Agent finds a Warrior (5 page)

“Can I have this too?” Maria asked holding
something up.

“Honey you can have anything you want free
of charge!”

“Oh no, Elon gave me a card to pay…….”

“Mr. Gideon’s woman don’t pay for nothing in
my store, but honey if you get shot, stabbed, partly blowed up you
call me and let me know how my art done worked out for ya!”

“I’ll do that.” Maria commented in wry
tone.

“Well das about do it I think! You ready for
war honey child and your gonna look darn sexy doing it too!”

I idly sipped my green tea as I waited for
Maria. She was late. I saw her then and I did a double take, even
as I groaned inwardly.

This was not what I’d been expecting. Elsie
had gone overboard to say it mildly, but why had Maria gone along
with it? And why did she have to look so darn hot!

Maria came to a stop before me and she
tipped back her Indiana Jones styled leather fedora to give me an
expressive eyebrow hike up, “What do you think Elon?”

My eyes drifted away from her face and I was
grateful for the table covering my lap. What did I think?

I think I wanted her to go find some other
clothes is what I thought!

But what I said was, “I think that if you
strapped a sawed off shotgun to your hip and you had a crossbow
cradled in your arms you’d be the 18th century Hollywood style
version of what a vampire slayer should look like.”

Completely dead faced serious she responded
with, “I never much cared for crossbows, but the shotgun and I go
way back.” She said, as she patted the leather pack she had slung
on with one hand suggestively.

She couldn’t be serious!

Feeling my temper begin to rise I said, “The
vampire slayer comment wasn’t a compliment! Don’t you think you
look somewhat conspicuous in that getup?”

Her eyebrows rose as she took me in with a
single glance, “Couldn’t you say the same for yourself Elon?”

Was she inferring that I looked like a
vampire slayer from the 18th century?

I glanced down at myself.

Sure I wore a good bit of leather and I had
a hat and I dressed somewhat more old fashionably…… Oh darn! I did
look like a vampire slayer.

I sighed and glanced up to see her smiling
playfully at me. Oh God what are you trying to do to me with this
woman!

“I guess you’ve made your point.” I said
grumpily.

She smiled triumphantly in response and
sourly I got up and turned away to head down the street and away
from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria followed after Elon. She was certainly
having an effect on him and in some ways that was her purpose if
not her job description, if it could be called that. She didn’t
like the thought of this being a job. It was going to become far
too personal a thing to think of Elon as simply a job
objective.

Sudden panic coursed through her. It was
going to be personal what transpired between her and Elon wasn’t
it? She wasn’t just going to be……..”

“
No.”

Her panic paused for a moment. Was there
going to be more to follow that definitive thought?

There was nothing. But she knew what it
wasn’t going to be so that left her with the position of
determining how personal things would be. She wasn’t good about
being personal, but this was important.

“Elon I don’t think you should be
embarrassed because of your attraction to me.” Maria said hurriedly
as she tried to keep up with Elon’s fast pace.

He stopped.

“I know I am considered beautiful and I’m
flattered that you think so as well and I’m not offended by it.

Elon looked back, “There can never be
anything intimate between us!”

“Why?” Maria asked hesitantly.

“I made a promise a long time ago that I
have to keep.”

Elon turned back to continue on, but Maria
spoke out more boldly than she felt inside, “My purpose here with
you isn’t to torment you or much less to be a source of temptation
to lead you away from any promise that you’ve ever made.”

Elon turned around and it was quite apparent
that he was very angry. So much so that Maria wanted to back away,
as he came toward her, but she didn’t.

“And just what pray tell is your purpose?”
Elon said, as his hot breath washed out over Maria’s face.

Feeling like she was staring down a lion
Maria softly said, “A gift.”

“What!!! What kind of a gift?” Elon stormed
out with in question.

“A gift from God to you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stared incredulously into her eyes, but
found no lie there. She was serious!

“You’re for me?” I asked trying to clarify
what she’d said.

She nodded and I thought of the toy shop
owner who’d made me take the doll claiming I’d have a daughter and
then six more children after that. I thought of all the women I had
passed by from Queens to milkmaid sirens to finally come to this
moment that I had been sure would never happen. Was God really
giving me what I had always desired?

“The hotel incident?” I asked leadingly.

Maria nodded somehow knowing as to what I
was referencing and said, “It’s hard to obey some things. Being
given away as a gift to a man is not something I ever expected to
be asked of me. It’s not something I would’ve ever conceded to on
my own. No offense meant.”

“None taken.” I said just as softly as she
had spoken.

I saw a bench beside us and I sat down
feeling overwhelmed inside and very confused.

“You don’t understand it either?” Maria
asked.

I looked up at her and shook my head no.

“But something makes you believe what I’m
saying?”

“Yes.” I said before looking away. I was
confused and yet I was privately elated.

There was another emotion rising up within
me choking off any feeling of elation I had previously felt. It was
fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what
might be asked of me. So many fears and I tried to swish them all
away, as they were trying to spoil one of the greatest moments of
my life.

“Elon?”

I glanced up to see Maria standing there
almost on the verge of tears.

“What is it Maria?”

“I…… I…… I……”

I pulled her down to the bench beside me.
Tears were now flowing and she wouldn’t look at me. She seemed
almost scared to.

“What are you scared of Maria?”

She shrugged expressively, as if to say she
didn’t know or that there were too many fears to count.

“Me?” I asked.

Her eyes turned to mine and she quickly
said, “No, not really. Not anymore.”

I studied her for a long moment, “You know I
think you’re one of the bravest women I’ve ever met.”

Her eyes lit up in surprise, “Whatever could
make you think that?”

“I just do. Now what were you going to ask
me Maria?”

