Agent finds a Warrior Read online

  Groaning I rubbed at my eyes savagely for a moment.

  “Get a grip on yourself Elon! This can never be!” I said warning myself of the temptation that could not be warded off, but seemed to press in all around me.

  I stepped out of the bathroom shirtless and headed for the AC unit in the window at the far end of the room. Maybe a liberal use of the AC would help me cool down and stop sweating so much. I doubted that it would do much good for my other problem though, but one could always hope.

  I heard a gasp, as I walked by Maria already dressed sitting on her bed, but I kept walking. I knew how extremely well-built physically I was and how pleasing I was to a woman’s eyes, but I knew that wasn’t what had Maria gasping.

  The cold air was refreshing against my hot skin.

  I felt Maria’s presence before I felt her hand touch my back. Her fingers were cool against the roughed up skin of my back. Although cool to the senses her fingers had the impact of a branding iron upon my tensed up nerves.

  By way of explanation I said, “I was a galley slave once, actually twice. Once during Roman times and then later at the hands of Barbary Pirates.”

  I knew I was stroking her imagination needlessly so and I prepared myself for her barrage of questions, but no questions came. Curious, I turned around to see her and was surprised to see her standing there crying of all things.

  This was so not the Maria I knew from before, as a hard edged agent of the Agency!

  The Maria from before had never showed emotion. What had changed in her since then?

  I watched her hand drift out across space to touch my stomach and then lift upwards toward my chest. Her features were twisted in a sort of grim anguish, as if she was feeling the remembered pain of the scars that I was covered in. Then to my sudden startlement I realized that in a small way, even unknown to her it would seem, that she was accessing my memories!

  How was she doing that?

  She wasn’t seeing specific memory, but instead just remembered emotion. Painful emotion.

  I swallowed and captured her wondering hand, as my mind lit up at the possibilities of her having such a gift. Was it a gift or had something been Divinely imparted to her?

  Did she have this ability with everyone or just me?

  Her eyes rose to mine and I said, “Maria the pain was felt once, but now it’s over and done with so don’t dredge it back up.”

  She glanced back down her eyes still silently crying.

  Her free hand came up and touched one of my bullet hole scars, “This one had to hit your liver!” She said incredulously.

  “Went straight through it actually. It was very painful and hard to recover from.”

  “Impossible to recover from!” She exclaimed searching my eyes deeply, even as unbelievably I felt her thoughts begin to probe into mine.

  “Maria I am not immortal. I can die. I’ve been blessed not too time and time again, but I am as fully human as anyone else alive today is. My body’s cellular structure has been kept from corruption unlike the rest of humanity, much the same as your life has been extended and your aging process halted.”

  Maria was shaking her head, “Why? I have lived and suffered so little in comparison to you and I’m tired of it! I have to fight with not pulling the trigger on myself or stepping into the path of the bullet all the time! How have you suffered all this and kept your sanity? I feel half crazy with the need to just have peace, because I don’t want to experience any more pain! I’m tired of pain! I’m tired of seeing everyone I care for die! I’m tired of being alone! How do you do it Elon?”

  She was crying in her hysteria, as sobs shook her body hard. How could I not try to comfort her? My arms came around her and I pulled her head to my chest, even as she shook hard with the force of her emotion.

  I waited until she quieted down and then I sensed when she wanted free. I let her back, but I held onto her shoulders, as I gazed into her watery eyes.

  “I’ve felt as you do. I understand, but I have given up what I can’t understand to fulfill the purpose my Creator has for me. I don’t focus on understanding, at least I try not to. I focused on doing what God has next for me to accomplish and the journey of my life goes on and I experience peace knowing that my life lines up with God’s will and He keeps me healthy, sane, and even willingly eager to continue doing good for the Kingdom of God. The peace I’ve experienced in my journey can be yours too Maria.”

  “I don’t think I’m made of the same material that you are Elon.” Maria said softly.

