by Jerry Moore
“Where exactly are we?” I asked.
“Right now we are about twenty two miles northeast of the city of Lubbock. We are in far north Lubbock County,” Allison said. “C’mon, let’s get inside the house and get settled in before the guys get back.”
Allison led us into the house, which had three bedrooms. It was decided that Jenny and I would share a bedroom, as would Dr. Greene and Jeff. Allison would sleep in the remaining bedroom. I would have suggested that Jeff and I share a bedroom but I already knew what he would say. Actually that was one the things that I really admired about him, Jeff was a man of principle. He was also turning out to be a man of action and violence. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him and Allison killing people without it seeming to bother them. I understood that they had saved my life. There had been no hesitation, no remorse. I didn’t understand how you could put a bullet through a man’s brain and then act like nothing had happened.
Jenny and I quickly realized that we didn’t have any other clothes but the ones we had on, and those had Jenny’s blood all over them. It turns out that Allison had a pretty complete wardrobe stashed away in one of the closets. She gave both us some sweats that we could wear until it was safe for someone to go shopping. Of course, I had to get the ridiculous looking black shoe polish off my face. Jenny helped me with that. It turned out to be quite a chore.
The two of us went to what was going to be our bedroom to change. Jenny and I had not been able to speak privately since I had jumped through the window. Now, it seemed like that one desperate act had changed everything. My head still hurt, my shoulder still hurt, and my lip was still bleeding off and on. I was really hoping that Jeff could fix that when he got here.
“So, can we talk?” Jenny asked.
“Sure, we can talk,” I replied.
“Does that mean you’ll tell me truth if I ask you a question?”
“Jenny, I think we are to a point where we both know these people aren’t normal and that we are in a peck of trouble.”
“Yeah, we pretty much left a bloody mess in our house.”
“So what is it you want to know?”
“Do you trust them?”
“Yeah, Jeff’s the one that saved Brenda in the hospital.”
“After what he did for my leg, I believe it. I can’t even tell I was shot. Give me the cliff notes version of their story.”
“Okay, they each have a special ability. Only Jeff can heal people. They are practically immortal. You can hurt them with a knife or gun, but it won’t kill them like it would a normal person. They have been here for a long time, maybe as long as two thousand years or so. I know, you don’t believe me.”
“I believe that you believe that. The truth is, that after what has happened tonight, I can’t say that any of that is false. Have you actually seen one of them get hurt?”
“The night that I spent the night at Allison’s house, I went over there because I had blood all over my clothes. I saw Allison get stabbed in the gut with a butcher knife, all the way to the handle. Five minutes later, she was completely healed. Yeah, I’ve seen it.”
Jenny was speechless.
Before Jenny had a chance to say anything else, I heard a vehicle pull up outside. It had to be Jeff and Dr. Greene. “Well, I guess it’s time for some answers, from everyone.”
Chapter Fourteen
We were all sitting around the dining room table. This appeared to be everyone’s new home. It seemed like everyone at the table had been keeping secrets from some of the other people at the table. I was no exception. Each of us was a liar in our own way. At least I felt better now. Once Jeff got home he simply touched with his glowing hands and everything got better. My head stop hurting, my shoulder felt normal, and my busted lip was good as new.
Jeff got things going. “I know that we all have our secrets. We all had good reasons for not being completely honest with each other. That time has passed. We face threats on two fronts. I think everyone would like to see everyone else’s cards, so to speak.”
“Then why don’t we start with you, Jeff?” Jenny asked.
Jeff nodded his head. “Does that mean that you are willing to accept that anything I tell you is the truth?”
“Until I have some proof to the contrary, yes. I have seen enough tonight to know that whoever, or whatever you are, you’re not a normal human being,” Jenny said.
“Okay, fair enough,” Jeff said. “I was a Roman soldier that became a Christian in what we now know as A.D. 38. I was given immortality by God. The person that actually laid his hands on me is a man that the Bible refers to as Simon, the Canaanite. He was one of the original twelve apostles and apparently, he was the only apostle to show this ability to give immortality.”
I had so many questions. “So, you knew Jesus?”
Jeff smiled. “No, I didn’t. I knew of him and I did meet his mother, Mary, after Jesus had already left the earth.”
“Okay, before we get too far off track, I know you can heal people like you did me. What else can you do?” Jenny asked.
“Each one of us have a secondary ability. Mine is to heal people. Allison can plant suggestions in your head,” Jeff said.
I interrupted. “Like telling everyone in the living room at our house that someone should go check out the noise in my bedroom. And speaking of that, what happened to that guy anyway?”
Allison glanced over at me. “He’s dead.”
“What did you do to him, anyway? I mean we didn’t hear a thing. Of course, I was pretty much in and out of consciousness at that point,” Jenny said.
Allison sighed. “I broke his neck by snapping his head around. I didn’t enjoy it. They would have killed the two of you without giving it a second thought.”
