Anamnesis ©

Chapter Twenty-One

By Fiction Writer #13

(nosex, sci-fi, paranormal)

“What do you mean the stairwell is blocked?” Broken glass crunched under Donovan’s boots as he spoke to the teams heading up to the forty-second floor. “Get in there now!”

“Yes, Sir.”

As he made his way to the front doors of the hotel he made a quick scan of the surrounding streets.  His men were already in the process of blocking access by erecting barricades.  Drivers who’d stopped to gape at the destruction were being directed to move on; those who refused were forcibly removed from their vehicles and taken away in zip-cuffs.  The quickly approaching first responders would be stopped before they could get much closer, and kept at a distance that guaranteed noninterference.  They’d even instituted a strict “no fly zone” over the city; a temporary measure, but one that would severely hamper Highland International Airport’s “on time” status.

Inside the hotel the managerial staff had been given implicit instruction to proceed with all scheduled events as planned.  There would be no evacuation order given, no fire alarms set ringing; failure of any staff member to comply would result in a one way ticket straight to Gitmo.  Soldiers had taken over the duties of the PBX system, rerouting and blocking phone calls into or out of the building and monitoring all internet traffic.  Those attempting to use their cell phones would find doing so an exercise in futility; poor or no signals, broken connections, and sudden unexplained battery drains would plague all such personal devices.  Even the hotel's satellite television feed had been hijacked and set to broadcast only the national programs; there would be no breaking news reports for the guests on this night.

Two of his men awaited him at the front doors.  As he approached they took over the duties of the hotel’s doormen who had been relieved of their positions.  The lobby of the hotel was in chaos, despite his efforts to minimize panicking the hotel’s occupants.  Those patrons aware of the explosion either by witnessing it first hand or noticing the activity on the street below were desperate to evacuate, but no one was getting out, not if Donovan had anything to do with it.  Any one of them could be the target in disguise.  Magic users knew many tricks, but Donovan had some tricks of his own.

“Fire up the particle generators, I want this building so thick with ‘em you can see them with the naked eye.” He shoved aside a family who’d dared to step in his path. “If this crowd gets too out of hand… gas ‘em, gas ‘em all.  We’ll sort them out later.”

“Sir, we’re breaching the room now.”

Donovan stopped where he was in the midst of the sea of pushing and shoving humanity and looked to a small display located on his forearm.  The video being transmitted was shaky, but that was to be expected from a helmet cam.  After a quick tap of his finger the audio channel switched to ‘open’, allowing him to hear everything that was going on in the room far above.

“Stay where you are!” The view swung wildly as the soldier scanned the room for threats. “The boy is ours!”

“What?” Donovan squinted at the small screen. “Soldier, who are you addressing?”

“Gythe, Sir.” The view steadied enough for Donovan to see the group of armed snake-people standing in a protective posture around their queen. “They were here when we arrived, and they're claiming their right to the target as dictated by the treaty of...”

“Bullshit!” Donovan roared. “Filth like the Gythe have no rights.  Continue with your mission.”

“Yes Sir."

The sound of gunfire filled Donovan’s ear as the little display went black.  Screams, shouts, and the hiss of battling Gythe blended into one as the audio stream crackled.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl.  The Gythe stood firm with their blades dancing with ghostly green fire.  The soldiers spread out, cutting off any escape through the fire exit.  It felt surreal to be in such a predicament, to be relentlessly hunted by soldiers in black and loathed by magic wielding snake-people who wanted to slay him.   He’d never done anything to anyone, in either of his twin lives, but he found himself pinned between two factions who wanted him dead... so much so that they were arguing over which side had the right to do the deed.

“The Nephilim child belongs to the Gythe!  We lay claim to him by right of the New Amsterdam Accords agreed upon by your ancestors.”

Trembling hands slipped into his own; Kayleigh on his right, Tiffany to his left.  He could feel how afraid they were, and yet their firm grip somehow gave him strength.  He found it strange how many people, most of them complete strangers, had been offering him help when he needed it most.  His older sister, Greg, Joe, Nick, James, Kayleigh, and now even Tiffany, a woman he’d met only minutes before, was standing by his side as his would-be executioners closed in from all sides.  Why?  Why would so many be so willing to put their lives on the line for him?  He was nothing, a nobody.  Just some kid who got mixed up in something he didn’t understand.  All he wanted was to find his little sister, nothing more, but it seemed that fate had other plans for him.

