Operation C

“I love you too.” Jason wipes the sweat from his forehead and thinks about the fact that he will have to tell Timpani about his job. He will also have to explain why he just lied about a client meeting. He turns the radio on again to drown out his thoughts. The speaker delivers a message calmly over the airwaves in a soft voice.

You see the problem with pride is that it leads to other problems. Pride will make you lie. Pride will make you see things that are not and do what you want to do. Pride will make you your own worst enemy.

Jason hits his turn signal to exit the highway. Even his radio is turning against him this morning. He pulls into the first parking lot he sees and gets out. Towering above the street a billboard advertises a Dallas law office. In bold block letters he sees a relevant question: Convicted?

Jason stares at the billboard for at least three minutes before taking his hands out of his pockets and clenching them together. He looks around to see if anyone is looking. He speaks out loud while looking at the clouds. “I get it. Okay? You want me to get rid of this pride issue, right? I get it.” He paces the parking lot with his hands on his hips. Then he gets back into his car.

He decides spends the remainder of the afternoon figuring out what he is going to do next. With his connections he might find a position with another agency or with the professional football team. Jason scrolls through a list of contacts on his cell phone to figure out where to start.

Dr. Dara Thomas interrupts Jason’s search by calling just as Jason was about to call his first contact. “Jason?” Dr. Thomas sounds like he is in good spirits.

“Yes, Dr. Thomas. What can I do for you?”

“Hey, I know everything has been rough so far. Do you think you could stop by the ranch tomorrow? I can share some more information with you.”

“Sure, I can come first thing in the morning. Um, I’ll come by myself. You don’t know the half of how rough things have been for me in the past five days. I’ll tell you the latest news tomorrow. Do we have a deal?”

“Jason, I know more than you think. See you then.” Dr. Thomas ends the call.

Jason scrolls through his contact list. He sees Lucy Randall listed and he calls her.

“Hello,” Lucy says. “Lucy, it’s Jason.”

“I know. I have been waiting for your call. Are you ready for your next steps?”

“Next steps? Listen, I have been bombed, shot at with an arrow, and fired from my job. This happened all within one week of coming to visit your office. Why should I continue helping you?”

“Jason, we need you and Timpani to complete the work that your parents started. We have tried and failed. Your parents held the keys to unlocking a very important mystery. You are only beginning to understand the magnitude of what is happening.”

“Well, I have plenty of time to talk now. So how about you do some explaining?”

“Very well. If you have read some of the notebooks you may have noticed that your parents were meeting with people in Texas and other states to help them find their purpose in life. Their mission came down from TW Global and they had their own means and methods of accomplishing it. As I’ve said before, they were focused on working with individuals who possess extraordinary abilities.”

“And what does Dr. Thomas have to do with this?”

“He observes. Dr. Thomas is a very smart man, but his knowledge of what we do and how deep it goes is limited. He also oversees a small group of Observers. Dr. Thomas serves as their teacher.”

“Why would someone want to hurt Dr. Thomas and me? Some criminal tried to kill each of us with a bow and arrow. What is that all about?”

“Jason, with all of your media attention and indiscretion you have drawn the ire of our enemies.”

“This is not my fault, Lucy.” “I digress. We need to prepare you two for what is coming next. Your parents wanted you to take over their mission where they left off. It is very important that you finish reading the notebooks. They were looking for the Charismaton.” “I want to finish what they started. But I want you to know that I am not doing this for you or TW Global. I am doing this because of my parents, what they stood for, and because of what I feel I’m supposed to be doing. If there is anything I need to know, you tell me now. I need to know that my family will be safe.” “Jason, most of what you want to know is right there in the books. I will contact Dr. Thomas and ask him to put a team in place to protect you from a distance.”