The End of the Beginning

“Will, why are we here? I need to be packing,” John whispered to William, who was sitting next him in his parked Blazer.

“We’re here because something weird is going on with Samir’s investigation,” answered William firmly.

“What?! You told me we were getting food! What is that supposed to mean?”

“Hernandez told me today Samir was on drugs and that’s why he jumped. They said the drugs made him go crazy. We’re here to prove that he clean.” William shut the Blazer door as softly as he could. John did the same. The two men began walking casually towards the rescue officer’s barracks that held Samir and Sergey’s room. The courtyard in front of it where Samir had died, and the building itself, were well lit and security cameras were everywhere. But, fortunately for them, there was a slight mist in the air. It was a very humid night.

“You and Hernandez are biffles. Are you saying you don’t trust him?”

“No,” said William, uncertainty in his voice. “Yes. It’s complicated. All I know is I got a feeling, and sometimes that’s all you need, right?” William slapped John on the arm, then burst off jogging to the open stairwell to get up to the fourth floor, leaving John behind momentarily.

“I think I liked you better when you didn’t trust yourself so much,” mumbled John. He looked around once or twice, then made his own way up the barracks stairs.

William doubled stepped all the way up. He stopped when he got to the final floor. He looked around through the mist. No one was around that he could see.

“What are we looking for?” John asked loudly, coming up the steps.

“Shhhh!”

“Sorry!” exclaimed John, lowering his voice. “I’m nervous. What are we looking for?”

“We’re looking for blood. That’s why you’re here.”

“Blood?”

“Yeah, blood, Samir’s blood. I want you to analyze some if we can find any so that you can prove there were no drugs in his system,” explained William. He started moving again down the open walkway towards Samir and Sergey’s room.

“Hey wait, Will. Ugh,” John said, trying to catch up again. “This happened days ago. The chances of finding an intact uncorrupted sample of his blood are extremely remote. And even if we did, I’m leaving for Alaska tomorrow to attend the grand opening of the Bering Sea Dam.” “You can analyze a sample there,” said William with growing agitation.

William and John reached the rescue officers door. William already knew no one home. He began typing in his master code.

“Well, yeah I guess but… Why are you so confident something is going on?”

“Why do you care so much?!” snapped William, banging the door. John jumped back a few inches in surprise. His eyes narrowed. William sighed deeply and looked down at his boots. “I’m sorry.” “No, Will it’s - ”

“No, it’s not okay. I shouldn’t do that to a friend.”

“Nor should a friend doubt another’s resolve, especially when that friend is only trying to do good.” William smiled. “Before he fell, the last thing Samir said to me was, ‘this is the end of the beginning’. You ever heard that phrase before?” “No. What does that mean?”

“I’ve never heard it before either. To me, it means that this is only the start of something, and that start is now over. Something greater is now coming and Samir wanted me to stop whatever that is.” “The end of the beginning.”

“That’s right.”

“You tell Hernandez he said that?”

“No. I haven’t told anyone that part. I told him everything else.”

“Why?”

“Because I felt like… I felt that Samir didn’t want me to. He entrusted it to me. It was personal, in some odd way.” John cocked his head. He rubbed his right temple. To William’s surprise, he smiled. “Your need to rescue seems to know no bounds, Will. Now you’re even trying to rescue the dead. Open the door.” “Yes, sir,” grinned William.

“I told you not to call me that.”