“Phoenix recognizes no such treaty.  The boy belongs to us.  Stand down and you will be permitted to leave unmolested.”

Kayleigh squeezed his fingers a little tighter, and he looked up to find her gazing past him to Tiffany.  Rob squeezed Tiff’s fingers as Kay had done to him.  Her eyes glistened in the pink hued light still filtering in from the world outside of the hotel.  A tiny smile formed on her lips when she found Kay looking at her.  Warmth spread throughout Rob.  It was as if their love for one another flowed into him, through him, as if he were a conduit for their emotions, transferring from one to the other.

‘Love,’ thought Rob. ‘Love is why I set out to find Sarah.  Love is why Tiffany and Kay are by my side right now.’

The Gythreal pulsed with light.

‘Love drives us, pushes us to do things we never thought we could do.’

The argument between the Gythe and the soldiers became more heated.

‘Love makes us stronger.’

The swords burned brighter.

‘Love makes us better.’

The soldiers raised their weapons.

‘Love can not be stopped.’

The Gythe warriors began a war cry as they prepared to charge.

‘I won’t let it.’

Pulse rifles charged up with a high pitched whine.

‘We won’t let it.’

Kayleigh and Tiff screamed as the room erupted into battle.  Purple blobs of glowing plasma sizzled through the air as flaming swords arced downward in killing blows.  The world around Robbie blurred as he felt himself falling and the sounds of battle dropped away from him.

Light, dark, light, dark, light, dark… over and over again the two contrasting scenes flickered before his eyes.  Air rushed over him, lifting his hair and shirt, wind whistling in his ears, but not as loud as the two screeching women still tightly clutching his hands.

He was falling… not to the floor as he first thought… but through the floor… through several floors… and he was falling fast.

‘I have to stop!  I have to!’

There was the slightest of perceptible shifts in the flickering just before his back slammed hard against solidity, driving the air out of his lungs and shutting his eyes tight.  The hard surface vanished almost as quickly as it had arrived, replaced by a tickle of butterfly wings within his abdomen.  This curious sensation caused him to reopen his eyes to yet another oddity.  A near perfectly smooth white wall filled his vision and he was rushing towards it.  His mind raced to understand, but before he could figure out if he was still falling, the butterflies flitted out of his stomach and the white wall moved away.

Again his back made contact with something solid, only this time it felt as if it gave a bit.  He sunk into it before springing upwards once again.  The butterflies returned, but in much reduced numbers.  His hands lost their grip, and his two companions slipped free.  His return to the white wall cut short almost as quickly as it had begun and his back touched down again, this time accompanied by the familiar squeak of bed springs.  He lay there breathing heavily, staring blankly at the white surface, waiting for the wild ride to begin anew, but thankfully he remained grounded.

It began with a giggle, but Kay’s laughter soon grew to almost manic proportions, infecting Rob as well.  Neither looked at each other, they were too stunned to move, but their laughter filled the hotel room.  Kay was the first to sit upright on the bed, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked around.

“Oh no, where’s Tiffany?”

“Down here,” came a tiny voice from the floor at the foot of the bed. “I’m okay.”

A fit of giggles threatened to again overtake them, but the loud pop of cracking wood cut it short.  The bed lurched, jostling its two occupants, before the legs finally gave way.  With a crash it collapsed to the floor.

Riotous laughter once again came to them.

“Target lost!  Repeat, target lost!”

The call was crystal clear, but he couldn’t believe it.

“Say again?”

“Target is no longer on the forty-second floor.”

“Do the Gythe have him?”

“Negative Sir, the boy and the two women just vanished.”

That was impossible; the building was being flooded with charged particles which would reveal any being hidden behind the Veil.  There had to be another explanation, a different trick of the Dark Arts at work here.

‘The girl,’ Donovan thought to himself. ‘She could pass through walls.  Perhaps her brother can do the same.’

