“the thing you fear most has no power. your fear of it is what has the power. facing the truth really will set you fr ee.” oprah winfrey “vacation?” “i’m sorry, what?” penelope asked. “are you going to jackson for vacation?” “yes. vacation.” looking around, penelope found herself in a middle seat of the jackson hole shuttle and looking up at a smiling woman about her age. the shuttle was starting to fill as new passengers boarded and stowed their suitcases. “do you mind?” penelope still wasn’t tracking very well. once again her internal system had experienced a shock that baffl ed her intellect and left her numb. “may i sit with you? you never know what you’re going to get, otherwise.” “of course,” penelope said as she slid over. “i’m paula simpson.” penelope panicked. she had forgotten the name on the new identification walker had given her. what was she going to do? paula leaned in and whispered. “your name is elizabeth hart from akron, ohio. i’m a friend.” penelope spence stared at the woman with openmouthed wonder. “he sent me to watch over you.” a guardian angel? penelope was finding it difficult to form words, much less sentences. 191 the fourth awakening she didn’t remember boarding the bus or how she had avoided being arrested. paula leaned over and patted her on the arm. “th e first couple a times you do that can really take the starch out of you. we’ve got a long ride, so why don’t you try to get some rest now? you’ve had a rough couple a days.” . “what do you mean, this isn’t penelope spence?” wolfe demanded as he spun the woman in the chair around. she certainly looked like spence to him. smith’s shoulders sagged. “according to her fingerprints,” security chief mcgee said, “she’s…” “sally winters,” smith said, cutting off mcgee in mid-sentence. “hi, robert.” “you know her?” wolfe demanded. “of course i know her.” smith wanted to add, ‘you idiot’ but swallowed the urge. “she is one of michael walker’s personal staff .” “senior vice president of communications for walker industries, actually.” walker corrected. “she used her real name and passport when she checked in,” mcgee stated. without another word, smith turned on his heels and left the room. caught off guard, chief mcgee and special agent marcus wolfe were left standing in the middle of the interrogation room and unsure of what to do next. michael walker offered some advice. “i think robert is waiting for you in the hall.” the two men, realizing he was probably correct, left the room. in the corridor, smith was already in the middle of a call to the director. “no, sir. i have no idea what he’s up to. we have no reason to hold the woman. she is the head of public relations for walker industries and you can pretty much bet she’s not the only walker industries pr person here in the terminal. the airplane ticket was booked in her name and she is not on any of our no-fly or terrorist watch lists.” smith began pacing in a tight circle as he focused all of his attention on the phone at his ear. “sir, walker industries has over 85,000 employees. we couldn’t put them all on the no-fly list, and until this moment we had no idea that she would be a concern.” he listened again. “this place is crawling with media, and if we arrest her i’m sure someone on her staff will tip them off. do you 192 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin really want to see the head of walker’s pr department holding a press conference right now?” smith’s head bobbed up and down slightly as he listened. “i agree.” assistant director smith put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone, looked at mcgee and said. “the woman is free to go.” “what?” exclaimed wolfe, freezing the chief in his tracks. “which is it?” mcgee asked. “she’s free to go.” smith turned back to his cell phone. “yes, sir. we can try to bring him back to washington but i doubt we can hold him…” “i’ll guarantee it,” wolfe said. a bemused smile covered smith’s face as he glanced up at wolfe to see if he was serious. he obviously was. “hold on, one second.” he turned and faced wolfe, then held his cell phone close enough to the other agent’s face that the director would be able to hear the words directly from his mouth. “director. i personally guarantee the delivery of michael walker to washington.” smith shook his head and grinned. “you heard it straight from special agent marcus wolfe that he personally guarantees the delivery of michael walker to washington.” smith chuckled, “i agree. okay.” smith closed his phone, turned to wolfe and smiled again. “th e director has given you full authority and responsibility for getting michael walker to washington. this is your operation now. i’m just an observer.” “finally,” wolfe thought to himself. the three previous escapes had occurred after they had turned walker over to smith. his guys would never let him escape. wolfe pushed the button on the intercom and barked to his men. “the woman is free to go.” a few moments later sally winters emerged from the interrogation room and smiled at assistant director smith. “good seeing you again, robert,” she said cheerfully, as she headed down the corridor escorted by two airport security men. wolfe shook his head as he watched winters walk away. “i can’t believe this,” wolfe muttered. “you’re just letting her walk out of here like this.” “if i were running this operation instead of you, marcus, i probably would have put at least two of my men on her,” smith replied. wolfe glared a hole through smith before pushing the button to the 193 the fourth awakening intercom. “parks, taylor.” the door opened and two burly men stepped out of the holding room. “go follow the winters woman and don’t be afraid to let her know you’re there.” the men nodded, then sprinted down the corridor aft er her. before the door to the holding room fully closed they heard the sounds of shouts and the scraping of chairs. the door flew open and one of wolf ’s security crew was standing in the doorway ashen. “did you stop him?” “stop who?” wolfe demanded. “walker,” he said, “one second he was there, the next second he was gone.” “what do you mean, gone?” wolfe shouted, as