Agent out of Time (The Agents for Good) Page 6

  “When did it happen?” I asked.

  The Ice Age had always been one of those things, as a Christian that I had never delved into knowing more about, because I had always regarded it as somewhat of a made-up event by people with an evolution-based mindset.

  “All right, by studying the Bible’s timeline we can arrive at the probable time of man’s existence upon the Earth. If you go down through the generations listed from Adam to the present you get a time span of roughly 6000 years, give or take a few. The Genesis global flood occurred in approximately 2350 BC. Now there are different theories as to what caused the Ice Age among creation scientists, but the one I think has the most credence is this. During the flood the fountains of the deep were broken up. Now, beyond possible extra sources of water being released, a lot of magma probably was to. Now with all of that emission of magma into the sea water on a global scale it would’ve caused the temperature of the ocean to rise significantly. Now the hotter water gets the more easily it evaporates into the atmosphere from the action of the sun’s heat upon it. So not only did massive amounts of water get shot into the atmosphere, as steam from underwater magma outbursts, but it also evaporated at a much higher rate from the warm seas upon the Earth. All of this extra moisture created a massive amount of precipitation on dry land. As the ocean cooled through the process of evaporation so did the world. So much water was taken out of the ocean and tied up in glaciers and ice packs at the polls that there was land exposed everywhere that there is not today. It was dry land between Great Britain and Europe, which was called Doggerland. Fishermen are still dredging up stone tools from that time period in the English Channel. The Black Sea in Russia was inhabited by people and most notably in our case there was a wide land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska known as Beringia. Most notable about the Ice Age is that its occurrence coincides perfectly with God’s dispersion of the people at Babel, who were building a tower to reach heaven and were instilling singularity of thought against God among all living upon the Earth. God pledged at that time to personally drive man throughout all of the face of the Earth and the Ice Age was the perfect mechanism to do so. Because of the abrupt and often severe weather pattern changes it was safer to roam about living off the land than to stay in one spot dependant on crops that might not mature. The land bridges and the shorter distances between landmasses by water also helped fulfill God’s promise to disperse man throughout all the world. The Ice Age abruptly ended, as it had started, around the time of Abraham as we can see that once again the children of men had begun to build cities, such as Ur, which means that once again the seasons were favorable enough to raise crops and harvest them. The actual physical data supports this biblical timeframe of intense change instead of the eons of time stipulated by evolutionists.”

  “That’s all very interesting. Can’t say I’ve ever heard it all put together like that before, but what does that have to do with our woman here being the same and yet different from my people?” I asked.

  “Well it’s very simple if you think about what we know from the Bible. At first everyone came from Adam and Eve, but after the flood humanities genes were narrowed back down to one families genes in particular, Noah’s. Now, we know that after the flood, up until the time of the Babel dispersion that there was a common language and a unity among the descendents of Noah. People had grouped together in their unification of their desire to be like God. There would have been little overtly noticeable diversity at all among the descendents of a single family, which had stayed together since the end of the flood. Now this is where our girl here is the same and yet different from your people today. She could have come from the very same genetic group that you did only she got here to North America much earlier than the rest of your people. I’d say that is the most likely scenario to explain her.”

  I took the skull from Ted’s hands and studied it thoughtfully. “So you think she got here relatively earlier on before her features could differentiate the way they later did with my people into a primarily Mongoloid type ethnic origin?”

  Ted nodded, “She likely followed the same migration route, as fellow family members did much later than her. So she likely has the same parentage blood as your people group did, but she hadn’t diverged, feature wise, from the common form into your people’s more unique features.”

  “Despite that likely being the case Ted you know what the world will say. They’ll say that a different race of people were here before Native Americans were.”

  Ted nodded.

  He took the skull back from me and stared at it, as if he could see back into the distant past. “Can you imagine the challenges that these early settlers, and for that matter the later settlers had to face on their journey here and then to survive once they were here? The dinosaurs were probably more congregated to the south, but just the prehistoric monsters alone would have been enough to contend with. Packs of dire wolves numbering above twenty or more, American lions that were bigger than full-grown Siberian tigers, and bears, such as the short faced bear that were twice the size of an adult grizzly and could run as fast as a horse. Count me out Caleb! I’m glad I didn’t live during that time, but I have to admit it must’ve been something to see!”

  I nodded, as I likewise reflected on that tumultuous time in the history of my people here in this land.

  My people?

  At one point in time all the peoples of the world had been but one people, one family if you will. Now there was so much division that this discovery of Ted’s would kick up a maelstrom of contention that did not need to be. Racists on both sides would come out of the woodwork. Those not happy with the governmental perks and the casino royalties that Native Americans got would scream loud for the end of all such payments of reparation to cease. Those on the Indian side would scream that a miscarriage of justice was being enacted in the form of a trumped up archaeological dig designed to do them out of what they richly deserved.

