Guarding the Treasure (30 page)

“The concept of a Spirit helping a person through life sounds good, but I want proof. I want to know for sure who I'm dealing with. This Three isn't visible to the naked eye, so how can I know anything about him for sure?

“There is a man who could fill those shoes. Trey. She still has feelings for him. How deep those feelings run, that's anyone's guess. She has that private thing going on, just another one of the reasons I love her. I'm not giving up. I'm going to fight for her. Besides, I'm the one who's asked her to be my wife, and I'm a much better man than that airline pilot, ha ha.

“Before I left for Russia, Sophie and I spent the evening together. That girl has a way of wrapping me around her finger and just when the moment's right, she unwinds me like a top. She made me promise I would look and listen with an open heart for Three's voice. She's convinced I'm going to need his help. She may be right on that. The FBI has been monitoring constant chatter on a terrorist attack planned for two weeks from this Friday; the day most major universities are back in session for the fall. Our team is ready to take out the perpetrators, but the stakes are higher than anything we've ever encountered. The risks are high, but we have the element of surprise on our side, plus the best minds and bodies in the organization to do the job.

“So tonight I'm going to search my soul. That's one thing I've never done before. Sophie has found something very valuable. I want to see if I, too, can find it—if it's there to be found, that is. I'm not making any promises.

“I wish I could talk to her one more time before we embark on this despicable mission tomorrow.

“Sophie, if by chance I don't make it out of Russia on my own two feet, you will eventually receive this journal. The FBI will go through everything I own and connect you to me. I have made plans for you if something unforeseen happens. I'm confident I will be home soon so you won't have to read this entry. I hate that we have to go through this before each mission. So for now, the ends are tied up.

“God knows that I love you, my sweet treasure.”

She closed the journal and laid it between her and Trey.

“Sophie, Kevin's family said they would fly you to the funeral if you want to go.”

“I never met them,” she said, wrestling with the knots in her stomach.

“They knew all about you. Kevin made sure of that.”

Trey sat close, tucked beside her in the quietness of first-class. He read a little but mostly watched Sophie from the corner of his eye. The week had proved exhausting for the young professor. The purple circles under her swollen eyes were proof that sleep deprivation and the sudden loss of a cherished love changes one's appearance rather quickly. Trey knew all too well about that. He'd experienced it two years earlier after he said goodbye to Sophie. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his thoughts slow and clear. He'd walked out on her. He glanced her way. She was in the process of rereading every word Kevin had written in his personal journal and examining the stack of pictures he had saved of the two of them. Trey watched her smile randomly one moment, and the next moment cry tears into her picture-cluttered lap. It was her way of dealing. He looked back to his book, thinking. For the last seven nights, he'd stayed with Sophie, sleeping on her couch, staying close, making sure she was okay. Or was that just an excuse to be with her?

Trey recalled the intimate times they had shared. He had to be honest. He missed her touch, her kisses, and even watching her grade papers. He closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. It was crazy how the past couple of years had flown by. He'd see or hear something and immediately think of her. Driving by her house on a regular basis didn't help him forget much either, he told himself. But he had his resolve. It was his passion for God that kept him from turning back to her. Was it that same resolve within him that was now determined to get her back? He rubbed his eyes.

“God, you know I love her,” he whispered. “I need her in my life, and she needs me.” He looked down at the words on the page of the book, not reading anything.

“Trey, school starts in two weeks.”

He cleared his throat. Her words had cleared his mind. “Really? Do you think you'll be ready to go back?”

Her head rested on the seat, and she closed her eyes. “Yes,” she said with a sigh. She'd be ready, but was she really ready?

“Sophie, Anya had another diary. It was written for you in your time of need.”

“Three?” she said out loud, pulling her seat to the upright position. “A second diary?”

Trey quickly brought his seat to the upright position. “Are you all right?”

She sat frozen. Sophie had not heard from Three since Dool, since Gipson, since the whole ordeal.

“Dear Sophie, search the attic. It will be beside a black book. Your find will be rich and more meaningful than you could ever imagine.”

She ignored Trey's question. All she could think about was Three. “Trey, can you take me to my grandmother's house when we get back?”

He checked his watch. “It's going to be almost dark, but I guess so. Why?”

“There's another diary. I need to find it.”

“What?”

“Three just spoke to me. Three said the diary was written for me.”

He reached to take her hand, wanting to tell her to just leave well enough alone, but he couldn't. This, too, was part of the plan for Sophie. Three had planned it all this way. Trey breathed deeply and prayed it wouldn't hurt her too much this time.

 

Trey unlocked the front door. The house was as dirty and dusty as when she'd been in it with her mother, months earlier.

“Where did Three say you'd find the diary?”

“He said to search the attic, and it would be next to a black book.”

The door to the stairs was cracked open. Trey pulled it open further. He put his foot on the first step, and it shifted. He stepped on the next one. It was loose and spongy, giving the impression it would drop at any moment. He looked up and just as he thought, a leaky roof. He made a mental note to get that fixed, feeling a sense of responsibility come over him to take care of what belonged to Sophie. He took Sophie's hand as they started up the stairs. They stepped up into a large open space. Dim light came through the small window on the west wall, casting an amber glow on the entire room.
Spooky
, he thought.

Sophie stood in the middle of the open space, saying nothing, just staring. This is where it had begun. “Why did I ever pick up that diary and crack its binding?” she whispered. “Things would've been so different.” Fresh thoughts of Professor Smith and the Regal quickly ran through her mind. And then there was Gipson. “Kevin, if only I had listened to you, but no…I had to have my way. I had to—”

“Over there,” Trey said, ignoring her whispers and walking toward a large bookshelf. It was covered with gray, dusty strands of cobweb. He pulled a handful of the silky strings from the shelf. Sophie followed behind him, squinting to make out the titles as her fingers ran over the row of spines. Trey stopped, resting his hands on the top of the shelf. He shook his head. “That's it, Sophie. It's not here.” He moved his hands, and his fingers hit something. He looked up. “Wait a minute. What's this?” He stretched upward, reaching high over his head. Trey grabbed hold of a book and blew the dust off the cover. “The black book,” he said. “It's an early edition of the original King James.”

