Vincent opens the door and is greeted by Ruger, who jumps up on Vincent’s chest in excitement. “Hey, boy. How was your day? Was it as fucked up as mine?” Vincent pets him on the head. He walks over to the window and opens the blinds.
“What the hell?” A large LED billboard across the street now has a large picture of Lester III. “When the hell did they put this guy’s picture up?”
Ruger walks up to the window and looks out.
Vincent looks down and Ruger. “Well…I guess he makes a good poster-child…right, boy?”
Vincent sits down on the couch and turns on the television. He sees a news anchor speaking about Lester III. He quickly changes the channel. The next channel shows Lester III speaking in front of thousands of people who are cheering for him. The headline reads, “Breaking News: one world united.”
The news anchor comments, “Ladies and gentlemen…let’s listen in on William Lester speaking of a new one-world government.”
Lester III stands behind a podium, waving both hands over his head at thousands of people who are cheering for him.
“Thank you. Thank you. After countless years of war, world economic collapse, innocent people suffering, starving, and dying…I said to myself, when will this all end? When will one of these great world leaders or politicians step up and end all this? You see…I was born a common person just like every single one of you. Just like all of you, I had faith that someday, one of these people would step up and end all of this, but no one did. Some people would even pray to God, asking him to help them and help the suffering people of the world. But those people quickly learned that their God does not exist. But do you know who does exist? I exist…William Lester III exists.”
The crowd erupts in cheers. Lester III puts his hands up, signaling the crowd to quiet down.
“You see, my people, I was just like you, hoping and waiting for someone to step up, but that someone never showed up. So I became tired of waiting, and I stepped up, and I ended all these problems. I have brought peace and ended suffering in this world. You see, my people, I have brought the world together as one. I have created a one-world government, and in one week, we shall all celebrate this historic event in front of the new world government building when it officially opens. Pictures of me shall be posted everywhere, all over the world, so when all of you see my image, it shall remind you that you are all safe and shall live long, peaceful lives. I love all of you, and good night.”
The crowd erupts into cheers. People are hugging each other, and some are so moved by Lester III’s speech, they are in tears.
Lester III waves to the crowd and walks offstage. He turns toward the crowd one last time before he exits the stage. The TV camera zooms in to gets a close-up of his face.
Vincent stares at the TV and into Lester III’s eyes. He falls into a daze and is drawn closer and closer to Lester III’s eyes. In a split second, Lester III’s eyes become completely black, but then return to normal.
Seeing this snaps Vincent out of his daze. He quickly grabs the TV remote control and turns off the TV. He shakes his head quickly then leans back on his couch. He takes in a deep breath and then exhales. He looks over at Ruger.
“What the fuck is wrong with me? I’ve been seeing the craziest shit lately. I think I’m losing it.”
Vincent walks over to a large bookcase and moves it over to the right. Hidden behind it is a very large safe. Vincent types in a code and the safe unlocks. Vincent grabs the handle to open the safe, but he doesn’t open the door.
“What the fuck am I thinking?” He quickly types in the code and relocks the safe. “Come on, boy, I’m tired. Let’s get some sleep.”
Vincent lies down in his bed and closes his eyes. He suddenly feels very uncomfortable, as if he is lying on cement. He opens his eyes and quickly sits up. He is confused and realizes that he is no longer in his bedroom. He’s in the middle of a downtown city street.
He stands up and looks around. He sees no one. It is cold and a thick layer of fog makes it difficult to see more than 20 feet in front of him. He cautiously walks down the street, looking around in all directions.
Vincent suddenly stops because he hears what sounds like a horse walking on the cement in the distance. He notices the fog in front of him is beginning to dissipate. He can barely see what appears to be a white horse that is standing 50 feet in front of him. It also appears that someone is sitting on the horse.
Vincent squints his eyes to focus and shouts out, “Hello, who’s there?” There is no response. The sound of the horse’s breathing is very loud. Vincent begins walking toward the horse and rider. “Hey, what’s going on? Where is everyone?”
Without warning, the man riding the horse yells, “Heya!” The horse begins running full speed toward Vincent. The horse charges at him so fast, he barely has time to react. At the very last second, Vincent dives out of the horse’s way and avoids being trampled.
Vincent sits up and looks at the horse, which is very bold and beautiful. It has silky-white hair and is decorated in gold clothes. The horse’s rider is dressed in very shiny silver and gold armor.
Vincent stands up and says, “Who the fuck are you?” He tries to take a step toward the horse, but he can’t move. He looks down and notices that both of his feet are embedded into the concrete. “What the hell.” He tries to pull and wiggle his feet free, but he is trapped.
The rider removes his helmet. Vincent is shocked to see that the rider is Lester III. Lester III smiles and draws out a sword that hangs from his hip. The sword is very clean and shiny. The handle is made of gold.
Lester III’s eyes turn completely black as he laughs. He holds the sword straight up over his head with his right arm. He swings the sword down on Vincent’s neck.
Vincent closes his eyes and screams, “Nooooo!”
***
When he opens his eyes, he realizes that he is back in his bed. He is sweating profusely and quickly jumps up.
