Part OnePart TwoTruth is the Savior, Part Three
Port Thimpodopoulos, Fhulghamous Peninsula
The present dayPort Thimpodopoulos was the quintessential Fleftic colonial town that had grown to become the whole colony's capital. Back in 2008, just a few months after the end of the Holy Catholic Revolution, the site on which the city would be established was mostly marshlands and forests. Seven years later, all those forests had been turned to lumber to build the houses and buildings of Port Thim, as the city's citizens had come to call it. The marshes had been drained to provide for the city's water supply, but that had run out just two years after the establishment of the city, and besides, desalinization plants now bore the brunt of Port Thim's ever-increasing demands for water.
Port Thim was the home of ten million people, most of them colonists who had decided to leave the Democratic Republic for the quiet life in the colonies. Today two of those people were getting married, and they were to be joined in holy matrimony in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of La Naval de Port Thimpodopoulos in a Roman Catholic ceremony.
It was just a small event, with no more than two dozen people attending the event. The small number of people was not because the bride was in the family way; the simple fact was that the bride and groom had only a small circle of friends and acquaintances in Port Thim.
The bride and groom stood at the foot of the altar in front of the priest. They had already exchanged their vows, and only the final part was left to be said. "Do you, Maria Helena Josefina Ignacio, take Timothy Julian Lane as your lawfully wedded husband in sickness and in health, till death do you part, as long as you both shall live?" the priest asked the bride.
"I do," she replied.
The priest then turned to the groom and asked him, "Do you, Timothy Julian Lane, take Maria Helena Josefina Ignacio as your lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health, till death do you part, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," the groom said.
The past seven years had been quite the eye opener for Timothy Lane. During those seven years, he had seen that the woman standing before him now, Helen Ignacio, was cut from a different cloth from her cousin Big Johnny Ignacio. Unlike her cousin, Helen was a nice and decent human being, and she had been the first person aside from Tim's family and childhood friends that had treated him like another human being and not just a piece of meat to beat up, bully and rob. And Helen's outgoing personality had served as the perfect foil to Tim's introversion, she being the one that had led him out and introduced themselves to the people in their immediate neighborhood. And love had surely bloomed between them, just as the sun surely rises from the east. The fact that they were both virtually exiles from their respective communities may have helped their relationship along.
Tim turned to look at the small group of people gathered in the church with them. He saw their best man, Selong Mkesi, and the maid of honor, Natalie Traynor, standing to the left of the church. With them was Jaroslaw Veczynski, a tall and pale Pole that stuck out in the mass of brown and tan like a sore thumb. Tim and Helen had been involved in quite a job with those three people, and that job had paid off very well for all of them; fifty million dollars now rested in each of their bank accounts, which had also been established by their employer once they had taken on the job.
"Tim!" Helen said, in a not-too-loud voice. "The priest said you can now kiss me!"
"Huh, what?" Tim blurted out. "Oh, yeah. Of course." A smile crossed his lips as he took Helen in his arms and gave her a big kiss right on the lips. Helen was surprised but nevertheless she returned the kiss with equal measure. The small crowd cheered for the newlyweds, and then Tim made them cheer a little bit harder when he took Helen's waist and kissed her following a small dance and flourish.
Thrown rice greeted the newlyweds as they burst out of the church, which despite being called a cathedral was only big enough to fit three hundred people in hot discomfort. Tim and Helen ran down the stone steps, and then Tim lifted Helen up from her feet and carried her into the car that had been hired for this marriage, with the prerequisite JUST MARRIED sign taped to the back. Tim set Helen gently into the car, and then he got in the driver's seat and drove to the place where they were going to hold their wedding reception. Their guests followed them in various vehicles, making them look like an odd convoy of cars, trucks and even bikes and motorcycles.
Arriving at the restaurant where the wedding reception would be, the newlyweds went about the business of receiving their guests and showing that they were now properly married. They cut the wedding cake, gave each other a bite, kissed when the guests rang their glasses; all in all they were, while it wouldn't be appropriate to call it "going through the motions," going through the reception as fast as humanly possible. The guests, sensing that the newlyweds probably wanted to consummate their marriage as soon as possible, humored the couple and also silently agreed to let the two have their sweet sweet time together.
