Christopher Golde
Chapter twenty seven
The Lover
Date: 2nd February 1997
Location: Sydney, Australia
As the door opened, a blue-suited air hostess stepped out locking the door into position. Behind her, followed a ragged line of dishevelled businessmen, colourful holidaymakers loaded with extra carry bags and a large number of Asian tourists, looking about anxiously for some sign or direction as to where they should proceed. The air hostess now stood in front of the door, wishing the departing travellers a nice day and giving guidance to those who asked or appeared lost.
The line spilt out into the mainstream of travellers, like an overflowing tributary joining the main river, while another suited man with a name tag, directed people to connect flights. Julie Pierce stood well back against the opposite wall to avoid being lost in the mayhem of human tidal change. As she stared at the entrance to the aircraft gate, she noticed a tall young man in a dark suit and bright red tie emerge and when he spotted her, his pearly white teeth seemed to light up the whole gate lounge area. His smooth handsome European features, jet-black wavy hair, and tanned olive complexion took her breath away for just an instant. She could hardly believe that this could be….’ but it is!’
Julie pushed across the terminal hall, colliding with a confused elderly Asian couple as they suddenly changed course, obviously not sure what direction they should be going. Julie apologized profusely, the elderly lady speaking quickly in her foreign tongue and gesturing frantically. By the time Julie looked back to the entrance to the aircraft, she had lost sight of him. She stood on her toes, craning her neck to see over the groups now congregated at the entrance.
Before she could locate the priest visually, she felt a firm grip on her arm and turned sharply with annoyance, only to see to her surprise that it was him that was holding her.
“There you are, I thought I’d lost you in this crowd,” she gasped, not sure why her heart was racing, “I almost didn’t recognize you,” she lied, “you…you…look so different,” she didn’t lie.
“For the better, I hope,” he smiled.
“Oh yes, yes most absolutely, I just didn’t recognize you,” she lied again, “you usually wear robes and collars and…”
“Long story,” he said
She remembered that he was handsome, but she was stunned by what he looked like dressing in normal clothes.
‘Very different,’ she thought,’ and not bad, not bad at all.’
“Well, we had better go get your luggage and get out of here,” she said, feeling somewhat awkward at the moment.
“Yes that would be a good idea, I’m starving and some sleep would be good, these all-night flights kill me, I can never sleep on those things.”
She couldn’t tell; he looked as if he had just showered and dressed, ready for a big day at the office.
As they emerged from the airport entrance pushing a trolley loaded with suitcases, Julie stopped and turned to him.
“Wait right here!” she said, smiling sweetly and then darted off across the road through a break in the traffic. As she skipped between the cars that were jostling for a pickup location at the curb, he could not help but stare. She was just as he remembered, a magnificently beautiful creature and now he looked forward to getting to know her on a more personal level.
The project had absorbed his full attention for so long now; maybe it was time to lighten up just a little and do some living,
‘After all,’ he thought to himself with a sly smile, ‘he was still young.’
But then he thought, ‘how fair would it be on her?’
‘He would be off again in no time, disappearing to the far reaches of the Earth, no time for a thought of how she might be, or even where she might be, no, better to keep their relationship professional.’
As he contemplated this, a sleek black sports car pulled up in front of him and the passenger window slid down and Julie’s face, partly disguised with a large pair of sunglasses appeared.
“Come on, it’s me; throw your luggage in the back”
He lifted his two cases from the trolley and placed them in the rear of the car then opened the passenger door and climbed in.
“Okay I’m ready,” he said.
“Seatbelt!” she indicated, pointing to the lap-sash at his left shoulder.
“Oh yes, its compulsory here isn’t it, sorry.”
He reached over his shoulder, pulled the buckle around him and clipped it into place.
“Now I’m ready.”
At that, the car merged into the traffic and sped away.
As the lift door slid open they were greeted by a fantastic view of the Sydney skyline bathed in clear blue skies and brilliant morning sunshine.
“Sydney is a truly beautiful city,” exclaimed the priest, with genuine delight at what he saw.
The restaurant Manager checked their booking on his list and smiled.
“Follow me please!”
The restaurant was completely circular and while the entrance and the waiter stations remained stationary, the whole outer section of the restaurant rotated slowly around the tower, fifty-five stories above central Sydney. They stepped from the centre section to the revolving outer, as they were led to a table near the floor to roof window of the restaurant that also remained stationary. As they seated, just coming into view, were the famous scalloped arches of the Sydney Opera House roof and the enormous coat hanger features of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“Just fantastic,” said the young priest, clearly impressed, “what a breathtaking view!”
“This is the surprise I promised you for lunch,” Julie replied, delighted by his obvious pleasure, “a never-ending always changing view.”
“So you get to show me all over Sydney in one lunch, “he smiled charmingly, “you are full of surprises.”
