by Dave Hazel
“Just don’t allow the reporter or the interviewer to take the discussions where you don’t desire them to go,” Percy offered.
“I honestly hate playing that phony kiss ass game with them. And listen, now that you bring it up, there was one dip shit in that group of media personnel with us, his name is Chris Shultz. Do whatever you can to shut that moron down. He’s a friggin wacko and while we were there he jumped on us and accused us of being Hitler when I had made a comment about wiping out all the Sosos. And then he went off on a rant about America being the bully and we’re over there looking for oil. He actually accused us of being over there looking for oil,” Mykal gasped with incredulity. “He definitely went off the deep end. Someone told me he was trying to get a radio or TV talk show and that was the reason why he tried to stir up some junk. I got the impression he really hates our country and I think he could be dangerous.”
“Mykal, don’t worry about him. If he’s a flake, the American people will see him for what he is. I do know who it is you speak of. I will have some people keep a watchful eye on him.”
“You better cuz he was talking that wacko left crazy shit and if he gets his ideas out in the public that could hurt us. And speaking of the media, did you get your hands on those tapes that show me turning invisible?”
“Yes. All the tapes have been examined and as it turned out there were actually two tapes that caught, what could only be explained as you disappearing and re-appearing. But somehow, on the way to being returned to the reporters in question, those two tapes disappeared and got destroyed. Copies were made but those scenes were edited out.”
“Whew. That’s good,” Mykal said and sighed with a large smile. “That was another reason why I wanted to avoid talking to the media. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of how to explain that away.”
“Don’t worry about that anyway. If someone questions you on that just deny it. It’s not possible for someone to turn invisible and disappear. Someone was mistaken or there was a malfunction with their equipment yaddy yaddy ya,” Percy said and laughed. “Deny it and let them prove it.”
“Were they pissed off when they found out their tapes had been destroyed? Cuz the one guy who knew he saw me disappear said about a hundred times before we returned that he would never let the tape out of his possession. Not for anyone or anything.”
“To say he was angry is an understatement, but let’s just say we had some bargaining power over him for his past security violations,” Percy said with a confident laugh. “The truth is he wanted to be there for our viewing of ‘his tapes’, but we couldn’t allow that. We seized it against his will claiming National Security and such. We had a Judge sign off on it and he was prevented from making copies. It was a good thing you called me as soon as you returned. We caught him at the airport just getting ready to board his flight so he wasn’t able to copy it before we grabbed it from him,” Percy snickered. “He promised to sue us, and we are going to rue the day, blah, blah, blah.
“Idiot,” Percy continued with a laugh. “We have so much on that guy,” Percy chuckled again. “He can try to claim what he thought was on those tapes if he would like, but we have eight witnesses who have given sworn testimonies that they viewed those tapes and they will testify there were glitches in his tape. And his cameraman,” Percy snickered again victoriously, “is all but convinced that it could have been his imagination. It turns out his cameraman has had a long history with drugs and alcohol. He has been sober for about a year now and doesn’t want any trouble. He has already promised to disagree should the reporter go public and we promised he will get a better paying job should there be any ramifications.”
Mykal knew that Percy threatened the reporter and the cameraman. “So anyways, if you saw the tapes, you got to see what we’re facing there, right?” He asked and became more animated.
“Yes. I’m stunned and shocked and completely amazed. Mykal, I saw you kill a dragon. I would never have believed it if I didn’t see it for myself. And that other thing, whatever it was, what in the world was it?”
“We just called it Thing. And you have to understand. The helicopter pilots said there were more dragons, bigger and smaller dragons, and there were more Things. But that’s why I’m so wound up and want to get back there right away. Our people are in serious trouble,” he said and his thoughts drifted to Doninka. He originally believed the dragons had been searching for him because of his magic ring, but once he returned he believed the dragons and their riders were really looking for Doninka. She became his close friend in Towbar’s world. Doninka was the beautiful, young, princess, daughter to King Loankore III. If they were to capture her, he feared they would be able to threaten the King in regards to the power of his throne. ‘Damn, I don’t wanna friggin think about it. I shoulda brought her here.’
