Chapter III John Banner Has an Unusual Visitor.

John Banner has an unusual visitor.

John Banner was relaxing on a beach in Jamaica, and going through his mail. It contained a large envelope with lots of receipts. To the rest of the world, he was Dave Rush, a freelance journalist, with a heavy left wing agenda. He was the liberal champion of all the causes that he personally thought were reprehensible.

The envelope was stuffed with tax documents. Once a year, even secret agents had to stop and pay the tax man. The government was the only employer who could tax you for working for them.

The receipts were all fakes prepared to create a paper trail of all his income for the year. Every article he supposedly wrote or story he had submitted was accounted for and billed to the appropriate fake company. Whoever was really writing the articles was locked away in some government basement, never to see the light of day.

There was even a receipt for last year's filing costs. They thought of everything. Fortunately, the forms were already filled out for him. Dave Rush, whoever that was, had even signed them. These were just copies for Banner's files. Once more, your tax dollars were at work, keeping America safe.

Banner walked up to the Tiki bar. The natives didn't drink at Tiki bars. They were invented for tourists, so the owners could charge fourteen dollars for a cocktail. Banner ordered his usual, Kettle One on the rocks. He walked back to his chair, gingerly tiptoeing on the hot sand. Only tourists would walk across the Jamaican sand without sandals.

The bartender was a New York transplant. He had a New York attitude and a Jamaican work ethic. He stood at the bar wiping down the same spot he had been wiping for the last half hour. He watched Banner make his way back to his chair.

He shook his head. “Tourist,” he said.

Sitting in the chair next to Banner was an attractive girl. She was wearing a one-piece suit that looked more like a thin coat of white paint than a bathing suit. Banner was just about to say something to her when a guy with a build like Schwarzenegger came up and sat down beside her, better luck next time. So far, things weren't going that well for Banner in Jamaica. It didn't matter. His vacation was ending. Tomorrow, he would be back in the states.

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As Banner pulled into his driveway, he noticed a dark sedan parked across the street. Never a good sign, even for someone who didn't have a lot to hide. A man got out of the car and walked toward Banner. He looked Middle Eastern, Banner guessed Afghan. He had thick black hair, bushy eyebrows, and a thick black mustache.

“Are you John Banner, or should I say, Dave Rush?” Banner wondered who had blown his cover?

“And who are you?” Banner asked.

“Who I am is not important. His Holiness, The Voice of God has decided to grant you an interview. He wishes for the world to know his plan for bringing lasting peace to the Middle East. He promises to end the fighting forever.”

Banner wondered if he was going to announce a cure for cancer at the same time. Before he could ask, the Middle Eastern man continued, “His Holiness can bring all of the warring factions together in peace. Even Israel can join us in harmony as long as they lay down their weapons and remain peaceful.”

Sure, thought Banner. That way you can round them all up and dispose of them at your leisure. The Holocaust all over again.

“I will return for you in two days at eight a.m. Be ready to travel.” He didn't even ask if he would be ready to go. When His Holiness called, you went.

The next day, Jerry Batista came by. More bad news, In five years, Jerry Batista had never come by.

“Ian Burton is dead.”

“How?”

“There is a madman in Afghanistan. He calls himself, The Voice of God. We wanted to know more about him. You were out of town. We decided to leak that Ian Burton was Dave Rush and he wanted to do a puff piece on this crackpot. Ian didn't know anything about it.

We didn't know if The Voice would take the bait. Two days later, Ian was assassinated in front of his house. There was collateral damage.” Banner didn't ask what the collateral damage was. He knew what collateral damage meant, it was The Company's way of saying people had been killed.

Jerry was Ian's contact with The Company. In fact, he was the only person from The Company Banner had ever met. As far as he was concerned, Jerry Batista was The Company. For all he knew, he could have been some guy working out his garage or his parent's basement. It wouldn't be the first time someone had scammed the government out of millions.

Banner had read once about a woman who had scammed the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by convincing some gullible congressmen that she had taught a parrot to carry on a conversation.

It was something she had seen years before in a circus act. It made good circus entertainment, but nothing to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on in an attempt to weaponize it. But then, Congress has an unlimited stream of money to give to nut cases and scam artists.

Jerry Batista had recruited John during a career choices meet and greet. He promised him travel to exotic places, lots of money and danger. John was all in. Jerry taught him the ropes. He took him in as his protegee. 

He changed his name from whatever it had been to John Banner. Banner hadn't heard his real name in so long that if someone from his past called out to him in a crowd, he wouldn't have recognized it. It was a different person, a different life.

“It turns out it wasn't The Voice that killed Ian,” Jerry continued. “It was some other nut job who wanted to stop the meeting from happening. The Voice had taken the bait. We put out a new leak that the assassins had gotten the wrong man. Dave Rush is still alive.”

“Let me guess,” Banner interrupted, “I'm the new target.”

“I'm sorry, John, we need you. I suspect that you will be contacted soon.”

“I already have been. He was here yesterday.”

Banner told him about the Middle Eastern man. Jerry didn't have a clue who he might be.

“My guess, a paid messenger,” Jerry said.

“Yes,” Banner agreed. “This guy looked like a pro. He's coming back in two days. I'm going with him to meet this Voice of God.”

“Be careful.” " Jerry had brought Banner a gift.

“It's a laptop computer. Good for your cover.” It's got some of your past articles on it and several stories you are currently working on. There's also a surprise in there for when you arrive.”

There was always a surprise.

No one spoke on the ride to the airport. When they arrived, the Middle Eastern visitor handed Banner his boarding pass and walked away. His job was done.