“Yēšûă,” called Jude, as
the mystic had finished his speech.
Yēšûă turned from the
crowd and made his way off the mound he’d addressed them on.
Jude called his name
again, and this time he nodded at the soldier and moved towards him.
The mystic spoke in
Aramaic to Jude, but the soldier interrupted him. “Look I need you to come with me, you are in grave danger.”
Yēšûă put his hand on
Jude’s shoulder, smiled widely, and then started to make his way to the crowd.
Jude pulled his sleeve
back. “You don’t understand, I
know that. But you must come with
me. I don’t have much time to argue
in a language you can't speak.
Irene has been poisoned and doesn’t have the time left for us to argue.”
This time Yēšûă nodded as
if he had understood, and gestured for Jude to take him.
The soldier dragged him
through the crowd with one hand while keeping the other one clasping a pistol. The people followed like magnets.
As they came around the
corner of the street where Jude had sat Irene up against the side of a
building, they dashed to her side.
She had collapsed face first in the mud.
Jude rolled her over and
put his fingers to her throat.
“She’s got no pulse,” he
began to whimper. “It’s too late.”
His face became stiff.
Yēšûă brushed a hand
through her hair and her eyes began to blink.
Seeing this reaction,
Jude ripped the antidote out from his jacket under the cloak and tipped it down
her mouth. Slowly she became more
animated, if a little weak still.
“We got here just in
time,” said Jude as he turned to face Yēšûă. But the mystic was gone.
Down the street stood
Maria. She smiled at Jude and
nodded, before disappearing into a building.
Irene groaned. The soldier turned back to her.
“Jude,” she whispered.
“Don’t speak,” he
replied. “You’re okay, but you
need to save your strength. Yēšûă
is back in hiding and will likely evade Spider now.”
“Jude, we need to get
back. Spider and Alexander are
going to commit horrible atrocities.”
“What do you mean?” Jude
asked.
"They've given
modern weapons to a rebel group in the hills." She coughed a lungful.
"What?"
“Alexander is crazy. He wants the group to topple the Roman
Empire to prevent the spread of Christianity. We need to go back to just before Alexander bought the machine
and stop him or anyone else from purchasing it. It is too dangerous,” said Irene. She put a hand to Jude sooty cheek. “Where is the box?”
“It’s connected to all
our minds. The physical location
is still back in Alexander’s labs, but we can access it by…”
Jude was interrupted by
the sound of a gunshot and screaming.
“Yēšûă,” Irene
gasped. “They’ve killed him.”
Jude pulled her up, and
holding her sluggish body to his side, hugged the wall and inched towards the
corner. He ducked his head around.
“I don’t get it,” said
Jude, pressing back up against the wall.
“There are a lot of people crowding around the man who has been shot,
but it’s not Yēšûă.”
“Who is it?” Irene asked.
“Kofi,” said Jude. “He and Spider were the only two that I
wasn’t able to take out before Yēšûă finished his speech. But why would Spider kill Kofi.”
“Perhaps he was
attempting to shoot Yēšûă, and in the struggle got shot himself.”
Jude shook his head. “Unlikely. He’s been shot in the back of the head.”
Irene’s eyes
widened. “The rebels? I don’t know exactly how much was
delivered.”
“We need to access the
box before Spider does. If we get
back first I can mentally block off his access.” Jude held Irene to his chest. “Now …”
Bang!
Jude swivelled around to
the floor, letting go of Irene, who tumbled on top of him.
He felt blood gushing
through his shirt, and raised his vision to see a blood splatter on the wall
behind him.
“Killing Kofi out in the
open like that is hardly your style,” came a voice. The owner of the voice hidden by the late afternoon
glare. “It gave away your
position. You’re losing your
touch, Jude.”
The man stepped in front
of the sun. It was Spider.
“I didn’t kill him,” Jude
snarled.
“Well, I wouldn’t have
killed my own man, now would I?”
Spider smirked.
The two man glared at
each other.
“Which one wants to see
hell first? You, or your little
girlfriend?” he taunted, waving his gun at the two of them.
Neither of them spoke.
“I could kill the doctor
first, to see the pain in your eyes as she closes them for the last time,”
sniggered Spider. “Or I could kill
you first, and then do what I want with her before putting a bullet in her
brain.”
“You always were sick,
Spider,” hissed Jude.
