The Beginning Of Rain In December

by Law, Josephine

  She got up, cleaned and wiped down the room, packed her items and left well in the darkness, leaving a short note for the inn keepers that she had a family emergency and had to leave. When she was packed in her car, she stilled her mind, driving until reaching a gas station and there she brought matches, filled up a container of gasoline and drove off, deep into the desert for many hours until dawn began.

  Once the deep darkness turned into the shimmering gray, did she pull onto the side of the road and climbed on top of her car, facing east, the look of the first break of sunlight, bathed in blues, lavenders, oranges, reds so all-encompassing beautiful she smiled in delight, her thoughts on what she was about to do pushed into the furthest reaches of her mind. She simply enjoyed the startling beauty of dawn’s first light, the glorious sunrise, how the night was pushed away, fleeing from the light. Night and morning. Cold and heat.

  She got back into her car, began ascending up a mountain off the road to the edge of a cliff. She got out the car, lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply and stared over the cliff where the drop off was at least five hundred feet inside a dry ravine, only home to reptiles and the occasional flash flood. She pulled her duffle bag out of the car, doused the car with gasoline and set it on fire, watched as it roared briefly before settling into an intense fire.

  She sat upon the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling over the rocks, watching a small lizard sun itself in the new morning heat a few feet from her body. The smell of the burning car behind her was stifling, hot yet she did not move, simply stared at ravine hundreds of feet beneath her. Hopefully, she prayed the animals would eat her body and her bones be scattered until nothing of her would be left. Nothing except the memories of others.

  She thought of Belle, Mark, their children. The happy innocence of the babies faces, how they were so quick to hug, kiss, be loved. She thought of her faceless parents who perhaps had loved her. She thought of those that had raped and brutalized her as a young child and eased their memories away. She thought of Enlai, his smile, the touch of him. She lastly thought of the child beating beneath her heart beat, the people who would hunt for the small baby, those that would stop at nothing to hunt for her, to create a race of people that should not ever exist.

  One last thought, the touch of the sunlight upon her face, asking for forgiveness for what she was about to do and she jumped.

  The wind tore across from her face, it went so fast, a mere blinking of her eye, she closed her eyes as the earth raced to her, once again asking for forgiveness and met her fate.

  “We got a lead,” Song said, as he met Enlai at the American Embassy as they sequestered in a room, speaking with John.

  “What is it?” John said over the laptop as he, the President of the United States and the head of the FBI sat at the Oval Office.

  “A janitor’s son,” Song said wryly. “The janitor has been dead for nearly thirty years…suspiciously. The son appears to be involved in government conspiracy antics. He lives in London, has ties to a revolutionary regime possibly the Taliban. More of an overthrow of the government.”

  “What happened to the janitor?” The President asked.

  “Stray bullet during a bank robbery. But no money was taken.” Enlai added. He kept his face neutral, light. Only Song knew of his involvement with Rain, he aimed to keep it that way.

  “Suspicious indeed,” John added. “And how about Ms. Rule?” He asked. “Any word?”

  “None,” Enlai said. “But we found her once and we can find her again. This time when we do John, make sure she stays found,” he bit out tightly.

  John drew tight lipped at the reprimand. The President had cursed him out sufficiently, he didn’t need this agent doing as such again. “Keep to your orders, agent,” he bit tightly, but they all knew, he’d allowed her to escape, she had been under his watch. There was no excuse for his actions.

  Enlai’s jaw tightened but Song gave him a warning look before interrupting the two. “We are bringing him in for interrogation in twenty four hundred hours.” He said.

  “Good,” the President said. “Extract every single bit of information from him and once you do…make sure he is not found again.”

  “Yes sir,” Song said before discontinuing the conference call, shutting down the state of the art laptop.

  Enlai stood about to say something before a voice within his head exploded, he cried out, the pain unbearable, one of fear, darkness, terror, cries for help. He moaned, holding his head in anguish before slumping over in unconsciousness.

  “Enlai!” Song said, reaching his brother in a split second, catching his heavy body easily and easing him onto the floor. “Enlai,” he said, cradling his brother as he watched sweat pour from him in rivulets, unresponsive.

  He checked his brothers’ pulse, it was erratic. He laid him on the floor, his hands warming, hovering over his brother.

  “No…Song,” Enlai said, his voice weak, filled with pain. “I am…” he began, his head hurt as he bent over, cradling his upper body on shaking arms. He was nauseated and bit back bile rising quickly in his throat.

  “What is wrong, brother?” Song said.

  “I,” he began, but could not say more, his head hurt too much. He had never been in such intense pain. “Something happened…I don’t know,” he said. “Get me something to settle my stomach and something for my head,” he said.

