The Atua Man

by John Stephenson

  “We kind of have a situation here at the Foundation …”

  David had heard the news. He could guess the rest. Still, to get on a plane and go back to a world he had abandoned years ago needed a significant amount of thought.

  “…You’d be doing me a great favor if you’d come back.”

  There was a long pause on the line and David finally said, “I’ve got some things to clear up here before I can get away. How can I reach you?”

  “Don’t call my home or the Ministry. I’ll call this number and leave you instructions.” Jason rang off.

  David hung up his phone and walked out onto the lanai of his rented house in Pacific Heights. He looked out over a sleepy Honolulu. The lights at the Matson dock on Sand Island brighten up the western sky. He couldn’t think about Jason’s offer yet—everything with Jason carried way too much baggage.

  David walked back to his party. The discussion had moved to the controversy of a white painter making pictures of dead civil rights marchers. In the politically correct world shouldn’t those subjects be reserved for black painters? But whites were part of that struggle too.

  Nani, David’s girlfriend, brought up David’s work. “So by your criteria, Eddie, Dave shouldn’t make art about Hawaiian culture, or use Hawaiian themes in his sculpture.”

  “There are always exceptions. I think we’re talking about exploitation more than expression,” Eddie said.

  “Why is it that only dominant cultures are accused of exploitation and cultural appropriation? Don’t all cultures adapt and borrow what’s new and make it their own?

  “I like what Picasso said,” David said. “Mediocre artists borrow; great artists steal.”

  David motioned Nani over and led her into the hall. “That was Jason St. John.”

  Nani knew very little about David’s past and was surprised that the great guru would call her boyfriend personally. She didn’t know what to say, and quipped, “So is he going to show up at the party?”

  “No. But I think I have to break things up, now.”

  “Oh. I’ll tell everybody to leave.”

  “I need to be alone, sweetheart. I’m sorry. Just have everybody go and I’ll clean up.” He kissed her and walked into his bedroom and shut the door. Nani tried not to look hurt.

  Chapter 3

  Stanford House

  Tuesday Morning, November 2004

  Tony Bass barged into Jason St. John’s office suite in Stanford House like the FBI serving a warrant to a white-collar crime boss. He leaned over the secretary’s desk, invading her workspace, and demanded from the startled young Mary Perkins’ her total attention, even though she was on the phone.

  “I need to know Mr. St. John’s schedule right now?”

  Mary put her hand up, signaling “just a moment,” but Tony pressed the button on the phone—disconnecting her.

  “I’m sorry, Mary, but it’s been a stressful morning and I need this information immediately.”

  “You just cut Mr. St. John off.”

  “He’s in there?”

  Mary got up to block the door but she was too slow. Tony pushed her aside and burst into Jason’s office, leaving the door open. Mary stood in the doorway and shrugged—what could she do?

  “Sorry I missed the meeting. I was in a deep meditation that Lillian didn’t want to interrupt.” Jason said, looking up from behind his Art Deco desk. “And by the way, I’m changing the locks to all my private spaces—and keeping them private. If something like what happened this morning happens again, you can kiss your ass goodbye.”

  “I did disregard your privacy, and I’m sorry, but that’s not why I’m here.”

  Jason leaned back in his Aeron chair, pulled out a drawer and put up his feet. He wore a starched white shirt with French cuffs, jeans and Italian loafers without socks. “Let me guess, it has something to do with that zoo outside.”

  Tony had met this kind of challenge before from executives about to be dismissed. They had always underestimated him thinking that because they had founded a company, they knew more than he did. But they hadn’t seen the big picture. If they had, Tony wouldn’t have had to be in charge. Jason was no different. If he didn’t wake up to the situation he had created by healing those girls at Marsdan Hospital the way he did, it would be up to Tony to save the Ministry.

  Tony walked over to the French doors and contemplated the colorful cyclamen blooming at the base of the chestnut tree outside. He then turned to face Jason. Now Tony had the light behind him and Jason couldn’t clearly see his face and eyes. Jason knew exactly what Tony was doing. Jason tried not to react and keep an open mind.

