Agent on the Run (The Agents for Good)

by Stanton III, Guy

  I checked April’s eyes again to make sure I wasn’t scaring her, only to see that I was having quite the opposite effect on her. One of the best sights I’d ever seen in my life was seeing her laying there with a look of open desire for me in a pile of white lace and fancy beadwork.

  She’d have to wait though, because I needed to catch my breath.

  “I’ll finish ravishing you in a moment, but right now I need to sit down.” I turned and sat heavily down onto the side of the bed still panting from my experience with the stairs.

  April came up behind me on her knees and started kissing the side of my face, “Oh you’re so strong!” She said in a silly tone, but I felt my masculine ego swell up anyway.

  Her hands came around my front and gripped my soaked shirt and ripped hard tearing the shirt completely off of my chest.

  “Hey! I’m the one that does the ripping!” I exclaimed.

  She just laughed and finished ripping my torn sleeves off.

  Impudent woman!

  Heck I needed a shower before I started anything.

  Her thoughts invaded mine, “No you don’t! You smell manly.”

  That did it!

  I turned reaching for her, “Time to rip you out of that dress sweetheart!”

  April danced back out of reach across the big bed and hotly responded, “They’ll be no ripping of this dress buddy! My daughter is going to wear this someday!”

  Alright, for that I could make an exception, even in the impassioned state of arousal that I was in, “Alright fine!” I said, as my hands found her. “But when I get through with these rows of impossibly tiny buttons and this creation of silk and lace is lying in a puddle on the floor whatever else you have on is getting ripped off!”

  “Oh yeah?” April teased.

  “Yeah!” I reiterated loudly and she giggled again.

  Oh for the love of mercy what was up with these stupid buttons!

  “What’s the deal with these stupid tiny buttons? Why would you make something so hard to get off? Don’t they know men have to remove these things?”

  April was laughing uncontrollablely now, but I was really starting to get frustrated!

  She glanced back over one half bare shoulder her eyes full of sensual mirth, “Oh how I love you honey!”

  I stopped my mind numbing task completely frustrated with the tiny buttons, “I love you too honey, but this is getting……”

  “Honey?” She said cutting my whining off.

  “What?”

  “Buttons can be sewn back on.”

  Rip!

  “I hope you know you’re going to be picking up every last one of those buttons!” April exclaimed, as buttons pinged throughout the room like the shrapnel from a spent grenade.

  “Later!”

  April’s happy laughter trailed out of her reflecting the inner joy that she felt inside, as her husband freed her of the rest of what separated her from enjoying what God had created to be specially shared just between her and her husband. It was a gift of pleasurable union from humanities Creator that too few ever thank Him enough for.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Last Wish

  Three months later.

  Chantry smiled into the warm rays of the morning sun beating down on him, as Maria pushed him through the flower gardens. He opened his eyes and had to blink for a moment to focus his eyes against the brightness of the sun. He pointed at one of his favorite flowers and Maria needed no other indication of interest.

  Maria stopped and she stepped forward past Chantry and up into the landscape planting bed to pick the particular flower that she knew Chantry was partial to. She snapped it off cleanly, while admiring the beauty of the flower for herself before returning to Chantry.

  Chantry was smiling, only his eyes were closed and Maria knew her master had left her.

  She’d told herself that she was ready for this moment, but she wasn’t. Tears slipped down her face in abandon, as she knelt down before the man, who had given to her so generously and had been a friend to her, a place of calm surety in the storm that was her strange life.

  He’d given her purpose or better put something meaningful to do to pass what seemed like the endless time of her bitter life. He’d helped her not to be so bitter and it had been good to have someone to please, who had responded with kind praise and adoration that befitted that of a loving grandfather.

  Maria was still no closer to a solution as to what she was to do now. Looking up into the bright morning sky she sobbed, “Oh God please help me!”

  It was the first time she’d called out to God in a very long time.

  She had nothing. Nothing but a life of aimlessly drifting through and around people without being seen or being of much use to anyone.

  Her eyes focused on the flower in her hands. Chantry had given her a priceless gift. He’d given her a home and a family. She’d grown so used to it that she’d forgotten how it was to be alone, but it was coming back to her in bitter waves that felt like they were choking her.

  She raised the flower up that was covered in her tears to Chantry’s lap to place it there beside his hand. Her eyes focused on something that already lay there. In Chantry’s one hand a piece of paper was clutched as if he’d been handing it to someone. Maria’s eyes rose to Chantry’s face, he had known when he’d sent her for the flower that it had been going to be his last moment.

  Maria tenderly pulled the paper free and gave a sob when she saw it was addressed to her, “Darling Maria please stop crying, because I know you are. There is nothing sad about this moment for either me or you. I have gone on to a better place and I have been given it to know that your future is secure. So please do not mourn anymore. The future before you is exciting and I press upon you to live it to the fullest! I have one last assignment for you to fulfill. At my gravesite burial, after everyone else has left I want you to remain! This is very important! Do not leave, for any reason, as then I cannot guarantee the path of your future will yet be a secure one. You may be old enough in terms of time to have been my grandmother, but over these past few years you’ve been like the daughter to me that I never had. Thank you! Over and out, Chantry.”

