Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good) (12 page)

C
hapter Twelve

Jump of Faith

I glanced at the fuel gauge. It wasn’t good. The plane, with all its extra fuel tanks, had never been intended to reach the island. Earlier in the day, I had flown over the beach, only to see that my boat was gone. I had decided in that moment to risk reaching the island with the plane, instead of landing and dealing with the locals, who had taken my boat. That might’ve been a mistake, I thought now, as I reflected.

I’d been gaining altitude steadily in order to glide for a while, if I needed to, but it was going to be a close thing. Asia sat in the copilot’s chair gripped in the tension of the circumstances. I hated to see her like that, but there was no avoiding the grimness of the moment. Worst of all there was a storm raging outside.

I looked at her and wanted to swear hard, but contented myself with slamming my fist down hard on the dash. Asia glanced at me in concern.

“What are you thinking?” She asked softly, as the plane was tossed around by the strong wind outside.

I didn’t want to vent on her, but she’d asked so I told her, “Every time something’s going well for me in life it goes south! You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m about to lose you or watch you get hurt again!”

I slammed the dash hard again in a statement of bitter emphasis, “I wanted this so much and now….!” I left the rest unsaid.

I wanted to swear in the worst way, but I didn’t. We were out of fuel. I could hear one of the engines coughing even now. My foolish decision to go on was going to get her killed! I gripped the wheel hard wanting to strangle it to death in my anger and the need to lash out at something.

“I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you?” Asia asked, interjecting into my wrathful anguish.

“Yes!” I said rawly.

“Because of the sex you want to have with me?” She asked hesitantly.

“Good grief no!!!” I responded hotly. It was entirely my fault that she had such a low opinion of me.

“Then why John?”
She asked.

“Because you’re nice!
I mean really nice! Heck you’re as close to perfect, as someone could be! I thought… I thought….” I left the rest unsaid again, but she wouldn’t leave it at that.

“You thought what John?”

Bitterly I confessed, “I thought maybe you’d help me change! Make me better, if you will. Maybe not nice, but at least better than the pathetic loser I’ve been all my life. But now all I’ve done, after a long list of abuses against you, is to kill you! I should’ve landed on the mainland! I should’ve found a boat, even if I had to steal it from cannibals! What am I saying, with my luck the boat would’ve capsized!”

I looked over at her my gaze full of raw emotion, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry about everything! Nothing ever ends well with me, I’m cursed!”

She shook her head, “I’m not sorry I met you or that I’m here with you right now!”

I heard engine number two cut out. We were gliding now, dead in the air, above the cold ocean below.

“You soon will be!” I stated grimly.

“Is that your island?” Asia asked.

“What!” I said startled, even as I saw what she was poin
ting at through the clouds of the storm. It was impossible! I picked up my flight plan. We should still be an hour’s flight or more away from the island.

I scanned through my calculations. They were all correct, but that was my island! I could tell from the outline of the breakers in the rough seas that formed a small bay on the east side of it. There was no way on Earth that my island should be down there right now.

I glanced over at Asia, “You’ve been praying again haven’t you!”

“Always.”
She said.

I steered the dead plane towards the island.

“Maybe someone upstairs wants you to have a happy ending this time.” Asia commented softly.

“He’s just saving you, but believe me I’m very grateful for that!”

“I wasn’t praying for myself John. I was praying for you so that you might believe the truth that God loves you and that He wants the best for you!” Asia said pointing at me.

I gripped the flight stick harder, as I was churned up i
nside by the emotions roiling through me.

“What’s it going to take John to make you believe?”

I lashed out at her, “So what, if we’re at the island! We still have to jump for it and our chances of landing safely on land are next to nothing! Anything can happen and go wrong, which it likely will!”

Asia’s jaw firmed, “So
be it John.”

The flight stick went dead in my hands and I looked over in consternation at Asia, as I watched her assume control of the gliding plane. She was steering away from the island and going with the wind!

“What the hell are you doing Asia!”