  “You seldom take meetings in here. How come?” Tony asked.

  “This is my sanctuary. You should know that. Then again, maybe you don’t.”

  Tony examined the room as if he hadn’t seen it before. The wall of French doors brought the outside in. A conversation area with leather sofas and a surfboard used as a coffee table marked the center of the room. Artifacts from the Marquesas Islands filled the room. An overflowing bookcase dominated one wall, and a giant poster of a container ship plowing through a one-hundred-foot wave off San Francisco’s Golden Gate hung behind Jason’s desk.

  Tony walked over to examine the poster.

  “Awesome, isn’t it? It keeps me humble,” Jason said.

  “I’ll get right to the point.” Tony looked back at Jason. “Did you personally appear before those girls at Marsdan hospital last night?”

  Tony’s eyes drilled into Jason’s.

  Jason thought about his answer while Tony waited. “This isn’t something you need to know. It’s got nothing to do with the administration of the trust.”

  “My job is to keep the Organization credible in the eyes of the world. If you’re doing something to destroy our credibility, then it’s something I need to know. In fact, it is my duty to know what you are doing and what you present to the world. And if it doesn’t conform with the principles you teach, then I have to stop you.”

  “Stop me! How would you do that?”

  Tony paused, using Jason’s tactic. “That’s not something you need to know.”

  “Tell me, then, why do you think my alleged appearing to those girls is inconsistent with my books, or my Healing Hour, or the principles I teach?”

  “In many ways you’re like the Pope, Jason,” Tony said. “He can’t do as he pleases either. He has to follow the constraints of his organization. If he decides that priests can marry or that homosexuality is perfectly normal and not a sin, people would leave the church in droves. The church would fracture and whatever message it had given the world would be discredited. If you can actually appear to people out of thin air, and show the world that bit of magic, you’ll destroy everything we’ve built.”

  “And you think that would be a bad thing?”

  Tony became livid. He walked back to the wall of glass that looked out onto the garden. “Why the fuck are we here, then? If you think our work and our devotion to you are worth so little, why should we stay?”

  “Well, maybe you shouldn’t,” Jason said, and after a pause continued, “I’ve never asked for anyone’s devotion.”

  Tony turned and faced Jason, who was still calmly seated at his desk. “I will not let you pull down this wonderful ministry that has taught people everywhere to accept spiritual healing. You’ve given the world all it needs to know about ending the suffering of disease. I don’t think you have anything more to give. No one needs another Houdini. You, Jason, have become irrelevant to this ministry.”

  “What are you going to do, kill me?”

  “Jason, you left the world years ago, and all anybody knows about you comes through this office.”

  Jason reached for the phone on his desk and hit the button for his secretary. “Mary, book a table at the club for lunch for Lillian and me, and see if there is a tee time available for us this afternoon. Thanks.”

  Tony spun around and quickly left the office, slamming the
door behind him. In the reception office a cold calm came back to him and he looked at Mary with hard eyes. “Mary, you’re fired. Please pick up your things right now and leave.”

  Mary shuttered in disbelief. She’d never known Tony to joke around like that before. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Get the fuck up and leave right now.” Tony speed dialed a number on his mobile. “Gary, bring up a new secretary from the media pool for Jason. Mary just quit.”

  “I bloody well didn’t quit!”

  “And bring security with you.”

  Within minutes an ISD detail arrived with the new secretary.

  Tony signaled one of the ISD officers to come over to him. “Escort this woman from the building. She’s to talk to no one.”

  The guard did as he was told.

  The new secretary looked at Tony, confused. “Should I sit here?”

  Tony nodded “yes” and called over the other guard. He pulled him aside and said, “Mr. St. John is exploring a new level of consciousness and is afraid he might do something in public that would compromise the Ministry. So, he doesn’t want any outside interference. We don’t want the public to know that we are pushing the envelope here, and because of this, we’ll need extra security. If Mr. St. John ventures outside the Compound, please inform me immediately. Okay?” Tony touched the man’s shoulder, making him feel like he’s an important part of ministry’s scientific work.