  Maria had never stopped crying and she didn’t now. She folded the wet paper up and then laid her head down on Chantry’s lap, “Your final wish is my command master.”

  As ceremonies go for those who have departed the realm of mortality Chantry’s was different. Different in a way that ever great man’s should be, but so rarely are.

  There were over 5000 people in attendance, within the small confines of the cemetery.

  The crowd consisted of a diverse makeup. Forty heads of state from nations around the world were present. A who’s who of those involved in the dealings of world politics, not to mention several underworld connections helped fill out the rest of the mixed multitude. And then there were just the ordinary people that Chantry had impacted the fruit of his many philanthropic endeavors.

  Of a truth 5000 people was far too few in attendance, as the entire populations of countries and the world at large owed Chantry a debt of gratitude for his many efforts in the pursuit of justice and freedom.

  More significant than the group that was gathered was the aura that filled the outdoor setting in which all those in attendance keenly felt. This man they honored hadn’t been an ordinary man in the traditional sense, because he through his effort of will and strength of faith had far outlived the experiences and endeavors of just an ordinary man.

  Chantry’s life and what it had stood for was an ideal for those who had viewed it unfold to try harder themselves to press into the straight and narrow path of life and faith that Chantry had poured his existence into accomplishing in the time given him. This man had been blessed by and kept of God and there was no denying the heavenly presence in the atmosphere that was accompanied by an air of peace beyond comprehension, which made the whole parting ceremony more one of joy than of mourning, b
ecause here was a man who’d gotten it right in life and entered the next with his best foot forward.

  He’d poured out his life for others in the pursuit to please his Savior and he’d been given more than was ordinary to receive in return because of it. To those with faith in God it is given to know that what joy was felt over one man’s life in the surrounding assembly paled in comparison to the joy already being expressed in heaven over the life of one righteous man, who’d fought hell and his own weaknesses to keep the faith entrusted to him and run the race well that had been set out before him before time had ever even begun.

  Through it all Maria stood at the forefront of the gathering in attendance with those closest to Chantry, his agents for good. The assembly broke up after the two-hour event in which many expressed how they had known the man and had been touched by his life. Many lingered around talking and reminiscing for several more hours, but as the evening shadows grew darker they too left, until all that remained were Maria and Tyre at the gravesite.

  Tyre had already sent his family back to the hotel earlier and he would have been there with them now, if he hadn’t felt so burdened to help Maria cope with Chantry’s passing. She’d spoken to no one, but she’d quietly stood there as still as a statue for hours on end.

  When everyone else had finally gone she’d left her spot by the headstone to go over and kneel beside the fresh dirt of the grave strewn with flowers. It was autumn and the chill of the evening was upon the land.

  “Maria?” Tyre asked.

  She looked up at him and he said, “Maria it’s time to go.”

  She shook her head no and went back to gazing at the grave before her.

  He wanted to say more, but he felt a nudge in his soul not to so he kept his words inside. He slipped off his coat and settled it down onto her shoulders and then he spread his vest across her lap.

  “Thank you Tyre.” Maria said softly.

  Tyre nodded and left the graveyard, inwardly very unhappy to let his actions to help her stop at just loaning her his coat, but that was all the compelling nudge from within seemed to want him to accomplish. So he bit his lip and walked away.

  Maria looked up and watched Tyre go. She was so grateful for Tyre’s coat and vest. They helped, but she was already chilled.

  Shivering she clutched Tyre’s coat tight about her, but it wasn’t enough. It was going to be a long night.

  Tyre lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling. Anna stirred and lifted her head up from her husband’s chest, “Can’t you sleep honey?” She asked sleepily.

  He shook his head no.

  Anna sat up some, “You’re worried about Maria?”

  He nodded.

  “You don’t think she’s still out there do you?”

  He nodded.

  Anna glanced out the dark window and shivered involuntarily at the cold dark look of it. Tyre glanced at the clock; it was a little past 3 AM.

  “I can’t take it any longer!” Tyre said slipping out of the bed and quickly throwing some clothes on.

  Before he left the room he turned to Anna and said, “I’ll be back.”

  Anna nodded, as she proudly watched the love of her life from the bed. Her husband was a good man.

  Tyre went to the door and started to open it, but it wouldn’t move. He checked to see if the locks were off, they were, but the door still wouldn’t move. Not so much as to even budge.

  Anna came up behind Tyre her voice full of concern, “Is it stuck? Should I call the front desk?”

  Tyre’s forehead rested against the door in defeat, “No, it will open in the morning, when it’s time. Go back to bed. I’ll be there in a moment.”

  The door did unlock at 6 AM just as the sun was coming up. Tyre, who’d been sitting in a chair in front of it was through the door and down the hall within moments of it unlocking.

