1
Kennedy again found himself sitting in the amphitheater, but this time not alone. In fact, it was packed with people, all talking and laughing and seemingly having a good old time. There was an infectious undercurrent of excitement running throughout the entire carved granite stadium’s gathering. Kennedy turned to a group of men and women sitting beside him. “Hello,” he said, “we must be dreaming.”
“Yeah, we are,” one woman returned. “I love dreams — everything’s so much more real!” She returned to her conversation.
Kennedy knew her name to be Gina.
“Excuse me, but I know you, don’t I?” JFK asked.
Gina focused her full attention on him. “I’m sorry, what were you saying? Oh, yes — you do,” she said, touching his arm. “We all know you, too.”
Kennedy nodded. It suddenly dawned on him that he also knew everyone else in the amphitheater.
It felt very comfortable here.
“Wow,” Kennedy said, looking skyward, “it’s absolutely beautiful tonight. The stahs…”
Gina looked up. A long sigh escaped her. “I wish every night could be like this…”
Kennedy reached out and put his arm around her. Gina, looking to Kennedy, smiled, and snuggled up beside him. Together they lay back on the granite steps and stared into the night sky.
“What do you think it all means?” Gina asked.
“Don’t know. Nevah gave it much thought — I mean, we all give it some thought, ovah the years, but life usually gets in the way. I’ve just tried to, ah, live life the best way I knew. I’ve always felt destined forah something great—”
“You were president; have this incredible family.”
Kennedy didn’t immediately answer. “I guess so… and I had a lot of impact in the world. But I always felt therah was something… morah… still out therah. I thought bringing peace to the world would actually be my calling, to tell you the truth.”
“You are doing that,” Gina said, snuggling up closer.
Kennedy paused, as if suddenly remembering a forgotten memory. “Hm. Guess I am. That was weird. How could I have forgotten that?”
Gina smiled.
“It’s pretty weird knowing you’re dreaming, while you’re dreaming,” Kennedy said, “That happen to you a lot?”
“Yeah, actually; part of my job.”
Kennedy nodded.
“Hey — and that’s another great thing you did! You got us started!”
“Now, I do remember that! I was a little worried, at first, you know, that things would get out of hand, but it seems to have worked out quite well, hasn’t it?”
“It has — we all love our work… except for one guy—”
“Black.”
Gina sat up. “I just don’t understand how people like him… well, you’ve taken care of that, anyway…”
Kennedy also straightened up on the granite step. “You mean it worked? Really worked?”
“You went back and changed things. You didn’t hire him. You kept him out of the program for a long time.”
“You say that as if—”
“Sorry, sir, but he did manage to sneak back in.”
“Wait a minute, I’m confused… I thought you just said I’d taken care of him?”
“I’m sorry, sir, it is a dream… and sometime we say contradictory things. It’s all about probabilities.”
“Damn!” Kennedy said, shooting to his feet. “How’d he do that? How’d he get back in?”
“Not sure. Maybe that’s why we’re all here. All I know is that he’s still involved with us, but how, I’m not entirely sure.”
“You know, when I ran into him — back thereah — he did seem to know something was up. It was in his eyes. The way he looked at me. And I took this away from him,” he said, bringing out the pen he’d snatched from Black back in The Center conference room.
“What is it?”
“Oh, it’s an Agency-developed pen-gun. Quite ingenious those people. I wrestled it out from his jacket pocket. To think he was actually going to try to off me — right then and thereah — tells me how important all this is to him. In ways I probably can’t even, ah, begin to imagine. All I know is that he’s evil… a cataclysmic event waiting to happen, and I don’t know how to stop him! Damn him,” Kennedy again said, not knowing what to do with himself, but unable to pace the crowded stadium. “This really pisses me off!”
Gina stood and reached out to him. “Well, don’t worry just yet, sir. You still have all of us, you know. It’s not just your battle. Look around.”
Kennedy did. All the talking and laughter had ceased. He looked to those in the amphitheater. Everyone — all the children, all the adults — looked to him; gave warm, understanding smiles. In his mind he heard: Gina’s right, we’re all here for you, just as you’re here for us. We’re all in this together. Remember that!
Everyone returned to their conversations, to the same level of excitement and noise prior to their diversion.
“We’re all being taught here,” Gina said, “Right now. You may not see it, but we are. He’s very good.”
“I’ve known him from way back. He gets around.”
Gina laughed. “If you only knew how much!”
“I wish I knew how he did it.”
“He’s a very special guy. He’s good at what he does, is all I know.”
Kennedy and Gina sat back down, and again snuggled back up to each other. Together they again lay back to watch the stars…
2
In the dark of night, the Man With No Name took another sip of iced tea. He leaned back in his chair on his front porch.
“You did a great job, Mr. President. It may not seem like it — but you did.”
Kennedy jerked forward, almost spilling his iced tea.
“Hey, now — careful there, sir! If you’re not gonna drink the stuff, give it to me — I hate wasting a good beverage!”
“What — I was just—”
“I know. Not only does this illustrate how you are being trained, between layers of consciousness you may or may not be aware of, this is also my way of adding another layer of confusion to Black. He’s a slippery bastard, as I’m sure you’re aware. What Gina told you.”
“Gina — wasn’t I just talking with her?”
“Still are. I’ve just slipped in for a spell,” he said, extending an angled hand into the night before him like a fighter pilot, “real tricky-like, so he doesn’t know where we are. All he might possibly see are all of you in that dream together, and it’ll frustrate the hell out of him, because he knows I’m around… somewhere… but he just can’t nail me down!”
