Without Wrath (Harbinger of Change Book 3)

by Timothy Jon Reynolds

  Melvin held the door as he made his way out of the boardroom and through the work cubicles. Soon they were outside, and as soon as Melvin let him into the limo and they drove off, Robert had a mini-nervous breakdown. He was gently talked back in off the ledge by this supposedly average man he was quickly finding out was anything but.

  * * *

  Jan was yelling at him to stop, but of course he wouldn’t, he just kept right on climbing up and saying, “It’s okay, don’t worry.” According to Jan, Matt always had to go find some form of danger to get into. She had to pretend she was not stressing as that would freak out their four-year-old son, but she was still stressing nonetheless.

  Matt found a man who dealt in cash as he had taken a sizable amount out in Mexico City. Then after just one day, they rented a car and left Cancún, Matt finding a new place to stay about a hundred kilometers up the peninsula. The further they got away from Cancún, the more sparsely populated it had become and when he turned down a deserted dirt path, Jan was sure they were never going to come out alive. They went a mile or so until they cleared the jungle and the road opened up onto this amazing white sand beach, the shoreline of which was littered with small cottages, most of which had docks.

  Matt had rented one with a dock, but as they had no boat, they spent the last couple of days on the beach, sitting on the dock, and staring at the soft white puffs the waves made as they hit the reef. Jan was still learning about her man. Yes, she knew him, but when you do new things together for the first time, it always opens doors of enlightenment of one another. Sometimes it was no more than cracks a hairs width wide, but it was in that place that one saw into the true soul of one’s soul mate. What kind of parent were they, how thoughtful of a person were they, and what kind of lover.

  The last thought brought her a blush because Matt was really on his game the night before. If one spent enough time with another, there was no hiding who they really were, and she was sure that this Vera, the woman who had her spell on his mind, never got to see this side of her man because she believed with total conviction that Matt would have never shown it to her.

  The days were too wonderful to be true, except for when her son and her were intermittently struck with horror and pride as daddy climbed the cliff or snorkeled all the way out to the reef, which looked to be a quarter of a mile or so. That day they sat and worried for an hour, and when he got back they both told him not to do that again. Jon Jon was still a little touchy about daddy going away, even though he wasn’t making permanent memories when Matt was gone, he still had separation anxiety as a result.

  So after that Matt stayed closer and spent time introducing his son to swimming lessons off the dock. That was their routine until today. Today they traveled to the ancient ruin of Tulum, a Pre-Columbian Mayan walled city that had been a major port, sitting on the edge of a cliff. It was very close to where they were staying. They took the tour, but they didn’t pay; instead they just waited for a bus and blended in.

  Matt loathed tour buses more than anything and several days earlier he’d used one as an example to his family on how thinking like a sheep could lead one to missing so much or worse, as the world almost found out by following a madman—a madman who would have brought more destruction than any person in the history of the world.

  The day of the lesson they went to Xel Ha Park and for the first time Jan was in awe of what he’d taught her. Sure, he’d taught her things in the past, but she saw for the first time that he’d past her up, that she needed to tap into the experiences of a man who had a great book to write one day.

  Ever since she’d known Matt, all he did was talk about snorkeling in Cancún any time a discussion about the ocean came up. He’d wanted her to see it so bad for so long. He would fill her head with stories and one of them took place in Xel Ha. Xel Ha was the world’s largest natural aquarium, a natural harbor that hosted more fish than one could imagine. One could see them right away by just standing on the edge of the water.

  He had been diving there years before and found this mushroom shaped rock out in the middle of the harbor. When he’d held his breath and went down he found this whole species of bright green fish that were backed up against the rock, hundreds of them. It was just such a spectacle of nature that he had retold the story a few times over the years they were together. Now was his chance to show her, along with their four-year-old in tow.

  Of course, once Matt got an idea or wanted something, it was going to happen or there would be no rest. His answer was to take off for an hour while his wife and son ate lunch and looked at iguanas and simply buy a life vest and a small inflatable raft/boat for his son. When he returned, he taught Jan how to snorkel in the shallow water nearest the first cove. There were so many fish right there, it was breathtaking and Jan was hooked. Snorkeling was a quick learn for her as she was a very strong swimmer having played water polo in high school. Once she had it down, they practiced close to shore with Jon Jon in the boat.

  He stayed put as instructed, plus one of them was up top with him at all times, they weren’t stupid. Once it was a go they slowly just swam out and started looking for his story. The one thing about her husband that always blew her away was his memory and sense of direction, he was rarely lost and once he had been somewhere even one time, he was going to be able to find his way back, even if years stood between the experience. In less time than she could believe he found the rock and dove down only to come up thirty seconds later like a kid in a candy store announcing “they’re still here!”

  She got her turn as he stayed with the excited boy and sure enough, according to Jan, it sure was a spectacle of nature. “So beautiful” she announced. They each went down a few more times.

  Even though they were explaining it to Jon, he was feeling left out so Matt had an idea. They went back to shore and he left them and went to a tourist shop. A few minutes later he returned with a disposable underwater camera. Swimming back out alone, he dove down and took pictures for his son.