“Holy shit, I can’t take this shit anymore.” After taking several deep breaths, Vincent calms down and lies back down. He looks over at his alarm clock. “Shit, I have to be at work in two hours.”
He closes his eyes and eventually falls asleep.
It’s been a few years
Vincent is awakened by the ringing of his cell phone. He looks at the caller ID that shows “unknown.” Vincent answers the phone. “Hello?”
A female voice replies, “Hello. Is this Vincent Cain?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Emily Atkins, I’m a hospice nurse. One of my patient’s names is Samuel Cain. He says that he’s your father, but I’m looking over his paperwork and there is no one listed as next to kin. Are you his son?”
“Well…yeah, I guess biologically he is my father. What can I do for you, Emily?”
“Ok, well…he’s been asking for you. He’s not doing well, Mr. Cain. I really think you need to come down to his home. We can’t find any other family members.”
Vincent sits up in his bed and wipes his face with his hand.
“Hello? Mr. Cain…are you there?”
“Um, yeah…I’m here. Ok, I’ll be there within the hour.”
Vincent gets dressed and heads over to his father’s house. He knocks on the front door to the ranch style home. He looks around as he waits for an answer at the door.
Then something grabs Vincent’s attention. He sees a white dove that is sitting on the tree branch of a tree that is in the front yard of his father’s home.
The front door opens and Vincent turns toward the door. A heavy-set white woman wearing white nurse’s scrubs asks, “You must be Vincent?”
“Yes, hi…I’m Vincent Cain, Samuel’s son.”
“Hello Vincent, please come in. I’m Emily. We spoke over the phone earlier. Before I take you to his room, I want to talk to you in the living room fir
st.”
Vincent nods his head and says “Yeah…sure.”
“Can I offer you something to drink?”
“Look, Emily. I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t have much time, so can you please tell me why you called me here?”
“Well, for the past several days, your father has been having very bad nightmares. Also the other nurses and I will hear him talking to someone, and when we go into his room to see who he’s talking to, no one is there. When I ask him who he’s talking to, he says he thinks they are angels.”
“Ok, so…again, why did you call me?” Vincent asks.
“Vincent, when was the last time you saw your father?”
“It’s been a few years.”
“Ok, well, he never mentioned you until about three days ago, and he has been demanding to see you ever since. I and the other nurses did a lot of research and finally found you. We thought because of his condition, he made you up in his mind. But something inside me believed that you existed. Ok, follow me, I’ll take you to him.”
Vincent follows Emily down a hallway to a closed door. Emily turns to him and says, “Vincent, I don’t think your father has much time left, so whatever happened between you two in the past should be dealt with.”
Vincent shakes his head. “Emily, you don’t know this man like I do. His head is harder than steel.”
Emily opens the door and steps aside so Vincent can enter the room. His father, Samuel, is lying in a hospital-style bed. Samuel is 72 years old, but because of his illness looks to be 90 years old. He is skinny and frail. He is hooked up to several monitors and some type of breathing apparatus.
Emily says to Vincent, “I’ll be right outside if you need me,’’ and closes the door.
Samuel looks at Vincent and motions for him to sit down in a chair next to his bed. Vincent sits down and looks around the room, feeling very awkward and uncomfortable. Samuel pulls his breathing mask off and speaks with a very faint voice. “Hello Vincent.”
“Hello, Samuel. Long time no see.”
“Yes…long time, son.”
“Why did you call for me?”
“You’re right—enough of this bullshit. I have been hiding a secret for several years, and just until a few days ago, I never realized what I’ve been hiding.” Samuel places the mask back over his mouth and takes several deep breaths.
Vincent shakes his head. “And what might this secret be?”
Samuel removes the mask and says, “Well…I have to show you something first.”
“Ok, and what is it that you need to show me?”
“I need you to go down into the basement. Grab the sledgehammer in my tool room…then go over to the wall where there is a picture of your mother and me. Behind the picture is an ‘X’ on the wall. Bust a hole in the wall, and you will find a leather binder. Do not open it—just bring it to me.”
Vincent laughs and stands up. “Are you fucking serious right now?”
Samuel grabs Vincent’s left wrist and takes a deep breath. “I’m very fucking serious.” He stares into his son’s eyes.
Vincent takes off his leather jacket and skullcap hat. “Well, I guess I’m gonna get a workout in, so I won’t need to wear all this. I don’t feel like working up a sweat.”
“What about the gloves?” Samuel points to Vincent’s hands.
“No, these don’t come off for anything.”
Vincent walks out of the room feeling angry and says to himself, “What the fuck. This is fucking bullshit. Why the fuck did I come here.”
Vincent walks into the living room and sees Emily sitting on the couch, reading from a tablet computer.
“Emily, can you tell me where the basement is? Samuel wants me to get something for him.”
“Yes, go through the kitchen, it’s the first door on the right.”
“Great, thank you.”
Vincent makes his way through the kitchen and opens the basement door. He looks down at the old wooden staircase and cautiously walks down the stairs. The wooden stairs creak with every step he takes. He gets to the bottom of the stairs and looks around.