“A Bible?” she questioned, rubbing the dust from the cover with her hand. “Trey, Three said the diary would be next to a black book. Did he mean a Bible?”

Trey stretched up again, his hand plowing through layers of more dust and cobwebs. He nicked something with his fingers. “Wait, I've got something.” He pulled down a small book, about a third of the size of the Bible.

“Could this be what you're looking for?” he asked, placing the diary in her hands.

Sophie stood, her hands shaking as she held the unopened book. She knew what had happened the last time she'd opened someone else's diary—pain and betrayal. She wasn't sure she could handle any more of it in her life. She looked at Trey and then back to the diary. Although her heart beat hard in her chest, she opened the cover anyway, the binding cracking the same way the first one had.

Sophie began to read, silently, for several minutes. There were no words for what she read. “How?” She dropped the book.

“What is it?” Trey asked, reaching to pick up the book. He scanned the page.

“Three, I now have a renewed lease on life. I have gone through the pain of losing those most dear to me. First my mother, the one who loved me with all of her heart. I have also lost my brother at the hands of his own folly, and my dear father to an illness. Yet you send to me one more deserving of my love than any other I have ever met. He has waited for me, and looks at me as a treasure to guard as long as he has breath.”

“For your words, dear child, I am grateful. You have gone through much pain and suffering yet have come out victorious in the end. Remember my words to you long ago, that your life was not your own? There have been those who have followed you. Those who have suffered the loss of dear ones as you have.

“Sophie. Your loss will not be in vain. Those who seek will find me. They will find me in their greatest time of need. Kevin understood that I use good people on the good path to see my work accomplished. That is why he died. Dear child, he was doing my good work. He gave his life to save thousands of others, which was his lot in life.”

Trey lowered the diary. He knew full well why Sophie was upset. He, too, felt unstable, but not in his understanding. He knew Three. He knew the ways of the Spirit were always fair. He reached for Sophie's hands and brought them to his chest. “You asked how? How Three knew? Sophie, he knows everything. You have a willing heart, he can trust you. He wanted you to know—and so did Kevin.”

Her glassy eyes reflected the warmth of Trey's face. “What do you mean?”

A sigh rippled from his chest. Trying to explain the way of Three wasn't going to be easy to an already hurting heart.

“Listen. I have an envelope from the FBI that may help.” He waited, touched her cheek. “Sophie, I was ordered not to give it to you until the classified status was removed from the final investigation and Kevin's body had been laid to rest. Kevin requested that I be the one to show you the documents and that I wait until you had found the second diary.”

Her face scrunched in question. “He knew about the second diary? But how?”

Trey shook his head. “I honestly don't know, Sophie. My guess is that Three had something to do with him knowing about the book.” He closed the diary, gripping it with both hands. “What do you want to do with this?”

She pressed her eyes onto the book. It was trying to pull her in. Her name was among the pages with Anya's. She shook her head, pushed it away. “Put it back on the shelf. That part of Anya's life will have to be for someone else to live.”

Trey put his hands on her warm cheeks, moving his lips to brush her forehead. “Good. You need to concentrate on your life here, and that includes facing what's in that envelope.”

He brought her face close to his. “Are you ready to look at it? It's the last part of Kevin's life.”

She touched his hands, bit her bottom lip. “Yes.”

 

They sat, chairs touching at the kitchen table. Trey pulled the document from the manila envelope and pushed it in front of her.

“No, would you read it first?”

He nodded and silently read, line by line, to himself. When finished, he looked at Sophie with a warm smile. “Are you ready to hear this?”

With bated breath, she nodded her head in agreement.

Trey began. “Official US Government Document of Mr. Kevin Gates, agent, FBI New York, NY. Mr. Gates gave his life in service to his country, along with seven of his comrades. They followed the mission set before them. Mr. Gates and his team foiled a chemical attack that was to be initiated on hundreds of college campuses in the United States at the beginning of each of the school's fall semester. Chemicals were to be injected into the heating and cooling systems on each campus. When engaged, thousands of students and staff would have died instantly.

The eight men were responsible for saving thousands of lives. They are also credited with the deaths of the terrorist leadership, destroying the compound, targeting the chemicals, and securing their disposal.

Mr. Gates sustained life-threatening injuries when his Humvee was hit by a land missile at the close of the mission.

He, along with two other men, was pulled from the armored vehicle. His last words were to Ms. Sophie Hanes.”

Trey felt Sophie's hand brush his arm and her body lean in close to his. He smiled and turned back to the document.

“Words recorded by medics: ‘Sophie, I love you. I won't be there to hear you say you'll marry me or to guard you like I promised. There's a man I'm leaving instructions for after I'm gone. I'm asking Captain Trey Steele to take care of you. He loves you. He never stopped, and neither will I.' ”

A sudden, eerie hush fell between the two. Sophie's eyes moved from Trey to the document. She watched his lips move as he reread it.

Trey laid the letter on the table and met her sober stare. “Kevin was right, Sophie. I never stopped loving you.” He swallowed hard, pushing his emotions back to a manageable level. He wanted so much to take her, to pick up where they had left off. “I love you more now than I did two long years ago.” He reached for her. “I want to help you through this, Sophie—no,
we
are going to help you through this. Three will guide us, one day at a time.”