Gifts of the Future Ch. 13

He didn't break the kiss until he felt her flesh stop pulsing on his finger. And then he groaned miserably again and flopped onto his back beside her as he realized he wanted her worse than ever. He lay there taking deep breaths, willing his cock to stop throbbing when there was a knock on the door and they heard his father's voice.

"My son... are you feeling all right and are you two behaving yourselves?"

Nuri and Jasmine looked at each other as they sat up quickly and moved to the side of the bed. She blushed and giggled when she glanced at his crotch and saw that his cock was bulging again... and there was a wet spot on the front of his khaki slacks. She jumped up and went to the door while he stayed sitting on the edge of the bed.

The door opened and Yosef stared down at Jasmine's flushed face. She appeared fully clothed... that was a good sign... but her hair was mussed and her lips looked slightly swollen. He tried not to smile as she stammered, "Yes, Uncle Yoey... we're... behaving ourselves!" Translation... they hadn't gone "all the way" but... they hadn't exactly "behaved" themselves, either!

Jasmine felt herself blushing further when she saw the knowing smirk on the older man's face as he moved aside so she could exit the bedroom. She paused and looked back at Nuri and smiled softly and then faced his father once again saying, "And Nuri is feeling better... in fact, he's going to be just fine!"

Yosef frowned slightly as he watched her head into a hallway bathroom and shut the door; then he looked at Nuri and asked, "Do you know what she meant by that, son?"

He shook his head as he remembered how she'd reacted as she'd held him to her chest and murmured quietly, "Not exactly, father..."

They found out the next day when Charlie and Lily arranged to have an X-ray done of Nuri's head. They knew from the location of the tumor that it would also be visible in an X-ray image... but there was no evidence of the tumor... it was gone! Dr. Charlie Richards secretly collected all of Nuri's records from UCLA Medical Center and asked Yosef and Nuri if he could destroy them...

At Wayne and Jada's anniversary party that afternoon, everyone was amazed to discover that Jasmine had quite an extraordinary "gift" of healing... As long she knew what was wrong with a person and knew what needed to be done to fix or cure them, she could touch them and "will" it to happen. What none of them were aware of, though, was that if she felt threatened, she could do just the opposite...

She went to Jada and said softly, "I know you've been so sad over the years that you haven't been able to have a baby, Aunt Jada. Now that I know how it works and Mama explained to me what the main problem is, I can fix that and improve your chances... if you want me to..."

Jada hugged her. "I'd do anything for the chance to have a baby! Yes, please... do what you can!" As everyone watched, Jasmine moved behind her and put her arms around her, hugging her tightly with her hands on Jada's lower left abdomen. Jasmine's eyes closed for a moment and she frowned slightly as she concentrated... willing the scarred tissue to regenerate making a nice smooth passage inside the tube...

That night, Wayne and Jada made love like they hadn't in a while... their renewed hope giving them more energy and reawakening their deep desire for one another. Wayne kept reminding his wife how much he loved her and that she'd never been a disappointment to him. He'd secretly longed to have a child with her, too, but he'd been too afraid over the years to voice it... her own disappointment was sometimes more than she could bear...

Two months later, everyone cheered at a celebration when Jada announced she was pregnant. In October 1997, Wayne and Jada both cried at the birth of their healthy son, Thomas Michael Seldon, II. He was named for his paternal grandfather and they called him Michael.

**********

Yosef had identified a radical who was becoming one of the most outspoken, urging all Islamic extremists to commit any acts of terror against all infidels... especially Americans! Osama bin Laden was a native of Saudi Arabia who was reportedly no longer welcome in his homeland because of his outspokenness against a supposed Saudi ally. And bin Laden had been linked with an emerging group of terrorists calling themselves al-Qaeda...

Yosef had warned his friends that the U.S. was an ally only as long as they were buying up OPEC oil in huge quantities. If that ever changed, there were those in the Saudi government and OPEC who were stockpiling wealth in order to fund radicals to plan and carry out strategic and high profile acts of terror within the U.S.

