Jack stayed still to show that he understood and waited for the men to come. His campfire was small and he couldn’t see further than the area illuminated by the fire. Slowly from the edge of that darkness, two men appeared. He couldn’t be sure how many others were left in the darkness to watch but he guessed at least one more.
“Who are you and what are you doing on our land?” the man to the left asked Jack.
“I’m just passing through. I got turned around in the dark,” Jack answered with a slight Southern American accent.
The man to the right looked at him closely. “Where you from?”
“Missouri.”
“Missouri, huh? You fight in the war?”
“My older brother left for the war and it was just me and my Ma,” Jack lied. “I took care of her until she died of pneumonia. Then, I set out to find my kin.”
“So what are you, out here looking for your brother?”
“My brother’s dead. He was killed by the man I’ve been following since Missouri.”
“So you’re gonna kill ‘em, that it?” The man looked at Jack closely. “You sure you’re not here to squat our land?”
“As I said, I’m just passing through. Where I end up depends on the man I’m following.”
“We own all the land around here. There’re some villages south of here in Mexico. Maybe your friend went there?”
Jack smiled. “Maybe he did.”
“There are some bad men in these parts. If they find him before you, you might not have to worry about him.”
Jack considered the comment. “If they were to find him, what would they do with him?”
“Most men captured by banditos are sold off. If that happened to your friend, he’d be better off if you just killed him. Now, that’s enough talking. We’ll leave you here tonight. Don’t let us catch you around here tomorrow.”
Jack nodded and watched them disappear back into the darkness; he listened intently for several minutes to make sure they actually left. He knew they would leave at least one man on watch to make sure he left in the morning.
As he laid back on the hard ground, he considered the deaths that he had caused in his life. The thoughts soothed him and he drifted off into peaceful sleep.
The next morning, he moved on, heading south. He rode back sitting high in the saddle of his stolen horse, feeling so good that he even whistled while he rode. A few days later, he found the banditos and stood leering at their latest prisoners.
“Well, it’s good to see you awake,” Jack said to Juan. “What’s the matter, I thought you’d be happy to see an old friend?”
Juan did not answer.
“Have it your way,” Jack continued. “You don’t have to talk. But you do have to listen.” Jack moved the stool closer to the cell until he was sitting just outside of the bars. “You have one option. I can let you be sold off into slavery. Now, I know you could free yourself but your Indian friend here won’t be so fortunate. Is his life worth it?”
“What do you want?”
“I want your secret. I want to know why you can’t die. Do that, and maybe I can convince them to let you go.”
Juan laughed. He couldn’t help it. “My secret? Is that what you call it?”
Jack tried to keep his smile but it faltered slightly. Inside, there was no smile at all. “Maybe I’ll go back to when you were a boy. I’ll kill you then before you became who you are. I’ve read the history books. I know you weren’t born this way.”
A smile still lingered on Juan’s face. “Good luck with that.”
Jack was furious but refused to allow Juan to gain any advantage. Instead, he turned away from Juan and walked out the prison.
The next morning, Juan escaped.
In his rage, the need to murder consumed Jack.
CHAPTER NINE
Washington, D.C. – Present Day
She was one of the most powerful CEOs in the world. Her company – the one her grandfather started, her father grew nationally and she grew globally – had revolutionized the way people lived their lives.
Her next step was a surprise to even her. The road she traveled to the top of the political scene was unexpected and created a bitter jealousy among others in that arena.
Some people thought she was only elected President of the United States because she was a woman. In an interview prior to the election, she called that a wash – some would vote for her because she was a woman and some would vote against her because she was a woman.
It was a very tense time in the country. Many people were out of work. Not that the country hadn’t faced similar situations before, it was just that this time there seemed to be a lack of conventional wisdom when it came to getting the country back on track.
She was elected as the agent of change. And in the end she was, only not in the way she expected. Her platform during the campaign was one of practical economics: finances the way her grandfather would have done it.
She ran her campaign similar to her company. She worked hard, made every effort to be up front with people and made intelligent decisions. When she referenced her grandfather and his influence over her economic perspective she wasn’t just giving a talking point. Her grandfather had laid out the blueprint of how a company could be a friend to the community and also be successful financially. Her father had been ingrained in that doctrine as had she.
But in the end, her legacy was not finances, it was war.
War had long been part of the world and she knew it would be a