But how?   He had no training, no education in the ways of magic that he was aware of.  Wild talents didn’t manifest themselves on such a grand scale, so how was it possible?  The boy had revealed two powerful suites in his arsenal so far; the ability to not only hide himself behind the Veil but to bring others with him (including a car, a feat that even practiced Mages would have difficulty maintaining for very long), and the ability to shift his atomic structure to allow passage through solid mass.  Perhaps someone had passed along the knowledge beforehand.  But who?  And when?  The boy had been under surveillance ever since Whelan smuggled him out of the Center.  It didn’t make sense, and Donovan didn’t like it when things didn’t fit into his orderly world.

He took a deep breath to calm himself before opening the ‘all teams’ com channel. “All teams, target is on the move.  I want a floor by floor, room by room search.  Be advised that the target has demonstrated an ability to traverse solid objects.  We may be dealing with another level ten.  Neutralize if possible, kill if necessary.”

“Roger that, Black Wolf.”

37496 shifted her position on the floor to get a better view through the scope.  She began to scan the building across the street one floor at a time, taking a moment to clear each room before moving on to the next.  She was searching for three targets, two adult women, one teenage boy.  If she found that grouping the odds were in her favor that she had him.  Slowly, methodically, she progressed from room to room, allowing the weapon’s computer system to process the information gathered by the scope before moving to the next.

She had removed her helmet so that she could use her own eyes for the task.  Her superiors would reprimand her for taking such an action, but she felt the helmet’s targeting system overcomplicated things.  For her, using it took away the connection she felt between herself and her unlucky targets.

‘If I find him, I’m taking the shot,’ she thought to herself. ‘I’m not wasting another opportunity to complete this mission.  Black Wolf had his chance.’

The processor of the weapon’s system hummed softly as it digested the data and delivered a visual representation of what lay on the other side of the concrete and glass.  One squeeze of the trigger would send a beam of invisible death through the office building’s safety glass, over the heads of the pedestrians on the street below, through the reinforced concrete of the hotel’s exterior, and through the head of the target.  It would be silent, it would be quick, and aside from the eraser sized holes left behind from the beam’s path, undetectable.

‘Every sniper’s dream,’ 37496 grinned as she sharpened the image display.

“Should have kept your space helmet on.”

The stranger’s voice took her by surprise.  She’d cleared and rigged this entire office before taking her position by the window.  It should have been impossible to sneak up on her.  By the time she reacted, it was too late.  The acoustic weapon held by her assassin clicked once before the powerful sound wave slammed into her head with the force of a hammer blow.  It reverberated within her skull, liquefying the grey matter and relieving 37496 of life.

The assassin holstered his acoustic gun then un-slung his rifle and set it on the floor beside the lifeless body of 37496.  He took hold of her ankles and pulled the dead weight away from the window and stashed it in one of the nearby cubicles before taking her sniper position as his own.

“Guardian Angel here, I’m set.”

The laughter trailed off to small fits of giggles as the distant sound of police sirens filtered into the room.

“Now what do we do?” Tiff remained on the floor but sat up so she could see the other two sitting on the edge of the broken bed. “They have to be looking for us by now.”

“She’s right.” Kay’s smile faded. “They won’t give up that easily, will they?”

“Doubt it.” Rob stood and began pacing the limited space of the room. “The soldier’s chased me all the way from Miflin.  Those snake things… I don’t know who the hell they are, but they didn’t seem like the kind of things that would stop just because some soldiers got in their way.  What did that thing call me?”

Tiffany stood on wobbly legs and rubbed her back where she hit the floor after bouncing off the bed. “She called you a Nephilim.”

“Anyone know what the hell that is and why snake people want to kill me because of it?”

“It’s from the bible, Old Testament.” Kay smiled wryly.  Finally, all those years challenging nuns to explain obscure bible references would pay off. “The Nephilim are giants among men.”

Rob laughed. “Oh, yeah, look at me.  Do I look like a giant to you?”

“I didn’t mean literally.  The Nephilim are the children born of Elohim and human women, and before you ask, the Elohim are the sons of God.”

Rob shook his head in confusion. “I thought Jesus was God’s only son.”

“Now you know why I had such a hard time in Catholic school,” Kay chuckled.

Tiff made a funny face. “You went to Catholic school?”

“Yeah, right after you moved away.   My mother thought I’d be better off there than in public school.”

“So wait,” Rob interrupted, “I don’t understand.”