  “Don’t underestimate yourself Maria. I know I certainly have underestimated you. I’m nothing special Maria. I’m created of God and maintained by God. All I have supplied to the equation is my will to choose. I have chosen the path God set out for me and I have been faithful to keep to it and He has done with me according to His will. He can do the same with you if you’re willing to let Him. Now let’s go get some dinner.”

  I turned her and pushed her towards the door, as I grabbed up a shirt along the way.

  This softer and completely unexpected side of Maria was fast undoing every mental block I had set up to halt my growing infatuation with her. She had a far richer personality than I had ever imagined. Why was God exposing me to this woman, when He full well knew what a temptation she was to me not just in the physical, but now also in all the emotional planes of my consciousness?

  “God help me!” I whispered.

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing.”

  Chapter Two

  Disciplined

  Maria ate her meal hungrily, but she watched Elon throughout her meal closely. He was a mystery and yet it was as if she suddenly knew him better than any other man before in her life. Everything she learned built a picture of a man that became more and more desirable to her with every passing second.

  Was she already falling for him?

  Wasn’t she supposed to do exactly that?

  She resisted where her thoughts were taking her. She abruptly stopped her mind wondering, as she mentally traced back over what Elon had said in their room. Was she truly choosing God’s will for her life by resisting what she knew God wanted of her in concern to Elon?

  It was hard to think of herself as a gift to be given away to someone. The independent and in control of her life way she had lived bridled at the submissive quality of the action required of her.

  What about her?

  Didn’t what she want out of life count?

  “Who are you to question My will for your life? Did you fashion yourself out of the dust of the ground? Did you give yourself breath that you could so selfishly consider your ways higher than Mine? Your thoughts more wise than Mine? Behold I have spoken into existence all things that are and those things that are yet to come. Who are you to question the purpose for which I have fashioned you? I require an answer!”

  Maria’s fork clattered to the table, as the greatest and most terrible fear that she had ever known coursed through her entire being at the feeling of her Maker’s words emblazoning their way across all corners of her consciousness. She jolted away from the table.

  “Maria!”

  She ignored Elon’s concerned call out to her and ducked into the first door she could find, which happened to be the men’s restroom. She was beyond caring.

  Maria barely made it to the sink where she heaved up everything in her stomach sure in the knowledge that she was in the process of dying. She wanted to apologize though before she did die.

  “I’m sorry!!! I’m so sorry! I……”

  “I heard you the first time. You’re forgiven.”

  Maria started to apologize again feeling as if she should continue begging for mercy, but the voice of authority spoke a tenant of wisdom into her that she hadn’t known before, “Do not continue to apologize for a sin that has been forgiven by My Son’s redemptive act of sacrifice on the cross or else you will declare His sacrifice to have been in vain.”

  Maria bit back her words and sobb
ed against the edge of the sink.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I quickly stepped into the restroom only to behold Maria sobbing against the sink halfway to her knees, as several men stood around looking helpless as to what to do in the situation. The men’s eyes traced over to me and I gestured toward the door behind me and roughly said, “Get out!

  My tone and manner were not nice and the men practically tripped over each other in their haste to vacate the restroom. I came up behind Maria and pulled her up more onto her feet, as I turned the faucet on to wash away her vomit. It didn’t smell nice, but it was a mild thing in comparison to the sights and experiences that I’d had before in life.

  The poor girl was shaking to death. This was so not the Maria I had thought I had known. I pulled her hair back and leaning over I got a paper towel, which I got wet and started to mop at her face with.

  She glanced up briefly into the mirror to meet my eyes, “Thank you.”

  She was becoming more aware of her surroundings again and with that progression came embarrassment. Maria was a proud woman, who prided herself on control and this whole scene was abjectly nightmarish in terms of embarrassment.

  “Terrifying isn’t it?” I said only loud enough to be heard over the running of the water faucet.

  She glanced back up into the mirror as her mind left the thought of how embarrassed she should be for a moment. “What?” She asked.

  I elaborated, “To be chastised, disciplined, heavenly spanked if you will.”

