Save Him

by William M. Hayes

  He stared at the Mother of Christ, and she smiled back at him.

  "Kind eyes."

  The words Maryam spoke translated back, and Ray had to look away, staring down at the table in front of him. The surreal situation that he found himself in was taking a toll on his mind. He could feel the soldier inside him slipping away the longer he held onto Maryam's hand.

  "Is there a way you can help my Son? Is that the real reason why you followed me, why you are here now?" Maryam asked.

  The time it took for the words to translate was a moment too long for Maryam, and she pleaded with Ray.

  "Please—can you help Him?"

  Ray looked up at Maryam. "Yes. There's a way I can help Him. Do you know where Jesus is now?"

  She shook her head. "Now? No."

  Maryam stood up from the table, walked over to where Ray sat, and knelt down beside him with her hands clasped, staring up at Ray with tear-rimmed eyes.

  "I beg of you…save Him."

  __

  The door to Maryam's hut opened, letting out the light from the burning candles inside. From behind Maryam, Ray stood in the shadows. He then stepped outside—a sky full of stars waiting for him. Hood back over his head, he stopped and turned back to Maryam standing just outside the door.

  She placed a hand on the side of his face.

  "Thank you," she said softly. Ray nodded and touched Maryam's hand resting on his face, turned, and walked away on weak legs, trying to calm himself before reaching Sal and Todd. He heard the door closing behind him and broke into a slow jog, feeling better, getting a second wind, taking off his shemagh and removing his translator.

  By the time Ray made it past the other homes on the hillside, he was fine, focused, and ready to do what needed to be done. Ray reached the slanted tree where he had told the two to wait and walked behind it to find Sal and Todd waiting there, following orders. The two were leaning against the tree and looking in the other direction with heavy eyes as Ray approached. The journey and all that had happened had drained their military-trained minds and bodies. They should have heard him but did not.

  "On your feet."

  The two jumped up and pulled their Smartround guns on Ray, both stopping short of shooting and sedating him. Ray folded down the hood of his cloak and placed his headset back on, turning his head away from Sal and Todd.

  "Gun and ammo found. Update if you can, Colonel Adams."

  John Adams's voice answered back through Ray's headset after only a few seconds. "We had Rydel but lost his signal. He's deep inside a mountain we tracked him to. He's trying to wait us out. Return to the camp."

  The colonel ended the conversation with that, and Ray turned to Sal and Todd.

  "Back to the camp."

  Ray began to walk away, and Sal quickly caught up with him. Todd waited where he was, looking down at the slide-out screen on his gun for any sort of message from the other Unit members, giving Sal enough time alone with Ray to ask about the woman.

  "Was it really her, Ray?"

  "It was really her, Sal."

  __

  Hours later, Ray, Sal, and Todd sat around one of the camp's fire pits, drinking coffee. From the time they had reached the camp and set up the fire, Sal and Todd could barely get a word out of Ray. With his eyes searching for something inside the fire, Ray finally spoke to Todd.

  "Todd, do a sweep around the camp. I'm sure Rydel is still up in the mountains. But maybe he somehow got past John and the rest. Let's just make sure. He might try to sedate us, if given the chance out there in the dark."

  Todd retrieved his rifle leaning against a rock to his left and walked away. The darkness started to swallow him up with each step he took away from the light of the fire. As the last trace of Todd faded into the night, Ray turned to Sal, put a finger to his lips for him to be quiet, and motioned for Sal to rise and follow him.

  The two walked away from the fire, moving in the opposite direction from where Todd ventured, the campfire lighting a path for the two. Ray placed a hand on Sal's shoulder for him to stop. He told Sal to take a knee, and Ray took a knee as well, the two face-to-face, their skin aglow in firelight.

  "I know Rydel is still up on that mountain somewhere. I just needed to talk to you alone, Sal."

  "And I need to talk to you! Jesus, Ray—you whispered to me before that you spoke with the Mother of Christ. Tell me what happened—"

  "He touched me."

  "What?"