he stared through the one-way glass at the spot where michael walker had just been. th e heavy leather belt that moments earlier had been around their prisoner’s waist was folded neatly on the chair. the two agents wolfe had sent to trail sally winters were hustling back down the hallway. “sorry, sir, but we lost her.” “what do you mean you lost her?” wolfe demanded. “it was like she just vanished.” “that didn’t take long,” smith said as he tossed his phone to wolfe. “just hit redial to get the director.” . ppenelope spence, aka elizabeth hart, had been asleep long enough that the sun was starting to set. “hello, sleepyhead,” paula simpson said. the shuttle bus was pulling into an airport, and for the briefest moment penelope was afraid they had returned to salt lake city. but, this airport was much smaller. th e elevation seemed higher and the mountains were in the wrong place. seeing the puzzlement on penelope’s face, paula said, “this is the idaho falls airport. the shuttle stops here before heading over the pass to jackson.” penelope ran her tongue across her teeth; they were covered with fi lm, and the inside of her nose felt like it was full of tiny, hard cockleburs. “here,” paula said as she handed penelope a liter of bottled water. “it’s a lot less humid here than what you’re used to, and you’ll need to stay hydrated. at this elevation, and with it being so dry, you’re going to think you’re not sweating. but that’s not the case, it just evaporates instantly.” 194 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin less humid was an understatement. having spent nearly her entire life at sea level in the oppressive humidity of charleston, idaho felt like it was trying to suck every drop of liquid out and dry roast her. “you’re going to need to use more moisturizer, and you’re defi nitely going to need some of this.” paula handed her a small tin of lip balm. “th anks, ah…” “paula.” the shuttle pulled to a stop and the driver opened the door and announced that they would be leaving in half an hour. “here,” paula said as she handed penelope a small plastic bag. looking inside spence found a nearly identical set of toiletries to the ones walker had given her earlier in the day. “does walker buy this stuff in bulk?” paula bristled slightly and looked around to be sure no one was listening. everyone else on the shuttle had already left the bus or was in the process of gathering up their things to exit and no one had heard the exchange. she leaned in and whispered, “no names when we’re out among the general populace. understand?” penelope spence nodded that she did, wondering when the cloak and dagger stuff would start to become more second nature. “the things he remembers to take care of is friggin’ amazing sometimes.” the two women stood up to leave when penelope noticed that paula had left her purse. when penelope reached for it, paula stopped her and shook her head no. the two women left the shuttle and the automatic doors of the terminal opened as paula exclaimed, “nuts! i forgot my purse.” she turned on her heels and jogged back to the shuttle. a few moments later she rejoined her traveling companion. “what was that about?” “i was checkin’ to see if we were being followed. if you do a quick and unexpected 180 you can usually spot a tail instantly. they’re so surprised they will usually do something stupid to expose themselves.” penelope looked around the terminal with suspicion. “well?” “well what?” “were we followed?” “naw,” paula said with a laugh. “and since smith and his boys are tied up in salt lake city…” “you know smith?” “sure! i worked with him for six months.” 195 the fourth awakening “you were part of the, ah…” “yup, the ah. i’m one of the ‘dirty dozen’”. “dirty dozen?” “that’s what they call us at the ‘resort’. we’re the ones who have been with him for years. you’ll be meeting everyone soon enough.” “i can’t wait.” “you’ve already seen many of us but didn’t know it.” “what do you mean?” “timmy, you met. four others were on the plane with you. another four were in the terminal, and three others from my team are on the shuttle with us.” “what?” “the four who were on the plane are in a car that has been following the shuttle. we had six different contingencies ready to go. th e money one was everyone’s favorite. we all liked it so much that’s probably why you guys got spotted.” “the power of thought?” “absolutely. with that many people at our stage of consciousness thinking good thoughts about something, it’s bound to happen.” paula pointed to a tv screen where cnn had an update on the condition of senator horn. they were too far away to hear what was being reported but across the bottom of the screen was ‘miracle recovery.’ “he has had all of us praying for the senator.” “i thought he was the one who shut down the, ah…” “he was. but every one of us who came in contact with him simply adored him. besides, we all were hoping he would cut the funding.” “so you could take it private?” “that allowed us to get this out of the hands of the military types.” paula pointed to the screen again and laughed loud enough that heads turned. when they followed her finger to the mounted television, they joined in with the laugther. cnn was showing footage of the riot in the salt lake city airport. “the man has a wicked sense of humor,” paula said. penelope pulled back a bit. around her walker had shown fl ashes of having a sense of humor but nothing she would hardly describe as wicked. “i guess i haven’t seen that side yet.” “he was probably on his best behavior.” “i hear he’s a good dancer too,” penelope said sarcastically. 