  There were truths to be had for either side, as well as the ridiculous, but all the situation would further illustrate was the spirit of division that had been present ever since the division of the peoples at Babel by God. Different peoples just couldn’t get along with each other very well and yet we all had the same point of origin and kinship at one point in time. Where would it ever end?

  Chapter Seven

  The Skull

  Deshavi leafed through the summer dresses in the store in town. Trent would be back from the East today in the late afternoon and she wanted to look nice for him.

  She turned a corner to see a man standing there. She’d never liked him and so she started to back away, before she realized that there was a man behind her and to the side of her too. She was more or less trapped unless she made a commotion of it in the store. Armed with that option of last resort she stood with her arms tightly folded, “What is it that you want Running Bear?”

  He smiled nastily, his stained and broken teeth giving evidence to the bad breath that was now assailing her, as he stepped closer. “Heard you’re getting married. To a white man no less! To think the granddaughter of a chief would cheapen her bloodline so!

  Deshavi snorted derisively, “You’re one to talk blue eyes! Are you sure you shouldn’t be having this conversation with your own mother? At least I’m going to marry the man of my affections, unlike your mother.”

  For a moment it looked like he was about to hit her, but he regained his composure. “What you do is no business of ours, but it is, who you have picked that we find unacceptable!”

  Deshavi’s face turned all knowing, “You mean that you don’t approve of me marrying the grandson of the man whose discovery is likely to take away your booze money don’t you?”

  Running Bear wasn’t to be put off though. “We will only approve of the union if you first do something for us. It is well known that before your current saintly attitude that you were a thief. Steel the skull from the grandfather and see that it is destroyed and we will permit you to
marry as planned.”

  Deshavi’s temper exploded. “Why you little dirt bag weasel to come to me and threaten my right to marry whomever I will!”

  Her hand found part of a clothes rack, which was leaning up against the wall, with which she proceeded to wail away at Running Bear and his two companions. They made an attempt to grab her, but retreated away from her and out of the store in the face of her wrathful whacking of them. Deshavi stormed out of the store after them, but the cowards that they were, they had already disappeared.

  Her people were an honorable people, but some members of the tribe should have been thrown to the wolves long ago.

  It was one week from the wedding. Tomorrow I would head back to the east with Deshavi and Trent. Ted was coming along to. I pulled Windstalker to a halt at Ted’s cabin and got down. I wanted to make sure that he was ready to go in the morning. I stepped up to the door and started to knock, but stopped as I realized the door was already slightly ajar. An ominous feeling swept through me.

  My hand slipped down to my waist and slipped free a six-inch hunting knife that I was rarely without. Quietly I slipped into the dark cabin keeping care to stay low and not backdrop myself against an outside window. I had thought it odd not to see any lights on as I had ridden up.

  Grimly I knelt down and reached a hand out to the darker shadow laying on the floor. The feeling of death was heavy in the atmosphere of the room. Ted was dead. From the feel of it his skull had been cracked wide open. I canvassed the rest of the cabin slowly, but I was alone. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number.

  The line was instantly active, “Yes, I need to report a murder.” I gave them the particulars and agreed to wait until someone arrived.

  I called Trent and told him. He took it quietly, as I knew you would. He and Deshavi had been out on a date. I didn’t turn any lights on, but I could tell the place had been rifled through, as if it had been a robbery gone wrong. I doubted that however, because the skull was gone. That was what was behind all of this I was more than willing to bet.

  I had expected the fall back from Ted’s discovery to be bad, but not like this. One of my people had likely killed Ted or someone on the outside had killed him and stolen the skull to shift probable blame onto my people and make us look bad. I didn’t know which it was, but either way I was going to make them pay for this!

  I stood along the sidelines as uniformed officers made their way about the scene, as photographs were taken and fingerprints were dusted for. Deshavi stood near me looking very pale. Trent was being questioned by an officer, “I know about your grandfather’s recent discovery, but do you have any idea as to who would do this?”

  Trent shrugged shaking his head no, “No one in particular that I know of.”

  Deshavi’s voice quivered, as it broke into the conversation, “I think I might know of who could have done it.”

  All eyes turned to her. The officer walked up to her and Deshavi told him of being accosted by the three men in the store and them wanting her to steal the skull. It was the first that I had heard of the incident and glancing at Trent I could see it was for him to.

  His demeanor up till now had been one of masterful control, but now the muscles of his jaw were bunching and ticking in barely leashed fury. He spoke up roughly, “Why didn’t you tell me? Tell anyone, someone about the incident?”

  Her eyes were pain itself, “I didn’t want to mess anything up.” She said softly in a small voice.

  Trent looked like he desperately wanted to say something, but he walked out instead into the night. Tears fell down Deshavi’s face as she glanced at me. I didn’t want to bury the spear point any deeper than it already was, but the reality of it was what it was.

  “You should’ve told me Deshavi.”

  She nodded as more tears came cascading down her face.