“Hopefully pounding a point home into that thick head of yours!”
She responded grimly.

Before I could switch control back over she slammed an old coffee cup down onto the control display and sparks leaped out all along the dash. Asia was out of her seat and into the back of the plane before I could grab at her.

I heard the hatch open, as I tore my seatbelt harness off and lunged up after her. She was standing there parachute ha
rness already on.

“See you on the island John.” Was all she said before she jumped out the open
hatch.

“No!!!” I screamed, as I lunged for her, but I missed. We weren’t even over the island! The wind was blowing away from the island! It was suicide. It didn’t matter. I slung on a parachute and jumped out after her. I could at least choose to die with her.

Asia could hardly breathe against the force of the wind let alone talk, but she heard her words in her mind, “This is my leap of faith Lord. Please don’t let me down or I’ll be guilty of murder.”

She’d seen John jump out after her, but she couldn’t see him anymore. She couldn’t even see the island anymore just the angry crashing waves below, as the wind drove her out to sea.

The wind swirled into a cyclone of turbulent air and she felt herself hurtled into an air channel like an out-of-control l
ocomotive. Her screams were lost in the roar of the storm. There was an abrupt hard jolt and then there was no more wind, just rain.

Dazed she looked around. She was hung up in a tree. A tree! Crying with emotion she searched for the knife John had given her and finding it she cut herself loose from the parachute to fall to the ground that was only two feet below her.

She’d fallen to her hands and knees and her hand lay on a flat stone. Looking up she saw another and another. It was a pathway. She got up and started running up it desperate to find some trace of John in the storm. Up ahead she saw the outline of a house in the rainy gloom. Asia broke out into an all-out run, when she saw John in front of the house keeled over onto his knees. He looked hurt!

“John?” She cried slipping down beside him in concern. He wasn’t hurt, he was crying! Deep wrenching sobs that racked his whole body so hard that he had to be hurting himself.

“Oh John!
Honey don’t!” She said, as she pulled his face out of the mud and up against her chest trying to comfort him and get him calmed down some.

“God loves you John!” She remembered back over her own wild ride through the air channel, “He loves both of us!”

Asia held John tightly, as the rain poured down. Event
ually, she got him coaxed to his feet and inside the house. It was cold and they were both drenched. Asia stood shivering in the dark interior of the house unsure of where anything was.

Shivering she took off her drenched outer clothes and hugged herself, as her teeth chattered. Something bounced off of her and she reached down to find a soft woven bla
nket at her feet. She grabbed it up and huddled into it.

There was a spark and then a surprisingly bright flame, as a fire lit up in a nearby stone hearth cheerily. The room grew lighter and Asia went to stand by the fire soaking up the sudden warmth of it, as John built it up bigger. John was n
aked, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen his most intimate parts before. Still it was a new and different thing for her to experience. Distracted by the shifting display of muscles and raw masculinity she almost missed seeing the look of sheer agony that was marred across his features, as he squinted against the light of the fire he was building for her. He had one of his headaches! The fire was big enough.

She grasped a hold of his cold shoulders and tugged, “John let me help you!”

Asia pulled at him, until he left off building the fire and let her pull him to the single bed in the room. He collapsed down onto it on his front clutching at his head. Asia wasted no time in beginning to work on him forgetting how cold she was for the moment.

She worked hard at relaxing him, her hands moving over him in a firm massage meant to aid circulation and ease the pain he was gripped by. It wasn’t long before his deep breathing told her he was asleep and far from the pain of the headache.

Asia slipped off of the bed and threw more wood on the fire. It was already quite bearable within the tightly co
nstructed stone room. She came back to the bed to stare down at her man. He pretty much took up the narrow bed. Gently, as not to wake him she coaxed him onto his side. She grabbed the blankets up from the foot of the bed and covered him up before slipping underneath them herself.

She cuddled up back against him nestling her head onto his arm, even as his upper arm swung over top of her to hold her against him possessively. Her eyes closed peacefully, as his deep warmth thawed out the rest of her. She would r
ather be nowhere else in the world right now than right here with him. How strange the ways of God could be.

