Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good) (17 page)

“I’m sure you do, and your offer is tempting, but there is the matter of the fact that given the past how do I know you’re telling the truth about what you’re offering? So I’ll have to refuse and count on myself to do the job.”

Lori moaned out in despair, as she slipped some more out the window.

“Before you fly off Lori there’s something I want you to see.” Asia held out her ring finger in front of Lori.

“See that ring? The man you turned into a savage beast gave that to me. It’s a commitment for forever. I am his and my desire is toward him. If John and I live through this night together I’m going to see to it, as God is my strength, that we live happily ever after, in each other arms, far from any twisted memory you ever managed to torment him with!”

Asia stood up to go and Lori watched her with a sick look on her face, “You’re not going to help me are you?”

“No, I’m not.” Asia said, as she turned away.

“But it’s seventy floors down to the ground!” Lori said, as if that made a difference.

Asia turned back to Lori briefly, “It’s not against my nature to help even the likes of you, but can wisdom be imparted to a fool?”

Lori didn’t answer, as with one last cry her fingers slipped and she disappeared from view. The door burst open and one of the robot people came in followed by John and se
eing him alive Asia ran to him.

I kissed her head, as she hugged me. My eyes searched the room and landed on the broken window.

“Lori?” I asked, in gesture to the broken window.

Asian nodded, “You just missed her. She couldn’t hang around any longer.”

“Oh dear!
You’re starting to tell morbid jokes!” I said, as I pulled her chin up to see her smile. “You’ve been around me too long already!” I said wryly.

Her arms brought my head down to hers, “Not nearly long enough honey!” She breathed out before she kissed me.

We broke apart in joint unison, “The Code!”

She left me then to sit down at a display terminal, as I turned to realize that the robot thing type person had been quietly watching us the whole time enigmatically.

“So who’s your friend there?” Asia asked not looking up from her screen, as her fingers tapped away.

“Not sure, but I think she likes me.”

Asia smiled and shook her head at my comment, but the robot girl showed no inclination as to what her sudden role reversal and part in all this was. It was clear to me that wha
tever I had severed with my sword going up the back of her neck had returned some matter of control over emotion and decision-making to her. I just hoped that she kept behaving and didn’t freak out and go all Scissorhands on me again.

“Oh no!”
Asia exclaimed.

“What?” I asked turning back to Asia.

“I can’t upload the language from here!”

“But you told me this was the place!” I said roughly.

She got up from the chair and went to the broken window, “I thought it was, but that’s the place up there!” Asia was pointing up to the main tower signal beacon. The base of it was another 30 feet up the side of the tower!

There was no way that I could even begin to get Asia up there!

“I will take her.” Robot girl said in a deaf voice. I say deaf, because her words lacked the clear pronunciation or tonal balance similar to how a deaf person’s talk would sound like.

She moved past Asia and I and stepped out the window, as her toes and fingers turned into claws once more. She chunked into the heavy glass pane next to the broken one, as she hung on to the side of the tower. She stretched an arm out for Asia, and the claws of the outstretched hand returned back to fingers.

Asia looked at me, “Do you trust her?”

“Yes.” I said reluctantly.

Asia stepped forward and the robot girl enfolded her s
ecurely to her side with one arm. The helmet the robot girl wore had slipped to the side slightly and I could see blond hair underneath of it.

C
hapter Twenty

Blondie

“Hey Blondie?”
I said.

She looked at me, apparently understanding that I had d
irected my words to her.

“When she’s done you get her to the ground and keep her safe!”

She nodded solemnly in acceptance of my command.

Asia cried out, “Where are you going?”

“This towers got to come down! Best way to do that is to overload the reactor in the basement.” I said.

“I’ll see you soon?” She asked worry for me in her eyes.

“Soon.” I said and then she was gone, as Blondie clawed her way up the outside of the building sending chunks of glass and steel falling off into space. The good Lord sure did work in mysterious ways, I reflected to myself watching them go up the sheer side of the building.

Asia clung on to the hard armored form she was pressed up against hoping to not experience her own freefall as Lori had. They were there at last. It was windy and the robot person that John had nicknamed Blondie kept a steadying metallic hand against Asia’s back to hold her in place against the gusts of the wind.