I gulped. The girl who I thought of as a friend could kill a man with just her hands. Not just some regular guy either. The guy she killed was an actual gangster. She was one tough chick! “Allison, I know you did what you had to do. I mean they had already shot Jenny by that point. There was no way they were going to let either one of us live.”
“So what does Dr. Greene do?” Jenny asked.
“You know, I keep wondering that. Every time I want to ask, it seems like something else comes up,” I said.
Dr. Greene looked around the table. “I’m afraid my gift is rather boring, compared to Jeff and Allison. I have the gift of tongues. I can speak, read, and write any language. In fact, I have never even studied English. I just know that when I decide I want everyone to hear me in English, they do. When I want to write in English I can. I understand every word someone says, regardless of what language they are speaking in.”
“Actually, that’s quite amazing. So, that’s it? Can you do anything else?” Jenny asked.
“We do one other minor ability. We can appear to be slightly younger or older. We can also alter the color of our skin slightly. That’s why we all appear to be white, for the most part. It’s not actually the natural skin color for any of us,” Jeff said.
Jenny smiled. “So, when I thought you were a spook, I wasn’t wrong. You’re all big time spooks to have lived for this long, virtually undetected.”
“Actually, I have worked for the CIA, NSA, and few other covert organizations over the years. So, you were right, I’m a spook or a spy or whatever you want to call it,” Jeff said.
“I have one last question for you. What were the three of you doing in Lubbock to begin with?” Jenny asked.
“Look, as the years have gone by, we have tried to find reasons to continue our mission. Originally, we were supposed to insure that the Bible was put together properly. In the first century there was no collective book of works. There were just individual manuscripts. Some were real, some were fakes. In modern times, the Bible has been put together for quite some time. So, we have been telling ourselves that we still needed to be on guard against anyone changing the Bible. There were some professors here in Lubbock who wanted to reconsider some of the way the Bible was translated. They are
working with other academic types across the country. We just wanted to keep an eye on them. Really, it’s much to do about nothing.”
“Okay, those are my cards. Now, it’s your turn Jenny. What’s really going on with Lisa?” Jeff asked.
“Well, Lisa came to us with some information about the Demarco family and she wanted immunity for her testimony. Don’t get me wrong, she had some pretty good stuff to say about them. But, the Justice Department wasn’t sure it was a slam dunk,” Jenny said.
What did they mean it wasn’t a slam dunk? “I gave them Tommy Demarco on a platter. They should have been able to put him away for at least twenty years.”
“Well, they wanted more and they believed that Lisa hadn’t given up everything she had. That’s the real reason there were so many people following her. We were looking for that evidence that we thought she had. It’s now my opinion that either Lisa doesn’t know where it is or doesn’t know she has it somehow,” Jenny said.
“What is this evidence that you keep talking about?” I asked.
Jenny shrugged her shoulders. “We don’t know exactly. The government has a low level agent inside the Demarco family. This agent says that the Demarco family is adamant that Lisa has this evidence. They didn’t tell the agent how she got it, who gave it to her, or exactly what it is. We just know that whatever it is, they are terrified of it getting out.”
“I really don’t know what they are talking about. No one gave me anything like that,” I said.
Jeff strummed his fingers on the table. “Well, do you have any theories about who would have given it to her? I mean if they ever did?”
“We only had two working theories. Either she got it from Tommy or she got it from her mother,” Jenny said.
I jumped up from the table. “How dare you try to bring my mother into this!”
“Lisa, it’s plausible. I mean she did do some work for the Demarco family,” Jenny said.
I really wanted to slap someone. “Whoever told you that is a liar. My mother was an accountant but she wouldn’t have anything to do with the Demarco family. If fact, she almost disowned me for even dating Tommy Demarco.”
Allison got up and walked over to me. “Hey, it’s okay. They just got it all wrong. Where’s your mom now?”
I looked away. “Both my parents died six months ago in a car accident.”
“I don’t mean to jump at ghosts, but the DA in New York wants to open that case back up. They’re not sure it was such an accident after all,” Jenny said.
I turned and looked at Jenny. “She worked for a big firm. If she did anything for the Demarco’s it was probably without knowing it.”
“Actually, that’s why it might make more sense for it to be her. Are you sure she didn’t give you a disk or a flash drive or anything? Maybe she didn’t want to tell you about it but put it on a disk with something else she gave you?” Jenny asked.
I shook my head. “The only thing she gave me in the last year or so was my pendant.”
“What pendant?” Jenny asked.
“Look, I know that I was supposed to hand all of that personal stuff over to you guys but I couldn’t let it go. So, I made sure that I kept it out of view and wore it under my clothes anytime I left the house,” I said.
“This is why I never saw it when I searched your room. Of course, I might not have thought anything of it. I was looking for a folder or some sort of digital storage device. I guess it’s possible that something could be inside the pendant,” Jenny said.
“Perhaps I could have a look at it,” Dr. Greene said.
Jenny turned toward him. “Are you a jeweler as well as a college professor?”
“No, but I have found that each of us seem to have gifts based on traits that already existed. I have always like working on puzzles and analyzing things. Perhaps I could examine the pendant,” Dr. Green said.
