Elvis started the engine and sped off quickly to the sound of screeching tires. He smiled as he heard the humming of his engine. He loved driving fast and recklessly. Usually, he did it for fun but this time it was necessary which made the adrenaline rush that much better.

Karik stared out the window as they drove away, his mind lost in thought. His first attempt had failed, but there would be more, as long his he was given the time. He pondered his failures with Cole and then the violent crowd. The latter was easy to explain. Anyone who preached positive values would be a target for them but Cole was a different matter. Karik looked back at the FBI building and saw Cole from his office carefully observing the events down below.

In the back seat of the car, Abbey carefully wiped the blood from Karik's face with one of Elvis's old t-shirts that she found lying under the driver's seat. Elvis caught a glimpse of Abbey tending to Karik's wounds from his rearview mirror.

"Are you all right?" asked Elvis.

"I'm perfectly fine," answered Karik.

"Are you sure? That paper cut looks serious," said Elvis with a sarcastic grin as he continued to watch Abbey gingerly pressing his t-shirt to Karik's face.
"All the guy has is a cut to his cheek," Elvis said to Abbey. "I've gotten worse than that while shaving."

"Not everybody is such a tough guy like you," said Abbey.

"Of course not," Elvis replied, in perfect agreement.

"And thank you, all of you for waiting all night for me," Karik told them. "You don't know me and yet you were concerned for my safety. You are all truly amazing people."

"You can thank Damon," he insisted.

"Stop with tough guy crap," Damon told Elivs. "You wanted to wait for him just as much as the rest of us. What was that you said? Nobody deserves to be left alone with those scumbags."

"That's the truth. People go in there...and that's it."

"You also said, and I quote, there's something I like about that strange dude."

Elvis ignored the last comment as he flashed a slight scowl. "So let me ask you something," Elvis said to Karik. "What was that all about, Ancient Persia and Hell?"

"Actually, it was Ancient Persia and Satan, but Hell would also be correct. Both concepts were invented by the Zoroastrians, an ancient Persian religion, as a means of explaining why bad things happen here on Earth."

Abbey interrupted, "You seem to be well-versed in history, but Satan is a Jewish figure that has been reinvented by other nations."

Karik's eyes lit up with the realization that someone else shared his interest in ancient theology. For a brief moment, it distracted him from his mental fixation on her beauty. "Where did you come to this conclusion?" he asked, anticipating a remarkable response.

"My Rabbi taught in Talmud class about Satan. He's appeared to us in many different forms, the first one being the snake from the Garden of Eve story. Satan hopes to fail. He simply tests us so that when we pass his tests we can reach a higher spiritual level. The Ancient Persians stole their ideas from us and then twisted them around."

"I couldn't give a rat's ass as to what the Ancient Persians believed," said Damon. "What I want to know is why the hell you didn't avoid the knife. I know you could have done it. I saw you. It's as if you let him cut you on purpose."

What Karik wanted to do was engage Abbey in a conversation about the Zoroastrians. They were so important to the development of mankind. Many of their beliefs became incorporated into the three major religions that exist today. He felt it was his duty to correct her thinking about the subject and show her the truth.

The Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia by the Babylonian king Nebucaazar in 598 CBE. The Persians, who then conquered the Babylonians, treated the Judeans with respect. They permitted them to leave Babylonia to rebuild their Judean homeland. It was at this time in history that Judaism incorporated many of the Zoroastrian beliefs into their own religion. For example, heaven and hell were originally Zoroastrian concepts, as were angels, and even the idea of a constant battle between good and evil. The three major religions believed that Satan worked for God, while the Zoroastrians believed that God had an equal that perpetrated evil upon the earth and that man had the choice as to which he would follow.

The Zoroastrians believed that only the good God should be worshiped. They were a very kind people whose motto was "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds." The Zoroastrians were in reality the first people to believe in an all-powerful God. This is what Karik really wanted to speak with Abby about, but he realized that this wasn't the right time or place for this type of discourse. His debate with Abbey would regrettably have to wait.

