End Game...part 2

We arrived in Miami late that night. We stopped at Miami International Airport as soon as we got there in order to pick up the next group of our colleagues, John Red Bear and the Professor, each coming from different parts of the country. As with the ladies, both John and Jim were travelling light, only a carry-on bag each, and Jim with a second bag packed with his powerful laptop and its various accessories.

John’s face was calm and peaceful, you would hardly know that he was planning on sacrificing his own life, unless you knew him as well as I had come to over the last few months. He walked with an easy, seemingly carefree and assured gait, his cowboy boots clicking loudly on the tiled floor of the airport.

Jim was a bit more nervous. His large, looming presence automatically intimidated people out of his way in the crowded hallways of the airport, but I could tell he as sweating more with nerves and excess energy than the South Florida heat. He brought us up to date with the current plans, using carefully worded sentences and code words to convey the information.

He started with, “Herne is already here, with a small cadre of John’s students. They have made contact with some valuable allies who are very familiar with the terrain.”

As we made our way out into the parking lot, he continued, “I have also been in direct contact with Zulu, he has greenlighted the mission.”

That last had me curious, since I had never heard of any of the ORC’s I had met referred to by that name, “Who’s this Zulu?”

The Professor looked to John, John looked to Cerrydwen, Cerrydwen looked to Ravyn.

Ravyn smiled, grabbed my arm as if to lead me back to the van faster, “Zulu is someone we don’t talk about much, and never out in public. Let’s just leave it at this, you will definitely be meeting Zulu at the end of this mission, if we manage to pull it off. Don’t even bother to try guessing at who he is, because you won’t get it, and even if you did, I won’t be able to tell you.”

“Wait a minute, this is my daughter and my ex-wife that are in danger here, and you are telling me there is someone out there who could say ‘no’ and you guys wouldn’t be able to help?”

Ravyn patted my arm reassuringly and whispered into my ear, “No silly, we helped you before didn’t we? No, Zulu’s approval just makes things so much simpler in certain ways. Let’s just say that we won’t have to worry about interference from any law enforcement agencies, either local or federal, and they might even be available to help clean up the mess. He’s got some serious drag.”

“Oh.”

We got into the van, with John taking the driver’s seat. I climbed into the backw ith Jim. He looked down as he climbed over Ravyn’s big duffle bag, stubbing a toe as he did.

He called out after a few curse words, “Ravyn, this isn’t what I think it is, is it?”

Ravyn looked back from the shotgun seat, beaming her brightest smile, “I’m afraid so Jim, thought we might need her on this one.”

I looked down at the overstuffed duffel bag, “Hey you didn’t say there was anyone stuffed in that thing!”

Ravyn laughed, “Something’s in there alright, but don’t you go poking your nose about in my business now, you’ll see her at work soon enough!”

I shook my head, trying figure out what the heck she was talking about. I happened to look up just as the van was started and we began to pull out of the parking spot, I thought for a moment that I caught a glimpse of Ravyn’s protective, fiery Phoenix looking back at me, or was it the bag that it was staring at so intently? In any event, I sat back and got lost in my own thoughts.