  Maria wasn’t sure it was real at first, but the warmth didn’t lie. The styrofoam cup of coffee in her hands was real. It tasted real and it helped restore her sluggish senses somewhat.

  “Maria why are you doing this?”

  Maria glanced to the side, as she put the gift of the warm coffee and Tyre together.

  “Chantry told me to.” She managed to stutter out.

  She was so cold!

  “Chantry told you to wait by his grave! Why would he do that?” Tyre exclaimed.

  “I don’t know, but don’t you dare try to stop me!”

  “No that point has already been made clear to me. Do you need anything?” Tyre asked with evident concern.

  She needed a lot of things like more warmth, but she let it go unsaid and shook her head no.

  “Thank you Tyre you’ve been a real friend, but you should go be with your family now.”

  “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”

  Maria shook her head and reluctantly Tyre left.

  Thankfully the sun was coming up. Maybe it would warm her like it had so very long ago, when she had been alone in the desert after having just lost everything.

  Bitter tears welled up in her eyes, as she was forced to remember her past once more and still the overlying thought that came through it all was that all this suffering and her reason for still being alive was her father’s fault. Why had God had to listen to him? Why?

  She could have been peacefully dead if it weren’t for her father’s dying wish!

  Chapter Seventeen

  Purposeful Journey

  Tyre stopped at the edge of the cemetery and looked back at the still figure hunched over the fresh gravesite. In desperation Tyre glanced up at the sky and asked, “God isn’t there something more than giving her coffee that I can do?”

  On a sudden inspiration he pulled his phone out of his pocket and accessed his contacts to stare at the number he’d never called. He pushed call and held the phone to his ear to wait as it rang.

  “How can I help you Tyre?”

  “I don’t need help Elon, but there’s a problem that does and it concerns Maria.”

  There was a telling pause on the line, “What’s going on?”

  “She won’t leave Chantry’s gravesite. She was out there all night and this morning she was half frozen. I’d move her by force, but something in my spirit says it’s not my place to so can you please help? I don’t know how well you know Maria, but if Chantry told her to stay then she will until she’s dead!”

  There was an even longer pause on the line, “I’ll come and deal with it, but it will take me a while to get there.”

  Tyre felt a wave of relief course through him and oddly he felt released from his part in the situation. He turned away and headed back to have breakfast with his family trusting that everything would go well with his friend Maria.

  The day actually got warm and it helped return warmth to Maria’s stiff body, but that was all it did. She was so thirsty and her nose had begun to run what precious fluid she did have away. Doing something like this was hard enough without getting sick!

  Oh well, guess it went with the territory of odd last requests, she acknowledged to herself.

  Towards afternoon distant rumbling began near the horizon. An hour later the skies opened up and rain poured down. Cold rain.

  Maria was drenched to the skin and shivering before even darkness had come. Her teeth rattled so hard that her jaw hurt, as she hunched over herself her soaked hair falling free to drag in the mud of the grave.

  She’d been pressed to the breaking point and she fell over the edge and started to laugh hysterically, as the cold rain beat down on her driving all sense of reality from her. A twisted form of elation rose within her, as she self realized that she’d be dead in only a few more short hours of this kind of exposure to the elements.

  This had been Chantry’s last gift to her!

  She’d been too much of a coward to do it herself, but Chantry had done it for her. It would all be over soon. She faltered from consciousness and pitched over into the mud of the gr
ave that all the flowers had been washed off of.

  The rain poured down and the storm thundered heavily. Lightning flashed brightly lighting up the cemetery of engraved stones to reveal the silhouette of a man that came to stand on the opposite side of Chantry’s grave from Maria.

  More lightning strikes illuminated the scene, as the man in black went around the muddy grave and knelt down beside Maria to feel for a pulse.

  It was barely there, Elon acknowledged to himself bitterly. He could leave her here and she would be gone by the time the sun came up, along with the problem that she represented to him. He thought about it for a moment.

  He knew she welcomed the release of death. Her body wasn’t even trying to fight to survive. She’d given up. It was time to go.

  Elon stood up, only to hear her hack on muddy water that was pouring off the gravesite into her open mouth. Elon fought the urge to turn her face away from the water. It would be best for all parties to just walk away.

  He turned and started off, when she hacked on the muddy water again. He stopped.

  He just couldn’t walk away despite all the trouble he knew she would bring him. He turned back and pulled Maria’s face out of the mud.

  Half sitting her up he scooped her sodden weight up into his arms and started out of the cemetery swiftly, as the steady pouring rain began to wash the mud from off Maria’s face and hair. Up ahead after ten minutes of brisk walking through the dark soggy landscape was the white glow of lights. He headed for them.

  It was a secluded open air metro rail station. The only shelter to be had were the glass enclosed booths outfitted with benches illuminated by a security halogen light overhead. It was all Elon needed. The deserted privacy of the place would be suitable for what needed to be done.