“So, be honest with me, can you really teach the ability to turn yourself invisible?” Percy asked.
The question caught Mykal off guard but he answered without sounding surprised by the question. “Yeah,” Mykal lied. “I told you that. Towbar and Nidious taught me a number of things, like how to use the magic stuff to create the green fog. Since they taught me, I can teach others,” Mykal said and his tone changed to show his irritable frustration. “But I’m not gonna do a damn thing until this war is over and Towbar’s people are free of the threat they’re facing now. So you better not allow anyone to pull a fast one on me.”
“I give you my word Myk. We want that ability badly,” Percy admitted. “And we’re willing to pay any price.” He sounded like he desired it more for himself. “It’s just that with politics, sometimes, it’s like walking on a tight rope. Trust me Mykal, I know I’ve said that several times in this conversation, but you have to trust me, you will be up and running shortly. Let me ask you though, just out of curiosity,” Percy paused. “When you are actually invisible, what is it like? Is it hard to maintain your invisibility while you’re doing other things?”
“What?” Mykal asked and couldn’t keep from laughing. He pictured Percy drooling and licking his lips like a horny teenager who happened to discover a secret stash of pornography.
“I’m just trying to understand how it works because you said it’s in your head so obviously your brain is actively focusing on being invisible, but what I saw on the tape, the things that you did to that dragon while you were invisible, and then when you suddenly appeared, you looked like a mad man bent on destruction. It gave me the idea that your invisibility was like wearing a set of clothing. You just had your invisibility on like someone wearing a suit and tie. It seemed like it was just a part of you because it didn’t appear like you were thinking about anything while you were doing all that you were doing. Does that make any sense?”
Mykal wasn’t sure where Percy was going with his questioning but he wasn’t going to give him any information. “Are you one of the ones that you want me to teach this to?”
“Yes. Yes I am,” he declared boldly.
“Like I said before, there’s a lot that’s gotta happen first.” Mykal wanted to change the subject. “Whatever came from the Ramada Inn? You know, with the Untouchables?”
“It’s all behind us. Like I said, we are on the same team.”
“No, I mean did anyone ever find out what happened? Before I went back I heard there were rumors and that some people saw some of the evidence.”
“Nothing came of it. No bodies were found. No noises were ever reported. Supposedly a couple of shell casings were found on one of the floors, but that was easily explained away when there were no reports of gunshots. From what I understand no one was smart enough to suggest silencers could have been used. And the supposed talk of blood, that one person who claimed to see a couple pools of blood has had a change of heart and didn’t see anything. It turns out that a couple of young females working the late shift had spooked themselves by scaring each other with ghost stories so that was easily explained away as over active imaginations. It’s all behind us and that
is where it needs to stay.”
“I agree,” Mykal said. He had to snicker because while he was invisible he actually heard one of the women admit to scaring themselves with ghost stories before he went on a rampage and brutally murdered the eight members of the Untouchables. His deed was done in silence late at night and at the end of Mykal’s gun barrel Percy was able to call in a cleanup crew before any bodies were found.
“Now I need to ask you a serious question. Since we are going to help Towbar end this war, and we will help modernize his country, is Towbar going to have a problem allowing us to help ourselves to be repaid for all that we’re going to do for him? It isn’t cheap to help a nation win any war?”
Mykal was suddenly filled with rage. He knew the powers that be would want to take advantage of such backward people. He wanted to ask Percy how many multiple millions are thrown away every year by giving aid to countries that hate America and give nothing back in return. He knew he couldn’t let on that his plan was to never allow his friend to be taken advantage of.
“Do you think Towbar will be easy to work with?” Percy asked when there was a brief pause.
“Do you wanna go back with me and ask him yourself?” Mykal replied in a jocular tone.