  Her corresponding shiver was answer enough to my question.

  I held up a palm full of water to her mouth for her to wash her mouth out even as I said, “A thing to remember in this moment is that no matter how scared you are God still loves you.”

  She spit the water out and looked up her eyes miserable looking in their reflection from the mirror, “I made Him angry! I……”

  “His anger passes quickly and yes even though angry He loves you still.” I said consolingly as I rubbed her back softly.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because just like a parent, who truly loves their child will discipline their child when he’s done something wrong, He disciplined you. It is a pattern of love that bears witness to how God lovingly admonishes those of us who believe in Him. When He stops disciplining you is when you should be truly afraid.”

  Maria looked up, “I don’t ever want to make Him angry again! It felt…….”

  “Like the glue holding you together was removed for a moment.” I inter-joined softly.

  “Yes!” Then Maria asked, “You’ve been disciplined?”

  “I’m far from perfect Maria and I’ve had longer than most to make mistakes. I’m living proof of God’s enduring mercy.”

  I gave her a little more room, as she started to mess around with her hair.

  “Out of curiosity what is it that you’re having a hard time with in concern to God? Can I help in some way?”

  Her eyes flashed to mine, “I uhh…… I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you, because it concerns you.” She managed to stutter out looking very uncomfortable.

  I held up my hands, “If you don’t feel released from God to share that is perfectly fine. Any allegiance to me is subservient to any direction you have from God.”

  She looked relieved at my words and I couldn’t but help wonder what God had tasked her with in concern to me.

  “Now how do you feel?” I asked.

  “Like a fool.”

  “Well by that very statement you prove you are not a fool, by the way of simply stating that a true fool wouldn’t think to wonder whether or not she was a fool or not. See the logic?”

  A hint of a smile lightened up Maria’s face briefly, as I attempted to coax her into a better frame of mind.

  “Now that we’ve determined that you are most definitely not a fool is there something I can do for you?”

  Her hands twisted together, “I’m hungry again.”

  I glanced toward the sink feeling sorry for her. It was my opinion that throwing up never gets any better no matter how long you live.

  “But of course you are! How does pizza sound?”

  “Wonderful!”

  I made my way to the door and she took several steps after me before stopping. I saw it all take place then on her face. She was imagining how terrible her exit from the hotel dining room must’ve looked, only to then run into the men’s restroom.

  Both of those occurrences paled in comparison to then walking out of the men’s room with a man after a considerable period of duration inside. She was helpless to put words to it, but the imploring look she gave me said it all.

  I reached up and tore the cover off the fire alarm and then I jammed it on. Alarms erupted throughout the hotel, as Maria’s mouth fell open in shock.

  Grinning at her I said, “This is a first for me! Come on, I bet you’ve always wanted to do that?”

  Her mouth moved wordlessly and I held up a finger, “Shhh. You might lie and get spanked again.”

  Her mouth abruptly closed.

  I went to the door and opened it a crack, as Maria came to an anxious fret beside me, “What about security cameras? They’ll track us back to our room! They’ll know it was us!”

  “Curious thing about security cameras and me. They don’t work when I’m around.”

  I pulled the door open and escorted Maria out into the scene of pandemonium taking place within the hotel. People rushed all around highly agitated, the last thing on their minds being the woman who had dashed into the men’s restroom.

  By the time I reached the street I was laughing hard. I caught Maria looking at me enigmatically and I sobered up in a Peloponnesian moment.

  “What?” I asked defensively.

  “I’ve never heard you laugh. You have a very nice laugh. I like it.”

  I was quite positive that I’d never had my laugh complemented before and I really didn’t know what to say in reply. Vaguely I pointed off to the right, “Pizza’s this way.”

  She reached out to me to grasp my hand briefly, “Thank you for getting me out of there, with a little pride left intact.”

  I nodded and then we headed up the street towards the glowing sign of a pizza parlor.

  Chapter Three

  Story Time

  I only had a little of the pizza, while I watched her devour the majority of it. She was quiet and pensive looking as she ate. She looked like she needed cheering up. I glanced at a clock above us, there was enough time.