The waiter asked them if they would care for some refreshment to start and after taking their order, graciously left.
“Now we can talk,” Julie said, smiling at the priest who was staring out over the glittering blue waters of Sydney Harbour.
“Yes, yes, I must update you, of course,” he said, looking back at her, “we have made some progress, but not as much as I would have liked, but it has brought me here to Australia; a big bonus since you are here too.”
Julie blushed.
“I travel here on business occasionally,” she said, not wanting to seem too much like she came here looking forward to seeing him, “every now and then there are important regional stories to cover and at the moment the Japanese Prime Minister is visiting.”
‘That sounded good,’ she thought.
“So what brings you here,” she asked, resuming her cool?
“Jason King is here at the moment,” he replied, “he was born here, and his company is based here in Australia even though it is an international concern.”
“I still find it difficult to imagine someone you could consider as so important to the future of the world would originate from here, don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful country, just not where you would think this sort of thing begins.”
“Well, it’s not that strange really. Granted this country has a very small population and the history, European history is short but the country is fast becoming a power base in the region for the Americans and it is, as I have said before, a great place to hide something. An immense area of untracked land, a small community hardly on the global map and no-one else in the world takes too much notice of what happens here; at the moment anyway.”
“That’s true,” she conceded, “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
“Then there is the spirituality of this place. It is one of the oldest landmasses on the planet populated by man. Add to that its diversity of culture, its high level of industrialization and first-class living standards, it really is ‘the place to come from if you want to rule the world’ and grow up relatively unnoticed,” he finished off looking very satisfied with that explanation.
“Is that important,” Julie asked, looking around to find some drinking water?
“We believe it is. A potential religious prophet these days would not want to attract any attention in his early life, yet he must develop, get experience and education, as well as social and communicative skills, not to mention spirituality. He does travel a lot and mixes with a diversity of cultures and creeds, and he has definite experience as a leader. Very few places on earth could have offered the opportunities he has had without attracting attention, but Australia does.”
The waiter returned and laid down their drinks. After the waiter had left he continued.
“Australia till now has had relative neutrality when it comes to world politics and an Australian traveller able to go almost anywhere without too much trouble. The country is geographically close to the world’s largest populations and is almost totally reliant on a successful export market, making it easy for its residents to become involved in overseas markets.”
He had a sip of his drink.
“We have some new information and it leads us to believe there may be more than one, and now we have gone back to profiling. We have few who fit the profile. But I am convinced I know who it is.”
He casually pulled out a notebook from his inner coat pocket, put on his black-rimmed glasses and began to read. She had never seen him in glasses before; she was bemused.
“Nationality: Japanese. Residence: At the moment in Australia.”
She rolled her eyes.
“In Australia as well,” she said mocking him, “I think you just like coming to Australia.”
He smiled but continued.
“Roots: upper class. Education: high intellect with high grades. Birthdate: Derivative of the sixth day, sixth month and year ending in a six. Passport number: ending in 6. Address: Ending in a 6. Shall I go on?”
She feigned a smile.
“Yes just tell me who it is.”
The waiter arrived again, interrupting him before he had a chance to tell her, to take their food order. He made some recommendations, took their order, and then left again. Outside the windows, the coastline of Sydney could be seen in the distance. Now, they were looking in the direction of the airport and they could see tiny jets, take off the ground, circle, then depart.
Julie continued the discussion.
“So tell me.”
“Okay, I will,” he reluctantly replied, “but I don’t like to…it’s still early days and if I…you know you being a journalist and…”
“And you think if you tell me, I’ll rush off and publish them; did I go to print with the name you gave me last time?”
“Well…no, I guess not, or did you,” he jibed her jokingly, “I am just concerned that the more people that know, the more likely it is to slip out, but yes you are right, I can trust you.”
She looked at him sweetly.
“His family is a rag to riches story, completely obscure until just last ten years ago. His Uncle is an extreme radical self-made prophet of doom. They now own one of Japans largest computer manufacturers and this has made them almost untouchable. It is said his grandfather was a very high ranking officer during the war taking orders directly from the highest command and this is where the obsession of ruling the world came from.”
“Ruling the world,” she said with a gasp, “they are ambitious.
“So were the traditional Japanese during the war. We’ll continue to observe him and I must try to get a one on one with him at some stage.”
He looked out over the view again, as the harbour was just coming into sight.
“The problem is talking to them without causing them any alarm, or attracting too much attention.”
“Not easy, I know, I’m a reporter,” she said, with a sly smile.
He looked back directly into her deep brown almond-shaped eyes.
“That’s why I could do with some of your professional help.”
She feigned a knowing smile.
“I knew there would be a catch to you telling me everything.”