“You and me both,” Kay sighed. “From what I remember, and what the teachers told me, Jesus was God’s only son.  The Elohim were God’s children in the same way that we are all God’s children, since God created everything.  From what I was able to piece together, the Elohim must have been like earth-bound angels or something, powerful beings that walked the Earth with men.  But the thing is, they aren’t considered one of the choirs of angles, so… I could be wrong.  The bible isn’t really great at explaining itself.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”

“I don’t know, Robbie.” Kay ruffled his hair. “But it seems as though miracles have a way of happening whenever you’re around.”

“Those weren’t miracles.” Rob blushed and shook his head. “It’s magic.”

“Well, whatever you want to call it, you saved us from certain death.  That’s close enough for me to believe again.”

Tiff made her way over to the window and peeked out. “Damn, looks like those guys upstairs brought some friends.”

Kay and Rob quickly joined her, and each took a turn briefly scanning the street below where soldiers dressed in black scurried about like ants evacuating a disturbed nest.

“What are we going to do now?” Kay shook her head as she stole another peek. “There must be hundreds of them down there.”

Rob, looking defeated, sat down hard on the uncomfortably low mattress before suddenly springing back up to his feet.  His face filled with panic as his hands desperately searched his pockets. “Nick’s card!  Where did I put his damn…”

He paused when he found a folded paper in his rear pocket.  It wasn’t what he was looking for, but when he opened it and saw the handwriting, it made him feel better.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a letter.” Rob couldn’t help but grin. “From my Mom.”

“This is Maria Lopez reporting live for Channel Ten.  I’m standing at the corner of Washington and Thirty-Eighth streets in downtown Highland, the closest we’ve been able to get to the Highland Plaza since reports first came in of an explosion on the hotel’s upper floors.  Police, Fire, and Emergency responders are being held behind a five block perimeter on orders from Homeland Security due to the threat of secondary explosives.  So far details have been few and far between, but we have been told that at present there are no casualties to report.  However, there have been a number of pedestrians who are being treated for minor injuries due to falling glass.”

As the red light on the face of the camera went dark, the stern yet friendly visage adorning Maria’s face fell away, leaving behind angry determination.

“This is bullshit, Calvin,” she addressed her cameraman. “We need to get closer.”

“I know, I know.” Cal carefully maneuvered the heavy digital camera off his shoulder and cut the blindingly bright light. “I’ve tried… but they’ve cut off all my usual routes.”

Maria ground her teeth as she mumbled a series of curses to herself before climbing off the roof of the satellite van into a seething mass of humanity gathered to watch the spectacle unfold.

“Freedom of the Press, Cal,” she shouted up towards him. “What ever happened to that, huh?”

“Not my fault, so get off my ass.”

“Can you explain how Homeland Security shows up before we do?  Or the police?”

“I can’t, and you know that.” Calvin stepped down the ladder after handing his camera down to a fuming Maria. “They must have been following the terrorists, and were just a little too late to stop them.”

“Bullshit.”

“Will you stop yelling at me?  I didn’t do this.”

“I know.  I’m sorry, it’s just so damn frustrating.  Nothing ever happens in this boring city, and when it finally does we’re stuck six blocks away holding our dicks in our hand.”

“You have a dick?  I’m not surprised."

“Shut up and get in the van.”

Cal slid the side door open and hopped into the mobile media center.  Maria was about to follow behind, needing to edit some footage before the eleven o’clock news aired, when a stranger’s hand tapped her shoulder.

“Excuse me Ma’am, but I couldn’t help but overhear your predicament.”

Maria whipped around, angered further by the stranger believing he had the right to touch her. “What do you want?”

The man smiled warmly and spoke with a slight German accent. “How would you like an exclusive look at what is happening inside that hotel?”

Maria eyed him warily. “You can make that happen?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Maria scanned the crowd around her, making sure that no one was eavesdropping. “Seriously?”

The man nodded before opening a briefcase.  The case was padded with packing foam; in the center was a small electronic device about the size of an iPod. “Have your tech attach this to your auxiliary feed.  It will give you unfettered access to the hotel’s security cameras.”

Maria pulled the device from the case. “And what do you want in return?”

“Freedom of the Press, just like you.  Go live once it’s connected and show the world what’s really happening inside that building.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

She narrowed her eyes but handed the device to Cal. “Hook it up, let’s see if this guy’s telling the truth.”