"To answer your question, Damon," responded Karik. "People are only afraid of those who they feel are different from themselves. They fear me because they have been given false information about many things. They bleed, so they must see me bleed."

"You, are a nut job." Elvis then proceeded to mimic Karik. "They bleed, so they must see me bleed. What have you gotten us into?"

Elvis looked into his rearview mirror; Abbey was still pressing his t-shirt up against Karik's face. He was disgusted. "That stuff better come out in the wash."

"I'll buy you another one," Abbey replied.

"Just be glad that asshole missed you," Elvis said to Karik, "or we would still be cleaning you off the stairs."

"And another thing," Damon said out of nowhere, "What the hell happened to you at the club?"

"What are you referring to?" asked Karik.

"You know, with that dancer. She had you out of control. I mean, you completely lost it." Damon glanced uneasily at Abbey as she tended to Karik. She then abruptly removed the t-shirt from his face. Much to her surprise the bleeding had completely stopped.

"Do tell us, Superman," demanded Abbey as she leaned her body away from Karik. "What exactly happened to you at the club?"

Damon turned to Abbey and gave her a crooked smile. That was all she needed to see to realize that Karik wasn't who she hoped he would be, that is, a real man, someone who didn't need to act on his impulses and urges every time he saw a woman.

Karik became red-faced, completely ashamed of himself because he didn't even know what happened at the strip club. The horrid feeling of uncontrollably losing oneself in sheer seductive pleasure sickened him, doubly so since he felt that his actions had also disrespected Abbey, even if she had never found out about them.

"It seems that Superman here has found his Kryptonite," answered Damon, "beautiful women."

"Just like every other man," replied Abbey in disgust.

"So he's a horny dude." Elvis chuckled at his clever line. "O.K. Mr. Horny Dude, where do we take you?"

"I haven't thought about it," Karik relaxed, glad that the focus of the conversation had changed. Either way, he would rather be called a horny dude than have to try to figure out what had happened to him back at the strip club.

"You haven't thought about where you're going?" responded a surprised Elvis.

"No, I haven't thought about it." Karik continued to look out the window, seemingly enjoying the sights.

Now Elvis was beginning to get very annoyed. "Let me ask you in as simple language as possible. Where...are...you...staying!?"

Karik's demeanour was so calm that it bordered on aggravating. "I don't know, but it's not important."

Elvis turned to Damon, breathed deeply, and then calmed himself to prevent him from exploding over Karik's irritating answers. "Help me out here. Where do we drop off your wackadoodle buddy?"

Damon shook his head from side to side in disbelief. He didn't understand this man, Karik. Sometimes he was perfectly normal and then he suddenly became nuts. Damon let out a long exhale of air. What are we going to do with you, he thought as he looked at Karik.

"Elvis," said Damon casually. "I suppose he can stay with us."

"No way!" answered Elvis whose face now ruffled with anger lines.

"Come on," replied Damon. "He saved my life."

"I said no." Elvis paused to reconsider. "Fine. Call me a sucker for a sap story. Why do I keep feeling that this man is going to get us all into a pile of--"

Karik interrupted Elvis. "I can't begin to thank you enough for the kindness you've all shown me."

"Please don't thank me," replied Abbey who was still upset about the strip club. "I'm only here because Elvis was supposed to be my ride home, last night."

Damon elbowed Elvis in the ribs to get him to say something nice to Karik.
"Well, you did allow me to throw a few people around, so, let's call it even. Just don't cause any more trouble when we get back to my place."

"Our place," said Damon.

"Uh huh," replied Elvis, sarcastically.

Abbey stared into Karik's eyes. She couldn't believe that someone she had such a good feeling about could be as bad as Damon now led her to believe. Although Damon hadn't used words per se, that look he gave her was more than enough. She had known Damon since they were small children with that look having been used many times to warn her about guys. It didn't always prevent her from finding out for herself, and as she learned throughout the years, sometimes Damon was right on but sometimes he wasn't. She hoped that this one was one of those times where he was wrong.