Their food arrived, a delicious assortment of seafood, which included giant prawns, lobster, oysters and a large full-sized coral trout, mentioned by the waiter to be freshly delivered from the Great Barrier Reef. They feasted on the delicacies, laughing and chatting like old friends, or even as lovers might do.
When they had finished their lunch they returned to Julie’s car and drove to the hotel where he would be staying. When they arrived, Aldo invited her up to his room, telling her he would like to show her the files he had with him.
“Okay, that would be good, I haven’t got anything on till much later today,” she replied, although she doubted privately to herself that it was a good idea; especially the way she was feeling towards him.
“Good,” the young priest said with a broad smile on his face, “pull into the hotel driveway and let the valet park your car!”
Inside the plush hotel lobby, they collected the room key and proceeded to the sixth floor. As the doors to the elevator slid open Julie looked at the young handsome priest with a cheeky smile.
“Sixth floor eh, that’s interesting,” she said eyeing him suspiciously.
“Just a coincidence I assure you,” he said smiling and held the lift door open while they alighted, “room 615 around to the left I think.”
As soon as they entered the room they noticed that his luggage had already arrived.
“Boy that was fast,” he said genuinely impressed, “now can I get you a drink before we start.”
“You don’t want to unpack,” she offered?
“No, it can wait for something to do later when I haven’t got your company. Like a drink?”
“Okay, I’d love one, if you have a scotch in that fridge,” she said flitting across the room and sitting herself down by the window overlooking an outside balcony.
He smiled.
“I am sure I’ll find one somewhere,” he said, “I see you are still a scotch girl.”
Julie sat by the window, watching her young priest as he opened the small room fridge and pulled out a small bottle of scotch and two glasses. After putting some ice in one glass and pouring the light brown fluid over it he then filled the other glass with water.
Walking across the room towards her, he began again to think to himself just how beautiful she was. Sunlight was streaming in through a gap in the curtain that was attempting to cover the window; it splashed across her soft elfin features and gave her dark hair a golden brown glow. She looked like some ancient Egyptian princess and at that moment he was mesmerized by the vision.
“I’d love that drink,” she said as she noticed he had stopped in mid-path and was just staring blankly at her.
He suddenly came back to life.
“Oh…sorry,” he stammered in embarrassment, “drifted off to somewhere else I think for a second.”
He handed her the glass and sat on the edge of the bed, which was as close to her as he could get to her.
“Your parents are they still alive,” he asked as if trying to change the subject on his mind, “do you still see them?”
“My dad is an American and my mum is Japanese. My parents live in Japan now as that was my dad’s last military posting. We used to live in the States when I was too young to remember, we lived in Singapore for a while, which is where my parents originally met, and I did my schooling there.”
“Now I see where you got such exotic beauty from,” he said, after sipping from his water, “where I come from they call a woman of your beauty a mestizo; it means one who is beautiful by a mixture of cultures.”
“Your parents,” she replied, a little embarrassed by the flattery?
“Ahhh yes,” he responded, with obvious relish to talk about them, “my father is alive but my mother, God bless her soul, passed away while I was at the seminary studying to be a priest. My father is Belgian and my mamma was Florentine, which is a recipe for very romantic and passionate blood.”
“We should really talk some more about your plans here in Australia,” she said, changing the subject and feeling strangely warm.
“You are right, we should,” he quickly replied, feeling her awkwardness towards approaching such intimate topics, “well after I meet with my people here and get a briefing from them I will,” he said, looking at her with one exaggerated eye, “with the help of someone, try to talk to Jason King.”
“I have researched him since we last spoke and although he is quite obviously an interesting person there just isn’t much on him, “she said, almost sounding frustrated.
He shifted on the bed as if to make himself more comfortable when he really just wanted to get a little closer to her without being too obvious.
“He is here at the moment, so I will endeavour to get close to him,” he replied, shifting slightly closer to her again, “and then I am off to Japan to hopefully interview the other I mentioned to you before.”
“I thought you said he was here,” she said trying to be as professional as possible and get away from the intimacy she could feel developing, ” and by the way you still haven’t told me his name.”
“He lived here but he is in Japan at the moment running his Uncles empire. Could probably do with your help for the guy here though, perhaps a media interview.”
“Where is the Uncle,” she asked, not answering the last part yet?
“Prison,” he said a matter of factly.
“And why can I not find much out about Mr Jason King,” she asked?
“Prison,” he said again.
“Are you joking with me,” she eyed him suspiciously.
He smiled.
“Not many people know it, in fact probably none really, but Jason King was once known as Shane Harper an ex-convict.”
“Wow,” she exclaimed, genuinely wide-eyed, “but he is like famous now.”
“You can’t print this remember,” he said, looking sternly at her.
“Ohhh,” she said, putting on a sad face, “but how?”
“A small crime against the state, nothing heinous but enough to put him away for a while. I get the feeling sometimes when I read what we do know about him it was somehow on purpose, almost as if it were the path of the course.”
