Wind in the Hands (15 page)

“I think I know who governs him. He is the man haunted by the world. He decided to take revenge.”

Large heat drops were running down the Seer’s wrinkled forehead.

“You mean the Stranger?” the Medium looked at him in horror. In such instances, the Seer was fear awaking.

“Do you remember speaking of some ruler? Who is he, do you think?” gasped the Seer.

“Maybe, God?” the Medium shuttered.

“No, he is a man. This is so called Prince. The Lord of rioters, hermits, and other scums of the earth. For curiosity, I dipped into the past to look at this wandering healer. Now, I know one thing: we cannot play against this vagrant preacher. Apparently, the Stranger knows that too, so he has taken his side.”

The Seer wiped his forehead and fell heavily into the chair.

“Well then, what can be done?” the Medium asked again.

“I do not know. Sometimes, the least done the better. Maybe, to leave the country is the best way. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“The dogs will catch up the Stranger, do you think?”

“If so, I could get him out. I would rather not be anxious about it,” the Seer paused weighing different scenarios and listening to his feelings. “No. They could not catch up the Stranger even if they send all their agents against him.”

Chapter 19. Report

The Chief of the internal security service received a report on disappearance of the Soldier and Stranger, and immediately called the head of the hunt group on the carpet.

“How come?” he stared at his subordinate.

“I have made a report on all our actions,” uttered the latter guiltily.

“Tell me in your own words!”

“We set the hunt group at the station entry, held the conference call…”

“I need all details,” the Chief interrupted him.

“Two officers at the entry, an additional observation post on the second floor. A group next to the ticket office. A musician was attracted on purpose. Set a direct line with the ticket office computer. At about twelve, two suspected persons were observed. One of them directed steps to the station, where he was taken a picture of, while the other remained on the spot. The checkup identified him as our object, the Stranger. He came up to the station arch, looked around, and gave a wink to our agent.”

“Why did he wink?” the Chief frowned. “How, on earth, he realized that this was a security staff member?”

“I do not know. This was a professional; he looked quite ordinarily, like a tourist.”

“Go on,” the Chief saw that the case was much more complicated it seemed at first glance.

“Then, something quite unexpected happened. The Stranger asked the musician for the guitar to sign a song.”

“What a song?” the director was surprised. The officer held forth the note with a text. Having read the words of the song, he directed burst laughing:

“But this guy has a sense of humor. You, bullheads, couldn’t see what ‘there are wenches at the station’ means?”

“You mean the Stranger wanted to warn the Soldier in such an original manner?”

“I’ll bet.”

“Well, say it were true. I cannot believe that an amateur could lay open our group,“ the officer’s voice was scornful of sarcasm. “But, above all, the Soldier quite openly bought tickets and met with his accomplice inside the building.”

“And where are they now?” the Chief was ready to burst with range. “You have underestimated them. They twisted you around the finger. What was next?”

“We bought two next door compartments, fixed wires.”

“The wire data! Straight away! What is here?”

“Nothing out of the common. They almost were not talking. The Soldier went out to the corridor, and spoke to our agent, a young pretty officer. Shortly, he went to smoke. Our agent who replaced the first girl and was permitted to get in contact with the object saw him. She was immediately sent to control her. All clear, she doesn’t lie. The Stranger remained in the compartment. The tape shows some sounds, but we couldn’t identify them. Perhaps, some technical defects. When, in forty minutes, the Soldier did not return, our agents checked up the compartment, then the entire train set, but found nobody. And this is an enigma.”

“Did you monitor everything?”

“Yes, even the ticket office of the station, where the Soldier was likely to get out the train. He couldn’t shape the invisible.”

“Well, say it is true. The Soldier gets out at the station and somehow disappears. He is a professional. But what about the Stranger? Where? You say he was remaining in the compartment? Has the taping shown the door slam after the Soldier left the compartment?”

“No. Nothing of the kind. The Stranger did not leave the compartment. We lost them, but if you give us the warrant to arrest, we shall find them soon, after all, then we can involve the police, they have their eyes and ears everywhere,” the agent tried to find excuses.