  Soon they were tired, it had been a long day. They all lay on the shore soaking in one of the most amazing days they’d ever had.

  Then the day’s lesson rolled up to a halt and gave a big hiss. The door flew open and it gave way to the “Tour Group.” These people were not equipped to go into the water, so Matt surmised that this was just a pit stop for them. There were pathways that led up to the mouth of the harbor. The path itself was a tropical bouquet of indigenous life and flora that was by itself worthy of admiration, a place that deserved a nod just for its natural beauty and aesthetics.

  Instead, the group that got out dispersed in different directions with a grumble. Then, this sixty-something couple from Oklahoma, Matt was pretty sure, wandered up, looked out over Xel Ha and exclaimed in their signature twang, “Why in the heck did we stop here for? There’s nothing here to look at.”

  Matt and his family politely waited until they’d left and then they made sure they dissected this proclamation made in front of them because it meant so much. In the second it took them to make that statement, one of the small fissures into their souls revealed man’s biggest threat to his continued existence. Himself. It also revealed and personified the fact that life was about perspectives and the perspectives of the ignorant were terrifying in ways that would continue to reveal themselves and destroy humanity for future kind. They vowed then and there to never be, “Those People.”

  Now that she had thought about it, Jan hated tour buses just as much as Matt, but the bus tour guy at Tulum had information about the place that they wanted to hear. When they had heard enough about the temple, they broke off from the group.

  Before his cliff climbing adventure, they’d decided to stay and check out the beach below the ruin. As they were walking down to the beach they saw one group of sheep coming and one loading onto their respective buses. Matt observed that it was good times in the sheep hauling business.

  As it turned out, there was a popular European beach below and Jan was able to go t
opless and that made her happy. That was until the incredible blondes giggled when Matt walked by them on the way to water, their twenty-year old breasts acting like they had helium in them. That put a damper on her spirits a little until he played it off that he hadn’t even noticed them. Of course, he caved while under interrogation later, but it was sweet of him to pretend.

  Of course, interrogating him was really pointless if he wanted to lie; yet maybe something in his psyche made him unable to lie to her. She was going to have to get used to that, as he really had changed everything about himself in order to survive, even his body, so now she would never really be able to tell when he was lying—or at least not one hundred percent.

  Of course, with Matt, everything had to be an adventure, which was why she was worried about him right now, as one minute he was splashing with Jon Jon and the next she was pleading with him to come back down as he saw a cave half way up the ruin cliff and just “had” to go there. Was he addicted to this type of behavior? Men like that rarely lived or stayed faithful, and it worried her. It didn’t take long to get a list of the recent men who had died going through her head. Great. Something new to worry about.

  The water was actually pounding the bottom of the cliff, so Matt had to climb up at the sand and shimmy over to get a straight climb to where he was, but once he got going it was an easy climb to the cave. He was on the beach looking up when he’d noticed a single palm tree had grown on the cliff face. He almost missed that it was covering up a secret, but once he saw it had a secret to reveal, he wouldn’t stop until he unraveled it. She loved and hated that about him; and felt that their future was super-uncertain right now because of his impulsive nature.

  But in reality, only the future of his employment was in peril, their love was as solid as could be. The last few days had sprouted several bouts of intense lovemaking.

  When they got to the beach house, Jan was amazed that it was so beautifully decorated inside. The whole house was done in Spanish tile with very modern furnishings. Jan truly loved the sunken living room, as it received the setting sun through a stained glass western facing window and it cast the most cathartic glow on the room, especially when enjoyed with sangria.

  One of the things that excited her—and angered her at the same time—was that her man had been gone for two years with another woman. And when he came back, he was minus all his baby fat and was experienced in things he was not before. He had a six-pack now, and she felt like she was cheating with another man sometimes. It didn’t help that he had new moves as well, things that he did now that he had not done before.

  Like the first day she got Jon down for his nap and she tried to make her way into the sunken living room. He blocked her path and the match up of his face and her pelvis were met with a vigor she had never encountered with him before. Her toes literally grabbed the tile step so hard she thought she was going to crack it. So it both excited and angered her as she tried not to think of the things this Vera had brought out in him that she had failed to.

  Then she reasoned that if she would have had the time she would have brought all this out too, but she was robbed of the opportunity. She tried to not let the past eat away at her because he was hers now and no one was ever going to get between them again. He made his way down the cliff from the cave and smiled that stupid smile of the idiot who can’t help himself. That garnered him a solid punch in the arm, she was never going to stop being “that Jan” when he needed it.

  Jon Jon was super excited, however, at how cool his dad was. But then he proceeded to lie to the poor kid and tell him that he used to be “Spiderman,” but had retired when he became a dad. His kid was so thrilled at that he almost split open; and then he made his own path to healing, and it was amazing. Even though he didn’t actually remember Matt’s absence, he must have remembered the sadness it brought Jan, which then caused some sort of an instinctual animosity for his dad. So it was with cathartic relief that he asked, “Is that why you were gone from us, because you were being Spiderman?”