  "Christ. He placed a hand on me in an alley where John and I saw Him heal a dead woman. Right in front of us, Sal, I swear to you! The Son of God is here in this time. That's why Rydel came back…to save Him."

  "Rydel wants to save Him? Why?" Sal asked.

  "I'm not sure. But I have my own reasons to save Him now. So let me ask you, are you sure you want to know what the Mother of Christ just spoke to me about?"

  Sal took a few seconds and then nodded nervously at Ray.

  "Positive, Sal?"

  "Yeah, Ray."

  "She asked me to find Jesus—and to keep Him safe, to protect Him. When He touched me, I felt the goodness inside the man. I can't turn my back on Him. Not when the Mother of Christ just asked me to protect Him…and not after I felt the miracle of His touch. There's no way I'm standing around while He gets nailed to a cross."

  Ray placed a hand on Sal's shoulder.

  "We are here for a reason, Sal."

  "What about causing damage back in our time if we change anything here?"

  "John and Will lied to us. I know it. They didn't tell us everything. I need to know right now…will you help me?"

  Sal reached out, and Ray clasped hard with Sal's outreached hand. Sal glanced back toward the camp with its dying fire.

  "The others, Ray?"

  "We'll see."

  __

  John Adams searched the mountain for Rydel with his Smartround gun, staring down at the weapon's slide-out screen. Coming up with nothing, he turned to the members of Ray's Unit behind him waiting for orders. He looked away from the group and took in the mountain, planning out what he should do next.

  "We're gonna split into three groups and search for a way inside this mountain."

  __

  Inside the mountain, a torch lit the way through the blackness. Clopas, out in front and the one providing the means to light the torch from a satchel on his waist, led Rydel and Lazarus through a narrow tunnel with protruding sharp-edged rocks—the flame from the torch he held halfway to the point of extinguishing. After two more turns on the tunnel's winding path, Clopas stopped at a black hole beside him.

  "This way will lead us to the bottom of the mountain."

  As the words translated back to him, Rydel pointed at the black hole. "Show me, Clopas."

  Clopas pointed the torch into the black hole. The light of the torch lit a steep path that at first glance seemed almost impossible to walk down. Rydel studied the path.

  "We'll be able to walk down?" Rydel asked Clopas.

  Clopas shook his head. "No. We must slide down. I will show you how—"

  A deep, cackling laugh filled the mountain tunnel behind the three, and they spun around. It was then quiet, just the sound of the three breathing. From the light of the torch, Rydel could make out Clopas's terrified face. Next to Clopas, Lazarus stood emotionless, calm. From the blackness in front of them, loud thumping footfalls made their way toward the three. The laughing started again, closing in.

  Rydel grabbed Clopas and screamed at him.

  "Get us out of here!"

  "Into the hole! Slide down!" Clopas said, pointing anxiously toward the tar-black hole in the mountain rock.

  Lazarus started to walk toward the laughter in the dark. Rydel reached out and grabbed onto Lazarus as the words from Clopas were translated. Rydel took hold of Lazarus, pushed him toward the black hole, and forced him down into it. He then grabbed Clopas by the shoulders.

  "Go!"

  Clopas entered the hole with the torch. The descending light fell ove
r Rydel's body and flashed over the black-cloaked man standing behind him. Rydel was so close to this man that he could no longer move. The debilitating fear he felt inside him also took away his ability to breathe. Clopas's hand grabbed Rydel as he nearly passed out. Rydel felt the sensation of falling, followed by the feeling of sliding. Rydel was heading toward a sputtering light from Clopas's torch flickering inside the blackness in front of him. Able to breathe again, Rydel slid down a curving, tube-like black tunnel with Clopas and then fell onto something soft. The two landed outside on a patch of dirt mid-mountain; the torch Clopas held was now nothing more than an ember. Before Rydel and Clopas, Lazarus stood next to another hole seven feet in diameter in the side of the mountain. The moon and the star-blazing sky above lit up the patch of dirt the three found themselves on.