“Well, but without the warrant. We shall operate on our own,” the Chief has made a decision. “The minute you find the Stranger, take him and bring to me, I will examine him myself. Do not let the Soldier get into the City, you can do what you like, but do not cripple him! Interrogate the ‘tail’ once again, especially, the maiden. Put through it! There must be a catch somewhere. The Stranger could not slip through. I cannot believe this.”

“Sorry, but we cannot interrogate the girl. She handed resignation and went somewhere, her mobile phone number is unavailable. Sure, we can find her, but should we waste time and efforts? And why, indeed?”

The Chief half stood, kept silence for an instance, and threw off:

“Dismissed.”

He understood that nobody supports the Soldier and Stranger, and put his foot down. The Soldier was suspended from serious tasks after change of the leadership, and several scenarios were in the making. The best one is to recruit the guy, although the shift from one service to another one was not in common practice, this was considered to be betrayal.

The Stranger is not connected with any service at all, but to work with him will be difficult. It is hardly possible to overplay the man who can read thoughts and practices hypnotism, after all, somehow he escaped observation. “But never mind, be sure, we shall make him talk.”

Chapter 20. The Sense

The Soldier was thoughtful and silent, the Stranger was calm. As approaching the City, he felt stronger, filling with knowledge unknown before. It seemed to him that he is gaining authorities: to give orders, bring under his control, or even punish. This conflicted with his views and led inevitably to inner conflict. On the one hand, he is a weapon of Providence, yet he is also peaceful man not wishing to inflict suffering even on hostile people.

Educational methods are permitted if they are fruitful. But if not? Then these methods turn into punishment, revenge… But, after all, God says: “I will revenge you”. Some people said: “The God will revenge on those who are stronger then we are, but it is useless to bother him needlessly, once we are able to stand up for ourselves”, and those who said this, slaughtered even their enemies’ children until their fragile teeth turn into fangs to revenge their fathers.

The Stranger realized that if the war begins, the millstones will grind more and more people. He felt its coming. Perception of reality was changing in him. The Stranger was getting very attentive and ready to respond instantly to any threatening motion.

“Tell me, how you feel the sense of struggle?” he addressed to his friend, stroking his neck.

The Soldier looked at him in surprise:

“If you are going to fight, this means that things look black. It is useless to rely on fists in the City. Well, let find a pair of guns. Can you shoot?”

“To fight does not always mean to strike out wildly. Tell me!” the Stranger demanded.

“There is a difference before the hand-to-hand fighting and fire-fighting,” the Soldier took his mind off sore thoughts.

“Tell me about hand-to-hand fighting.”

The Soldier’s eyes gleamed for a moment.

“When taking up the battle, you must feel confident, absolutely confident. Above all is to get rid of fear. To achieve this feeling I should be aware of my doing by rights. I must ‘read’ my enemy as an ‘open book’, and foresee all his movements, combinations, and maneuvers, that is have total control over him. Since before the enemy strikes at me, I know the path of the blow, so I can easily dodge or block the attack, or deliver a counterattack. I have to see the weak points, or make the enemy reveal them. A fighter must be trained as close as possible to the true combat conditions. Dangerous and painful training instills confidence, depriving of fear in a real battle.”

“OK. But I enquired for something else. I asked: how it is that you anticipate fighting?”

“I see,” the Soldier felt flattered with the Stranger’s interest in his art. “In the very beginning I feel slightly anxious. It doesn’t hinder me but makes me mobilize all resources. Then I set myself up for fighting. I try to calm myself down, concentrate, and envision my victory. Yet, sometimes I feel panic-stricken, not anxiety, and it was time to avoid struggling. Whenever I couldn’t escape, my confidence sank. At that moment, I did nervously and not always successfully. Why have you talked of that?”

“I have started feeling like that, but I don’t know, why. My war is not against sons of men…” all of a sudden he felt power, stopped talking, and turned to the window.