They wanted to strike at the heart of the biggest free capitalist nation just to prove that it could be done! They wanted to convince all of Islam that Allah wanted them to know that capitalism only made people morally repugnant and led them to lives of debauchery! At least that was the message some of the radicals were spreading to the hundreds of thousands of angry young Muslim males who'd been taught democracy was just another word for "evil"... there was no such thing as "democratic freedom." Allah had handed down laws for a reason...

And the U.S. had no business always stepping into matters in defense of Israel... that had always and would always be the biggest bone of contention for every Arab nation! The Muslim world simply could not accept the existence of a Judaic nation in their midst... even though Judaism pre-dated the Islamic religion by centuries!

Why was it so cut and dried among millions of Muslims that, "if you do not share my beliefs... then you must die?!!" There was only one answer; radicals... extremists... whatever you wanted to call them... had to be under some evil influence because there were Muslims who did not share that view. But the radicals argued that they were the ones who'd been influenced by "evil" capitalism... Would it ever end?!!

Terrorists continued to strike at U.S. targets in the Middle East. In August of 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed almost simultaneously on the same day. A little over a week later, the U.S. Military retaliated by launching cruise missile attacks on what were reported to be al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan. U.S. Intelligence information had linked Osama bin Laden to the planning of those acts as he'd been living in Sudan just prior to the events and then he'd managed to disappear...

It was damn frustrating to the U.S. Intelligence community that there was almost too much information to try to sift through! There were so many known and unknown terrorist organizations spread throughout the world... it was getting almost impossible to figure out which ones posed the most threat. The CIA and the FBI were doing their best to stay on top of things, but it also didn't help that they still had no protocols for the sharing of information...

During 1999, the U.S. seemed more worried about a rumor that all computers were going to go haywire on New Year's Eve when the internal calendars built into the machines flipped over to 00 at midnight! Wayne and Jada laughed every time they heard someone worrying over such a stupid idea.

They hated the fact that there were unscrupulous businesses bilking millions of dollars out of consumers. Some were selling "patch" programs that were supposed to "fix" the internal calendar problem and other businesses were arguing that it couldn't be fixed and that people had better stockpile everything they could because all computers were going to just "shut down" and nothing was going to work...

On New Year's Eve, everyone was at Megan and Jonnie's huge house in Beverly Hills... they were blasting the old Prince songParty Like It's 1999! They were watching the broadcast from Times Square in New York on the big screen TV, waiting to see if all of New York went black when it struck midnight... and surprise, surprise... nothing happened!!!

But something big happened between Nuri and Jasmine that evening... they disappeared for a little while to the apartment he was sharing with Jonathan, Tommy and J.J. They didn't tell anyone they were leaving, hoping no one would notice their absence for just an hour or so. No one noticed they were gone, but they sure as hell noticed the kiss they shared when it struck midnight in Los Angeles...

Nuri's hands slid down Jasmine's body, plastering her against him. Her hands dug into his thick, dark brown hair as they kissed deeply... and very... very... sensuously. They were recalling the torrid way in which they'd first taken each other up against the door of Nuri's bedroom.

Jasmine had been so desperate to finally feel his cock inside her that she'd stripped her panties off, grabbed the waist of his pants, clawed at his zipper and pushed his pants and shorts down until she could wrap her hand around him! She'd chewed on his lower lip and growled frustratedly when he made her wait while he rolled a condom onto his straining cock...

Then he'd lifted her ass, parted her thighs and slammed her against the door as he slammed his cock inside her! Jasmine screamed as he'd taken her virginity, but then she'd immediately moaned loudly for him to continue taking her hard! Nuri had been astonished at how his virgin angel had suddenly transformed into a sensual vixen...

