End Times

by P A Duncan

  Movement caught his eye, and he saw a car leaving. As it passed him, one of the cops waved to him. He jumped down and got in his car, keeping his fingers crossed it would start. The engine stuttered a bit, but the car fired up. He quelled his enthusiasm so he wouldn’t speed by the cops. When he pulled up to the roadblock gate, the one who’d spoken to him again motioned him to stop.

  “Yes, sir?” he said, fearful he’d be told to turn around.

  “How long you planning on staying?”

  “A couple of days, if that’s okay. I’ve got a sleeping bag, and I see there’s Don’s Johns up there.”

  The cop pulled out a small notebook and walked to the front of the car. He jotted something on his pad, the license plate number probably, and came back to the window.

  “Okay, two days, two nights. Then, you gotta give someone else a turn. Go on in and pull as far off the road as you can but don’t get blocked in.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

  As he edged the car forward, his heart trembled with excitement. He was part of something important again. The fact that so many people were here meant what he believed, the way he thought wasn’t crazy, like his dad said.

  He pulled into an open spot in the field next to the road and looked at the kindred people here, waving to him, welcoming him.

  He felt good.

  12

  Prospects

  And that was as good an excuse as any for getting all the pussy he wanted.”

  Alexei wasn’t sure it was a good idea for Mai to turn Fitzgerald’s words back on him. Fitzgerald and the older agents frowned in disapproval, but Petilli and the others laughed.

  Mai looked at Petilli and answered his original question. “Yes, there was a definite order to the transformation of Calvary Locus. Whether Caleb planned this or stumbled onto it isn’t clear, but the result is.”

  “How do you know all this about Caleb?” Taunton asked.

  “He has a public record,” Mai replied. “Birth, schooling, etc. Now, he’s quite the media darling, but he also has a family out in the world. They think he’s the real deal, and they like to talk about him to reporters.” Mai looked at Fitzgerald. “I mean, I assumed you’d interviewed his mother and step-siblings for background. None of this should be new to you.”

  Fitzgerald’s slitted eyes and the glare he gave Taunton was the answer to that.

  Taunton said to Mai, “I shouldn’t have interrupted. Please continue.”

  Mai gave Alexei a quick glance, her head cocked slightly to one side. He shrugged to tell her he didn’t know what was up with Fitzgerald either.

  “All right, then,” Mai said. “Wayne Smith—Isaac Caleb’s legal name, by the way—arrived at Calvary Locus in 1981 to cleanse his sinful ways, not to become a messiah. He made himself indispensable to the woman who was the prophet then, April Sharp. At the time Calvary Locus, built some twenty years before, was falling down around everyone’s ears. Wayne’s mechanical and carpentry skills secured a place for him among the People of the Eternal Light, and Mrs. Sharp was grateful.”

  “Wait a minute,” Petilli said. “Caleb is a carpenter?”

  “Oh, the parallel doesn’t end there, which Wayne was quick to pick up on once he immersed himself in Eternal Light philosophy and dogma. Wayne Smith is the illegitimate son of a fourteen-year-old mother. In Jesus’ time, because Mary and Joseph were merely espoused or engaged when she became pregnant, he would have been considered by the community to be illegitimate. Biblical scholars and social anthropologists agree that according to custom at the time, Mary would likely have been fourteen or fifteen, perhaps even as young as twelve, when espoused to Joseph, the carpenter. Wayne Smith’s stepfather was a carpenter, who passed his skills along to Wayne, as Joseph is said to have done with Jesus.”

  Taunton said, “I can see how that comparison, flawed as it is, could affect Isaac… Wayne.”

  “Yes. Otherwise, he’s nothing more than an abused, skinny, unattractive man with stunted emotional growth, a nobody until he came to Calvary Locus where the prophet of the religion he thought he’d found solace in anointed him. Finally, he was someone special.”

  “Jesus, what a thought,” Petilli said.

  “What?” Fitzgerald barked at him.

  “I mean, what if Caleb’s right, and he is the Second Coming. Just a thought.”

  Taunton gave him a glare of fatherly disapproval.

  “Jesus, Mary, and fucking Joseph,” Fitzgerald said. “This is not a fucking revival tent, Special Agent Petilli.”

  “Sorry, sir.”

  Fitzgerald ignored the disapproval Taunton now directed at him and ordered Mai, “Get on with it.”

  “Of course, Agent Fitzgerald,” she said and only Alexei recognized the indulgent tone. “By making much-needed repairs to Calvary Locus, Wayne aligned himself with the congregation’s central family, into which he would eventually marry, further securing himself way up in the hierarchy.”