  Rydel and Clopas ran over to Lazarus by the mountain’s opening. Lazarus took Clopas by the shoulders and threw him into the tunnel-like hole. He grabbed onto the shoulders of Rydel to do the same as the laughing returned. Lazarus slipped his hands off Rydel and began walking to where the laughter was coming from.

  Thin, with not much musculature to work with, Rydel found more strength than he thought possible to grab Lazarus and push him down into the hole.

  Part of the mountain moved, and the shape of the black-cloaked man separated from a wall of rock and walked across the patch of dirt, closing in on Rydel. The light from the moon and stars above disappeared as if a blanket had been thrown over them.

  Crystal-blue eyes seeped out from the inky darkness, illuminated in rage, outlining the full shape of a man now standing over Rydel. An alabaster hand slipped out from under the sleeve of the man's black cloak, reaching toward Rydel's face.

  "I am the true light here in the darkness."

  Rydel stumbled backward and felt himself falling once more.

  __

  Here in the darkness.

  The last four words spoken to him by the black-cloaked man woke Rydel. Eyes open, Rydel turned his head and faced a dying fire. Was he in hell? Did he fail? All these thoughts ran through his head until Clopas knelt down next to him, placing a kind hand on Rydel's face.

  "How are you, my friend?"

  As the words translated, Rydel felt the guilt of controlling Clopas. He was no friend to this simple man.

  Rydel rose from the ground and stared at the fire before answering Clopas. He was here for a reason, Rydel reminded himself. Clopas was not a poor soul being manipulated by S-7; Clopas was a warrior meant to help save the Son of God.

  "Where am I, Clopas?" Rydel's translated voice asked.

  Clopas lifted himself up from his knees and stood next to Rydel. "Still on the mountain. We have set up shelter here on a ridge protected by trees. No one can see us."

  Rydel looked to his right and saw Lazarus sitting peacefully by the fire. As the last words spoken by Clopas translated back to him, Rydel's eyes grew wide with panic.

  "We need to move! Let's go, let's go—quickly!"

  Clopas and Lazarus shared a look, the two confused and concerned by Rydel's sudden outburst to leave. Rydel grabbed Clopas's right arm and then reached for Lazarus close by, both men surprised by Rydel's behavior.

  "Clopas, get us off this mountain!"

  Clopas led the way. The three ran down a mountain path full of jagged rocks with tips like spears—a path not meant to be taken at such a quick pace. The trail leading down the mountain curved up ahead with a blind spot approaching.

  "Stop."

  Clopas and Lazarus stopped running.

  Rydel walked around the bend cautiously. As far as he could see to the mountain’s next curve, there was no one. Luck was on their side. John and the ones with him were nowhere to be seen.

  Rydel looked over his shoulder and waved a hand for the two to follow him. With Rydel out in front, the three rounded the next curve and followed the path down. From out of a crevice sliced into the mountain path, a hand reached out and brought Rydel to a stop. A black figure walked out from the mountain wall, looming over Rydel.

  Unable to move past the man in front of him or run backward, Rydel relented and stood still.

  He looked up at the man's face and removed his translator.

  "Hello, Ben."

  Ben stepped closer with his Smartround gun and pointed it at Rydel's chest, giving him a sad smile, looking at Rydel like, Man, what the hell were you thinking?

  Rydel looked away from Ben and could see the black-cloaked man standing above on a narrow ridge. The dark shape stared down at Rydel with a pitch-black face—only its preternatural blue eyes under the hood of its cloak could be seen. The thinking, calculating, almost beautiful eyes dizzied Rydel's senses. Another feature came into view from under the blackness of the hood—its lips. Split black lips with pearl-white glowing cracks, forming a grin. Rydel realized that the man in the black cloak had somehow guided Ben—and the others, Rydel was sure—to find him and was satisfied that he had been caught.

  The black-cloaked man laughed from above the ridge and morphed into the darkness behind him, gone. Ben heard the laugh but did not take his eyes off Rydel. From behind, John Adams placed a hand on Ben's shoulder.

  "Ben, walk Rydel down the mountain with his other two friends. We'll go check out Mr. Laughing Man above."

