Pt Four-Six

6

The last of the liquid that had been sustaining Ray through the night went down easily. It had been sitting in the same location beside his keyboard for at least three hours and as he finished it off he wished he had just left it there. Nothing worse then cold coffee, Ray thought to himself as he tossed the paper cup in the waste basket across the room. He brought his eyes back to the computer screen and back to the work that he had been doing through the night. He was just about to crack the final layer of code that use to be the United States defense network system. If there was any chance to get anyone’s attention he had to get past this last wall of code and it was by far the hardest so far.

Ray’s fingers danced over the keyboard, putting several lines of code into the section of the mainframe that needed to be broken. Ray had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency before the disaster had hit the country. He wasn’t a field agent by any means, he was only a pencil pusher, he took care of paper work and other several different things. He occasionally was in charge of monitoring black ops missions and had on several occasions hacked into enemy strongholds so that men behind the enemy lines could have access to it. And now here he was trying to break into what he had been trying to protect all those years. Other countries were not even close to the technology that the united states had in the networking department. The only one that had been at the time was China and maybe even Japan. But America had paid good money to make sure that they had the smartest people in the world working on protecting their systems and it showed.

Layers upon layers of code were laid on top of one another. Just when you thought you were seeing the light and were about to break through another layer would pop up and you would have to find a way through it. Ray had lost count on how many layers he had been through but it was easily in the thousands and he was getting closer and closer to breaking that last little thin line. And he would be rewarded handsomely for his efforts. The leader had already promised him a spot on the staff when everything had settled and that was the only promise he had needed. As Ray was lost in his thoughts his fingers continued to move and at first he didn’t notice the little separate black screen that had popped up and several line of dialog were starting to stretch across it. He looked down and saw it finally and stopped typing realizing what was happening.

He had done it. Someone was talking to him right now over the network. Someone thousands of miles away on the other side of the ocean. Ray didn’t recognize the language right away, he thought it might be Russian, maybe some lower form of it. He picked up the little portable radio that connected him directly to the leader.

“Sir,” Ray spoke into the radio barely able to hold his excitement, “We have contact.”

********

His eyes opened at the sound of the radio. The words that were coming over it began to sink deep into his mind. The contact had been established and he could feel the sensation of the possibilities begin to pulse through his body. His room was completely dark except for two small candles that dimly lit the room. He sat in the middle of it on the floor, various different markings were underneath him. They were from all sorts of different aspects of faith, their was the crescent moon with a star, a pentagram, among many others. He could feel the energy pulsating from them and he could feel it all around him.

He rose from the floor, the dim candle light barely illuminating his naked body. He could see movement out of the corner of his eyes, several different dark shapes with glowing red eyes watched him from the shadows. They were here for him, they were at his disposal but he had no need from any of them right now. He grabbed a robe that was lying on his small single bed that barely got used and wrapped it around his nude frame. He had almost no need for a bed anymore, there was no need for sleep it was a waste of time he only slept when his body could no longer go without it and only then it was only for a couple of hours. There was work to be done and lots of it and pretty soon the real game would start.

He walked to the lone window in his room and opened the curtains and looked out into the early morning light. Something was coming this way, he could feel it and it felt very familiar. He wondered if his master knew anything about this or if he had chosen to keep it from him on purpose. But still, something inside him was stirring and he couldn’t help but be anxious. It was about to begin, he thought to himself just as the radio went off again Ray making sure he got the message. He picked up the radio pushed down the button and spoke into it.

“I’m on my way.”

********

The group separated from each other about three hours after Emily had arrived with the news that she had found a new place for them to call home. A place that they could stay at and probably not have to leave ever again. The people were excited at this prospect and as soon as it had been announced they began to pack their things and readied themselves to head out. The traveler made sure that everyone over the age of twelve received some sort of weapon to defend themselves and a quick tutorial on how to operate it. It wasn’t exactly the best instruction ever but it would have to do until they had more time to explain it in detail. Just as the main group was about to leave Emily came up to the traveler and embraced him in a hug they held each other for a good moment and Emily looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

“Be careful alright.” She said, “The wind moves with you but you are still human.”

“I will try my best to make it back to the group in one piece.” The traveler said with a smile on his face, “I will even bring Marcus along with me.”

“Good,” she said laughing and then stopped suddenly getting serious. “Are you going to leave me without telling me your real name?”

Several different visions filled the travelers head. Visions of people, tragedy and loss and he began to shake his head.

“Someday,” he said, “But now is not the time.”

“I understand,” Emily said nodding, “Whenever you are ready you can tell all of us.”

They embraced one more time and then Emily rushed to the group that was leaving with Luke taking up the rear. He looked back and gave the traveler and Marcus a wave and the two men stood and watched until the group disappeared from their sight.

“So where are we headed?” Marcus asked putting a duffel back across his back and tossing a silencer attachment to the traveler that could be used on the MP5.

“We are going to head North,” the traveler said and then motioned to both his sides. “That is where I feel these two guides at my side are pulling me toward. So we go where they and the wind take us. It hasn’t failed us yet.”

“True.” Marcus said nodding in agreement and then looked back towards the group that just left. “Are we going to see them again?”

“God willing Marcus,” the traveler answered, “God willing.”