  Song did immediately returning in the room in a few moments with bottled water, a ginger ale and some extra strength Tylenol.

  Enlai took the pills immediately, drowned down the ginger ale, his headache receding slightly, as he leaned against the edge of the desk.

  “What happened?” Song asked.

  “I have to go, now. You’re going to have to interrogate him on his own, I have to get back to America, immediately.”

  “Now?” Song asked incredulously. “What the hell are you doing, Enlai? We are on assignment.”

  “Do what you need to do, Song,” Enlai said, before picking up his suitcase. “I will return in three days.”

  Enlai flew to the Colorado immediately. Once there he rented a car and began driving south, with no direction, just knowing he had to get to Santa Fe, urgently.

  He drove without stopping for four hours until he had to stop to refill the tank, using cash at an old mom and pop store with no security cameras. From there, he continued until he turned on a deserted Santa Fe highway, driving without aimlessly but there was something leading him without words, without thought. He had to go.

  He drove for two more hours, before he looked up from his car, there were vultures high in the sky circling something off road, he took the faint trail until his car could not go any further, pulling off his suit jacket and tie in the desert heat. He ran through the dry underbrush, ignoring all reason until he stumbled down the side of a dry hill, skidding to a stop and finding her.

  She lay peaceful, still, not a scratch or mar upon her, there was a snake two feet from her heel that he kicked so hard it sailed nearly twenty feet in the air before hitting a sharp rock, stunned. The few ravens that had been next to she flew upon his movements. He didn’t know how long that she had been there, only that it had been five hours since he had left London, since his head felt as if it was about to explode.

  He checked for a pulse, found one strong and steady and lifted her in his arms gingerly, finding a less steep way back to his car less than ½ a mile away.

  She didn’t move, he settled her into the back seat, laid his jacket over her and started the car, kicking up a trail of dust as he drove away. He found a small hotel about fifteen miles away in a small town west of Santa fee, paid for a room and took her into it, she was still unconscious and had not moved.

  He went into the small, outdated bathroom, rinsing out a cold hand towel and returned to the dimly lit room.

  “I thought of the baby,” her voice said.

  He paused before meeting her at the bed, her eyes were still closed, but she was awake. “What happened?” He asked sittin
g next to her and placing the cold towel on top of her forehead.

  “It has a conscious, already, the baby. It knew what I was doing, I jumped off a cliff,” she said, pulling the towel off of her face to stare at him.

  “No, Rain, why did you do that?” He asked.

  “So that this…this unknown future will not occur. The baby, it was frightened, so scared, I heard it cry out in my head, it cried to you, for help, I stopped, I stopped myself mid-air, just seconds away from my death because it’s fear was so strong, so frightening. My head hurt so badly, I dropped just a few feet unto to the ground, all went dark. And I woke, here, with you.”

  His mind tried to grasp at what was occurring, he stood, opening the blinds of the lone window just slightly to stare outside the pool, there were three children in it, playing innocently, a tired looking couple overseeing their actions as they sat upon plastic lounge chairs. “It was the child in my head, the child that drew me to you?” He finally asked.

  “It was not me,” Rain returned softly. She sat up slowly, her head pain, for it could not rightfully be called a headache had receded, there was still a small dull, ache. She bent over dejected, her elbows on her thighs, her arms hanging loosely between her legs. “It was my intent to end it all, not because I wanted to die, Enlai, I don’t want to die. But to keep the government from creating…a new world order. I don’t want to commit suicide, Enlai. But how do I live with myself when I know my life will mean the end of everything as we know it?” She asked. “Enlai…” she said.

  “Don’t even think it,” he commanded, turning towards her. “You are in my head now. Don’t ask me to do that. Don’t you ever ask me to do such a thing.”

  “Please, Enlai,” she begged. “Please.”

  “Never. No, I will figure out a way, we will stay safe. I will protect you. The future as you see it will not occur. It will not. From the second I heard the voice of our child, the fear, its’ innocence in my head, I made my decision. I am yours, I will protect you, and I will keep you and our child until I die. Do you understand? The decision is out of my hands now; it is out of your hands. I never believed in fate or destiny or God or anything except my loyalty to my country but now…now, there is only fate and only destiny and only God and only you. Do you understand, nothing else for me exists? You are my loyalty; I gave my oath to God if I was to find you and if you were alive.”

  “Enlai, we will never be normal. We will never live behind a white picket fence, drop our child off to school, attend PTA meetings, go to church, shop at a store freely. That will never be. They will stop at nothing to hunt me down. And now you. They will kill you. I am not worth your life.”