Abbey continued to focus on Karik's face, admiring the smoothness of his skin, the facial hairs that hadn't yet begun to make their way above the surface. She watched as he looked out the window deep in thought wondering what was going through his head. And then there was that sense of familiarity that she couldn't place as if their souls had met before on a different plane.

"You'll stay with me at my grandmother's," Abbey told Karik.

Elvis's jaw nearly fell to the floor. Like Damon, Elvis and Abbey had been friends ever since they were small children. Because she didn't have a father, Elvis had always felt that it was his job to look out for her. He was not going to allow her to make such an idiotic decision. "No way, I am not letting you stay alone with that man."

"I know what I'm doing," replied Abbey.

"But Abbey--" protested Elvis.

"No buts'," Abbey said to Elvis. "I don't know exactly what's going on here, but something sure doesn't feel right. This can't be over."

"Of course, it's not over. That's why he can't stay with you." Elvis stopped speaking for a moment as a troubling thought occurred to him. "You know, you speak about something not feeling right. One thing has bothered me about what happened back at the FBI building. It was very curious that there wasn't one policeman in sight. The odds of that happening were...." Elvis paused to think. "Let's just say the odds weren't very good."

Abbey continued. "So we agree, he's staying with me."

"We agreed to no such thing," Elvis replied.

"I'm sure those suits will be watching the two of you," explained Abbey. "And besides, if he stays with you and Damon then, from what you guys have implied, Karik is liable to get some hoochie mama pregnant."

"Why do you want to help him so much?" Elvis asked her.

Karik decided to join in on the conversation. "You're all talking as if I am not even here."

"Keep quiet!" Elvis shouted to Karik. "This is none of your business."

Abbey looked at Karik's face and smiled. "I have a good feeling about him."

"Don't worry so much," Damon replied. "He's a good guy. I promise you."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," said Karik.

Elvis looked away from the highway and stared menacingly at Karik. "I said this is none of your business. Abbey, I don't like this at all."

Abbey noticed a blue sedan that had been following them for the last few minutes as they headed out to Abbey's grandmother's house on Long Island.  "Elvis lose the blue car behind you and then get off at the next exit," Abbey said to Elvis.   

Elvis looked through his rear-view mirror, acknowledged the car, and then replied to Abbey with a sarcastic southern accent, "Why yes Miss Daisy!" He then gave her a butterfly salute and then promptly began to weave through traffic with ease until he pulled up in front of a large tractor-trailer driving in the center lane.  The sedan moved into the left-hand lane trying to regain sight of Elvis's car.  The sedan couldn't pass in front of the truck due to a slow-moving vehicle in front of them.  Elvis moved to the right-hand lane and slowed down.  He was now in the leftmost lane, next to the truck, while the blue sedan was stuck in the third lane, also next to the truck, unable to see Elvis's Chevy Impala.  Elvis got off the highway at the exit which was covered by trees.  Elvis could see the blue sedan speeding off in the distance trying to catch up to Elvis' car, which they now assumed was far ahead of them. 

"Let us off here," Abbey told Elvis as she pointed to a Seven-Eleven off the exit ramp.  After you drop us off, follow the road to the Parkway.  It's a shortcut.  If you drive fast enough, it should get you back on the Long Island Expressway in front of that sedan."

"Abbey," said Elvis.  "You are a smart one.  I always said you would have been great back in the service." 

"Don't get her into any trouble," Elvis menacingly told Karik.  "Or you'll have me to deal with.  Do we understand each other?"

Karik showed no fear of Elvis as he attempted to stare him down.  Karik instinctively knew that Elvis was just being protective of Abbey.  "Thank you again for all of your help," he said to Elvis as he and Abbey left the car.

"She likes him," Elvis said to Damon with disgust as they sped away.  "I don't believe it.  She really likes him."

"No, she doesn't," answered Damon.