The Dharma Revelation

Chapter 15

"What about the Chaos Wave?" Heller asked.

"Didn't have time to ask about it," Cavanaugh explained. "We were starting to risk being seen, lingering there too long. Besides, it doesn't matter, Osiris is young, that's the key."

"Did anyone see your face?"

"Jason, shut up and drive," Cavanaugh ordered, tired of the questions. "Don't speed or attract any attention."

"I know what I'm doing," Heller said, turning his attention toward the road. And then added, "I still think you should have left the gun."

"My prints were all over it," Cavanaugh explained. "I grabbed his wallet so it would look like a robbery, nobody will put two and two together; especially in this part of town."

"You are one cold son of a bitch," Heller noted. "Gunning down a priest. I mean, I know it had to be done, but damn."

"I shot an evil man, and the world is much better off now. Remember, 'kill one, save a million'."

Heller didn't respond, he just kept driving.

"Have you heard from Raines?"

"No."

"We should check in with him," Cavanaugh said.

"Be my guest," Heller said. "I don't want to talk to him."

"Your enemy's enemy is your friend, Jason," Cavanaugh said, waving his cell phone to emphasize his words. "What we now face is more important than past squabbling."

Heller grunted his agreement.

Cavanaugh dialed Raines, and after a brief conversation with him, he began to swear vehemently.

"What? What is it?" Heller asked. "Did he say what happened?"

"Yes," Cavanaugh said angrily. "Yes, he did. The target survived the explosion somehow."'

"What?" Heller screamed.

"Watch your driving," Cavanaugh said. "We can't risk getting pulled over."

"How did he survive?"

"Work of the devil—I don't know. Raines said he's in intensive care in critical condition. Both of them."

"Both?"

"His sister, too. He said they both survived."

"Who cares about his sister?" Heller asked.

Cavanaugh glanced at him and then back at the road. He didn't answer.

Everything was moving quickly now, he thought. But we must be calm. There would be time for all of this to be dealt with; it was young.

"Back when I was in the service," Heller said. "We had a sergeant who was younger and stupider than all of us. He used to make us do these frickin' exercises—a horrible routine of crap. He called them suicides. Ten minutes of them seemed like an hour."

"What's your point?" Cavanaugh asked, completely uninterested.

"Suicides were used mostly for discipline," Heller explained. "But this sergeant, he used to push us for no reason. Some of the guys couldn't take it, so eventually they attacked the sergeant." Heller shrugged. "They got kicked out, of course. But not me; I did what I was told and wound up at the DoD Advanced Research and Projects Agency. The point is, just because something unpleasant happens, there is no need to lash out."

"Lashing out is what we do, Jason."

"Lashing out isn't our goal, it is a means to our goal."

Cavanaugh looked at him. "Darcie doesn't pay us to think, he pays us to act. Order and discipline, these are the important lessons from your story. We do what we are told. And I wouldn't go around bragging about winding up at DARPA. I spent some time there; the knuckleheads at the DoD stick all of their dead weight at DARPA."

Heller looked surprised that Cavanaugh even heard of it.

"I was in special ops for the DTRA," Cavanaugh said, in answer to Heller's confusion. "We dealt with this kind of thing constantly. Stay the course, follow orders. Darcie knows what he's doing."

Heller put his eyes back to the road and said nothing.

"I'm a little surprised," Cavanaugh added. "I didn't expect you to preach caution. You were hand-picked for this because of your loyalty."

"It's not a loyalty issue," Heller said, keeping his eyes on the road.

Cavanaugh studied him as if trying to diagnose an illness. He considered Heller's earlier points and tried to root out the reasoning behind questioning orders.

"Ahhh," he said finally. "This is about the priest, isn't it?"

Heller didn't respond.

Cavanaugh smiled, as if he were being patient with a child. "Jason, do you believe in the Bible?"

"Of course," he grunted.

"Do you believe every word is true?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" he asked again. "You don't sound very sure."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Romans: 'But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,'" Cavanaugh quoted from memory. "Which means, righteousness is determined by your actions, not by your collar."

Heller glanced over at him, "You can't tell me that the priest didn't follow Jesus."

"Personal Godliness was specifically preached against in the Bible, Jason. The priest told me he wanted to fracture the structure of religion as we know it. Those were words from his own mouth."

Heller looked skeptical.

"Look, sometimes it doesn't matter if you take vows or wear robes and preach. The power of evil holds sway even over the best-intentioned," Cavanaugh regarded him patiently, as if taking pride in his own tolerance levels. "You know what our calling is: We cannot let the fallen spread their madness."

"Yeah I know, kill one, save a million," Heller recited. And then added, "Even priests."

"Respected religious figures that fall can be more dangerous than the secular," Cavanaugh said. "They are more effective carriers of the virus."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right, okay?" Heller said. "It's just a lot to swallow right now. I know Raines was doing the same thing; it just seems like the people we are going after—well—it's not as clear as it used to be."

Cavanaugh looked at Heller in disgust and then had a thought. "Raines..."

He opened his phone, considering calling Raines with another task.

"What now?" Heller asked, reading his mind.

Cavanaugh clapped his phone shut, "Let's go to the hospital. I'm going to take care of this myself."