The basement is dark, cold, and damp. It smells of mold and mildew. Vincent enters the tool room, grabs the sledgehammer, and slings it over his shoulder.
Vincent looks around at the walls and finds the picture of his parents. He removes the picture from the wall and sets it aside. A white “X” marks where the picture was hanging. The area appears to have been patched up some time ago.
Vincent positions himself in a firm stance. He violently swings the sledgehammer at the “X” and breaks a hole in the wall. Looking through the small hole in the wall, he can see the binder.
In a whisper, he says, “One more good one should do it.” He cocks back the sledgehammer and swings at the wall, breaking a large piece of the wall. As Vincent sets the sledgehammer down, he hears Emily calling from the top of the basement stairs.
“Mr. Cain, are you ok?”
“Ah, yeah…yeah, I’m fine. I just dropped something.”
Vincent reaches into the hole and pulls out the leather binder. He blows off the dust and wipes off the debris. Tucking the binder under his left arm like a football, he walks back up the stairs.
As he walks through the kitchen, he passes by Emily. “Mr. Cain, what was that noise? I heard two loud bangs.”
Vincent quickly walks toward Samuel’s room. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He walks into Samuel’s room and closes the door behind him. He lays the binder on Samuel’s lap. “Here’s you go. Now you mind telling my why that was hidden in your basement wall?”
Samuel removes his breathing mask and replies in a soft-spoken voice. “What I’m about to tell you can get us killed, but I’m already dead so it really doesn’t matter to me. In 2003, I was assigned my last case as a CIA agent. I was in charge of leading a small team of men from the CIA and Special Forces to find weapons of mass destruction while in Iraq.”
“A small team? Wouldn’t it take several thousand men for something like that?”
“Yes, or so you would think. We were given location after location, but we never found any weapons. In November of ’04, we were given a location in the Saladin Province north of Baghdad. This mission was different from the rest. I was told by my boss that for this mission, two other men were coming with me, and that I was not in charge— they were. I wasn’t even introduced to these guys; the men just told me where we were going. They took us out to what appeared to be an archaeological dig site. They lead me to a hole in the ground and told the rest of the team to wait outside as the three of us entered.”
Samuel places the oxygen mask to his face and takes several deep breaths.
“It was very weird. They walked through this cave as if they knew exactly where to go. We ended up in a large room that was loaded with ancient artifacts. They told me to wait at the entrance as they looked around. They didn’t give a shit about the ancient artifacts—they just pushed them out of the way and broke a bunch of things. I asked them what were they looking for because there obviously weren’t any WMDs, but they just ignored me and continued to look around. After about fifteen minutes or so, they found a locked box that one of the men pried open with his knife. I heard one of them say, ‘There’s only two, there should be five.’ The man pulled out what looked like two pages of very old paper and carefully placed them in a protective leather binder. The men quickly exited the room and told me to follow them out of the cave. I got into the same vehicle with the two guys and quickly left the area to head back to our base. Just as we got back onto the road, one of the guys told the other one to call the base and let them know they got the package.”
Samuel begins to cough heavily. Vincent asks, “You need some water or something?”
“No, no, I need to finish what I have to tell you. So…just before the guy could make the call, our vehicle was hit by an I.E.D. I was knocked unconscious
. The next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of the wreckage by an Arab man. I lay on the ground in extreme pain. When I started to regain consciousness, I focused on the Arab man. I remember him being very tall and his gown was a very bright white. I’ve never seen material so white before. It seemed to be glowing.
“He kneeled beside me, smiled, and put his hand on my chest. As soon as he touched me, all my pain instantly went away. He placed the leather binder that had the papers in them on my chest and said, ‘Samuel, take this and keep it with you as a secret.’”
“I asked him what it was and he said, ‘It holds the answer that your government seeks about a weapon. They must never see these pages. You must keep this secret safe with you until you are called upon to reveal its secret.’ I asked him who was I supposed to reveal this secret to and when. The Arab man smiled and said, ‘a messenger will be sent to you. At that time, you will be told to whom you shall reveal this secret.’”
“I sat up and looked around. I noticed that both of our vehicles had been hit by the I.E.D. and my entire team had been killed. At that moment, I realized that this Arab man knew my name—even though I never told him my name. When I turned back around to question him, he was gone. It was like he vanished into thin air.”
Vincent thinks, Man…that sounds familiar. “Ok, so what does this story have to do with me?”
“I want you to open the binder. There are two pages. They are very, very old, so be careful with them.”
Vincent opens the binder and carefully removes the pages. “What are these?” he asks.
“Vincent, look very carefully…what do you see?”
He looks at both pages side by side. “Well, in this one…it looks like a guy holding what looks like a sword in one hand, and in front of him is a guy with long hair that has a large snake wrapped around him. There’s also a bunch of weird writing underneath the picture.”
“Look closely at the man with the sword. Look at his body. What does it look like?”
“It looks like some markings. War paint, maybe?”
Samuel coughs. “Or tattoos?”
“Yeah, that could be tattoos. Looking at this second page, it looks like the guy with the sword is swinging it at the guy with long hair, and it looks like there’s a bunch of people standing around watching.”