbed in the background of his consciousness.
Utah watched a red drip of blood splat onto the ground from off his chin, “I’m sorry Shalako. I……”
“You’re bitter!” Shalako said cutting him off.
Utah looked up and Shalako gestured to himself, “You don’t think I’ve had my share of prejudice? One look at my long hair and Indian features and most people write me off as a reservation casino meal ticket on two legs. I know what it’s like to be bitter and trust me it will eat you up inside if you let it!”
Utah nodded, as if he was already embroiled in that struggle.
“Now you have a choice to make. You can only save one of us and it’s going to be him.” Shalako said pointing to the unconscious commando.
“He’s young and might have a family somewhere dependent on him. Someone’s daddy or children yet to be conceived and born to him. He has more time to experience life and God and get himself right before his Creator, if he isn’t already. Do you understand me?” Shalako said firmly there being no question in what he spoke of.
Utah nodded solemnly.
“I probably wouldn’t make it anyway. Seventy somethings don’t have any business running around battlefields getting themselves shot. Still it’s probably better this way. Better than choking to death on a spoonful of jello in some nursing home for sure!”
Despite the graveness of the moment Utah gave a spurt of laughter and Shalako’s lips peeled back in a grin, “You think I’m joking, well I’m not!”
Shalako’s face grew serious once more, “We don’t have much time, but before you go I would like to speak into your life a little and give you a blessing. Got any problems with that?”
“I would be honored for you to do that!” Utah responded quickly, in a voice that quivered with emotion.
“Okay I’ll make this quick. The first thing I would say is to have faith in God, but I know you already do and that’s good! Very good, but there’s a lot that goes with that. None of us are as good as we think we may be or can be on our own. None of us can earn heaven. It’s a gift that we don’t deserve, grace pressed down without measure from above. It all boils down to one thing Utah, never give up on your faith. I’m old and I’ve lived through more heartaches than I wished that I had to, but I have known joy in my path of following the Lord’s will for my life. I am an old man, but I have fulfilled the Apostle Paul’s urge to the church. I have pressed on towards the high call of Jesus Christ in my life and I finish the race with the honor of knowing that I am farther in my faith in my last hour than I ever have been before. I’ve fought hell in one form or another all my life and now finally the Father’s reward is soon to be mine. Life is full of distractions Utah and they will confuse and cloud up the way before you, but if you stick to your faith, if you rely on your God to deliver you and show you the path that is straight, then one day you too can be where I am right now, full of days and at peace for what is to come next. I hope and pray that you have a lot of good living ahead of you, but don’t ever lose sight of what is truly important to be accomplished in this life and that is a one on one personal relationship with God, who indwells each of us with the strength to live each day as it comes, until he calls you home to be with him in perfect unity.”
Big tears slipped down Utah’s face, “I want that! The peace I see in you is hard to find and even harder to hold onto! I always feel pressed beyond my capabilities and beset by past bitterness’s, as I fail to live as free, as I desire to in faith!”
Shalako came away from the wall and pulled Utah’s head to his shoulder with both arms, “It’s like seeing myself fifty years ago to hear you speak right now! I know the self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy you struggle with Utah! They’ve long been my thorns in the flesh. Life won’t get any easier and your struggles though bitterly fought won’t go away, but God is enough! He is enough to outlast the battle by day and the bitter struggles of the night. He is enough to bring you through fifty years of it and more. We journey through this life, as foreigners in a strange land, until we find our promise land, a sure place of refuge from all adversity at the end of the journey. Utah, He is enough! Do you believe me?”
“Yes I do!” Utah firmed.
“Then even, as you have faith for the journey and the urge to live righteously, I pray that God would rain down a double portion of the blessings of grace He has given me in this life upon you!”
Utah shook within Shalako’s arms, as Shalako gripped him even harder to himself. “God is great and greatly to be praised! He has given me length of days, in which I have seen my house put in order and more joy than I could have asked for in these last few years and now He has given me a son to carry on a father’s blessing in place of the son I lost. I claim you now, a son after my own spirit and I pray that the fire of God consume all the chaff and waste from your life and leave you as pure, as refined gold fit and able to be fashioned into a vessel of honor of the Masters choosing!”
Shalako held him for a moment longer, but then patted Utah on the back before he pushed him way, “You need to go son, but first do an old warrior one last favor.”
Chapter Twenty One
Finish It!