I handed the pendant to Dr. Greene. “I want it back when you’re done, Charlie.”
He looked at me. “Excuse me, did you just call me Charlie?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, isn’t that your name? And I figured that since we’re not doing the whole teacher student thing anymore, it would be okay to call you by your first name. Sorry, if that seemed presumptuous.”
“Oh, I don’t mind if you use my first name. Actually I prefer it, but my name if Phillip. Most people call me Phil,” he said.
“Okay, but at the house I heard Jeff tell Allison to tell Charlie something or the other. I thought that was you,” I said.
He nodded his head. “Ah, yes. Now, I see the confusion. In the field we refer to each other in a very military sort of way. Jeff is Alpha, Allison is Bravo, and I am Charlie. It’s easier than remembering what our names are this week.”
“Okay, people, I think that does it for now. Let’s give Phil a chance to look the pendant over. Let’s all meet and discuss our options over breakfast in the morning,” Jeff said.
As everyone started to get up from the table, Jeff grabbed my hand. “Can you stay for a second? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
I sat back down. “Does this mean I’ve screwed up somehow? Are you angry with me?”
He shook his head. “I could never be angry with you.” He leaned over and tenderly kissed me.
I didn’t want to break free of our lip lock, but I wanted to know what Jeff needed to talk to me about. “Okay, so what is it?”
He looked down at the table. “It’s about Allison. I need you to not be too hard on her about this whole Robison mess.”
“Yeah, I was coming over tonight to find out the deal on that. Carl said that he and Allison were in Dallas all weekend,” I said.
“She was in Dallas for most of the weekend. Believe me it wasn’t hard for her to fake out Carl and the police,” Jeff said.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“I just want you to see it from her perspective,” he said.
“So the bottom line is that she was behind what happened to him?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I can see why she did it.”
“Look, I don’t like Brenda’s husband and I’m not going to feel bad about what happened to him. But are you really going to stand here and condone the beating that he took? I was on the receiving end of a few beating from my ex. I have an idea of how it feels.”
“No, I don’t condone it. I just want to tell you something about Allison. I think you’ll view her actions in a different light.”
“Okay, so what is this eye opening thing I need to know?”
“Did you notice anything odd about the way Allison acted at the hospital the night that Brenda was taken to the ER? Especially given what you now know about her?”
“Now that you mention it, I was surprised that she didn’t want to or couldn’t be in the same room with Brenda. That was especially true that first night in the ER.”
“Allison told me she couldn’t stand to be in the same room at first. I wasn’t all that surprised. She had a bad experience very similar to Brenda’s.”
“What sort of experience?”
“She was living in Europe, in France I think. It was before I met her. Anyway she was attacked by three men who were drunk. Allison was raped and badly beaten when she tried to resist. They left her for dead. Any normal woman would have died.”
“Oh my god, what happened to the men?”
“Nothing happened to them. Women didn’t have many rights back then. Also she healed so quickly that she couldn’t prove that it had happened. Even if the authorities had believed her, they would have accused her of being in league with the devil. I think that experience might have changed her. Sometimes she seems like she is two different people. One side of her is sweet and loving. The other side is hard and capable of savage violence.”
“Hold up, she didn’t have any rights and what was that about being in cahoots with the devil? When was this?”
“Oh, sorry, it was roughly five hundred years ago.”
“Wo
w, it’s been eating at her a while. So, why didn’t she just use her little mind trick to stop them?”
“As you know, Allison can only suggest things. If someone is truly committed to a course of action, it is unlikely that she can change their minds in a short period of time. Her gift is extremely powerful, but doesn’t always work.”
“So when she saw Brenda’s husband getting away with it, she snapped. Didn’t she?”
“In a way, yes, but she knew exactly what she was doing. I’m certain Allison knew she would be causing problems for you.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m starting to come around to your way of thinking. I can’t condone what she did. I guess I can see why she would want some revenge. In her mind, Brenda’s husband was a substitute for the men who attacked her.”
“Phil and I have already spoken to her about this, rather harshly I’m afraid. Allison knows she needs to apologize to you. She owes you at least that much.”
“What do I tell her?” I almost whispered.
“Tell her whatever is in your heart. If forgiveness is in your heart, and I hope it is, tell Allison that you forgive her. If you can’t forgive her, tell her what you think of her. She’s a big girl, she can take it.”
“How could I not forgive her? She helped save my life earlier tonight.”
“She also contributed to the problem. Her actions gave the bad guys an excuse to pull you out of school and away from your friends. It was such a good excuse that Jenny had no choice but to go along with it.”
“So, when should I talk to her about this? You think tomorrow morning would be a good time?”
“She’s waiting for you in the backyard, right now. Allison knows I was speaking to you first. She’ll wait for you to come out there.”
“Okay, but first I need to tell you something as well.”
“What is it?”
“You and Allison scare me, in more ways than one. You can both kill without hesitation. I’m also getting more and more jealous of Allison all the time. She’s smart and brave and pretty, not to mention that she will be young forever.”