“Oh,” she said, curiosity spiked. “I did forget that for a moment, this did start out to be a search for ‘the beast’ didn’t it, for some reason I started to presume it was a good guy we were looking for, you know, like the second coming or something,” she said, looking directly into his eyes across the short distance that now separated them, “I also didn’t consider that this might be dangerous if they took offence to you snooping around, and if they did have something to hide.”
‘Did I mean supernaturally dangerous, because that’s what it sounded like I meant,’ she thought to herself, incredulous that she was even contemplating the possibilities openly, ‘I must be going crazy, me, the great sceptic from the beginning.’
After all,’ she tried to convince herself ‘I never believed any of this, I was only here because of the man in front of me now, but obviously, all this talk about good and evil is all having an effect on me’.
“Yes it could be very dangerous,” he said, looking even closer to her face, “especially when it is even possible that we may have more than just one to worry about. We just don’t know and I can’t have any of this getting out.”
“My God!” she exclaimed all of a sudden. ”What am I getting into? You, we could be in danger!”
“Yes, I have to be completely honest with you,” he replied, earnestly, “if we believe in the forces we think we are dealing with, and if they are part of a big plan or epic battle between good and evil, there is a fair chance we will be in some danger by snooping around asking questions and if you don’t want to…”
“I didn’t say that,” she interjected, “I was just a little shaken at the realization that if I do believe everything you have said then it could be dangerous, it hadn’t occurred to me before, that’s all.”
She stopped for a moment and there was silence in the small room that seemed to last an eternity. Softly, she spoke as if not sure she should go on.
“So what do we do next, with them I mean,” she added quickly, blushing at the thought he might have thought she meant now
“Well, as I explained previously, we have a team here and they have access to some pretty nifty gear that can access all sorts of business and government records all over the globe. We just have to get as close as we can and get more information.”
He was very close to her now, staring at her face from inches.
“You are so very beautiful.”
Julie looked back astonished and her face flushed red quickly. ‘Normally,’ she thought, ‘a man like this one, saying something like this, would be…. but he was a priest…’
“I know what you are thinking,” he immediately said, “but as I have previously said to you, we are a very liberated order, we do not believe in total abstinence as it defies what is natural in a man.”
He stood and raised his hands.
“Love is natural, it is human, and definitely it can be spiritually fulfilling.”
Julie did not know what to do, or which way to look, she was flattered and excited, but at the same time, she felt incredibly awkward. Perceptions that she had grown to accept from childhood, things you are always told not to do, and being a lover to a priest was pretty high up there on that list.
‘But he was right,’ she thought, ‘it should be normal, why should it not, what was better to have religious leaders honest with their feelings, their emotions, their…. lust, or hide it and make it all wrong and dirty. No, if it was the proper way for his order, she would overcome her own conceptions, and accept that he was just a man and she was a woman, one that really wanted him badly.’
“May I kiss you,” he whispered, as he bent and drew close to her ear?
There was a pause, as all her emotions flooded her system.
‘Of course, I should,’ she thought, ‘he was gorgeous, why should it seem wrong, that was ridiculous.’
And then she answered.
“Yes!”
She leaned forward to meet his lips, her long black hair fell from soft slender shoulders, her eyes kept with him till the last second when they touched, and they kissed, softly, tenderly, breathlessly. Then she pulled back slowly, no more than a breath away, then came back to him and her lips opened wider, and they kissed long and hard.
He touched her gently on the shoulder as he pulled her from the chair and on to the bed next to him. He kissed her much deeper as they melted softly back on to the bed. He pulled back from her face, his head poised just above hers and he could feel her breath on his skin as he touched his lips on both cheeks, gently soaking up the smoothness of her purity.
“You still haven’t told me his name,” she said, softly, breathlessly.
His left hand cupped the nape of her neck as he lowered his face to hers again and kissed her chin in little nips working down until his lips found the softness of her neck. He touched this with the tip of his tongue, teasing it with short gentle strokes. She sank back into the softness of the bed, her whole body tingling and totally subdued beneath his masculine touch, her eyes closed, her mind raged with lust.
Her right hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him to her flesh, she wanted him totally.
“I will tell you later,” he whispered in her ear and kissed it gently.
“Make love to me,” she gasped.
He kissed her again this time with a passion that consumed them both until all else ceased to matter anymore.
Their minds travelled into ecstasy, their bodies engulfed each other till they seemed like one, churning in a lather of lust and excitement. Their lovemaking continued for the next hour until they fell asleep in each other’s arms, totally lost in their own dreams for each other and for that moment, oblivious to any thoughts of a world under siege by prophecy.
When pictures seem alive with movement free
When boats like fish swim beneath the sea
When men like birds shall scour the sky Then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die.
Mother Shipton -1488-1561