“Strong, not sick. I can do things you can’t bring
yourself to do, which makes me stronger than you, not sicker.”
Jude scowled. “You’re wrong, Spider. That’s exactly what makes me stronger.”
“You know, Judey-boy, I
respected you, but then I discovered your weakness. Now I pity you.
You could’ve been the best if it weren’t for your Achilles’ heel.” Spider slowly swaggered towards
them. “Your Achilles’ heel that
screwed you over in Brazil, and got those innocent people killed. Not to mention screwed you up in
bringing down those large criminal organizations, which no doubt are still
funding drug trafficking rings around the world, and putting mummy and daddy
killers at the wheel.” He
chuckled. “And it’s the same
‘strength’, as you call it, that is getting you and the doctor killed. Your emotions cloud your judgments, son.”
Jude reached behind him
and grabbed a handful of sand. “I
disagree.”
“You disagree with
what? You disagree that that is
what is getting you both shot, or that you are weaker than I am? Because either way, you aren’t really
in a position to argue it right now.”
Jude straightened his
back and squared off with Spider.
“I think you are the weaker one.
And that’s why I was always chosen ahead of you for the biggest
assignments.”
“I know I should just
blow both your brains out right now, but I got to ask…” Spider’s finger twitched on the
trigger. “What one reason could
you have that could even suggest you are
the stronger one?”
“You aren’t good when
things don’t go to script,” croaked Jude.
He threw the sand in Spider’s eyes and slapped the pistol out of the
soldier’s hand.
The gun fell into the hot
sand.
Jude flipped up, but as
he did, Spider hit him across the face with a fist making his head spin and a
vibrant red streamer flick out from the corner of his mouth.
Jude turned back around
and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Spider snarled and
round-house kicked Jude in the arm he had been shot in. He grunted in pain, but before Spider
could give another blow, he pushed the giant Brit backwards with his foot.
Jude moved forward, but
when he was in range of Spider’s reach, he was taken off-guard by a series of
punches and fell backwards.
The two faced off
again. Spider put his meaty hands
up to cover his face, but Jude kept his hands by his side and widened his
stance a little.
This time when Spider
threw a punch, Jude evaded the attack, and smacked him in the face. Two teeth flew out from the tall
soldier’s mouth.
Jude then struck Spider
in the kidney and the solar plexus in quick succession.
Spider shoved Jude back,
and ‘spun on a dime’ to collect Jude in the face with a turning kick.
The two fighters moved in
towards each other and threw a series of elbows and punches that the other one
evaded or blocked and countered, before finally Jude landed a punch. He followed this up with a kick to Spider’s
knee, a kick that lowered the big man, and then a backhand across the Brit’s
face.
The towering soldier spun
to the floor. But as soon he
touched the sand, he rolled back onto his feet, picking up the pistol in the
process.
Before he could point it
at Jude, the Australian did a crescent kick, once again knocking the gun out of
Spider’s hand.
He bared his teeth at
Jude. Then, in a fit of rage,
threw a punch, and then another punch, and another, which were all knocked away
by Jude’s quick feet.
Jude then kicked sand up
to mask his attack, and using the force of his leg coming down to launch
himself into a jumping spinning kick that threw Spider to the ground.
Jude held his wounded arm
as he watched Spider get to his feet and pull out a jagged-edge dagger.
The two men circled each
other, before Spider lunged at Jude with the knife.
Jude caught the attack up
in his cloak, before driving a punching counterattack.
Spider stumbled onto
Jude, and as he did, he stabbed himself in the chest. He attempted to lift himself off Jude, but couldn’t.
Jude let go of Spider and
the big man slid to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
“It’s done,” Jude said
flatly under his breath.
He walked to Irene’s side
and knelt down beside her and put a rough hand on her forehead and flushed
cheeks.
Her olive skin looked
pale. “I’m fine, Mr. Stone –
Jude.”
He nodded. “You had me a little worried there…”
“I know,” she said,
interrupting him.
They stared at each other
in silence.
“I am glad you're okay,”
she said, raising her eyebrows.
"I thought of a really good line about you being the missing link,
and I thought I would never get to … you know … say it when you do something
stupid in the future."
“I think I might be falling for
you, too, Irene,” he responded warmly, which made her smile and her complexion
take on a pinkish tinge.
He leant down and kissed
her, and as they kissed, they were pulled back into the future.
