Veil (52 page)

“Come and help me!” he shouted at the soldier
from across the 13
^th
floor. The soldier refused to leave
his post but did finally let him enter the lab, presumably so he
wouldn’t have to deal with the mess himself or face the
General.

The soldier peered back into the lab at the
two men, the one standing and the unconscious body lying on the
floor, but stayed in his position and remained silent.

“I need you to help me lift him onto the
table. That’s it.”

The soldier remained posted at the door,
still looking back at the two men and still silent. Contemplating.
He already let the man into the lab so the situation had to get
resolved somehow. He couldn’t leave him in there and the man
obviously wasn’t going to go away. Neither was the body. He decided
he had no choice but to act. He propped his gun up by the door and
sprinted over to where the two men were. He looked at the man on
the floor. His head was wrapped in bloodied gauze
,
with what looked to be a piece of metal sticking out
from both ends.

What in the holy hell?

“Just help me lift him up onto this table,
and you’re done.”

The soldier lifted the body by the shoulders
as the other man lifted the legs.

“Be careful of the cords, just set him on the
table, I’ll do the rest,” he instructed the soldier.

They positioned the man on the lab table and
made sure all the cords and wires were untangled and free.

“Ok. Go.”

The soldier sprinted back to his post, picked
up his weapon
,
and resumed his watch. He
heard the sounds of squeaking wheels and shuffling approach from
behind. He did not turn to look, as the sounds got closer and
closer.

“Move.”

The soldier glanced over his shoulder but did
not move or speak.

“Move, damnit.”

Finally, the soldier huffed and stepped
aside. The man pushed the table through the door, pulling the
life-support equipment with him. He pushed the table until the
other end landed flush against the concrete wall between the two
elevators. He walked around the table, checked the video monitors
on the wall
,
and pushed a button to call
the empty elevator on the right.

The soldier watched intently as the man
positioned the table in front of the elevator. The man then
carelessly rocked forward and backwards while he waited for the
elevator. He also began to whistle.

The soldier couldn’t take it
anymore
.
From between clenched teeth, he
growled, “What in the holy hell are you doing?”

Before the man answered, the elevator dinged
and the doors opened. The man pushed the table—and the unconscious
body it held—inside. Afterwards, he sloppily shoved in the
life-support equipment and took a step back.

When the doors closed the man turned
around.

“There, now he’s their problem,” he smirked
and thumbed over his shoulder.

For years, he watched as the legacy of the
Great Jin Tsay transformed from that of genius to icon to hero to
revered saint to the world’s most sacred savior. To people the
world over, the Great Jin Tsay was the messiah. He delivered unto
them the New Veil World and, to him, to his memory, they were
eternally grateful and humbled.

Memories of encounters with the Great Jin
Tsay sold for millions of dollars. They were the most valuable and
sought-after commodities left in the world. They were also
extremely rare and highly guarded by those who knew him
personally.

His wife, the Great Widow Tsay, was the last
living familial connection to His Greatness. The Great Widow Tsay
was shrouded in privacy and secrecy of such magnitude that its
immensity was surpassed only by the world’s unwavering devotion to
her. Not since the late Princess Diana of Wales was the world so
enamored by a woman and, even in the case of Princess Di, by a
hundred times greater. Perhaps a thousand times.

He watched for all those years as his life
slipped further and further away from him. The more revered and
sacred the Great Jin Tsay became, the more what he did doomed him
to solitude and exile. The world already proclaimed a vow of
unforgiving
revenge on anyone remotely
responsible for the death of the Great Jin Tsay.

He watched, along with the rest of the world,
as they tried the General who ordered the assassination. He knew
what fate the General received. He watched, along with the rest of
the world, as the two military scientists who knowingly
appropriated the stolen research were tried and punished. He knew
his punishment would be immeasurably more severe.

