RESURGENCE

CHAPTER 4

March 16, 2016

Robert Wilson waved at his ten-year-old daughter as she looked back over her shoulder while walking away from the car. For a moment, he wished that she would never grow up and stay as his sweet ten-year-old daughter forever, away from all the harsh realities of this world. His daughter loved having him around and told him all about her school, her friends, her teachers, her struggles with counting numbers, and her desire to have a pet cat. He watched her as she crossed the school lawn and disappeared into the building.

Being his own boss allowed Robert to take a month-long vacation every year, which he spent with his family. Today was the first day of his well-deserved break, and he had started by surprising his wife with breakfast in bed. Robert had been away on a country-wide book promotional tour for the last two weeks and had got home late last night. Breakfast in bed was the last thing his wife had expected. As he was about to drive out of the school parking lot, he wondered if he could get home just in time to catch his wife in the shower. His cell phone rang and broke his fantasy.

Two hours later, he was at the airport.

"I'm baffled," said Robert. "I've worked as a freelance consultant for many big companies, predicting the spending patterns of people with different religious backgrounds. I've helped them develop religion-sensitive advertising for cultures less familiar to the West. But this is the first time I've ever been contacted by the United States government—to be a consultant."

"It's exciting for sure," said his wife. "Maybe they want you to work for them as an undercover agent and go to China, Korea, or the Middle East. I wish the CIA would call me up someday. But alas, I'm just a school teacher."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Robert. "He didn't say much on the phone. I'm supposed to get a package regarding the purpose of this visit, and I am not to divulge the contents to anyone else. He said the issue was of national importance."

"I hope you tell me. Won't you, love?"

"Maybe someday."

"Why wouldn't you? Don't you trust me?"

"I do, but what if you can't handle the truth?" he said as he tried his best to imitate Jack Nicholson's famous line from A Few Good Men.

"I'm going to miss you sorely," she said with a smile.

"I promise to make it up to you, love," said Robert, who leaned over to kiss her goodbye. "We'll have our full two weeks of vacation after I'm done with this."

###

An hour later, Robert Wilson was waiting for the gate to open so he could board the flight to Washington D.C. The air conditioning vent in the roof was directly above where he was sitting, and he felt blasts of cold air rip through his thin cotton shirt. The cold made him want to take a leak and while he contemplated visiting the closest restroom, a young man in his mid-twenties took the seat right next to him.

"Robert Wilson, right?" said the young man.

"Yes," said Robert as he tried to place the young man's face and remember his name.

"I'm Jack, I have a package for you." The man handed a sealed packet to Robert.

"Thank you."

"Hope you have a safe trip, sir."

A child-like curiosity came over Robert, and he held the package in both hands as if it was something fragile. The package was much lighter than he had expected, and he thought it could not be more than a few sheets of paper. He turned the package over and carefully broke the official-looking seal. Before taking a look inside the package, he looked around to check if someone was spying on him. Although nobody was paying any unnecessary attention to him, he decided to go through the contents of the package onboard. Meanwhile, he focused on finding the nearest restroom.