Finally, the reception was over, and Tim and Helen were finally left alone in their large and spacious home on the shores of Thimpodopoulos Bay. They had bought it using the money they had earned from their "job," and both of them had liked its location and snapped it up immediately as soon as it had become available. Tim once again carried Helen over the threshold and then into the bedroom.
"Ooh, Tim!" Helen said when he laid her down on the bed. "You're very excited about this, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Tim replied. "This is the first time we're gonna be doing this as husband and wife. Don't you like it?"
"Oh, don't like we haven't done this before!"
"I know. Let's get down to business, shall we, Mrs. Lane?"
"Don't you mean fun, Mr. Lane?"
"That's why I love you, Helen," Tim said as he leaned in to kiss Helen, but he ended up landing on top of her. Helen giggled, and Tim caressed her face and neck with kisses.
And of course, just as they were about to get to the really fun part, the phone rang. Tim made much the same observation as he lifted himself up and away from Helen and towards the telephone. "Lane," he said in greeting.
"Tim, is that you? It's Raffy."
All thoughts of setting down the telephone and returning to Helen went out of Tim's mind. "Raffy?" he asked. "Raphael Durant? How did you get this number? And how did you even know it was me?"
Raphael "Raffy" Durant had been one of Tim's few friends in Releinthi State University during his first and only year in the university, one of the few people that did not bully him there. Tim barely remembered that Durant had been the son of a very powerful and influential political dynasty, and that he had plans of going into the Republican Bureau of Investigation after graduating from college. Tim wondered if Raffy Durant was right now in the RBI, and was tracking his call in an effort to catch him. He was still wanted in Abanhfleft itself for the Releinthi State University shooting which left seven people dead.
'That's not what I'm here to talk about, man," Durant replied. "Listen, we really have to get together and talk. I haven't heard from you in seven years, and now I've found you once again, and I'm just overwhelmed. How soon can you get back to Releinthi?"
"Wait a minute, Raffy, man, Releinthi?" Tim asked. "Isn't there any way you can come out here?"
"I've got work," Durant replied almost immediately. A bit too immediately, in Tim's opinion. "I can't get down there to... where are you, Tim? I mean, where in the world are you?"
"I can't really tell you right now because it's a bit complicated," Tim said.
"Oh, okay. I understand, man. Listen, I'm a bit tight on time. We really need to get together, Tim. It's been seven years. I'll be waiting for you in Releinthi. I honestly hope to see you soon, Tim." Then all Tim could hear was the steady hum of the dial tone.
"Tim, who was that?" Helen asked beside him.
"Raffy Durant," Tim replied. "You know him. He wants to talk to me. In Releinthi."
The mention of the city of her birth caused Helen to sit up straight on the bed. "Releinthi?" she repeated. "He doesn't want you to go back, does he?"
"Yes, he does, and I think I know why." Tim sighed and then he continued, "He's with the RBI. I think he's finally found where we are."
"What... is that even possible?" Helen asked.
"Everything's possible with the RBI," Tim said. "They're on the same level as the MSS."
"What are you going to do, Tim? You said it yourself. If Durant's with the RBI, then he wants to take you down once and for all. I know he's your friend and all that, but are you really going to give up to the blues just because of him?"
"Not really, Helen. But I've been giving it some thought. It's been seven years since what happened. We've been on the run for seven years now, Helen. Seven years. Sure, it's a lucky number, but how long will it be until our luck runs out? Besides, I'm tired of running away as well. I think it's time that I faced my fate with dignity. How about you, Helen?"
"I don't know what's gotten into your mind, Tim," Helen finally said after a few moments' thinking, "but if you think you're doing this alone, then you're wrong. We're married now, remember? That means we do everything together. If you're going to Releinthi then i'm going with you. Besides, I'm legally dead. If they see me, they'll think they're seeing a ghost. That means I've got your back whatever happens. How's that sound, Tim?"
"You know, Helen, that's why I love you," Tim replied. "You always think ahead."
"I know, right? Now let's finish what we started before we were so rudely interrupted, Mr. Lane."
"Of course, Mrs. Lane."