“Could we date for a while before…….”

“Absolutely!”

She went on as if I hadn’t spoken, “I know I
don’t have the right to ask and I’d never refuse you or what God
wants, but I…….”

“I’ve waited for over 3000 years I think I
can wait a little longer.”

I watched her face go slack with shock and
before she could burst out with the usual questions I said, “You’re
worth the wait anyway.”

She swallowed and just looked at me looking
very shaken. Sudden thoughts filled my head and I gripped the bench
hard feeling shaken to the core of myself.

Dimly I heard Maria calling to me, “Elon are
you all right?”

I came back to the present and opened my
eyes to gaze into her worried ones.

Out of curiosity I asked, “Was there
anything else the God asked of you in concern to me?”

“He told me to pray for you.”

I nodded and glanced down. Not only was God
giving me physical and emotional companionship with a woman that I
wouldn’t have to watch grow old and die, but he had also given me
help in the work that I did for the Kingdom.

In all my years I’d never had anyone devoted
to praying just for me. Perhaps it was possible that I could
accomplish more with this woman by my side than I ever had just by
myself. God had granted my private desires, but ultimately He’d
satisfied my spiritual ones.

I was a better person with her than without
her and I hadn’t lost my soul in the pursuit of something forbidden
to me in order to attain her. Instead what I had desired had been
gifted to me and I was the better for it.

“Did you see something Elon?”

“I did.”

A private joy opened up within me at the
realization that I finally had someone that I could talk and relate
to. Someone I could trust.

“I have visions sometimes that show me paths
to take and what I am to do. Sometimes it’s as simple as giving a
word of encouragement or a warning to someone. Sometimes it’s been
to save humanity itself from some calamity of its own creation or
from the dark powers that be.”

“What did you see this time?”

“A mutual friend of ours and his family are
in grave danger. We must go to them for we have been empowered by
the Holy Spirit of God to intercede on behalf of them.”

I watched Maria’s face quiver slightly as we
both felt the ripple and awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit
course through us.

“What are we up against?” She asked bravely
and I told it to her straight.

“Whatever power of darkness that hell throws
against us.”

I saw fear in her eyes, but I also saw
determination for the fight. I reached over and patted the outline
of the sawed off shotgun in her pack, “The shotguns going to have
to sit this one out I’m afraid. Such weapons will do us no good in
the coming struggle.”

She swallowed expressively before asking,
“What do we fight with then?”

“The promises of God given to us through His
Holy Scripture and prayer. Lots of prayer.”

I stood up and I extended my hand down to
Maria and smiled as I asked, “Ready to join me on our first
adventure together?”

She looked scared and excited all at the
same time, but her hand reached up to mine and enclosed with it and
we were both immediately caught away by the Holy Spirit of God.

Maria fell against me gasping in fright,
“What was that? Where are we? How did we get here?”

I chuckled out loud and her eyes came to
mine in exasperation.

“Do you remember in the Book of Acts, when
Philip is transported from one place to another in the same day by
the Spirit of God?”

“Yes, but he was an apostle! I’m just
ordinary.”

“You are a daughter of Christ and an heir to
the Kingdom of God. Your spirit is more precious than all the
wealth of this world combined together and there is nothing that
your Savior hasn’t already done for you. You are made worthy for
all things because of His sacrifice for you, which makes you
blameless before God. You’re important! Vitally important and there
is nothing ordinary about an individual who has an eternal heavenly
destination. To borrow from the Marine Corps you are one of the
few, the proud, and the brave. I didn’t mean to just preach at you
so heavily, but it burdens me when I see individuals under value
themselves as to what God can bless them to do for His righteous
causes.”

Maria was looking at me as if she was seeing
a new side of something, “You really think I’m that important?”

“I do, but much more significant than what I
think is how Jesus thinks about you.”

She nodded.

The temperature was warm and the country
lane we stood in promised to offer a good long walk to wherever we
were going.

“I’ll hold your coat and pack for you if
you’d like while we walk.” I offered obligingly.

She handed me her pack and I slung it over
my shoulder. Then she slipped off her leather coat and handed it to
me and I hung it over my arm with my coat. We started out with her
looking around at every countryside sight, while I looked at
her.

It was a wonder that I didn’t trip and fall
over flat onto my face. I watched her warm brown skin darken and
she glanced up at me inquiringly in regards to my intense perusal
of her.

“Is there something on my face or
something?” She asked.

I glanced away from her smiling into the
distance.

She touched my shoulder hesitantly and I
glanced back to her, “You can keep looking. I shouldn’t have……. I
know why you were looking and it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry that my looking at your beauty
causes you such discomfort.”

She stopped walking and so I stopped.

I waited patiently for her to speak.

“Well it shouldn’t. There’s absolutely
nothing wrong with you!” She glanced away before adding, “I’m the
problem.”

She glanced back to me, “What kind of man
even apologizes for looking at a woman the way you were at me
anyway? You’re so different from any man that I’ve ever met
before!”

“Looking and imagining can be as significant
as touching. Both of them have been forbidden to me until now. It’s
hard to stop from indulging when I look at your beauty and know
what I know will eventually come to pass between us.”

She moved her head to the side gazing at me
as if puzzled by something, “You’re saying that you think to even
look at a woman you’re not married to is a sin?”

I nodded, “Jesus laid it out very clearly
that we are accountable for the thoughts of our minds as much as we
are the actions which we commit with our hands. He even went as far
to say that to hate someone was the same as if to murder them.”

“I have a question. You don’t have to answer
it if you don’t want to.”

“Ask away.” I said obligingly.

“You’ve never been with a woman physically
before have you?”

“No.”

“What about thinking?”