  I leaned forward across the table and engagingly asked, “Want to hear a story?”

  Her eyes lifted to mine and I saw curiosity gleam brightly in the smoky brown depths of them, “What kind of a story?” She asked slowly as interest lightened up her downcast features.

  She really was a gorgeous woman. I was getting myself in deeper, but there was no hope for it.

  “I know many stories. Come up with a sub genre type story and I’ll try to pick one out for you.”

  Her eyes now positively glowed, “For real?” She asked excitedly.

  I nodded thinking again to myself how different Maria was from whom I thought she had been.

  “Hmmm, I want something old and Robin Hoodish.”

  I put my elbows on the table and leaned forward conspiratorially toward her and watched her eyes get big. I began my tale, “Our story began a very long time ago in a kingdom that has since been swallowed up by the sea. The kingdom of Artaxoriana was a prosperous one ruled over by a wise king. It was a tumultuous time in the world, where small kingdoms fell all the time, but such was not the case for Artaxoriana. Since its inception by its king it was a place of well-run order, for her king adhered to the old ways and was just and righteous. For 300 years this king ruled and governed his people well. Time caught up to him and he made plans for his departure from this life to the next. He wanted all of his children to be left with something. He had several wives and had accumulated over the years in
excess of 100 children. He planned to give something of value to all of them. The youngest son fearing that his inheritance and position of prominence would be least of all, chose instead, to ask his father for his blessing to leave the kingdom and venture out and make his own way and be prosperous on his own terms. All he asked his father for was his blessing. His father gave him his blessing and the son left, but he didn’t get far. Two days later traveling along the seacoast he was picked up by pirates and turned into a galley slave. The king died and the son he appointed to rule in his stead was murdered by some of his brother’s who ransacked the kingdom. Many atrocities were committed. Four brothers by one of the old king’s wives rose to the forefront and eliminated all the other sons of the king as well as his daughters, who they abused horribly before they let them die. The brothers mother came of a different belief than the old kings had been and she had warped her sons with the unclean tenets of her faith in the dark arts. She believed her blood was of pure divine origin. They went so far as to keep the purity of their blood that all four brothers jointly married their one sister. The kingdom was thrown into ruin and chaos. Outlying towns were raided and traders left off trading with the kingdom, because of how they were treated by the ruling brothers and their sister. Several kingdoms banded together to attack Artaxoriana in order to end the rule of the brothers, who were bringing instability and economic loss to the whole region. The attack failed and the other kingdoms were brought under harsh submission. Help for the situation came from an unlikely source. Pirates. Without the heavy trading income, which brought trade ships for the pirates to prey upon they had no rich game anymore, because of the four brothers harsh mismanagement of the kingdom and of the surrounding kingdoms. The youngest son managed to escape the life of a galley slave to become a pirate in order to save his life. He was as his father had been and soon the pirates of the galley looked to him as their leader. Instead of attacking what few remaining trade ships were left they protected them in exchange for enough to get by on. The youngest son had a bigger idea though. He took the initiative to solicit other pirate ships to do the same. He even married a pirate queen in the process. Instead of just protecting the remaining trade ships that made their way around the surrounding kingdoms they began to use the pirate galleys as trade vessels as well. They aided the surrounding kingdoms to build back up in this way for which in return the youngest son asked only that food be given to the starving people of Artaxoriana by the surrounding kingdoms. They did so and as news spread that a son of the wise king yet lived the people rose up and the army switched sides and heralded the arrival of the youngest son of the old king at the head of a motley band of pirates turned kingdom savers, with his beautiful pirate queen by his side. The four brothers and their sister were removed from power and within fifty years the prosperity of the kingdom was restored aided by the pirates that now protected the trade routes themselves, who in turn were made fabulously wealthy by the protection tariffs that they charged. There you go, was that Robin Hood enough for you?” I asked, as I leaned back into my seat and away from the table.