  The guard felt proud as he took his place by the door.

  Tony then leaned over the secretary’s desk. “What is your name?”

  “Deborah. Deborah White.”

  “Deborah, for the time being, Mr. St. John won’t be receiving any outside calls. Please refer any that make it through the screeners to either Mr. Howell or me.”

  Tony smiled at the new secretary, confirming his order and walked out dialing a number on his Blackberry. “Gary, where are you? Meet me in your office in three minutes.”

  He stopped and looked back to Ms. White. “And cancel Jason’s lunch at the club.”

  Jason pushed himself away from the desk and flopped down on one of the couches. He immediately got back up and paced around his office a few times before finally sitting calmly in one of his Eames chairs. It took a good twenty minutes of meditation to release the negative energy Jason felt from the confrontation with Tony. Jason wasn’t entirely at peace, but at least he could think. This was the first time he’d fought with a board member and his mind was packed with competing ways to handle the problem. He couldn’t believe that Tony was serious. Had Tony’s ego been so threatened that he’d forgotten the purpose of the organization? Or perhaps he himself had reacted poorly. Perhaps this moving between dimensions was not a good idea and Tony was right. But it wasn’t Jason’s idea or desire to slip away from physical reality into another realm. It just happened.

  Jason picked up the telephone headset from his desk phone and buzzed Lillian on the intercom.

  “Jason! What’s going on?” she answered irritated. “I can’t get an outside line.”

  “Really? I was just calling to say I made reservations for lunch at the club.”

  “Fine, but I’d have to bum around Wimbledon because Alex has a rehearsal after school. Besides, I promised to take him to that indoor skate park.”

  “Did he get off okay?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Listen. Tony barged into my office a half an hour ago acting very strange. Now you can’t get an outside line. I’ll get back to you.” Jason hung up.

  He unplugged his laptop from the monitor and put it in a slim briefcase. He slipped his mobile in his pocket, and walked out smiling, but stopped short when he saw the ISD officer standing by the door and Deborah White sitting in Mary Perkins’s chair.

  “Who are you?”

  “Deborah White, sir.” The secretary was short of breath. She’d never met Jason St. John in person and the shock of moving from the secretary pool to this position was making her extremely nervous.

  “Where’s Mary?”

  “I think she quit.”

  Jason realized what was happening and smiled. Tony worked fast. But then that’s why Jason had hired him. “Is my car ready?”

  Deborah looked at Jason and then to the ISD officer. She didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s a simple question. You can just say yes or no.”

  The guard answered for her. “I’m sorry Mr. St. John, but per your own instructions and for your own safety we are not to let you off the premises.”

  Jason looked at the officer and laughed. He walked out of his office, into the grand foyer, and down the marble stairs. Taking out his mobile as he went, he called the garage. Nobody answered. He disengaged and scrolled through his favorites and hit Alex’s number. A message came back to him that he had no service. Seething, he shoved his phone into his pocket and rushed into the parking garage.

  In the garage Jason walked straight to the manager’s office to get the keys to his Jaguar sedan, but the office was locked. Nobody was there. He strode through the gleaming basement filled with late model cars and SUVs and felt the eyes of the security cameras on him. As he approached the exit, two security men walked up to him. He waved to them and turned and jogged back to the garage office. He kicked in the door and grabbed the keys to a few of the cars in his collection, and then ran back up the marble stairs to the grand foyer. He suppressed a feeling of panic as he contemplated what to do next. Hearing the soft-shoed footsteps of the ISD officers climbing the marble staircase behind him, he took off for the compound’s dining room.