I drug myself along the floor towards the reactor leaving a bloody trail along the floor. Get to the reactor, set it to overload, save the world. That was all I could content myself with of the future now, because I wasn’t getting out of here.
I tried not to think about Asia, but thoughts of her were all that filled my mind. It was those thoughts that drove me on and kept me awake. I had to destroy this place so she could live safely, even though I wouldn’t be with her.
Some lucky punk had put a bullet into my leg and it had messed it up royally. I couldn’t even put weight on it so I had to drag myself along the floor. I had little st
rength left to do anything else anyway. Stupid elevator had stopped working on floor 22 and I’d had to run down the rest of the stairs to the basement where I’d run into a firefight with a hold out security group.
They were dead now and so would I be soon enough. Everyone on our side would be free of the building by now so it would be safe to start the overload.
I’d be lauded as a hero for this no doubt.
Ra-ra and all that jazz and bluby-dy-duck, Asia would be safe and that was all I cared about. I glanced upward at the reactor and I saw where the digital displays with lots of buttons were. Oh how I hated technology sometimes! I truly was obsolete in some ways I guessed.
I saw a big red lever with lots of warning labels around it, now that was more like it. I pulled myself up the side of the reactor to reach for it, crying out in pain, as my leg moved. My fingers settled around the handle, “Think exit strategy bro, exit strategy!”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Flint, “What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Same thing you are apparently.” Flint replied, as he slapped my fingers away from the red handle and smacked a big bundle of plastic explosives to the reactor wall. He pushed a button that gave the characteristic alarm clock chime noise and then he was helping me.
I was secretly relieved to have him here, but I couldn’t let that show, “Get out of here! You’ve got a wife and two kids!” I groused out.
“And a brother that I’m not ever leaving behind again!” Flint said firing back.
“Well then I suppose I’ll let you save me then.”
“Big of you, now this is going to hurt.” Flint said.
Oh was he right about that! He tied my leg off in two places with a slat of wood and a crowbar. “Bones broke.” Flint said, like I’d needed an explanation to tell me that.
I felt dizzy, but that abruptly cleared on a fresh round of pain, as Flint picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.
“What do you weigh 300 pounds or something?” Flint huffed out.
I felt for him, I really did, but that was no reason to insult me. “250 you jerk!”
Flint chuckled, as he started off. “You should put on more fat instead of muscle it weighs less.”
“I’ll keep that under advisement dear brother.” I said beginning to feel dizzy again.
It was slow going up the stairs and Flint was puffing hard. “You’re getting old, brother.” I said not able to resist from needling him.
“Don’t remind me!” Flint said, as he gained the first floor and headed for the outside, but the place was a shambles with fire everywhere. Parts of the structure were already failing and it was possible we might not get out yet. I sure hoped so though, big brother had gotten my hopes up coming to the rescue like he had.
“Should I be concerned about the robotic Viking goddess, whose holding up the ceiling ahead of us?” Flint asked.
“She’s a friend.”
“My don’t you get around brother.” Flint quipped.
“Hey! You’re talking to a married man here!” I responded hotly.
“And glad I am at long last of that fact John!”
“Yeah me too. Thanks for doing this James.”
“Anytime.”
“Thanks Blondie.” I called out in passing, as we slipped by my newfound friend holding an I-beam and a partial section of the ceiling up in order for us to get by. We were out of the inferno then into the cool night air and I felt wind. It wasn’t wind, but chopper blades.
There was more pain, as Flint unloaded me into one of them. My head was on something soft, even as something wet touched my face. I opened my eyes and saw Asia’s face above me, as my head lay in her lap, which felt like heaven.
“Why are you crying, I’m not dead honey?”
“I’m happy!” Asia responded all blubbery sounding.
I squeezed her hand, “Me too!”
Shalako picked his head up, as smoke grubbed-up Code security forces filed in around him. They didn’t look happy. Why should they, the integrity and control of their great tower was in question, their Code up-link reading out like meaningless gibberish to them and thousands of their buddies were dead. Bad night.
Someone, who appeared to be in charge stepped forward to rail an accusing question, “What is the meaning of this useless attack?”
“Oh just a pastime hobby that I engage in from time to time, saving the world and all that, from dark minded individuals such as yourself.” Shalako replied calmly.
The man swelled up in anger, “You traitorous retch to speak to me so! You are a dog! A stupid dog that will soon be no more!”