“I cannot grip what you mean, but I feel not quite the thing,” the Soldier looked at the Stranger frowningly with caution.

“I cannot grip it myself, sorry,” the latter responded not facing the Soldier.

Chapter 21. The Archeologist

The Chief of the Security service called the Functionary to account. After some insignificant questions he enquired as if incidentally:

“How is the Seer?”

“Not bad. Truth be told, he is a too closed-mouthed person to talk about himself,” the Functionary followed the principle: what can be checked cannot be disputed.

“Did he inquire about the matter?” the Chief made no bones about it.

“The Seer is not so curious,” the subordinate bit back politely.

“What is his interest in this affair?” the Chief stared at him.

The Functionary could stand the steely glance and answered calmly,

“He is interested in the Stranger. Nothing more.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea, but I’m sure that he has a reason for this.”

“OK. Make him help us to find with the Stranger, we have lost him once again. He has dropped the mob in the train. It is too expensive to make scale arrangements for detention of a former archeologist. We have enough on our plate, which is far more important than searching for the now tramp.”

“I have looked through his dossier. He is neither a mere archeologist nor a tramp,” the Functionary objected. “He has a number of papers on field archeology, major research in study of scriptures. He is an expert in ancient manuscripts and dead languages. A famous person in certain circles. He is a follower of the so called Prince. Eight years ago, the Stranger was squeezed out from the scientific environment after he published the results of his research into sacred book prophesies and lately found ancient manuscripts. The Stranger tried to prove that the ancient prophets of all times, who lived long before the Prince, had anticipated his advent. After that, the Stranger was hunted. He was accused of contacts with riots, the information wasn’t justified though. We could trace the thread leading to the Hermit: about thirty years ago, he was famous as much as the Seer. The Stranger often visited him, and the Hermit is not a man to welcome around. He is also an adept of the Prince, but in contrast to the riots, had never incited people to armed struggle. We have lost him out of sight for a long time, it was hasty of us: such people need thorough watch or care.

After all, the Stranger was brought to trial. Based on crime information, his house was searched. The items were revealed that were found at archeological diggings of purportedly great historical value, but no reported to the Institute of antiquities. He stated that went to the length of crime since he had wished to bring to public the importance of the discoveries. He accused the Institute of antiquities of hiding valuable information for the benefit of the established opinion. He got a term: two years of imprisonment. The public Prosecutor, now deceased, you know who, considered the archeologist to pose a threat to public because of his extreme views, so he suggested that the court sentenced the accused to solitary confinement. His wife did not wait for him. Hardly had he was imprisoned, she filed for divorce, forbade their children to meet with the father. By the way, they are three. After emerging from jail (just in a year, since the manuscripts revealed were recognized faked), he was engaged in day-labor, and to the date, he has not been found to do anything suspicious.”

“Why did the prosecutor think the Stranger dangerous for society?” the Chief got that the tides turned.

“Not clear,” the Functionary shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe, something happened at the proceedings. We should find those who were present there, for, thanks to the Seer, we cannot ask him directly. I think the Stranger to have been sentenced wrong. He has numerous merits in his field. He used to find jars filled with gold and silver coins, but gave in everything to the government, living plainly. Perhaps, he could not afford a lawyer; at least, a defense attorney was not present in the court. When in army, he was a male nurse, participated in military actions, extricated casualties. Awarded for heroism. Tell the truth, the guy rejected all the awards.”

“I wonder,” the Chief was thoughtful for a while. Suddenly, he turned pale, feeling dry in the mouth, his fingers numb, severe pain pierced his breast, but he strung himself up to utter: “find out what happened at the proceedings, talk to the Seer, make him help us to find them.”

The Functionary left the building, and walking down the square dialed the number.

“Hello,” the croaking voice was annoyed.

“We need your help with a matter that is of interest for you too.”

“I see. There is no point in talking too much,” the Seer interrupted him. “You don’t know where the Stranger is, and want me to point at his location.”