  Over a hundred employees worked at St. John Ministries on any given day, and the dining room was like a grand restaurant. Employees ordered from an extensive menu offering local organic food, all of it free. Tables were set with fine linens, and the servers were teenagers from all over the world who had an interest in spirituality and wanted to study English. Jason seldom dined here, and as a result, the servers and diners stop to stare when he rushed in. He paused at the entrance for a moment, looking around, he spotted Melanie and Dorothy at one of the tables, and hurried over to Melanie, startling her with a kiss, and then sat down.

  “Do you two know what’s going on?” Jason said, looking back at the door.

  “Are you talking about this crap about teleporting, or whatever?” Melanie said.

  Dorothy said to Jason. “Have you made another breakthrough out of the corporeal?

  “Dear Deedee, always cutting to the chase.”

  “Quit stalling, Jason. If you are actually appearing elsewhere while still in your present body that’s something we should know about. We’re here for you, to support you in dispelling the illusion of material cause and effect. If the rumors are true, then what you are doing is extremely important and we need to be consulted so that the world knows the truth and doesn’t feed on rumors.”

  “No. Tony’s pulling some sort of power trip. Forget the other stuff,” Jason said.

  “If you’re worried about Tony and his behavior, leave that to us,” Melanie said.

  “What do you know about Tony’s behavior?”

  “Just what he said at the board meeting—that what you are doing will destroy the Ministry.”

  “What did the rest of the board say to that?”

  “There was no consensus,” Dorothy stated. “But it feels like Tony and Gary are plotting something.”

  “Like making me a prisoner here?”

  “Come on, J.J., they couldn’t do that,” Melanie said.

  “Notice anything strange in here?” As if on cue one of Gary’s ISD officers appeared at each door.

  Dorothy and Melanie looked around and saw the guards.

  Jason talked quietly and quickly. “My mobile has been deactivated. My cars are locked up, and there are guards at every entrance with instructions, supposedly from me, not to allow me off the premises.”

  “What a jerk,” Melanie said.

  “What are you going to do, darling?” Dorothy asked.


  “Keep you two out of it. If Tony questions you, say this was just a friendly hello since I didn’t make it to the meeting this morning.”

  “Yeah, why weren’t you there? Were you actually off the grounds?” Melanie inquired.

  “Don’t answer that,” Dorothy said. “I don’t want to be a party to lies and that’s not the issue right now. What’s important is Jason’s well-being.”

  “Thank you, Deedee. Melanie, will you lend me your mobile?”

  “You mean cell phone?” Melanie teased.

  “Whatever.”

  “Okay. But why?” Melanie slipped her phone to Jason under the table.

  “I don’t think they can block your number from in here and I need to talk to someone on the outside.”

  “The landline doesn’t work?” Melanie asked.

  “No, and Lillian is quite upset. Alex is at school… ” Jason abruptly got up, dropping Melanie’s phone into his pocket as he stood.

  Two ISD officers walked over to the table and blocked Jason’s way. “Mr. Bass would like to see you in his office,” the sergeant said.

  Deedee and Melanie pushed back from the table and stood facing the guards, too.

  “I have a full schedule this afternoon,” Jason said. “You can tell him that.”

  The guards didn’t move. “He insists you come with us.” The sergeant reached out to take Jason’s arm but Jason pulled back.

  “Are you serious?” Jason said in a loud voice. “You want to force me to go with you and expect me to drop everything because Mr. Bass ordered it?”

  The dining room grew quiet and the guards got nervous. “We’re not forcing you,” the sergeant replied.

  “Good,” Jason started to walk away.

  The other officer stepped in front of Jason and blocked his way.

  Jason turned back to the sergeant. “Do you know what this is all about? Well, let me tell you. For some reason, Mr. Bass does not want me to leave the compound. I’m sure he wouldn’t want the public to know that. So look around. Everyone here is a witness. They will be leaving at the end of the day and I’m sure someone will tell someone on the outside that Jason St. John is a prisoner in his own house. That’s a big story. Big headlines. Do you want to be responsible for that rumor? Do you want to answer to Mr. Bass for the way this was handled? If you don’t, you will step aside and let me get on with my business.”