Christopher Golde
Date: 10th March 2000 Location: Niseko Annupuri, Japan
The fog was beginning to lift, but as he walked he could still feel a fine mist on the sensitive skin of his face. To anyone else it would seem like an unusual place to meet for the first time, but then Jason King was not just anyone. In reality, it had just worked out that this was the most convenient location as he had been in this region of Japan when Julie Pierce had called him from Tokyo asking if he would do an interview. He had chosen this park because he had wanted surroundings where he knew he would have an advantage when meeting a complete stranger. It was normal for him to be guarded about his travels but now even more so since the attempted ambush in China only a few weeks before and then the attack in Tokyo. Immediately after that, he had sent Pietta back to Australia, where he hoped she would be safer.
Niseko Annupuri was located in the winter resort region of Japan and at this time of the year, it was getting cold enough to contemplate the possibility of snow. As he walked, the mountain track towards the Asahidake Resort, where he would be meeting the Singaporean reporter, he breathed in the wilderness that surrounded him and it filled him with an ancient yearning he found difficult to control.
His wolf-like senses gave him a hunger, urging him to sniff at the air for any indication of danger, or prey. His finely tuned primitive instincts made him by nature a predatory creature and yet outwardly, his homo-sapien appearance gave no indication of the ferocity that lurked so close to the surface of his human skin. To the trained eye, there was a subtle difference. There was an animal-like quality about his movements, as every muscle in his body seemed to rhythmically propel him forward, like a finely tuned machine.
His auto senses digested and analyzed information that was being constantly delivered from his keenly sensitive remote organs. Smell, sound, sight and even the slightest changes of the breeze on his skin were registered and diagnosed relentlessly, each and every millisecond. A part of his brain devoted entirely to survival, searched endlessly through billions of pieces of information for some, or any warning, that would indicate to him that all was not as it should be. There was even one extrasensory function that operated far beyond the realm of human understanding in the invisible plain of a sixth dimension; revolving endlessly around him, above him and even ahead of him in time. It would warn him of things he could not sense on the human or physical plain, things that were yet to even happen in the world that humans knew. Normal men had long ago forgotten the pathway travelled by this spirit world, but not Jason King.
Jason stopped. He could see the resort ahead but he knew already he was soon to encounter another human, a female. He sensed her intentions and felt a slight tremor, of fear or anticipation.
‘It must be her’, he thought.
As he came round the next corner in the track, he saw a woman dressed in a heavy long black coat with a fur line collar. Her hair was long and jet black and although he was still some distance away he thought she appeared Asian.
As he approached, she turned in anticipation to watch him but did not move. Once within earshot he smiled and spoke.
“Julie Pierce?”
She smiled warmly. A woman he noted, that was a shade more than just beautiful.
“Jason King,” he announced, putting out his gloved hand as he walked right up to her.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr King,” she replied.
He sensed still some nerves, maybe even fear.
“An unusual place to meet for the first time, don’t you think Ms Pierce?”
“Yes, Mr King, a place of opportunity I am hoping, and please, call me Julie.”
She looked at him in anticipation and attempted a nervous smile. He thought to himself that he had probably never seen a more beautiful woman.
“Shall we walk and talk, or would you like to find somewhere warmer to talk Julie”
“Walking would be nice Mr King”.
“Please, call me Jason.”
“Okay, Jason.”
Jason turned and offered her his arm. She smiled, now a little more relaxed. She accepted the offer and put her gloved hand through the crook of his elbow. She immediately felt warmth for this stranger she had previously feared. They walked for a short distance without saying anything. Someone watching would have thought that they were a couple from the resort taking a stroll in the forest.
She immediately knew there was something very strange about this man. Without even talking, she could sense a difference that she had previously never encountered in another human.
‘What is he,’ she wondered, as they walked ‘maybe Dominique was right that these men were some type of God-like creatures.’
“Well Julie, tell me about yourself and why you wanted to interview me.”
“I work for a Singaporean business magazine and newspaper, and to be honest, not much has been written about the mysterious Jason King, that he has personally approved anyway, and I know that’s because you don’t normally give interviews.”
“You are right, I don’t,” he replied, smiling but not looking in her direction but straight ahead towards the mountains.
“So why did you decide to give an interview to me,” she asked.
“I have read your work and its good, but more than anything Julie, I live by my instincts.”
She looked up at his firm jawline, aquiline features, and short blonde hair.
“And your instincts told you to give an exclusive to me?”
He stopped, turning towards her and lowered his arm so that her hand dropped away, but he caught it in its downward motion with his other free hand. With his soft green eyes, he looked directly into hers.
“I am not so sure we are here Julie to talk about my company or even my financial success. I sensed immediately you wanted to share something with me, or ask me something relating to my own personal quest.”
She felt her heart skip a little, but she did not let it show, though she suspected there was not too much she could hide from this man, or whatever he was.
“And what would that quest be, “she asked, not breaking the eye contact with him?
“Why don’t you tell me why you are really here first?”
She hesitated, but then decided telling him would probably be the best option, especially considering he seemed to read her like a book anyway.
