THE SENTINEL 

By Tessa Harvey

    "There was a man sent from God whose name was John," mum had said long ago when John was five. She had crouched down, put her hands on his small shoulders and looked earnestly into his sea-blue eyes. "John means 'gracious gift.' You are a gift from God to us, son."
    "When he got to school, John was relieved to find there were other boys called John. He was happy they were not called 'God's gifts,' and relieved to learn that no-one at school was special at all.
    As he grew older, he began to believe a little bit in this God of a book called the Bible.
    He read some songs with the funny name of "puh salms," then remembered other words sounded just as strange. A girl came to High School. Her name was Aine. It sounded like Anya. Her parents were Irish and Russian, but she looked like him!
    When he was sent decades later to help this boy on the plateau in this odd place, it was like being a sentinel of old. Except he was now highly trained in the Special Ops or Operations. The man he sought was a serial criminal.

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