SOLOMON'S BRIDGE {Part II/WORK IN PROGRESS}

THE REVERSE * 5*

DR. JAY

Dr. Jay has a long list that desperately needs to get real short, really quickly. It's seven a.m, only Agent Red is with him in the office. He walks to the far left of the office space pulling the rope strings of his brown window shutters. The September sun shines brightly through his window. His mental checklist is taking far too long to get ticked off. The castle tour is the milestone that produced the diary of Justice Benedict Hall. The healing caves of the high priestess is on his list, as well as that old mountain called Ufot Akaan. Edward Maye, Chief Nimo, Fanny Duke, and Miss Edima McFoy are all on this list. His thick eyebrows draw together, contemplating the mulatto's sudden transition, from poor orphan to wealthy heiress. He moves to his busy display board. Obviously, she knows a thing or two about finding one's roots. He writes under her smiling, pinned picture, disappeared, for fifteen years. When it comes to Miss Edima McFoy, things can get a little tricky. In his skin, he's just a military intelligence secret operative. His mission is to find and retrieve a virus that doubles as the folklore curse. Except he feels like he's in another person's skin, lately, and it's not a story anymore. Acknowledging the powers of a very wicked shaman as described in Commander's diary, means accepting that demons do exist, that they sometimes carry out errands, like putting up high energy, repelling force fields... even invisibly locking gold doors. Everything he's experiencing cajoles him into accepting that demons do exist... which is not hard to do, if a man should ever encounter a reptilian monster that looks like a Titanoboa in his dark memories. It tips the scales of his own balanced world of privileged indifference, to reveal a fatal imbalance. All that's left for him is defeat. No other way but forward. There is no going back. MI6 wants the Codex, then they want him dead. If he gets it, he is most likely going to meet some not so friendly demons along the way. Canaan city has forced him to admit that there is an evil side to the supernatural. A very evil side. Can there be demons, yet no angels? Can there be Satan, but no God? Her HRBC class makes him think about what he will do with his life, after evading the breakfast party. Her odd lectures make him confront the truth. God, is Real. God does exist. A man can live his life choosing to ignore this, but its... not smart. The door of his office opens, but he doesn't need to turn around to see who walks in. Agent Red has light footsteps, and he wears his cologne heavy.

"Boss? What's this?" the agent points a finger at the crowded display board. Dr. Jay breathes a sigh. He can't leave his thoughts open for his clever staff to decode. He needs to be one step ahead of them, always, because while some are just eager to prove themselves, others are hot tempered and trigger happy. Ever since Blue's second run in with the killer some days ago, Red has become too personally invested in the case. One of their ever growing pile of body bags, is the man's own relative. Sadly, it turns out number eleven on highway three was his cousin, a young man just graduated from, uh, medical school? Job hunting; living a very quiet, solitary life. His agent wants revenge.

Jay gets it. But because of his own peculiar connection to the case, he wants to keep Collins Bishop very far away, until he can figure out what Candy Cool, has to do with everything. So yeah, he also recommended him to the governor. For uh, that trip.

"This is Canaan City at a glance, Red, we are looking at the founding families, not buildings. Did you know, that as far back as 1891, this City had seven founding families? The Dukes, the Effiongs, the Attah's, the Ephraims, the Trombones, Hogan Basseys, and the McFoys?"

He knows the man has heard some pretty staggering news on the grapevine by now, but he isn't going to give him any of the details. No comment.

Agent Red folds his hands at the elbows, "Okay Boss, but why is your photo on the board?"

"I like my face, don't you?" Dr. Jay takes a quick glance at the man. Red scratches at his razor sharp nose, his teeth gritting, then clamping down on his jaws. Jay turns his attention back to his thematic chart, wondering how to hide it from his agent without destroying it. Maybe he'll cover it up with a blank sheet. He murmurs softly, "Tell me something good?"