Interlude

Chapter 26  (13+) The assassin attacks. #2039856 by Hyperiongate

Interlude

From a strangely high and quiet perch, Jack watched as Rudolfo crawled down the corridor. There was no emotional attachment to the scene. No fear or hate of the assassin that had left him for dead downstairs. There was only the observing.

Rudolfo, thought Jack. That is Rudolfo.

Newly curious, he reached down towards the wounded man crawling down the hallway; wanting to interact, to savor the experience of life. Jack could sense the complexity and thus, the beauty that made up the essences of Rudolfo. The draw to interact, to experience, was overwhelming for Jack. Then, an emotional tug pulled him through the wall and into a room where a woman stood behind a uniformed man; a soldier. He watched in silence as the play acted out the final scene. The marine fell back from the door. Rudolfo entered and grabbed Lise. A moment later it was over.

Jack ignored everything else but the woman. She was important to him somehow. The memory of her was just out of reach. He felt no sorrow in the fact that she was dead. Rather, he fell the warmth of overwhelming love as she rose up to meld with him. They flew into the afterlife as one; drinking in the experience of complete and unbounded love.

He remembered her now. He remembered the brief time they’d spent together recently. But there was more; much more. Their entwinement of experiences stretched back into infinity and forward into whatever they chose for themselves. Neither had ever been happier or more complete.

Then it came to a sudden end. They were back in the hospital, now over Jack’s inert body.

“Jack, you need to go back,” Lise said to him in unspoken words.

“Why?” he asked, knowing in an instant that she was right.

The response was a warm wash of unconditional love.

Then, “Jack, you have more work to do; work you have chosen to do.”

Jack found himself floating over his dead body. “Interesting,” he thought; sidetracked by the sight of people running over to see if they could help. There was much ado and then he felt the jolt. His life was pulling him back.

For a moment, he hesitated. He could feel the infinite love of the Beyond as well as the complexity of life to which he was about to return.

As he became more and more Jack, he began to feel guilt; an emotion that didn’t exist elsewhere.

“Lise, I’m so sorry,” he said to the fading sense of Her. “I let you down. I was supposed to protect you. I was supposed to be there for you.”

“No, my love,” she responded, “You were not meant to be there for me. I was meant to be there for you. I am here for you now. I will always be with you. Remember this as you are needed. There is a message that you must protect. A message that must not be silenced. A message that the world must hear.”

“And after that? Will we be together again?” Jack asked; already forgetting that he’d already seen the answer only moments earlier.

“Yes, Jack. After that…”

Life pulled him back with an insistence he could not resist. It pulled him back into a body that was badly damaged and would no doubt be racked with pain. He could feel the path of least resistance pulling him the other way; towards Lise who was slowly floating back away from him.

He felt her send him one last burst of her love for him and then she was gone.

The first gasp of air was followed by the most intense paid he’d ever known.

“We have a pulse. Let’s get him to the ER stat!” said a voice from outside of his peripheral vision. Jack didn’t bother to look around. He knew where he was and what had happened. He just wanted it to be different; knowing that it never would.

Lise was gone and for some reason, he was not allowed to go with her. At least not yet.

Ten minutes later, Colonel Lanier arrived in a helicopter that had plucked him from the side of the road outside of Reno. It was the fastest way to get to the site. It also carried a dozen, first responders that would evaluate and clean up the mess.

JD11 was alive. That was unexpected.

Jack Barton was apparently severely injured. Rudolfo was dead, by the hand of a nursing assistant that just happened to be carrying a large handgun in her purse. The entire contingent of marines had been wiped out. They were the best of the best, but today, they had not been good enough. Lanier would make sure they were properly remembered.

But for now, there was much to do; to cover up.

JD11 needed to be taken out of the picture. If those that sent Rudolfo suspected that he had failed, they would certainly try again, and again.

He issued orders quickly and they were carried out with precision.

Jack, had slipped into a coma and remained behind at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Annie stayed close to him; as per JD11’s instructions.

“Jack will need you. Stay with him until I send for the both of you,” he’d said as he as carried away on a stretcher.

The headlines in the paper read, “Fanatic attacks hospital and kills patient.” The story that followed mentioned none of the details but rather wove a tale that ended with the deaths of a deranged and anonymous attacker, one of the hospital’s top doctors, and a patient from the burn unit who was the apparent target of the attack.

Chapter 27  (13+) JD11 and Colonel Lanier get to know each other better #2040376 by Hyperiongate