En Passant...Part 3

I left the Underworld by following my usual path. I emerged in my cheap motel room comforted to see my body sitting as it was last posed. It was dark outside, so time had obviously passed since I had left, although I had no idea if it was just the day, or more than one day.

I slipped back into my body and felt things snap back into place. I got up and set up my lap top in order to check the latest news and to update the blog. I also downloaded the information packet from e-mail that John had indicated would be waiting for me, including the account number and information I was to use in my next purchase.

I also took the time to draft and send some messages of my own. I had a directory of the Bureau’s e-mail addresses, so I took the time to locate the individuals that the Professor had indicated I should contact with specially worded messages that contained the information we needed that particular person to know.

These messages were part of the carefully orchestrated plan of attack that the Professor and Herne had come up with when they had analyzed the data they had captured in our encounter with Dr. Geek and his team in Vegas. I knew that at the same time, similar messages were being forwarded to certain men and women with influence in Congress, the White House and the media. Apparently, the ORC’s were going for the throat in this confrontation.

The more pieces I saw begin to fall into place, the more impressed I became with these folks who had thrown their lot in with me.

As I finished the assigned tasks that I could complete via my computer, I turned the thing off and sat there trying to comprehend everything that happened with my last journey. I was still amazed at the serenity that John possessed, with the sure knowledge that he would soon die.

As a cop, I had often left home for work feeling that I could very well be killed in the line of duty and felt that I was prepared for that event if it happened. I don’t think my ex ever really accepted that possibility so that had caused more than one fight before our divorce, especially as I got more and more involved with the project that brought me into contact with Drake in the first place.

But the sacrifice of himself that John was fully willing to undertake was beyond my comprehension, and I was already dead!

I was a pretty good at chess when I was younger, in my teens I had even played in several tournaments and had shown the potential to eventually become a master if I had kept up with it. It was becoming obvious to me now that the game being played between Drake and myself has been like a chess match for quite a while, but it was only now that I was recognizing the patterns and moves being made.

Luckily for me, I had some very smart allies who had raised a defense of our own, and were now planning our own series of attacks. Would Drake be ready for our moves?

The coup de grace of our strategy involved a fairly rare move in competitive chess that involves the taking of one pawn by another called ‘en passant’ which I believe is French for ‘in passing’, but don’t quote me on that!

The brillliance of this plan though was not that we planned to take one of Drake’s pawns in passing, but that we would put one of our pawns in such a position that he wouldnt be able to resist taking that pawn ‘en passant’ as he went for an even greater prize. Hopefully, he would take the bait, and in so doing, leave himself open to our counterattack.

The fact that John was willing to put himself out there as that sacrifical pawn, knowing that it would mean his death was simply amazing. I have known other cops for whom I would have taken a bullet, and they would have done so for me, but I can’t say that I would have done it knowing that for certain that I would die in the process and for someone I hardly knew.

I shook my head to clear the cobwebs and packed away the computer and its components. There were other tasks that needed doing and a relatively short period of time to complete them.