C
hapter Thirteen

Island Fun

Asia shifted, as she gradually came awake. She was so warm. Blinking awake she felt around her with a hand. John was gone, but he hadn’t been gone for long, because the bed behind her was still warm.

She sat up slowly and looked around the room, as the blankets fell away from her. Looking down she saw that her chest was still enclosed in her bra and her panties were still on. She blushed a little, as she admitted to herself that she had
been wanting to awaken to experience John’s passion for her. Frankly she was surprised to not have awakened so.

John wasn’t in the room, but he had made the fire big and bold again. It was actually hot in the room. She got up and went to a narrow window and undid the clever latch that released the wooden shutter on the outside. A chilly breeze blew through the narrow window to greet her with the freshness of the Alaskan air.

She turned from the window to stare at what had caught her attention earlier, when she lay on the bed. In a corner of the room there was a waterproof tarp thrown over som
ething. It most likely concealed her equipment.

Going to the tarp she pulled the tarp off of what it co
ncealed. She found what she’d expected to find. There were several connected screens all with corresponding units. It was state-of-the-art equipment and more than enough for what she needed to work with to break the Code. A power cord disappeared up through the thatched roof, which most likely led to a solar panel array on the roof.

Asia engaged the startup function and the screens instan
tly flickered to life before her. Going to her pants that John had hung up to dry before he had disappeared she found her drives in their watertight container. The drives were dampened by the sweat of her palm, as she went through waves of nervous anxiety, in her approach toward the gleaming displays in the corner of the room. She sat down in the chair provided and fingers shaking she tried the first drive. It was a dud and so was the next one, but the third, fourth, and fifth drives all came alive with the data of the Code’s blueprint.

“Oh thank you God!” She exclaimed, in a release of an
xiety.

She’d done it! She could do this! It might take some trial and error to break the Code, but she’d do it! Her hands instinctively reached out for the keyboards just as a sudden gust of wind filled the room with musical sound, which completely startled her.

Asia got up and approached the window, as she gazed up at the exquisite wind chime she had missed the first time she
had been at the window. John had made that! How little she yet knew of the man!

Her gaze caught on something in the distance. Through the filtered view of the surrounding trees, she saw the ocean. John was sitting on the beach. He appeared to be simply si
tting staring out at the choppy water of the small bay. He looked the picture of solitary aloneness, in all of its stark quality, and the sight of it made her heart squeeze on behalf of him.

Asia glanced off to the side at the screens filled with the mysteries of the Code. It demanded her attention, but right now John needed her. There would be plenty of time to solve the Code’s riddles later. She switched the machines off and grabbed up a blanket from off the bed to wrap around her, as she stepped out into the chilly morning air barefoot.

Asia followed along an intricately laid flagstone pathway, as she headed out to where she’d seen John sitting on the beach. A man would have to have a lot of time to play around with to accomplish so much work without much pu
rpose to it other than that it looked nice. Now he had her to play with and she couldn’t deny how much she was looking forward to being intimate with her one time would-be rapist.

The morning was starting to finally warm up, as the sun ate through the cloud cover overhead. It was good to be back. The island had stayed the same, but I was different in so many ways. I smelled her before I heard her. She had a scent all of her own that intoxicated me.

To wake up this morning with her warm and snuggled up against me trustingly had been both an amazing experience and a torment. She sat down beside me so close that we were touching. Her cute feet were bare and sort of shocked I let my eyes travel up her bare legs to mid thigh where the bla
nket cut off my view. She hadn’t put anything else on yet? This display of open skin was so unlike her!

I met her smiling gaze, “Good morning sunshine!” She said warmly.

She already had me off my guard somehow, “Good morning.” I responded at a lack for words, as I basked in the warmth of her presence.

Her smiling face turned serious, “I want to apologize for last night John. I could’ve gotten us both killed jumping out of the plane like that. It was foolish of me and I could have proven the point I was trying to make some other way.”

