by Brandt Legg
Breaking through the clutter of cable news reports was my father’s voice. “Get out now, Nate. Right now.” Just then the truck stopped for a red light. Without hesitation, I opened the door and stumbled out in front of a real estate office. In the large parking area behind a Thai restaurant, a news helicopter sat with blades rotating. I was about to start running when a familiar voice called my name. It was Booker’s driver. I ran toward him and he pulled me inside just as the chopper lifted off. “Booker owns this station,” he said with smile.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Not far. They’ve restricted air traffic. Just need to get you out of the area.”
“Leesburg?”
“Graydon Manor? I don’t think they’ll just let you stop by for a visit. They have televisions there too.”
“I need to go there.”
“When I looked it up earlier I noticed it borders a pretty big nature sanctuary. Do you mind hiding in the trees?”
“There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
He gave the pilot instructions.
25
It was a quick and easy landing in a perfect field surrounded by trees bordering Graydon and the Rust Nature Sanctuary. Kellaring had been on since leaving the RV and my wounds were bothering me, but Booker’s driver had given me first aid and a great thermal jumpsuit. The sun was setting. It was going to be in the low twenties tonight. He would alert Booker to my exact whereabouts. Spencer was with him, and if they didn’t already know my location, I wanted to be sure they had an eye on me. I had no intention of sleeping outside but had to wait for a while before breaking into the mansion.
A stooped man with a cane turned the corner, startling me. I was ready to turn and run but could tell, even at this distance, there was no threat. It was clear he was heading toward me. Maybe this was another mystic; it would be good timing.
“Excuse me, young man.” He waved.
“Yes?”
He looked a hundred years old. His hand reached out to touch my wrist.
“Do you recognize me?” he asked.
I stared into his weary green eyes and saw my dad’s soul. “I don’t believe it.”
He smiled.
It was my dad’s soul but it was incarnated as Cavanaugh, the man I’d been with at the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza more than a hundred years earlier. He had killed the attacker who slit my throat and then had escaped. I’d also seen him with Hibbs in the library tunnel beneath Graydon. “How are you still alive? You must be over a hundred.”
“A bit more. I’m glad you finally made it.”
“How did you know I’d be here?”
“You told me. Or at least the person I knew as you did.”
“I’m confused.”
“Yes, I should say you are. That makes two of us. Can we sit?”
We found a fallen tree nearby. “I don’t know how much you’ve pieced together of our past lives with Hibbs, but you must know something if you’re here,” he said.
“I’m not sure what I know.”
“Let me see, where to begin... Hibbs had paid for us to go down to Mexico and retrieve the Jadeo. The night before we located it, you told me that I would need to find you in another lifetime and explain the Jadeo to you.”
“I don’t understand.” Obviously Cavanaugh had no idea he’d spent a lifetime being my dad because he hadn’t died since the time of Hibbs.
“You had some sort of vision, detailed, very detailed. You gave me three dates and told me we’d meet in the general area around Graydon.”
“And this is one of the dates?”
“Yes. The last one.”
“Do you know my name?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know it was me?”
“You recognized me,” Cavanaugh said. “Besides, no one else is around.”
“Why did I need you to explain the Jadeo? Do you know Spencer?”
He shook his head.
“Spencer in your lifetime was Hibbs’ mistress and was there the night before you took the Jadeo to Oregon. But I know him now. Why can’t he tell me?”
“Because he swore to protect the Jadeo and to never reveal its importance.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes, but my first oath was to you.”
“Why?”
“You saved my life many times.”
“How?”
“It is not important now. Perhaps another time I will tell those stories. I’m old. It has been many years spent waiting since you asked me to deliver this message to you.”
“Wait, if Spencer swore to protect the Jadeo, why didn’t he just take it from me? I would have given it to him.”
“Because he knows that the Jadeo belongs with you. It is your time to carry it.”
“What is it?”
His expression became grave, voice hushed, his eyes focused on me. And what he said changed everything. I finally understood Spencer and why it always seemed like nothing really mattered to him other than some mysterious mission that only he knew about. That mission was protecting the Jadeo.
The secrets contained within it were so powerful that they were probably too much for even the purest of people to handle. Did Spencer want it for the Movement? Or did he, too, have reservations about anyone being good enough to handle it? I would ask him the next time we met, but about one thing I was absolutely positive: if Storch got his hands on it, the consequences would be incomprehensible and everlasting. There could be no object more important to humankind than the Jadeo, and it was in my pocket.
26
“Those papers? Oh yes, I remember them, just never knew what they were about. My concern was only ever the Jadeo... but Hibbs considered them critical. You don’t think they could still be relevant in this world, all these years later?” Cavanaugh asked.
“Do you think they’re still there?” I asked.
“Do you? Only four of us knew about his safe and two of them died before Hibbs. I’m the only one left.”
“I’m going in there tonight to check. Will you come with me?”
“I’d only slow you down.”
“You could show me the way.”