196 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin her attempt at humor bounced right off of paula. “oh, my god. he makes gene kelly look like he’s got two left feet. he won an international tango competition in buenos aires a few years ago.” “really? that wasn’t in his bio.” “he went in under the name of inigo montoya to avoid any publicity.” penelope chuckled. “inigo montoya, seriously?” “isn’t that hilarious?” penelope nodded her agreement. maybe he did have a sense of humor. “i did some dancing in college.” “believe me,” paula rolled her eyes. “we all know that.” “what do you mean?” “that was all he talked about for the past two months. he couldn’t wait to meet you in person.” “you’re kidding.” “nope. he tried to get a ballroom dancing night going at the compound, but no one was really interested. out of pity, a few of us showed up as a take one for the team kind of thing, but he ran us out after about half hour. said we had no passion.” “interesting.” penelope’s eyes flew open. “what do you mean he’s been talking about me for two months? i only met him two days ago.” “time is very different for him than for most people.” paula grinned, hugely. “when you’re around him and he has a plan working, a day can feel like a month and a week can feel like a year.” “i imagine it can be exhausting.” “actually it’s exhilarating.” having reached the ladies room, the two women headed in to get freshened up. penelope spence was astounded. “my hair has never been this straight in my life,. “it’ll get even straighter once we get east of the tetons,” paula answered. “i used to have to wash my hair every day, now two or three times a week is enough. you won’t need to shower as often either; body odor doesn’t seem to exist out here in the high plains. come on let’s grab something to eat.” they found a small restaurant with decent looking salads and claimed one of the tables. “you seem to know a lot about this part of the country,” penelope said. “we’ve been livin’ here for a while now.” 197 the fourth awakening “we?” “the project members. he moved us here about six months ago.” “so jackson hole is where the compound is located?” “just jackson. calling it jackson hole tags you as a tourist. th e compound is a few miles out of town.” “i can’t wait to see it.” “it’s friggin’ awesome. i mean, everybody loves it out here, but i do miss my nieces, and i’m sure my mom is going mental by now.” “what do you mean?” “we all had to drop completely off the grid for a few months.” “that has to be hard.” “yes and no. wait until you see the compound. he didn’t cut any corners, believe you me. the food is kickin’, and there are all kinds of outdoors things to do, like hiking and horses. i mean, i’m like in the best shape of my life.” “that would explain why you all look so fit and tanned.” penelope drew in a breath as she contemplated her next question. “so, paula, do you consider yourself awakened and enlightened?” “awakened, yes. enlightened is still a work in progress.” “what does that mean?” “you’re talking apples and oranges.” paula could tell by penelope’s expression that she wasn’t following. “knowing something exists, that would be the awakening part, doesn’t necessarily mean the universe is just going to hand it over to you on a silver platter. it’s diff erent for everybody.” paula patted penelope’s arm. “we all went through what you’re going through; this must be scarin’ the bejesus out of you.” “a little.” “it’ll be over soon enough.” “how soon?” “no telling. but i guarantee it’ll jump up and bite you when you least expect it.” “when did it happen to you?” “i was up at goodwin lake. sorry. there’s this alpine lake near the top of one of the mountains just outside jackson. i was camping alone, and decided to go for a hike to the top when i found myself in the worst possible situation you can be in if you’re alone and unarmed and miles from the next nearest person.” 198 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “what happened?” “this little jersey girl had managed to walk between a mother bear and her two friggin’ cubs. those little bundles of joy took one look at me and started crying for their mommy, who just happened to be a 600 plus pounder that was not overly pleased to see me.” “my god! you must have been terrifi ed.” “ya think?” paula leaned back and laughed. “i was so far beyond terrified… it was a three-day walk to get back. i couldn’t run. i couldn’t fight. i was convinced that little paula jean was toast. that’s when it happened.” “what happened?” “a calmness settled over me. i looked at the bear and the bear looked at me. the bear, i swear, shrugged, rounded up her kids, and they just went on their way like i wasn’t even there.” “th at’s amazing.” “i know. but i’ll tell you what, it’s no fun when there isn’t any doubt at all about who is at the top of the food chain and it ain’t you.” “what was it like?” “what was it like?” paula scratched her chin, drew in a large draught of air and allowed it to exit slowly through her lips. “it was like dying and being born again as a different person. it completely changed my life.” “do you think something like that will happen to me?” paula shrugged. “who knows? a lot of different things can trigger it and not all of them require a change of underwear like mine did. near-death experience is one way. some get there through meditation, others prayer or ritual.” the two women sat in silence for a few moments while penelope absorbed this new information. finally, her reporter instincts kicked back in. “so, paula, why is all of this happening now? what has changed from six months ago?” paula pulled back and looked at penelope with a confused expression. “the breakthrough, of course.” “what breakthrough?” paula looked at penelope like she had suddenly grown a second head. “you mean he didn’t tell you yet?” “no. what was the breakthrough?” “ha!” paula said while shaking her head. “if you think i’m going to go 199 the fourth awakening there if he didn’t tell you, you’re nuts. no. no. no, girl.” penelope wadded up her napkin and threw it down in disgust. “i would love to get a straight answer just once from you people.” “hang in there, the tough part is already over.” “what do you mean?” “have you gotten the lecture on the other awakenings?” “yes.” “and he explained what’s going on inside you.” “sort of.” “super, then get ready to get knocked on your butt.” “a hint maybe?” “naw, i don’t want to ruin the surprise.” “i can hardly wait.” “neither can we. i mean the compound has been in total chaos for a couple of weeks. people have been running around like crazy tryin’ to get ready.” ”ready for what?” “ready for you. of course!”