“No. I’ve watched the videos that were brought back. I plan to keep my feet planted here on planet Earth.”
“He won’t be a problem,” Mykal said to make things easy. “But you will have to deal with King Loankore who will be extremely grateful we are saving his land. Cuz if we don’t step in then the Sosos will take their land,” he added to reassure him.
“Good. We don’t want it to turn ugly for our generosity,” Percy said.
Mykal was glad they were on the phone and not face to face. He knew his expression would have raised suspicion. “No. There’s not gonna be any problems. They know they are doomed without our help.”
“Speaking of the videos, those battle scenes were like nothing I’ve ever seen. I don’t think Hollywood has ever made anything that looked so gut-wrenching and so intense.”
“Cuz it was friggin real,” Mykal scoffed. “You don’t know how many close calls I’ve had.”
“How big was that Thing?”
“No one took the time to measure it,” Mykal joked. “But it had to be thirty feet tall and it was so friggin big. I don’t know if it was caught on the video, but I saw it swing that big ass chain attached to its wrist and it took out a half a dozen people with one swipe. It killed them. When it yelled or roared or whatever the hell you call it, it scared the crap outta me. It was so loud that it shook your insides. Thank God we were able to kill that Thing,” he said and thought back to Captain Diaz’s bold stand against the monster. “But before I was leaving one of the helicopter pilots called on the radio and said there were several more of them as well as more dragons. That’s why I wanna get back there as soon as possible. I gotta get back there before it’s too late,” he added forcefully. He didn’t tell Percy his people had an escape plan should the battle go bad. King Krago, the Dwarven King said they could retreat inside the mountains though that would leave the Pass in the hands of the Sosos and their allies.
“I promise you Mykal, as soon as I have the green light I will call you immediately. But rest assured, men, equipment and supplies are being stored on Minot Air Force Base as we speak. As a side question, is there any particular reason why you do the green fog travels from North Dakota?”
“No particular reason other than it has worked from here every time,” Mykal answered and wondered if people were going to accuse him of returning to Minot because of selfish ties to the locale. “My number one reason for returning here was because of all the injured. I wanted to get them to a hospital as soon as possible. I knew right where to go to get them to the hospital within minutes. If I woulda taken everyone to a bigger city, not only would I not know where medical facilities would be, but then there would be the risk of innocent people being transported out of there. North Dakota is sparsely populated which minimized that risk. Why, is someone accusing me of something because my family is here?”
“No. Don’t worry about that. But is there any truth to the report that a Staff Sergeant Wiz, Winsksaksi, I don’t know how to pronounce this guy’s name. But is there any truth to the report that this staff sergeant from the original group who vanished in June is going to be returning with you in order to proselytize the people of Towbar’s world?”
“Yeah, I told Ski I would take him back. He wants to volunteer to help Towbar’s people.”
“Can’t do it Myk,” Percy said and it sounded like he gave a grin when he denied the request.
“Why not? It’s his ass on the line.” Mykal asked and he remembered when he first met Percy, formerly Jill, he thought Percy was into devil worship because of his black eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. Can’t do it. We have to be super careful of this whole religious thing. Remember, there is separation of church and state and all that good stuff,” he said and sounded as if he was happy. “We can’t have it look like our government is condoning, preferring or allowing one religion over another. Besides, Towbar’s people are backward enough. They don’t need to have this religious hocus pocus baloney shoved down their throat, and we sure as hell don’t want it to look like we are sponsoring such hogwash.”
“I promised Ski I would take him back or else he woulda never come back here,” Mykal said with a sigh and feared Ski would think he lied to him. “He’s not just pushing his religion. I know Ski. He really wants to help those people. That’s the kind of person he is. He’s always giving of himself and never wants anything in return.”
“Sorry. He can’t go,” Percy said firmly. “Besides Myk, his enlistment in the Air Force is not up yet. He would deliberately be AWOL.”