  “No more, Rain, do you understand?” He said anger in his voice, cold hard determination. “No more of this talk of death. We will see the birth of our child and I will see the government in hell before they experiment on you or the babe. Do you understand this?” He bit out. There was no remorse within him for what he was to do, to turn his back on his country for the woman he loved, his child. His destiny was at hand, as was hers. There would be no turning back.

  “I understand,” she finally said.

  “I am taking you to a safe place only Song and I know about. I must return to London. You are not to leave where I take you. You are not to question. I know you can read my thoughts, do as you please so that you trust me to keep you safe. Do you understand?” He asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Okay, I’m going to pick up some supplies.” He pulled out a gun from the back of his waist band and laid it on the nightstand next to her. “Shoot first, ask questions later,” he commanded.

  She nodded. He softened; she looked so scared, frightened, alone. He pulled her up and she instantly wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tightly while he hugged her back, rubbing her consolingly. “It is meant to be, Rain. I wanted this. Our child wanted this. You shall see, once you get over the fear. Stop fighting it. I am here.”

  She nodded and he pulled away. “I will be back in two hours. Don’t answer the door.”

  And with that he left the room.

  She took a shower when he left, used the hotel amenities to shampoo her hair, wash her face and brush her teeth. She moisturized her body but kept the towel on and sat on the edge of the chair, closing the blinds to the room and turned on the television, needing mindless entertainment to still the emotions within her.

  Enlai returned exactly two hours later. He had her duffle bag in his hands and two other duffle bags and a fast food bag. “How are you?” He asked, as he stared at her beautiful, brown creamy skin, barely hid by the short towel. Her hair lay in waves and curls around her body, she looked refreshed, calmer.

  “Better,” she admitted, standing. “What did you bring?” She asked.

  He locked the door behind himself. “Guns, supplies, clothes for you, food.” He began, placing the items on the table next to her recently vacated chair. “Milk…prenatal vitamins.” He said.

  She nodded, both still in shock, she was pregnant and the baby was already making its presence known. “When do we go to the…safe house?”

  “Check out five in the morning. You need to rest, a real sleep. It’ll take about eight hours to get there by car.”

  “Where?”

  “Utah.”

  She nodded again and began placing the food out on the table, opening water bottles and the prenatal vitamins that she took, washing it down with water. Opening a bag of clothing were jeans, underwear, plain black t-shirts and a jacket for her. She also found hygiene products; lotions, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, Vaseline, facial cleansers, hair bands, hair conditioners, lip gloss, mascara.

  “These are all my products I usually use,” she said.

  “Like I said, you are in my head now,” he admitted.

  “You can read my thoughts?” She asked.

  “No…it’s just, when I was at the store, it was as if I was being led to certain items.”

  “Oh. I should get dressed.” She said, pulling out the clothes.

  “Or I should get undressed,” he returned, still in his slacks, white dress shirt, he had a shoulder holster, the gleam of his gun in the dim light taunting both of them.

  Smiling, she felt young and old, happy and sad. “That would be better.” She returned.

  He smiled, pulling her into his arms and once again she felt safe, complete, and secure. He kissed her softly and then more and more deeply as she responded in kind.

  “I need a shower,” he admitted against her lips.

  “I’ll help,” she returned.

  They made their way to the safe house at five in the morning, she should be sleepy but was not, she felt settled and watched as he drove with precision, the car cutting through the darkness in silence.

  “Sometimes, I think that I am dreaming, this is just a long, involved dream. That I will wake up back in Seattle, go to work, meet up with Belle for lunch.”

  “Was Belle your only friend? Your only close friend?” He asked.

  “Yes, why?” She returned.

  “She’s in danger.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I know the agency, I am a part of the agency. They will take her and the family and bargain with you. Their lives for yours. I just don’t know when they will become that desperate, but it will happen soon.”

  “How can I stop this?”

  “Can you…can you go inside her mind, as you did mine, appear before her? I know she is being watched,” he said. “They will have no qualms about killing her, her husband or their children.”

  “Why, why do you work for these evil people?” She exclaimed her heart breaking at the thought of anything happening to her friends.

  “The agency has changed. We were there, we did this job to protect the country. At all costs. For the past two years there has been a fine, gray line that keeps getting continually crossed. The agency is not what it used to be. More and more of our own citizens are being treated as the ene
my. This is all to change the course of history. The United States wishes to be seen as more than just a super power but as a world dominating power. They perceive this dream of perfect living, a utopian society, but to have this utopian society they must destroy our basic human rights, bring everyone into subjection. That is where you start…Lebna told the agency all that he knew, not only about his experiments building weapons of war unlike anything ever seen before but also about his wife’s experiments, with you. She worked for years perfecting the human genome, human DNA. Then she began her true experiments on your mother and you. Your mother thought she was just receiving prenatal care from her mother in law. She was trusting.