  "Yes, sir."

  John met Rydel's eyes, shook his head in a way that was both sad and disappointed, and slipped past Rydel, with the rest of the Unit following as they made their way toward the overhang above.

  Once there, they all took in the area and found no one on the rock ledge. Jack was the first to approach Colonel Adams.

  "What the hell, sir."

  "It was nothing, Jack. Just echo or the wind sounding like laughter. Let's go."

  They caught up with Ben leading Rydel, Clopas, and Lazarus toward the bottom of the mountain.

  "Ben, fall back with the others, and find a place to rest for a second. I need a moment with Rydel and his two friends," John ordered.

  Ben joined the rest of the Unit as they walked away slowly, taking their time going back up the mountain path.

  John closed in on Rydel, staring down at him. The two stood without saying a word until John yelled out to Ben—not taking his eyes off Rydel as he did so.

  "Ben!"

  "Yes, sir?"

  "When I said fall back, I meant for you and the others to give me a fucking minute alone here."

  Behind John, Ben and the rest of the Unit obeyed orders, disappearing into the dark one by one around the mountain's curving path. With his back to the other two men, John let out a deep breath and shook his head at Rydel.

  "I'm going to guess Will found a way to make the backups work," Rydel said to John.

  "Wow, you really are a genius, Rydel."

  John looked over his shoulder at Rydel's S-7 companions. He then took in the dark land below the mountain. "How…how the hell did you figure out the exact date in time to be here? It can't be simply from history."

  "I was off the first time. This is my second time here."

  "You made your own Placement chip?"

  Rydel looked at Clopas, then Lazarus, smiling reassuringly to the men, speaking to John as he did.

  "Yes. But I ran out of resources and time to make additional ones with Will always looking over my shoulder. Destroying my work and getting to the backups…I didn't think you would be able to get to me."

  John jabbed a finger in Rydel's face to shut him up, and Rydel did, frightened by John's intensity. The colonel pointed behind him at the two men Rydel recruited with S-7. "Coming into contact with these men and controlling them for as long as you have, you may have caused casualties back home in the thousands."

  Uncharacteristically bold, Rydel stepped closer to John with shaking fists, clenched teeth, and wide eyes.

  "No! No! I witnessed a miracle by my sister that cannot be explained away. She already knew about Placement without me telling her about it. How could she know about my work in such detail? This is what Place
ment is truly meant for, John. To save Him."

  "We used S-7 on your sister. She said you told her about Placement. And that you came back here to save this man so He could in some way save her."

  Rydel jerked his head side to side, not believing, and screamed at John. "That's—that's not what happened—you're lying! You are lying to me!"

  "Let us pass!" the voice in Aramaic boomed from behind John. John continued to stare at Rydel while he adjusted his translator into place, covering it with his shemagh.

  The words came from Lazarus as he made his way over and stood in front of Rydel. Lazarus waved a hand at John to move on, to walk away. Frustrated, almost using a sedation round on the man, John lowered his gun under his cloak, calmed down, and spoke to Lazarus through his translator.

  "You can leave. Go. Return to the city, and no harm will come to you."

  Lazarus looked at John strangely. Lazarus heard him speak to Rydel in a foreign language, but now the sound of the man's voice had suddenly changed. Lazarus quickly dismissed it, not caring at the moment.

  "Harm?" Lazarus asked John as the word came through John's translator.

  "Just go," John's translated response snapped back.

  Ben and the others reappeared, walking closer, alarmed by the raised voices. All were wondering what could be taking the colonel so long. Ben tapped his ear for everyone to put their translators in.

  Lazarus stood unwavering, as if protecting Rydel. John took a step closer to the man, placing his hand on the sheath of his knife under his cloak, but decided not to go the threatening way just yet. He spoke softly through his translator.

  "Just walk away."

  Lazarus held his right arm out straight with his hand palm-up at Rydel standing behind him. "This man is coming with me. He is trying to save a life that will save us all!"

  Behind John, another voice in Aramaic spoke up.