There was a few seconds of silence as Cal set to work, Maria’s eyes never leaving the stranger.

“Holy shit!”

“What?  What is it?”

“It’s… it’s everything!” Cal couldn’t contain his excitement. “All the camera’s… and… and complete access!  This is incredible!  Get in here and check this out.”

Maria smiled before turning her attention to the many monitors now displaying various locations within the Plaza Hotel. “I don’t believe it.”

She turned to thank the man, but he’d disappeared into the crowd. “Thank you, who ever you are.  Okay, Cal, let’s see what we can find.”

A block away the stranger paused. “Loki here, cameras are rolling.”

Dearest Robert,

Though it seemed as though I wasn’t listening as you tried desperately to make me hear, I was, and I did.  I can’t explain why I behaved the way I did, or reacted so terribly to your pleas for help, but I wish I could.  I wish I could go back and make everything better, to be the mother I should have been to Stephanie and you, but I can’t.  All I can do is say I’m sorry, and hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

I too have been having dreams, nightmares that have tortured me for nearly a year now.  Why I couldn’t bring myself to speak as openly as you have about them is a mystery to me, but I wanted you to know that you weren’t alone in feeling that something wasn’t right with our family.  She’s out there, Robbie, she’s out there and I know in my heart that you will find her.

Yes, I know about the girl you’ve been seeing in your dreams.  I’ve seen her in mine as well, and I think I may be the reason why she’s no longer with us.  In my dreams I’ve done and said terrible things, made promises without thinking of the consequences, and all for the love of a father whom I believed to have died quite some time ago.  Your grandfather did die, I remember the day very vividly, the funeral services that followed, and subsequent visits to his gravesite, but in my dreams it’s almost as if all of that was a lie, and  he is still alive out there somewhere.  I don’t know what to believe anymore, but if my youngest daughter, your little sister, is real… then perhaps my father is out there too.  If that’s the case, then you need to find him, you need to find Malcolm Whelan, because he is somehow responsible for everything that has been happening to us, and he is the one who took her away.

Find her Robbie, find her and keep her safe, protect her from the bad men and all those who would wish her harm.  You can do it, you can do anything you set your heart to do.  I believe in you.

Love always,

Mom

Rob wiped the tears that silently slipped down his cheeks before refolding the letter and returning it to his pocket.  A deep breath was cut short by an unexpected shudder that ran through him.

“We… uh, we need to get back to your room, Kay.” He shook off the sudden chill and cleared his sinuses with a snort. “I left something there that might help us.”

Kay put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Rob nodded but couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye. “Yeah, yeah… I’m… I’m fine.  We should get going, they must be looking for us by now.”

“Right.” Kay squeezed his shoulder firmly. “Back to the room it is.  You coming with us Tiff?”

“What?” Tiff seemed confused. “Of course I’m coming.”

Kay put on her serious face as she addressed her friend. “I just meant, they probably aren’t looking for you.  You could slip away, get yourself somewhere safe.  I wouldn’t hold it against you if you did.”

“What, and miss all this fun?” Tiff smiled. “I’m going wherever you go, and no snakes or men in black are gonna stop me.”

Kay mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ as Robbie slowly opened the door enough to read the room number assigned to it.  His jaw nearly dropped as he realized they’d landed on the right floor, and only a half dozen rooms away from their goal.

“Damn,” Kay laughed. “I’m taking you with me the next time I go to Vegas.”

The narrow corridor was difficult to navigate as hotel wait staff busied themselves with the duty of removing food from the ballroom area and housemen rolled stacks of chairs in.  Just fifteen minutes earlier the room had been filled with conventioneers stuffing their faces with a bountiful banquet, in fifteen more the room would be reset with theater style seating to accommodate six hundred people waiting patiently to hear a presentation made by the man who was currently sticking to the corridor wall to avoid being trampled.

“You all set Professor?” an old colleague asked as he rushed by to get to his own speaking engagement.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He smiled despite the butterflies that always seemed to arrive just before he would speak in public forums.

To calm his nerves he took a deep breath before swallowing the last remnants of a glass of ice water.  As he swilled the melting cubes around in the glass he noted how the water in Highland tasted odd.  Nothing really strange there, the water tasted different in every city he’d traveled to over the years.  But he often wondered why that was so, and why only the water from his home town ever tasted the way he thought water should taste.