“I had a very close friend that I believe was killed by one of your associates, and the last time I saw this friend, he had mentioned your name.” She had said it and it was supposed to make her feel better, but it had not.
“I see,” Jason said, contemplating how he should reply, “and this associates name would be,“ he asked, after a short pause?
She knew this bit would be risky. She did not know well enough about their relationship. If they were accomplices this would be a very dangerous moment. Even worse, they were very alone in a very remote wilderness. She decided to trust her instincts, she could feel no evil in this man, in fact, he seemed to instead radiate warmth and trust, but she knew there was always the chance it could be a purposeful deception.
“Ieko Fujimo, head of Futuretronics is one of your business associates is he not?”
There was a long pause, as they stood staring at each other. He continued to hold her hand and she did not detect any change in his grip. Around them, the huge pines sat silently in the cold Japanese autumn air. For a moment, she thought it was her imagination, but it seemed that even the forest had become silent.
“Miss Pierce,” he finally spoke, “if you believe Ieko Fujimo murdered your friend, then you are probably correct.”
At first, there was a sense of relief but that soon turned to uncertainty. He had not said he was against Fujimo, only that he knew what he was capable of.
“No, I am not his accomplice,” Jason said, smiling, a sense of that irony not lost on him. She was again relieved, even if they were only his words, they seemed like sincere words. What was unsettling, was that he seemed to know her every thought.
“Then you would deny that you are his partner?”
She stared deep into his eyes, looking for some understanding of this strange human, but all she got in return was a feeling that it was her that was being studied. The sensation was a little unnerving, but at the same time, she felt some very strange and pleasurable emotions welling somewhere deep inside her being.
“He is a business partner by necessity, rather than by choice, and I myself have almost been a victim of his plan to rule the world. If I were not his business partner, it is likely he could succeed.”
She watched his expressions as he explained and felt an overwhelming sense that what he told her was, in fact, the truth. He turned sideways to her again and lifted her hand to his right, placing it once again in the crook of his elbow.
“Shall we walk Julie, and you can ask whatever you wish to know about me and I will answer you to the best of my ability.”
She turned with him and they walked arm in arm along the forest track silently for a while. She had not felt this safe and secure with someone for a very long time. Deep down, she did not want to let go of what she was feeling.
He looked sideways briefly at the raven-haired beauty that walked within his protective zone. He had felt her unmistakable energy before they had even met, but now that they walked together, attached, he could sense the halo of energy that surrounded her entirety. He had met so few humans like her in his lifetime, and he knew immediately this was the type of woman he was meant to be with. He also knew she would sense his metaphysical invasion of her soul. She would not understand completely the feelings she now experienced, but she would feel a compelling attraction which, if she was of a defensive nature, would scare her a little.
“Well, Mr King “she began, “what are you in this world?”
He was bemused by the question; it was so direct, so intrusive.
“Julie, “he said as if to comfort her, “I am nothing you should fear and I have recently discovered I may have some purpose that could help humanity, other than by using my wealth and position. I am born to fight a battle for the survival of humanity, both in this physical realm and also in a place where only imagination exists.”
They continued to walk slowly down the forest track, as he explained to her where he had been and how he had survived. She for the most part listened but did ask the occasional question. Sometimes they both smiled, sometimes their sadness brought moments of shared silence. Their commonality was the inseparable bond that had now made them one entity of a purposeful and omnipotent universe that would now once made, never be broken.
When finally the buildings of the resort came back into view, they had been walking for about ten minutes in complete silence. They stopped. He turned to face her, his eyes now sparkling in the winter sunlight. She noticed their colour had changed again and were now green as the rich forest floor. Her heart seemed to race inexplicably as he drew her in close to him gently. When he was very close to her cheek he whispered.
“We must part now Julie, but I want you to remember that I shan’t ever be too far if you need me.”
She said nothing, she could say nothing. He had stolen the breath from her lungs and as he pulled his face away, his lips were so close she felt the air from his partly open mouth brush past her cheek. Centimetres from her face he then paused for a split second, then kissed her lips. She could feel her heart beating as if it were about to explode and her chest heaved causing her breasts to push into his body.
‘Oh my God,’ her mind screamed, ‘I have never felt intensity like this before. ‘
He pulled back from her face and looked deep into her eyes.
“I hope you are okay that I did that,” he whispered.
All she could say with what little breath remained was “Yes.”
After a brief second staring into her eyes, that seemed to her like forever, he pulled back, turned away, and began to walk down the forest track leaving her standing alone.
He was a short distance away when he stopped and looked back at her, still standing, waiting.
“We will see each other again Julie Pearce.”
He smiled and she felt a strange warmth fill her, then he turned and continued to walk away. She just stood and watched as he slowly disappeared, his figure moving so purposefully, so powerfully, blending into the forest as a deer might one moment be there then the next, gone.
When she could see him no more, she turned and walked into the resort, her mind a little confused by everything that had just happened. If her life had not been complex enough, it now seemed out of control.
Chapter forty seven
The Interview
“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard,
his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth of a lion.
The dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority.”
John: Revelation 13.2 New Testament