  Matt wasn’t as up on children’s psychology as he should have been, but he knew the right answer for his son at that moment, “Yes, son, that’s exactly what I was doing. I was Spiderman, fighting the bad guys.” That somehow meant so much to the boy that the lie had to be told and Jan looked at her man with new eyes. This time she saw through another crack in his facade, but this one was not a hairs width, this one she could stick her head through.

  They went back to the house and fell asleep, just like the day they went to Xel Ha, except that day when they woke up from their nap, she was alone with Jon Jon. Not five minutes later, she was sure that she had the best man there could be. He had not napped, but instead traveled an hour to find a place where he could get some one-hour photos done, and then make it back just as they were waking up. Jon Jon was so happy to see the photos of what he had missed. What a magical day both were, but her favorite was today because Matt was able to give his son an explanation of his absence in a way that worked for his developing mind.

  The night before Matt had told Jan that sadly they would have to go back sometime.

  Two weeks later, they forced themselves back on a plane and returned to Seattle, although for the life of them, they could not figure out why? Matt had decided to leave TJAC and take the CIA analyst job that was and always would be open for him.

  Of course, they could have just stayed. They had plenty of money so she was sure that wasn’t going to be a stumbling block. Hell, Matt could write a memoir and they would never have to work again. She wondered if they had stayed if she would have ever become sick of the perfect life.

  Time flew by so quickly that it wouldn’t have mattered if they were there for a day or weeks, it all felt like a day in the end. Her long sought out life in paradise ending far too quickly. She was happy about the CIA job—at least she knew whom he’d be working for—and that they for sure were working for the good old US of A.

  They would have to move to the East Coast now, of course, but according to Matt, they had a power-couple friend right off the bat in Ray Callahan and his wife, Kim, the President’s Chief of Staff. Looks like they were going from snorkeling in the ocean to snorkeling in a shark tank.

  They had talked about so much over this last month and she knew Matt was everything she could have ever wanted in a man. Her life had been a rollercoaster for long enough and she was glad he was doing the sensible thing. As the plane pulled up and they were about to leave behind a piece of time she never wanted to end, she turned her head as she was starting to cry.

  When life got this good, one just wanted to freeze the moment and keep it forever, for one knew that soon it would just be a memory and memories slipped way with time. Plus, it was the law of all things—there was no continued joy in the universe. Jan pondered that maybe that was what heaven was, you were allowed to pick the happiest moment of your life and go back and stay there. She would pick this moment, for the last few weeks were as good as her life had ever been. She wiped her tears and turned to see Matt’s misty eyes glued to her, as he knew her all too well. They locked hands and said goodbye to some place very special.

  Matt had traveled under his alias, but Jan hadn’t, she traveled under Jan Holsinger, which was the surname the Government assigned them when they disappeared, which, of course, he realized was also was an alias.

  When they got off the plane at Sea/Tac they were gathering all their carry-on things together when a man they never saw took their picture. It would be a picture that would change the course of their lives in the same sudden fashion as the day he was plunged into infamy in the parking lot of the Stanford Shopping Center a little over three years before. But the Hurst’s were too immersed in joy and elation to have even noticed him, even though he was wearing socks with sandals, khaki shorts, and a Free Tibet t-shirt.

  * * *

  As soon as he walked in he could smell breakfast and knew he was going to be forced to eat. He used to exercise for the fun of it, now he was runn
ing for his life. When he chose a provincial Swiss country girl to be with he hadn’t thought out that part all the way through. They lived in a former Bed and Breakfast that her parents used to run and one had to expect some pretty heavy foods, but Pablo would never have thought he would see what he saw when he got on the scale. He had gained ten pounds!

  After that it was smaller portions and more running. He quickly showered and got to the table as his food was hitting. His Eva believed in timing and food was best-served and eaten with steam coming off of it. He pulled up his computer and was reading a tech blog by a writer he liked in Seattle. It was an interesting article about a group of Americans led by an investor from Philadelphia who designed the Internet game Top of the Heap.

  The investor was going to release his second game as a new concept platform whose underlying premise was a grass roots movement for national economic sustainability. He was about half way through the article when he noticed the profile photos that the writer had taken. Apparently, it was a local Seattle man who had created the premise, a man by the name of Tom Holsinger. Another local Seattle man who was listed on the Board of Directors was Justin Parker, a retired police captain. But Pablo’s interest zeroed in on Tom Holsinger. He swallowed his food hard as he realized just who he was looking at. It was El Diablo himself!

  He took a drink of coffee, realizing he was going to have to leave his Eva home alone once again, but this shouldn’t take too long, especially with his little friend to help. Time to send a message and a helicopter to his little friend. He didn’t know it, but he was a top-notch helicopter pilot, one that Pablo would trust with his life; he just needed some real world practice. He took a hearty bite of eggs, sausage, and toast whilst laughing a maniacally inward laugh, for he wouldn’t have to worry about God’s guidance on this one, the bible was pretty clear on that one. An eye for an eye. It was time to make some travel plans to see an old friend . . .