He watched, along with the rest of the world,
as a lowly solider set himself on fire in front of the Grand Tsay
Temple. The soldier’s only crime was following orders and
unwittingly guarding the lab of the Great Jin Tsay after the
assassination. The soldier left behind a letter that stated he was
afraid the world would come for him next. He was afraid they would
come for him
,
to seek the justice they
were unable to deliver unto the actual killer of the Great Jin
Tsay. To seek the justice they were unable to deliver unto
him
.

His door buzzer went off. The only people who
ever visited him were Missionary Veilists. They came once every few
months. They possessed a list of every single remaining Veilgrant
in the area and frequently outreached in an effort to bring those
lost souls into the Veilist fold. By joining them, they assured
Veilgrants, by joining the vMinistry, you could be sure you were
protected from the rampant immorality of Veil. You could be sure to
experience only the true, pure nature of Veil. You could be sure
you were performing the true Veil
,
the
right Veil
,
the good Veil.

Blah, blah, blah.

He stormed to his door and threw it open,
ready to threaten to shoot them if they didn’t get off his damn
porch. He began to raise his voice and stopped mid-syllable.

Standing on his porch alone and staring right
into his eyes was the Great Widow Tsay. She was already pointing a
gun at his face
.

She hissed from behind the barrel.

“I’ve come for you, Royce Houze.”

K
en was unconscious
and lying on a bed between them. Suren rambled on. Hunter used a
rag to gently dab away more sweat and blood from Ken’s forehead. He
knew that day was coming; they both knew. However, he finally
understood why Ken never told him what he was going through. He
understood why Ken felt he had to suffer alone. It didn’t make it
any easier for Hunter. He didn’t think it excused Ken for shutting
him out all those years. Still, now that he knew exactly what Ken
held inside, Hunter did understand it better.

“I … I don’t understand. It’s all so much.
And it’s still not clear to me. Nothing is clear,” Suren babbled.
She held Ken’s hand in hers while she rubbed and massaged it. She
was still filled with anger and pain
,
but
after Ken’s last words, she was overcome by a sense that something
much greater was going on. She realized, too late, how she should
have known right away there was something greater at work. Ken
would never betray her; he would never betray their Jin like that.
He must’ve had his reasons and some purpose for what he did. Yet,
she was still angry. For six years, he kept her shut out of a world
she knew was rightfully hers. No one had more right to that world
than she
.

“It’s not clear to me, either,” Hunter
whispered and pressed the warm cloth onto Ken’s forehead. He set
the rag down on Ken’s chest long enough to brush back Ken’s hair.
All that premature grey hair
,
which belied
Ken’s true age. “I mean, I’ve had more time … much more time … to
deal with all this and I still don’t understand it.”

Suren leaned down and brought Ken’s hand up
at the same time, until her lips met with his hand. She kissed it
softly and turned her cheek, rubbing his skin along her face.

“Start from the beginning. I want to know,”
she pleaded with Hunter and swallowed back conflicted tears.

“I can only tell you what I know, and that
isn’t much. It’s not going to answer the big questions you … both
of us have. That’s going to have to wait until he’s awake. Until
he’s … he’s better.”

“I know, I know … yes, ok. But we can’t just
sit here. I can’t sit here like this.”

Neither left Ken’s side
,
and Hunter told her everything he learned and
witnessed.

It all started, he explained, with one of
Ken’s keenest abilities: his ability to know what was coming. They
both knew that about Ken. He could predict things. Not predict what
was coming as in psychic, but rather his ability to follow
scenarios through to their logical conclusions. He was always so
gifted at that: following thoughts and ideas to their logical
conclusions.

Ken often joked that logic was the way you
could predict the future. Not by using some supernatural or divine
foresight. It wouldn’t come as some vision. You predicted the
future through logic
,
through following
things to their logical conclusions. He always claimed that, when
you arrived at the conclusion, you could feel it in your gut if you
were right or not. Like some kind of innate intuition. While there
was a possibility you would be wrong, he conceded, logic was still
always the best answer. Ken also claimed, and with their immense
intelligence it was still lost on Hunter and Suren, that logic was
the way to discover the true nature of God.