“Oh drat it! What were you expecting Asia? Did you rea
lly think they would just leave a USB port hanging out for you to hook up with!” Asia said in disgust talking to herself, as she stared bitterly at the securely locked base of the signal towers tech input/output receiver.

Blondie leaned past her and sank her talons into the locked access door. The metal of the door crumpled and ripped, as Blondie pulled the entire door off its hinges and idly tossed the door off into space.

Asia swallowed, at the sight of the awesome display of power she had just witnessed.

“Thank you…… Do you have a name?”

“Flicker.
Call me Flicker.”

“Okay then Flicker, can I ask why it is that you’re hel
ping us?” Asia asked, in a severe need to know why.

Flicker reached up and pulled the facial armor mask off along with the helmet she wore. Asia gasped, as long blonde hair took flight to stream out into the wind.

“Because he is my brother.” Flicker said solemnly.

Asia hadn’t needed her to tell her that, because the r
esemblance was there in her face to be clearly seen. She was as beautiful, as her brothers were handsome, but her light corn blue eyes were sadness itself.

“You cannot tell them!” Flicker said with the most pa
ssion that Asia had seen her exhibit yet.

“Why not?”
Asia exclaimed.

“Please!” Flicker said, as the sadness in her eyes intens
ified.

There was a wealth of anguish in that ‘please’ and Asia answered, “Okay, but they need to know at some point!”

“Not now, not yet!”

“Okay.” Asia said reluctantly and then she pulled out the data sender and plugged in her devices. The small screen lit up with the data streams of the Code. She initialized the transformation and within moments the language of the streaming Code abruptly shifted to something quite diffe
rent.

Asia looked up crying at Flicker, “We did it! Oh God, we did it!”

For the first time Asia saw Flicker smile. Flicker reached out and tapped a finger on Asia shoulder gently, “You did it.”

Asia shook her head no and pointed upward, “He did it!”

Flicker gave a shrug, as if to say she conceded to Asia’s point. Asia stood up held against the stiff breeze by Flicker. For the first time she looked at what was going on elsewhere.

Fires burned brightly out in the savanna and all around in the partially constructed city and even now she could hear gunfire yet ringing out into the night. They’d succeeded in cloaking the Code in confusion, for at least a little while, but at what cost had that accomplishment come?

Flicker had put her mask back on, but she left her helmet off for her hair to blow free. She brought Asia against her front and told the smaller woman to hang on. She wrapped a wire around both of them and twisted it together and then without warning she stepped off the edge.

Thought was impossible for Asia other than the nightma
rish fantasy of what an elevator ride plunging toward the basement must feel like. She clung on to the larger statured woman with a death grip, as she felt shards of something raining down on her.

Blinking she glanced up past the blond tornado of Flic
ker’s hair to see one outstretched taloned hand slicing down through glass and steel alike. The tips of her taloned fingers glowed red and Flicker’s face showed the extreme effort she was calling forth from herself. She was just like her brothers Asia thought to herself, a living breathing superhero in the flesh.

Seeing her strength helped calm Asia’s raging nerves immensely. Flicker swung around and engaged the talons of her free hand and they slowed dramatically, until moments later Flicker stepped free of the building and undid the wire holding them together. They were on the ground already!

Asia stepped back in awe of Flicker, “You’re amazing!”

Flicker said nothing, but ducked her head away, as if bashful of something.

“Asia?” Called a voice out behind her.

Asia turned to see a bloodied Maria approaching with hands wrapped around an assault rifle, as if they were fused in place.

Asia held up her hands, “Relax Maria! She’s a friend!”

“Who’s a friend?” Maria asked.

Asia turned around, only to see that Flicker was gone.

Maria stepped up beside her and looked up at the deep furrows carved down the side of the tower, as far up as the eye could see, “Who did you say you got down here with?”

“Never mind right now.
Where’s Flint?” Asia asked.

“He took off for the basement with a bomb, when he saw the Code language change. Hey good work by the way! What’s the matter?” Maria asked, as she saw Asia’s face r
eact strongly.

“John went to the basement to overload the reactor to blow up the building!” Asia said in a panic.

“Well I’m sure they’ll meet up and everything will be fine, but right now we need to get to the other side of the tower, because we’re about to be overrun here. We’ve called in the choppers. It looks like we might live through this yet.”

“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 m
yself, 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!”