“But you already know the way.” Cavanaugh took my hand in his. “Don’t be concerned with such old papers. Hibbs himself said they were irrelevant compared with the Jadeo. Your every action should be to protect it.” He put a hand on my shoulder and drew me close, our faces inches apart. “Nothing else matters, you must know that.”
“But there is a connection.”
He looked at me with a confused expression.
“I don’t know what it is. But I see things, visions of past lives called Outviews, and even though I don’t always understand their meaning, there is one.”
His face didn’t change. “I trust you know what is best.”
I wanted to be as sure as he was. Our talk continued about Hibbs, but it was getting cold. “I’ll take my leave dear friend. We’ll meet again in the next life. Until then, I’ll see you on the astral.” I watched him leave, the soul of my father, but not Dad at all.
The worst wounds weren’t completely healed, but I couldn’t risk making a Lusan. After a couple hours of darkness, I walked carefully to the Graydon library. Night vision was automatic, but I hoped it wouldn’t compromise the Kellaring. It was an old door and the lock was easy. They seemed to use the building for storage now. At the shelf, which led to the passageway, my fingers manipulated the latches as if they still belonged to Hibbs. There were no windows in the passage; I found a light switch hoping to stop my night vision.
The tunnel was much as I remembered, but the painting was gone. I managed to locate the gray stone and carefully worked it loose. There it was. I dialed the combination and pulled out the stash of papers. He had lived another twenty-five years after the scene I’d witnessed in the Outview while at the mausoleum. Over that time he’d added to and subtracted from “the proof,” as he called them, several times. They were rolled t
ogether and tied at both ends by leather bands—maybe a hundred sheets printed on both sides. The safe contained nothing else. My curiosity was charged. I was about to unwrap them when suddenly it became stiflingly hot. Something was wrong. Maybe it was just a school security guard, but judging by the heat, it was more. My night vision must have blown the Kellaring. Loud steps and banging came from the library stairs. I took off toward the house and found two doors at the end of the tunnel. Enough of Hibbs remained in me that I knew one led to a different passage and took it running full speed. It was long, dark and narrow; I was all on night vision. It led to a locked door, which cost precious seconds as I used Gogen. Stairs climbed up to a hatch, taking more time, and Gogen was required to move heavy boxes that had been stacked on top. Finally I emerged at ground level inside the tower I’d seen in the Outview.
Flashing red and blue lights lit the space. I dashed upstairs and breathlessly found my way to the top floor. Agents entered the tower below. The only option was Skyclimbing, not easy without trees. I made it onto the roof just as a helicopter approached, and was about to jump when the TV station’s call letters became visible. It was the same helicopter that brought me here. It hovered close and a door opened. I made the risky leap and Skyclimbed toward it. As I crashed inside, Booker’s driver yelled at the pilot, “Go, go, go!” The agents on the ground started shooting, but it was too late. We were clear.
I restored Kellaring and thanked him. “This time you don’t get to decide. Booker wants you out of the country.”
“Do I get to know where?”
“He’s got an island near Bermuda, but it’ll take a while to cover our tracks. This helicopter was reported stolen about twenty minutes ago. We’ll be landing soon.”
The chopper came down on a dark deserted back road where a car was waiting. A few hours later we were at a house somewhere in the country. The driver and I wandered through the yard until he found a path that took us to a dock, where another Booker employee waited in a speedboat. He navigated the Chesapeake Bay all night and around dawn pulled next to a small yacht manned by several more of Booker’s people. Once aboard, a gourmet breakfast was served, and a woman handed me a Washington Post—I was the headline. I clung tight to my pack, which contained the bound roll of documents from Graydon, and checked that the Jadeo was still in my pocket.
That evening we made it to an island about half the size of Cervantes but no less beautiful. I’d slept most of the day and was feeling pretty good when Spencer met me at the dock.
He smiled as we embraced. “Good to see you alive.”
“We have a lot to talk about,” I said.
He nodded and told me it was safe to use Lusans and finish my healing.
Booker was waiting in a golf cart. “Do you buy these things wholesale?” I asked.
“I own the company that makes them. Want one?”
“Don’t know where I’d put it.”
“We’ll find somewhere. Have to be in a very secluded place though, based on how famous you are.”
“I saw the Post.”
“Oh, it’s not just the Post. Damn near every paper in the country has your picture, as well as the Internet and television. You’re public enemy number one. There’s a worldwide manhunt for you, kid.”
“Am I going to get out of this?” I asked Spencer. “I mean not just stay alive but prove my innocence?”
“They’re one and the same, Nate.”
“For all the good he’s doing for the universe, he’s getting damn little help from the other side,” Booker said.
“But my dad did help. If he hadn’t told me to get out of the RV, I would have been arrested minutes later.”
“I asked him to intervene,” Spencer said.
“Why can’t I talk to him like you do?” I asked.
“Practice and patience.”
“Have you talked to my Aunt Rose?”
“No.”