  Despite my anger with her I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close as she cried. If she’d only told me or Trent, one of us could’ve stayed with Ted, until the skull was safely out of his immediate possession. It had been a costly mistake.

  The coming week the investigation dragged out and then finally culminated, as I led a group of sheriffs in the tracked down capture of the three suspects on reservation land, who admitted their guilt in search of a plea bargain. The skull wasn’t found. The three men claimed to have pulverized it and thrown the pieces of it into the river. I was inclined to believe that was the truth.

  The worst part of the week was the ill fruit that came out of one bad choice. Trent called the wedding off and after the suspects were in custody he had simply left town without saying anything to anyone. In my opinion he was making, as big a mistake, as Deshavi had. She may have been late, but at least she had come forward with the truth, when it would have been easier not to say anything and just let the killers get away.

  I could partly understand that he had felt hurt and betrayed by someone he’d exposed so much of his heart to and thus the need to get away and let the wound heal, but what he had done was wrong. In a time like this communication was everything, with forgiveness being a close partner to it. He had acted selfishly, as had Deshavi before him, and as a result they were both now paying the penalty.

  Deshavi hadn’t left her room once in the three days since Trent had left. I lay awake at night listening to her cry, until I had been on the verge of hopping on a plane and stalking down Trent myself. Tie the two of them together and let them fight and work this thing out together. That would’ve been bloody no doubt, but far more preferable to this hopeless dirge that Deshavi was going through with full emotion.

  The morning of the fourth day Deshavi emerged from her room. She looked like hell and she was carrying her suitcase. Her other suitcases rested packed on the floor behind her. I immediately started shaking my head no, as I stood up and move toward her.

  I hugged her to me, “I don’t want you going anywhere, not just yet.”

  “I have to grandpa! It’s living torment to be here! I need to get away and figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”

  I started to say something I had been dreading, but her hand closed over my lips as her eyes met mine earnestly. “I’m not going to live wild and start stealing stuff again grandpa I promise! If this whole ordeal has taught me anything it is that I want to at least have more self-respect for myself than I did before this summer. I also want your respect for me. I’m going back to the city. I’m going to sell my stuff and try to find a position of some kind somewhere and start being a contributing member of society, instead of a self spoiled brat. I need to do this and it will help to be busy so I don’t think so much over what could have been.”

  It was the most mature statement of grown-up intent I had ever heard from her before. I hugged her again and whispered into her ear, “Please just one more day for my sake. Spend one more day with me.”

  “Okay.” She responded squeezing me back in response to my plea.

  Chapter Eight

  Agent Shalako

  Deshavi stepped back into the world she had left behind for the summer. Looking around at the glitzy apartment and her things she couldn’t but help notice how much she had changed since she was here last. She’d found love and suffered heartbreak all in the course of a single summer and she was forever changed and in some ways scared by it. This place and the entertainments it held had no charm to her anymore.

  She wanted something fresher and wiser than the selfish existence for self she had been living. It was late, but she started packing up her stuff. She was determined to be out of here in the morning and embarked on a new life.

  It was going well, when suddenly the door of her apartment shattered, as it was busted inward. On a gasp of alarm she watched as several masked men stormed in. She started for the bedroom, where she kept a gun under the mattress, but there was a sharp sting at her neck. Numbly her fingers reached up to feel the small dart, even as her feet gave out on her and she crumpled headlong
to the floor already unconscious.

  Dimly Deshavi became aware of color and then the texture of carpet beneath her fingers. She sat up slowly. She was lying on the floor of an extravagant looking room that had far too much of the color red throughout its design. Several armed men stood about in suits and she knew she was in big trouble. The door opened and in walked an older man. All the men were Russian and she had a pretty good idea why she was here. She had to look up from her position on the floor, as the man came close to her. His eyes held nothing but cruelty in there depths and a deep fear blossomed within her.

  “So the thieving whore has returned home at long last.”

  Picking her words carefully Deshavi said, “I can return the necklace to you and I can pay.”

  The man shook his head, as a smile played about his lips in a false sign of joviality. “I already have the necklace and as for the money, I don’t need it. I wonder however, how are you going to return my son’s life to me?”

  Cold dread filled Deshavi’s blood with ice. She wanted to scream out for help, but she had no friends here. Trent was gone from her and grandfather was far away in the mountains. She was alone and without help.

  “You would have been wise to heed the maxim of ‘never steal from a thief’. If that had been the extent of your crime I would’ve simply killed you and spared you the ordeal of what is to come. After all there must be respect among thieves should there not?”

  His eyes flickered over her like a viper’s, “But you did more than just steal a possession of mine. You stole a son of my blood! Death will be long in the coming for you and you will embrace it long before it comes.”

  Deshavi shook her head as tears of fear dripped down her face, “Please don’t do this!” But tears were wasted on a man such as him, who had left a vital part of himself escape years before, which was his soul.