“How do you do all this?”
“Well, now, that’s a trade secret, Mr. President. Can’t tell you everything. Less you know, safer things are. Plausible deniability and all that.”
“What ‘things?’”
“Black’s on a roll. You may have changed the outcome to whether or not you hired him, but he knew that was coming and prepared for it. It wasn’t a big coup, what you did, but it was enough to monkey-wrench his plans and annoy the hell out of him.”
“So he is still with us.”
“Yeah.” The Man With No Name took another sip. “Take a drink, Jack, see if you like it. It’s my own special blend.”
Kennedy took a sip, ice clanking about in the glass, and wiped spilled tea from the side of the glass and the back of his hand. “Thank you. It is good!”
“Oh, it’s just a little something I whipped up. Now, you need to realize that you’re not acting alone any more, like your friends said. I’m gonna have to get you all together sooner than I’d expected. Though you did delay Black, there’s no contradiction when I say that that just caused him to accelerate matters.”
Kennedy nodded. “So… what do we do?”
“Work as a team. Surround him, literally and figuratively. He’s got a hostage, you know.”
“A hostage?”
The Man With No Name took another sip, then got up out of the chair. He set his glass down on the railing before him. Stared out into the night.
“He’s captured… and is torturing… a boy he thinks knows my whereabouts.”
“Does he?” Kennedy asked as he also got to his feet. He heard the Man With No Name inhale deeply and straighten up, as if his answer was gonna be painful.
“No… he doesn’t. That’s what makes all this worse. He’s going to kill that kid to get him to give an answer he can’t deliver. And it’s all my fault. He’s done this before.”
“Why don’t we just take him out? We have teams out thereah for just this kind of—”
The Man With No Name turned to him. “I wish it were that simple, sir, but just as we’re working behind his back, he is working behind ours. If we were to just go in and do that, it would upset far more than it would alleviate. Believe me — I don’t intend to let this boy die.” He turned back to the darkness. “Not at all…”
“But, he’s being tortured.”
The Man With No Name turned back around. “I know. And if we were to just charge on in there, with everything he has in place, far more would be destroyed. He knows this, he’s not stupid. He’s baiting us. This is exactly what he wants us to do, and we can’t take the bait.
“If you knew you could save one life versus many what would you do — as President, Jack — how would you handle this scenario?”
The Man With No Name crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing.
“If I’d used all my options? If I’d already tried several times to rescue the one — and nothing worked?”
The Man With No Name nodded.
“Then, I’d have no choice. Go with the many — but, I’d still have a parallel task force working on the one.”
“Exactly. You’d do everything in your power to save that boy, but you’d also do all you could to save the world. That’s what we’re doing. But, to show our hand right now would do far more harm than good, and that kills me to have to admit, especially when it comes to an innocent.
“But we also can’t put things off too much more,” he continued, “because if we do… then our innocent dies. I will not allow that to happen.
“What we have to do, sir, is work together. You’ll be working with Gina and her group, but on levels that may or may not be immediately clear — don’t ask — it’ll all play out as efforts solidify. I just wanted to let you know that we are close to our offensive, I guess you could say. Things change in an instant—”
The Man With No Name’s face suddenly went slack.
“What’s the matter?” Kennedy asked.
“He’s done it again!”
“Done what? Who?”
The Man With No Name paced the porch in quick, frustrated steps. “He’s got another!”
“How do you know this?”
“I can’t — Jack, just be ready. We’re always in contact, just like I know what happened. Shit — this again changes things. I really didn’t want to have to show our hand this soon!”
“Who’s the other hostage?”
“A woman he thinks can also lead him to me — and he’s much closer to the truth with her than he knows — but, not in the way he thinks he knows. Shit-shit-shit! He’s been a pain in my ass for lifetimes…
“Mr. President, I’m sorry, but I have to go. You have all you need for now, just be open and ready. Things are going to happen fast.”
President Kennedy nodded. He was about to say something, when he found himself back in the amphitheater, talking with Gina. Still talking with her.
Had he always been talking with her?
Kennedy paused, as if suddenly remembering a forgotten memory. “Hm. Guess I am. That was weird. How could I have forgotten that?”
Gina smiled.
“It’s pretty weird knowing you’re dreaming, while you’re dreaming,” Kennedy said, “That happen to you a lot?”
“Yeah, actually; part of the job.”
As Kennedy continued talking with Gina, he kept trying to pull whatever weird memory was way back in the depths of his mind… but it didn’t budge. He didn’t want to be rude to Gina, but it got to the point where he’d simply lost whatever the memory was, and had to let it go…
What had Gina just said?
“You say that as if—”
“Sorry, sir,” Gina said, “but he did manage to sneak back in…”
“Damn!”
3
Black opened his eyes.
There were spies in his midst. He knew it.
Sitting behind his desk in his darkened office, he stared straight ahead at the wall. He didn’t know who or how many, but that damned man from his nightmares was behind it all. First he’d been hunting him in his dreams, then he gets to Kennedy — and now The Center. Infiltrated them.
Time to drop the hammer.
If you wanted things done — and done right — you simply had to do them yourself.
No more fucking around.
He was just going to have to take matters more into his own hands — and now he had a little help. Too bad if things got messy. Wetwork was his specialty. And if he had to orchestrate a little world domination along the way, so be it. He would put an end to him forever — one way or the other. And Kennedy. Those two were inextricably linked. They were, in a manner of speaking, history…