Shalako nodded, “You’re right on that last point, but your description of me is a little lacking, because you see,” Shalako’s hands came up from his sides to reveal two grenades with their pins already flicked off into space, “I’m a warrior!”
Flint looked around grimly, “Is this all?”
“Yes Sir.”
Flint swallowed reflexively at the sight of just eighteen bloodied commandos, which were all that was left of all the companies combined. Maria, himself, John, and Tyre were all that was left of the agency in attendance.
“Look there’s one more!” A commando said pointing.
It was Utah, with another man over his shoulder. They were the first two to have been seen from G Company all night.
Utah let his burden be taken from him and straightened up before Flint. “Last two from G Company, Shalako’s still back there gut shot.”
Flint nodded grimly.
Utah glanced down at the commando he had carried from the forward battle line, only to be met by the apologetic gazes of the commandos, who had relieved him of him. One of them said, “I’m sorry, but he’s dead. I had a pulse for a moment, but it’s gone now.”
Something snapped then within Utah at the knowledge that the man he’d carried to safety at the expense of Shalako’s life was now dead. The sacrifice by Shalako had been pointless!
Utah roared out in rage and wheeled around to run back for Shalako, but Flint grabbed a hold of him. Even so Utah drug Flint and two other commandos, who’d come to help Flint along with him, as he tried to go back for Shalako. The night was punctured by two almost simultaneous blasts and Utah stopped, “No!”
The commandos pulled a now un-resistant Utah back to a chopper and pushed him inside. Tyre wrapped his good arm around him and Maria grabbed Utah’s other arm as the chopper took off.
Utah stared bitterly out the open bay of the chopper at the fires disappearing in the distance. To no one in particular he said, “I’ve waited all my life to have a father’s guiding influence, I find it in the middle of a battle and I lose it within an hour.”
Tyre glanced over at him and then back out at the retreating fires, “At least you had that much. Now honor him by looking past what you’ve lost to what you’ve gained this night. That’s the take away you should take from this. Let your experience, no matter how brief it was, change you and make you a better person, a testament to the person that inspired you to be better than you were before. Don’t dwell on the loss, but seize the victory to be had and claim it for your life.”
Flicker had watched from the shadows, as her brother and some others had hauled the man determined to return for his friend back to the choppers before they had taken off. The enemy, her former masters, were even now filling in and around the base of the tower. A mistake on their part, because there hadn’t been much time left on the timer. She took off then across the savanna springing forward in great leaping bounds, until she moved faster than a cheetah in the hunt for a gazelle.
She was free from the control of those who had made her, but she’d never be free from what they’d made her into. Tears coursed down her cheeks, as her long hair streamed out behind her, but no matter how fast she hurtled over the ground she couldn’t get away from the monster that they had made her into.
Behind her in the distance the ground quaked and the tower and much of the partially constructed c
ity literally blew apart. The Code was locked in a language of confusion. Code forces around the world came to a halt unable to understand their instructions and at a lack for any means of communication, while rebel forces struck with pinpoint savagery in a bloodbath struggle to regain their freedom and see that justice was done.
The Code and its followers were virtually defenseless against the onslaught of the world they had for a brief time, been masters over. The Code fell and the nations of the world were reborn in nationalistic pride of individuality. The dreams of a unified one world government would have to lie dormant in the hearts of dark minded men once again, until humanity succumbed to the lure offered by those, who inspired individuals to be their own gods and forsake understanding, in exchange for the lunacy of an immoral life, where no excess was held back from.
Chapter Twenty Two
Delivery
My eyes blinked open and I stared at the ceiling blankly for a moment, as memories came flooding back. I’d gotten an infection and they’d treated it and that was about all I could remember.
I blinked again.
The ceiling was my ceiling! I was on the island! How was that possible?
Someone shifted beside me and then Asia’s smiling face came up into my field of vision, “Good morning sugar.”
I blinked again, “We’re on the island?” I asked, still not believing what my eyes were telling me.
She nodded.
“I don’t remember coming here!”
“You were sedated. I convinced the doctors that you’d heal up faster here, as opposed to being cooped up in a stuffy hospital.”
“Thank you!” I said overwhelmed with gratitude for her actions on my behalf.
“You’re welcome baby.” She said softly, as her fingers grasped my face, as she leaned in to kiss me passionately.
Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good) Page 16