“You scared me!” I admitted softly, before looking out at the sea and adding, “But you drove your point home good and solid and for that I thank you.”

Her cool hand settled over mine, “Do you want to talk about anything John?”

I shook my head negatively, “Not just yet. I’m still fee
ling it out for myself.”

“I understand, but if you ever need to talk about anything I’m your girl, got that honey?”

Did she even have a clue, as to the knots she tied me up in, with just the choice of words that she spoke with?

I nodded, touched as always by her kind and giving n
ature.

The sun came out more fully and it was actually warm for the first time. The blanket slipped off of her shoulders and I found my eyes drawn back to her. I swallowed hard, as I noticed that she was wearing the same pretty bra, as she had been when I had almost raped her. I was so glad that I hadn’t done that, but God help me I wanted to do something awfully close to it right now!

“I suppose it gets very cold here doesn’t it?” She asked and I nodded, as my eyes remained glued to the undulating rise and fall of her chest, as she breathed in and out.

She shocked me then by swinging up and over me to straddle my lap. I glanced up, as her hands framed my face tenderly. The look in her eyes was mesmerizing.

“You’ll warm me up won’t you John? You’ll keep me warm through all the long nights and burn me with your d
esire all day won’t you?” She gave me no chance to answer her siren’s call before she sealed her lips over mine with real passion, to which I responded to in all my ferocity of pent up need for her.

The time had finally come! She was finally giving me the go-ahead that I had been waiting for. The kiss between us deepened, until it just simply wasn’t enough. I rolled us over unmindful of my roughness, as I rose above her. Quickly I scanned her face for any trace of fear, but all I saw was a willing look of shy sensuality that had the power to completely enslave me.

A small hand came up to press against my chest, “John if I could make a request please?”

I groaned aloud and stated more harshly than I should have, “Now what?”

She giggled and smiled up at me at the same time and I felt a reluctant smile creep out on my own face, “Well go ahead mood breaker what is it?”

Her smile never went away as she asked, “I was wondering, if my first time could be somewhere a little more comfortable. It’s a bit rocky here don’t you think?” She finished, as she held up a rock in her free hand for emphasis.

I almost choked on the words of my own question, “You’re a virgin?”

She nodded still smiling.

How was that possible for a woman as beautiful as her in this day and age? But I believed her, as incredible as it was, because I knew that Asia would never lie to me.

“I don’t deserve you! I’m so……” Her fingers closed over my lips halting my words.

Her eyes were earnest as she spoke, “In a perfect world I wish that I could have been your first and only, but as it is I can forgive you and forget all the girls you’ve had before me, if you swear that I’ll be your one and only from here on out.”

“I swear it!” I responded quickly meaning every word of it.

Her smile deepened, as her arms closed around the back of my neck possessively. I searched for the words I wanted to give her. “Asia despite whatever I’ve been or whatever I become you’ll always have the finest parts of me.”

Her smile deepened, “I love to hear you say that John.”

I moved to the side and scooped her up in my arms. As I did so I grimaced, when I caught sight of the hard
rocks I’d laid her back across. I could really be an unreasoning brute at times.

“I’m sorry honey! I can do a lot better than this!” I e
xclaimed in self anguish.

Her arm was looped around my neck, as I headed back towards the house. Her expression was a reflective one.

“What are you thinking of?” I asked curiously.

Her gentle smile brightened, “Of what a lucky girl I am to have you.”

“Likewise!” I said with meaning.

A mischievous light came into her dark eyes, “Now there you’re wrong John. You are pulsing rock hard maleness at its finest, with absolutely no girl in you.”

Frowning at her I responded, “I was referring to being so lucky to have you! Not to being a girl! I would’ve thought you would’ve known that!”

Her smile was rich, “But of course I did John. I just like to torment you. I thought you would’ve caught on to that by now.”

I smiled knowingly, as I kicked the door of the house shut with my foot behind me, “Torment, my dear, is a game that two can play.”