Wait, there I go again, speaking as if were me on Atlantis.
So Ponleak was counting on, that these terrorists haven't thought everything through beforehand. That storming the building for Scientific Study, and taking everyone inside prisoners, was a split second decision by the attacking forces.
The Board Member Guards, I felt, might have panicked when my highly trained Security Forces dispatched their attempts at capturing my compound.
When I had first offered, the Guard's lone spokesman their lives, he had quickly turned around to talk to his compatriots. There was a heated discussion which followed immediately, and now there was only silence.
What I wasn't expecting happened next.
The Guard, who was the spokesman for the terrorist when I first got here, came flying over the fourth floor balcony.
He was bound, gagged, and lifeless when he hit the ground.
Obvious to me now, that he wasn't their true leader. He was puppet. Probably the one spearheading the release of the hostages, to save their lives, when he lost his own.
I looked up when I heard a new voice calling my name. It was a voice I recognized.
"Former Vice President Ponleak. You can see by the death of this traitor I handed you, that I mean business." Said the new head of these terrorists. "How has your day been going my old friend? Terribly I hope."
"Sovannar. You old serpent." I responded to my constant adversary from my younger days in school. He was always out to prove that his Father, and the position he would eventually inherit, was more important to Atlanteans and at a higher level in prestige then my Father's position of being Vice President of Security of all of Atlantis.
"Stuck in the same old position your Father had I see. And now you are trying to move up in the world." I said with as much sarcasm as possible. "But haven't you heard from the Chairman of the Board. It doesn't work like that. We are inherently destined to always follow in our Father's footsteps."
"Oh, but what you haven't heard Ponleak, is that your position has been terminated and now the Board Member's Guard will be the knew elite security forces for all of Atlantis." A smiling Sovannar said.
I looked down to the clay ground before I looked up again laughing.
"Haven't you heard Sovannar. Your so called revolution in the Boardroom chambers was a complete failure. Just as your attempt to occupy my compound here. All of your Guard are either dead or severely maimed to the point to where there will not be any future generations of Guard children born."
I slowly curved up one side of my mouth, before saying, "And I see the end of your lineage soon to come, my dear friend, unless you surrender peacefully."
To add insult to injury, I told Sovannar to, "Call your fellow Guardsman at the Chambers. See how they are feeling. Then we can discuss the release of your hostages with a new understanding."
He had a very angry face on him, when he backed away from the balcony's edge. I was hoping my assumptions were correct about the condition of the Guard back in the Chambers. Otherwise, these negotiations might turn for the worse.
A few moments later, by the body language given off by Sovannar, that my assumptions must have been correct the first time.
Sovannar came to the edge of the landing, without saying a word, and stood there. Contemplating.
With new found determination on his face, he turned around and went back inside. He soon came out, with two of his men, leading a female scientist to the balcony's edge. He looked directly at me and said in a commanding voice. "These death are in the hands of your leader, Vice President of Security Ponleak. He has killed three quarters of the Board Member's Guard by leaving hundreds of my men to bleed to death. Offering no help when he left. And the ones who are alive, can no longer serve as Guard members because of their massive injuries. I do not care what happens to me. Those were my men. My responsibility. Their families will be scorned and sent to the water mines of the north, unless they have sons who will be becoming of age."
Sovannar looked solemn for a moment, then added, as if talking only to me, "For my men, I will never be able to hurt and kill as many of yours, as you have hurt and killed of mine. But, I believe in, an eye for an eye, and I will kill as many of you as I can." Shouting in anger his last few words.
With that, the two Guardsmen standing next to Sovannar, holding onto the female hostage, threw her over the balcony's edge.
I screamed, or rather, Ponleak screamed "No" so loud, that it had to be heard around the whole scientific compound.
Atlanteans, all around the area screamed in horror, as the scientist fell to her death.
Rage swelled inside us. It got to the point that we started floating, above the clay surface of the planet, because the amulet was channeling our emotions through the area's magnetic field. When I wanted to rise further, up closer to the balconies edge, I rose.
I mean, we rose. No, I mean Ponleak rose.
When Ponleak wanted to go near the balcony, the amulet made it happen. We were on the landing of the fourth floor when the two Guards were caught off guard, excuse the pun, as they tried to bring another hostage to the edge of the balcony.
I was standing there. Pointing at the two Guardsmen with both hands.
It only took a thought and I had separated their heads from their torso.
The hostage screamed. At first I thought from the splash of blood, which came from both sides, which covered his face and head.
I realized afterwards that the fright he had in his eyes, was not from the blood splattering onto him when I killed the two Guards. It was that I had killed them with such malice intent, the way that I had killed them, and that I had power to do so.
A power never seen on Atlantis before, and to kill them in that fashion, was frightening to the man because he was not sure if I was still one of the good guys.
I hovered over towards Sovannar, raised my right hand in his direction, and...
"Mister Johnson. Wake up Mister Johnson."
I opened up my eyes and saw an elderly woman face just inches from mine, shacking me in my bus seat with both hands.
"Good your awake." Said the woman. "Your friend here said that he tried waking you, but since he can't speak, he was having difficulty doing so. He asked me to talk to you to wake you up.
I was so confused. Just seconds ago I was about to tear the head off of Sovannar, and now I am sitting in a bus, at a bus station, where passengers are departing.
"He wants me to tell you that all passengers who are continuing on need to transfer buses here." She was saying.
She backed away from me, looked to the man in the black suit, and as she spoke, did the deaf sign language with her hands and arms. "He is awake now. Your welcome. I need to get back to my family because our transfer takes us to a different bus than yours. God bless you and know that Jesus loves you. Bye."
With that, she walked away to the front of the bus.
The man in the black suit? He was already standing looking at me, like I should know what he wanted me to do.
I guess this is the moment of truth. Once I get off I'll either be tackled by a group of law enforcement agents, or gun down by some rich drug cartel, and the amulet will be ripped from my neck and never seen again.
I slowly got up, picked up my small carry-on, and headed towards the exit.
With the man in black right behind me.
To Be Continued...
Next Thursday.
This is,
Saying I Am Sorry That It Took Me Three Weeks To Get Back To This Story,
Jim Hauenstein,
And,
“Thus ended the first and adventurous part of his existence.
What followed was so different that, but for the reality of sorrow which remained with him, this strange part must have resembled a dream.”
What followed was so different that, but for the reality of sorrow which remained with him, this strange part must have resembled a dream.”
- Joseph Conrad, -
That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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