  “Was that marriage before or after he was fucking April Sharp, who was old enough to be his grandmother?” Fitzgerald asked.

  “I’d have to review the bio, but that has no relevance to what I’m about to say.”

  “The relevance is Isaac Caleb is a pervert.”

  “Is a sixty-year-old man having an affair with a twenty-year-old woman perverted? But let’s have a look at the April Sharp-Isaac Caleb relationship. She did surprise everyone when she anointed Caleb over her son to be the prophet after her death. A reward for a late-in-life lover? I concede that relevance, Agent Fitzgerald because that dying act divided the People of the Eternal Light at Calvary Locus into two camps: those loyal to Mrs. Sharp and her anointed successor and those who followed her son, Eustis Sharp.

  “Eustis didn’t take kindly to this, of course, and declared himself the true prophet, citing, yes, Caleb’s sinful ways, which had turned his mother’s head. Eustis accused Caleb of sexually abusing an aged woman. That moral stance brought many Eternal Lighters to Eustis’ side, and they ran Caleb and his followers out of Calvary Locus at gunpoint. Caleb’s reaction to that incident may give us insight into his current state of mind, namely that he doesn’t instigate violence.”

  “Tell that to the families of four dead federal agents,” Fitzgerald said.

  “Have you proof Caleb fired any of the shots that killed those agents?” Mai asked.

  “When we get inside that compound, we’ll find all the evidence we need.”

  Or manufacture it, Alexei thought.

  “Perhaps the Eternal Lighters fired in defense of their home.”

  “Not the time for that debate,” Alexei said. She’d let Fitzgerald drag her off-topic, and she should have known better. Alexei got a dark look from her, but she said nothing. When he saw the look of triumph Fitzgerald wore, Alexei regretted his admonishment.

  “I apologize, gentlemen,” Mai said, “for getting off the subject. Caleb peacefully moved out and let Eustis Sharp have Calvary Locus, but Caleb knew something about the property Eustis didn’t, namely that April Sharp hadn’t kept up with the property taxes. Caleb bided his time, made pilgrimages to Israel to fuel his fascination with the Book of Revelation, collected donations, racked up an impressive number of converts, and prepared himself for when the county would move to take the property for back taxes.”

  “That’s a cleverness I didn’t expect of him,” Taunton said.

  “He’s not a scholar,” Mai said, “but he’s not stupid. Meanwhile, Eustis Sharp couldn’t shake his obsession with Caleb, or rather Caleb’s pull on the Eternal Lighters. Over the years, more and more left Eustis’ congregation and joined Caleb’s. Eustis decided he needed to show all the Eternal Lighters he was the true prophet. Now, prophets claim to see the future, but they sometimes have other abilities. Right, Agent Taunton?”

  He gave her a slight smile. “Yes, they can perform miracles.”

  “Like what?”

  “Healing the sick and…” Taunton’s eyes widened. “And raising the dead
.”

  “Exactly. Eustis figured if he raised someone from the dead, that would convince all the Calvary Locus Eternal Lighters he was the true Eternal Light Prophet. Not only that, he’d be the new messiah.”

  All the agents looked up at Mai. “You mean Caleb wasn’t the first person over there to think he’s the new Jesus Christ?” Petilli asked.

  “Every prophet since the 1930s has considered him- or herself the messiah. Caleb was the only one to announce it to the outside world, something you take advantage of in your daily press briefings.”

  Fitzgerald opened his mouth to protest, but Mai plowed ahead.

  “Eustis Sharp’s mistake was having the most to lose. He had to deliver, and Caleb didn’t. Eustis exhumed the corpse of an old woman from the Calvary Locus cemetery and put the open casket in the chapel.”

  “It seems Caleb won,” Knerr said.

  “Not in the way you might think,” Mai answered. “As Eustis and his followers prayed over the poor woman’s bones, Caleb called the authorities and told them what Sharp had done. The police came and stopped the farce, arrested Eustis, and he ended up in jail. Caleb paid the back taxes from the funds he’d collected from donors, and the People of the Eternal Light Prophesies returned to Calvary Locus.

  “That’s when it became Calvary Locus, the place of the skull. Before Caleb took over, everyone who’d lived there called it The Lord’s Haven. Caleb explained the Lord had told him to name it after the site of Christ’s crucifixion. He also said God wanted no more subsistence living there. The congregation was going to be self-reliant and self-sustaining through several businesses, started by the members. One of those businesses was a gun dealership, all legitimate and legal and run by a member with a federal gun dealer license.”