‘Because it’s what I’ve grown accustomed to,’ he argued with himself. ‘Stop trying to find conspiracy where none exists.  That’s how we got ourself into this mess to begin with.’

His last book, “Phoenix Rising”, had all but ruined his reputation among those whom he held in the highest regard.  His previous volumes had been based on facts, or at least facts that he could connect to real life instances and witness testimonials.  The last book all but discarded that proven framework for rumors and fairy tales.

‘Human-alien hybrids… how could I have been so stupid, so easily manipulated.’

“Professor Marcus Rosenberg?”

Hearing his name snapped him out of his reverie.  Was it time to go out there already?

“Yes, I’m him.”

The woman asking was a hotel employee who smiled warmly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.  I’m supposed to deliver this to you before you speak tonight, looks like I found you just in time.”

“Hmm?” Marcus took the small box from her. “Who’s this from?”

“Sorry, I don’t know.  The A/V department said one of the convention organizers dropped it off for you.”

“Okay, um… thanks.”

The chipper employee nodded before being swallowed up by the other staff moving to and fro.

He turned the box over and over in his hand, searching for something that would shed some light on what he was holding.  It looked like a clamshell jewelry box, the kind of thing you would expect to contain a wedding ring, but when he opened it he found a tiny object that looked like a hearing aid.  A note on the inside of the lid confirmed his assumption.

Put this in your ear.  Please.

For a moment he wasn’t going to, but the note did say ‘please’.  He fumbled with the device, his fingers too large and clumsy to handle such a miniature thing, but eventually slipped it into his ear canal.  Almost immediately, a voice began speaking to him.

“Professor Rosenberg, it’s time for you to know the truth about Phoenix, the real truth.”

“Who is this?” Marcus looked up and down the corridor, not sure if the person on the other end could hear him or not. “Is this some kind of a joke?  It’s not funny.”

“I assure you Professor, this is no joke.  As for who I am, I’m the man who killed Doctor David Chase.”

“What?” Marcus nearly collapsed.  He’d always believed his source into Project Phoenix had been murdered to silence him, but he’d never had any proof.  No one else knew who his source had been, he’d never told a soul, but here was someone who not only named him, but confessed to his murder.

“I’m sorry, Professor.  At the time I couldn’t allow the truth to be revealed to the world, so I eliminated the threat.  It was me who you met in that dark alley in Philadelphia, not David Chase.  I was the one who handed you those doctored files, and later that very same day, it was me who broke into your apartment while you slept and stole back those files.  I even listened to you speak that afternoon, though you never knew it.”

Rosenberg ’s mind raced.  Was this true?  Had he been fooled into believing a lie to protect the real truth of Phoenix?

“Why now?  Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because things have changed, Professor.   The Phoenix of today is not the Phoenix of last year.  Those who have seized control no longer have the world’s best interest in mind, and therefore no longer share my convictions.”

“So… you're switching sides?  Like Chase did?”

“No, not like Chase.   David sought to reveal Phoenix because he disagreed with our methods, not because he felt we had nefarious intentions.  But as I said, things have changed.  Phoenix had always been about protecting and defending humanity, but now it’s about power and control.  I didn’t sign on for that, and it’s something the world needs to be aware of.”

“Alright, let’s say I believe you.” Marcus faced the wall so no one would be able to see his lips moving. “Why are you contacting me?”

“Because, Professor, there is no one else in this building who would believe me, at least none that I can trust, and I need your help.”

“My help?   What could I do?”

“There is someone very special in the hotel you are in, someone who is integral to humanity's future survival, a sixteen year old boy, and he needs to be protected from Project Phoenix at all costs.”

“What’s his name?”

“Robert Davis.”

“This kid, this savior… you said he’s here?  In the hotel?”

“Yes.”

“And Phoenix?   Are they here too?”

“Yes.”

“And what about you?   Are you here too?”

The voice paused before asking. “Will you help him?”

“Yes!” Marcus answered without debate. “Yes I will.”

“Good.  Thank you.”

“So, what do I need to do?  Do you have a plan?”

“There is always a plan, Professor.  Everything happens for a reason.”