“Don’t gimme that shit. He put his life on the line like everyone else. Sure he’s a religious nut, a Looney Tune, a Jesus Freak or whatever you wanna call him, but he’s harmless and more importantly he’s helpful. The people there love him and he loves them. We actually have a couple of Soso prisoners there and he is the only one to get through to them,” Mykal said and deliberately left out the religious connection Ski had with the prisoner.
“I’m sorry Myk. I can’t allow it,” Percy said with a cold defiance.
“Listen, I don’t wanna get into a pissing contest over this. Honestly, I don’t care if he goes or not, cuz I don’t care about his religious stuff. But what I do care about is that I gave him my word that I would take him back. I’m not gonna lie to the guy. He’s going back! And I’m not asking.”
“I can hear you’re getting upset by this so we’ll talk later,” Percy said. “I hope you’re not the type of person who thinks that just because you have something we want that you can shake your ass like a two dollar whore and we’ll give you everything you want.”
“What? Are you kiddin me? You friggin know I’ve never been like that. I never once acted that way with you guys. You know how I busted my ass for you damn people. I only care that I gave my word to the guy, cuz he wouldn’t have come home if I wouldn’t have given him my word. I don’t wanna break my damn word cuz my word means something to me unlike you sneaky lying bastards.”
“We better continue this later Myk,” Percy said calmly. “I can’t believe you’re going to allow a religious fanatic to cause some friction between us.”
“No, I can’t believe you’re going to allow some little religious fanatic to cause some friction between us,” Mykal said to throw it back in Percy’s face. “It’s not about his religious stuff. He’s really a good guy. Call me when you know something about this return operation.”
“Fair enough Myk. We’ll talk later,” Percy said and hung up before the heated argument exploded into something they would both regret.
Mykal suddenly became fearful of what might happen should he give them everything they want. He was sure they would do away with him once they no longer had a need for him. ‘That’s why they’re never getting acce
ss to Towbar’s world,’ he thought with a raging anger.
Just as Mykal put the phone in the tray it rang. “Hello?” He answered in the hopes it would be someone with more information about returning back to Towbar’s world with his needed army. Very few people had this phone number.
“Hello Myk, this is Ski,” he said and his voice seemed to be filled with gloom and despair.
“Hey Ski, what’s up?” Mykal asked and couldn’t believe it was Ski of all people.
“Is there a problem?”
“A problem with what?” Mykal asked and rolled his eyes because he believed ‘they’ already told Ski he couldn’t go back.
“I was told that I am not allowed to go back with you. Is that true?”
Mykal knew Staff Sergeant Stanley ‘Ski’ Winczewski for several years. Ski had always been a ‘Jesus Freak Christian’ as Ski calls himself, for as long as he had known him. Ski had always been committed to his belief in God and did his best to share his faith with all those he had the opportunity to open up with. He never tried to ‘shove it down other people’s throats’ as he had been falsely accused of on occasion. Mykal wasn’t a Christian and wasn’t even a church goer, but he never had a problem with Ski because Ski genuinely loved and cared for everyone he encountered.
On June 23rd, the day that changed their lives forever, the day that started their 37 Days In A Strange World, Ski approached Mykal before they departed to the missile field. He shared with Mykal that God spoke to him the previous night and told him to support Mykal. Neither knew what it could be in reference to, but they soon found out. Being trapped in Towbar’s world, Mykal became best friends with Towbar, thus in essence he became an important leader in opposition to their military leaders at the time. Though Ski out ranked Mykal, he remained obedient to his call from God which saved his life and gave him the opportunity to start a new ministry in Towbar’s world. Had he followed the leadership of their Crew leaders at that time, everyone would have died.
“Honestly, I was just told ten seconds ago. Let me see what I can do.” Mykal sighed. “I honestly had no idea it would be a problem. I don’t have a problem if you go. As a matter of fact, I want you to go, cuz I gave you my word.”