They'd been making love without actually copulating for the past three years. Nuri had touched her, tasted her and penetrated her with every possible part of him except his cock... even though Jasmine had been begging him for it! But he'd promised her father when he was only thirteen that he'd wait until she was legal before he finally made her his woman...

Uncle Charlie had told him that he knew his daughter loved him and that he loved her... but they were worried that Jasmine would be unable to control her emotions for Nuri. And he'd realized they were right the night she'd saved his life... the night she'd first begged him to make love to her.

What they'd been sharing ever since had cemented their deep commitment to each other... sharing the actual physical act together for the first time also cemented their deep desire for one another. Nuri had known the moment he entered her his lifelong instinct that she was tied to his destiny was true. And Jasmine had realized that her desire to save his life had not been just because she loved him...

They'd been destined to love each other... their eyes had reflected that knowledge as their bodies succumbed to the passionate truth... there was no one else in the world who'd ever give them such pleasure! Their hot and wild fuck up against the door had slowly turned into the most passionate lovemaking they'd ever shared... angels had wept and the earth had moved...

The Guardians had wished they could actually shed tears as they watched those two "chosen ones" unite fully in body, mind and spirit... until they'd had to go and stop the dark forces from causing yet another earthquake...

The Earth itself had seemed to be rebelling against humans... there'd been record numbers of earthquakes during 1999 and they continued into 2001 spread out all over the globe! Some of the "chosen ones" were beginning to wonder if nature itself HAD fallen under the influence of some dark force intent on destroying mankind...

**********

Toward the end of 2000, Yosef Madani called Jonnie North at home to tell him about a phone conversation he'd overheard between his boss, the Sheikh, and someone he could only assume was with the U.S. government. The Sheikh was threatening whomever it was that they'd better see to it that GM killed the EV1 program as soon as possible or there would be a devastating demonstration of OPEC's dissatisfaction...

GM had been attempting to sue the California Air Resources Board for the zero emission regulations that they were implementing, claiming they were "unfair" in light of the fact that the EV1 was not turning out to be a profitable venture for them. Which was bullshit... GM had waiting lists... tens of thousands of people who were willing to purchase the vehicles not even caring what they would cost! But GM was under pressure from the oil companies and the government... which was under pressure from OPEC... to get rid of the EV1 permanently.

During early 2001, FBI Agents Jonnie North, Brad Seldon and Jay Hanson were busy flying back and forth from L.A. to Washington working on identifying which of the hundreds of terrorist groups had been attempting to seed the ozone layer with CFC's. With help on the sly from Yosef and the IOPF, they had stopped a number of missile firings and even identified and destroyed a plant in Iraq that was manufacturing the source compound containing the CFC's. But they had to stay vigilant to make sure there were no other manufacturing plants and that terrorist groups were not getting their hands on any more missiles!

In June, Yosef made a trip to L.A. to meet with Jonnie, Brad and Jay regarding some disturbing rumors he'd heard. The Sheikh had been notified by his U.S. government contact that a California judge had ruled in favor of GM's lawsuit to halt the mandates on Zero Emissions Vehicles. So the Sheikh had contacted the OPEC ministers to tell them that the U.S. was cooperating and that they should call a halt on their plan for retaliation, but Osama bin Laden had refused to follow orders...

What Yosef told them wasn't news to the FBI... they'd been hearing the same stories. Supposedly, al-Qaeda had already recruited members to pull off some scheme involving the hijacking of planes in the U.S. The problems were that no one knew the identities of any of the terrorists or when they might have entered the country... and there were no clues as to the timetable for the planned attack! There were thousands of Middle Eastern men with valid visas in the U.S. at that time... they couldn't just label them all as potential terrorists and start dragging them in for questioning!

There was no way to identify them... no way to know exactly what they were up to... and no idea when they'd attempt something. The CIA had unknowingly identified at least two of them but they failed to share that information with the FBI. The U.S. Intelligence community knew something was going to happen... they just had no idea what or when...