“Why hasn’t she come through?”
“Souls don’t always act as we expect. There are different destinies playing out. Our agenda isn’t the single one.” He stared off into the distance at something only he could see.
“Speaking of destinies, we need to make a plan for keeping you safe,” Booker said.
“You mean there isn’t one already?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“The future changes so damn fast with you that every time we think we have it figured out, the deck gets reshuffled and we have to pick another card.” Booker laughed.
“Then let’s get figuring.”
“I need to deal with a few unrelated things now so I’ll have to say goodnight, but I’m here for a few days,” Booker said, walking away. “We’ll continue this at breakfast.”
The change in tempo was jolting. The safety of Cervantes shifted to the turmoil of attacks and pursuits around Washington, and now, on another Booker island, it was seemingly safe and relaxed. How could anything wait until tomorrow?
Spencer read my mind. “Time’s a funny thing.”
I stared and shook my head.
“Let’s walk,” he said. “Your path in this life is not an easy one, Nate.”
“Based on my Outviews, most of my lives have been a nightmare.”
“Life isn’t supposed to be a vacation. Life is hard. But you’ve had easier ones... Hibbs.”
“You were my mistress.”
“Yes, we were very close,” Spencer replied.
“And we were protecting the Jadeo.” He must have assumed I’d learned the name of the Jadeo through my visits to Graydon and the mausoleum.
“The Jadeo has never been more important and never more at risk.”
“How many times have I died protecting it?” A floral breeze warmed my face.
“It is a difficult question to answer.”
“I’ll do it again if needed,” I said.
“Then you know what it is?”
I nodded, with long eye contact, letting him read me to see how I learned its secret. “It’s hard to believe, to comprehend such a thing exists, and that I’ve had it all this time.”
“I imagine it could be overwhelming when one first discovers what power the Jadeo holds, but your soul has been occupied with this object for almost a thousand years, maybe a hundred lifetimes.”
“All of it in an instant, all of it now.”
He smiled. “Your soul is beginning to show through. Not just in the powers you use but in thoughts and words. The soul I’ve known so long is becoming stronger than your personality.”
“It’s a great relief to you, I can see it on your face.”
“It might be just in time.” A flight of gulls swooped nearby, reminding me of Tea Leaf Beach.
“I don’t feel sixteen anymore.”
“You never were.”
“But I understand the importance of stopping Lightyear. At least, as much as it’s possible to understand something that could so dramatically alter the future of civilization.”
He nodded.
“It’s funny. I always thought it was about our souls and I just couldn’t connect with the mission. But that wasn’t it at all. Our souls will be fine, it’s the human race that loses if Lightyear wins.”
He smiled again. “Our odds get better every time you find understanding.”
“Speaking of finding, any sign of Dustin?”
“Nothing.”
“Is he all right? We’d have heard if he’d been arrested or... killed, right?”
“I don’t know. If they picked him up it might be better for them to keep that secret.”
“Will he survive this?”
He looked at me for a moment. “Nate, let’s make a deal. Stop asking me about the future because you know it changes all the time anyway.”
“Okay, what do I get out of the deal?”
“You get to not hear about a future you won’t like.”
27
At breakfast Booker was all about making me memorize faces of his employees, men and women, he insist
ed, who would die to protect me. These were people who could save my life, as long as I could recognize them among the agents and “traitors.” He also shared a lengthy list of properties and businesses that he owned around the world, which could be used as refuges. Between my photographic memory and Vising, it was all part of my growing arsenal of knowledge.
Spencer explained that a set of circumstances, as yet unknown, was going to force me back into the world. “This time, the whole world of law enforcement, military and intelligence communities will be hunting you.”
“Why can’t I stay on the island?”
“They’ll find you, even here, sooner or later,” Booker said.
“Nothing can be changed while hiding out. You have to engage them, or they win,” Spencer said. We strategized for hours, and the end result left me feeling uneasy.
“It’s me against the world.”
“It’s Lightyear against the universe,” Spencer said.
Later, Booker lent me a scrambled satellite phone so I could call Mom. She was frantic with the news. “People on TV are talking about taking you dead or alive. Reporters, news trucks, and police have surrounded our house and the restaurant. It’s awful. They came in with search warrants and took boxes of I don’t even know what. I’m staying at Josh’s, but the media will probably find his place any minute. I don’t know what to do.”
“Sorry, Mom, maybe you should get out of town for a while.”
“A while? A while?” she yelled. “Nate, this isn’t going to go away in a while. They say you’ve killed federal agents, that you and Dustin plotted to blow up buildings, bridges. And every channel keeps repeating a video of you walking on water! Are you mixed up with the Chinese government?”
I tried to calm her, but the more I talked, the more wound up she got. “If your father was alive, he’d be so disappointed.”
“Why would Dad be disappointed in me?”
“Not you, sweetie. In me. It’s my job to keep you safe. He always worried about you and Dustin, overly concerned something would happen to you.”