The eye of the lion

I looked out of the window of the RV at the countryside flying past as we left it behind, like my hopes of a peaceful retirement in a rational world.

Sitting in the small dining area in the back of the vehicle, I was gazing out of the wide window as we traveled along the French freeway.

Cole was driving, with Jessica as co-pilot, map in hand. Marina and Aeesha were lying on the sofa-bed resting, and Mark was studying something on the screen of his lap-top.

We had been traveling towards a place in the South of France for some hours. It was a destination that had been revealed by the black girl in the midst of a trance that only Marina had witnessed.

Under normal conditions I would have burst out laughing and thrown that suggestion aside as the product of a fertile

imagination. But given the circumstances that no longer seemed any less sensible than any other option. The truth is that we had few choices at hand. No others, in fact.

Mark got up from his seat and walked towards the dining area, sitting down opposite me at the table. He looked at me for a few seconds.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

“Of course,” I replied, nodding. “What about?”

Mark glanced towards where the girls were resting and then looked at me.

“Sir, you know I’ve never criticized any of your decisions. Not once in more than ten years...”

I nodded. That was true. The guy had risked his life several times in order to follow my orders. And always successfully, I might add.

“And you know that although the Colonel is dead and the team as such no longer exists, Jessica and I would follow you wherever was necessary until our job was done...” he continued.

I nodded again.

“But this, I don’t know... I don’t understand, sir,” said Mark.

“What is it you don’t understand, son?”

Mark looked at the girls again and then resumed.

“That you’re basing our plans on the visions of this woman we don’t even know... especially as we’re in a very dangerous situation. I don’t understand that you’re doing that.”

I nodded again.

“And what would you propose? Paris? Right about now those people will already be waiting for us to go to the Colonel’s house or my house, to finish us off and take Marina. We can’t go back to Paris! We can’t let them catch her...”

“We could... go somewhere else. Maybe the United States...” murmured Mark, unsure. I shook my head.

“We were very lucky to be able to cross the channel without problems, son... But now we can’t get out of the country so easily. At this moment I can guarantee that those men have their agents stationed in every airport, dock and train station in France, waiting for us to arrive like idiots and try to leave the country, so that they can catch us. We can’t take that risk.”

Mark studied me, weighing my words.

“In any case, I’m sure that if she wasn’t with us, Marina would look for a way to go with the black girl and get to the place she talked about. She trusts her completely! And whether what she says is true or not, we can’t run the risk of losing them. Marina is very important to a lot of people. So

much so, that they would kill anyone to have her. If we want to understand what’s going on, we need to know why.”

Mark looked at me, studying me.

“Why do you think she’s so important?”

I shook my head again.

“I don’t know yet,” I replied.

Deep down, I don’t think I wanted to know.