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EXCERPT FROM WAY OF THE BOW

“You were the first person I could think of. Let’s be honest. You were the only person I could think of. Sorry to have gotten you into this, but you were the one person I know that isn’t part of the system.”

Bernie digested all that. “Do you have any idea what this is all about?”

Sarge shook his head. “Something this big has to come from the top of the house, which means all the agency’s resources are on me. I’m sixty-five years old trying to do a young man’s job because it’s all I know. It feels like all my sins are about to catch up with me an hour from now. Everyone I ever worked with is dead, retired, or riding a desk. I’m out of resources, contacts, everything, and outside of you, I don’t have a friend in the world.”

There was a long pause while Bernie thought.

Bernie lifted his head and said decisively, “Well, I do.”

Sarge looked at him.

Bernie reached into the back seat for his bag, got out his laptop and started to open it up.

Sarge was aghast. “What the hell are you doing? They’ve got a system that can track those!”

Bernie kept working. “Not this one.”

Sarge kept at it. “How do you know? How do you know?”

Bernie replied cooly, “Because I wrote the system. Well, a chunk of it. Enough to create an opt-out.”

Sarge was stunned into silence.

Bernie carried on as he was logging in, “There’s always a back door. Cyberspace is my turf. I don’t know if I can get us out alive, but I can keep us undetected within reason. Where are we going?”

Sarge shook his head to clear it. “To DC, the mother of all conspiracies.”

Bernie started typing. “Take the next left.”

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE BOOK

The book speaks to the enduring nature of comradeship, where you do not know how a friendship or action you have taken in the past might suddenly impact your present and future. How many people do you truly trust in life and how many truly trust you? How do your everyday actions make that so? To whom would you truly trust your life?

It also emphasizes the importance of evolving toward a unitary life. The characters, especially the principals, make their decisions based on who they are and are moving toward a life where they are consistent and true to themselves. No matter what spiritual path you take to get there, this is the essence of self-realization.