  “No, the guns were illegally obtained,” Petilli said. He looked at Fitzgerald. “You said—”

  “I’m only going by what the ATF said,” Fitzgerald said, with another glare for Petilli. To Mai, he said, “Are you done?”

  “Not at all. Caleb’s plans worked. Life was good, prosperous even, for everyone in Calvary Locus. New converts came there to live, starting a building boom. Caleb made sure the taxes got paid on time, and there were no issues with the authorities. Caleb soon realized that people were waiting for the new Eternal Light prophet to prophesy.

  “Caleb studied up on the Book of Revelation, and his prophecies bore a marked resemblance to what he found there. He got in contact with other apocalyptic denominations, learned from them, made more trips to Israel to speak with apocalyptic Jewish sects. His sermons became the ‘visions’ he claimed to have had, and when people weren’t put off; when more and more converts came, he felt validated.”

  “And your point is?” Fitzgerald asked.

  The first edginess crept into her tone. “Isaac Caleb is not some slavering madman you can dismiss or patronize. He believes God speaks through him and that God means for him to further the End Times so he can reveal himself as the new messiah. More importantly, he has convinced the people in Calvary Locus he speaks not only the truth but God’s truth. You have to keep that in mind when you deal with him.”

  “You can’t be suggesting we treat him as if he were Jesus Christ,” Taunton said.

  “No, but in your negotiations acknowledge that he thinks of himself as the new messiah.”

  Taunton shook his head. “How can you be sure this is what he thinks?”

  “His sermons are posted in all sorts of newsgroups and chat rooms,” Mai said. “Surely someone has read them?”

  The fact that no one would meet her gaze showed they hadn’t.

  “Well, then, recall the phone call he made to his mother after the ATF raid. Don’t look surprised, Agent Knerr. We know you tapped his lines.”

  “How does that relate?” Taunton asked.

  “Christ’s mother was at his crucifixion, witnessed his suffering. Caleb sees the February raid as the beginning of his suffering, and he needs his mother to see it. He was wounded during the raid, and the last thing he did before you cut the phone lines was to call her to make certain she could witness. He tells her he’s dying, but he says, ‘I’ll be back.’ Mary knew through her faith that her son would rise. Now Caleb’s mother has the same knowledge. He ended the conversation with her by assuring her he would be merciful.”

  “Even if this is what he believes about himself,” Knerr said, “how does this help us?”

  “Let me see if I can tie it together. The Book of Revelation, as interpreted by apocalyptic religions, says the world will end with the second coming, a prediction central to Eternal Light dogma. Caleb believes he’s the second coming. He believes his actions here with you show God he is following the plan God outlined in Revelation. Show Caleb you understand this. When he quotes chapter and verse from his King James Bible, the Gideon Bibles you brought from your hotel rooms won’t do you any good. You need an Eternal Light scholar to help you with that, someone who understands the religion’s roots.”

  “We have used a former Eternal Light member,” Knerr said.

  “Yes, that would be Milton Heslin. He and his wife left Calvary Locus when Caleb informed them God wanted Mrs. Heslin to be the mother of Caleb’s children. That makes Heslin biased, and you need objective input.”

  “Yours?” Fitzgerald asked, with his perpetual sneer in place.

  “I’m no religious scholar, Agent Fitzgerald, but I can provide information to help you understand Caleb. If he thinks you understand him, he’ll be more willing to deal.”

  “Again, I haven’t detected a scrap of useful information so far.”

  “Come on, Hollis,” said Petilli, “this has given us some insight on Caleb we didn’t have.”

  Fitzgerald cut Petilli a dark look, but that didn’t stop another agent from speaking up.

  “I’m, uh, Special Agent Wainwright. I reviewed the tapes that New Zealand documentary crew made when they were at Calvary Locus last year. The footage I saw had Caleb talking about the seven seals and the end times. I didn’t really get it, until now. But, I thought the Bible says the final apocalypse will be in the Middle East. This is Texas.”

  “Caleb decided, for his convenience, the United States is the new Israel and that the apocalypse will be right here. Our analysts believe he deliberately began accumulating weapons for that reason. He wants to trigger the final struggle, but there’s also the current political climate.”

  “What do you mean?” Wainwright asked.

  “A new administration, one whose biggest campaign promises involved gun control and the assault weapon ban. Caleb knew his church could make a lot of money buying pre-ban weapons and selling them to people who want one before the ban goes into effect.”

  “Wouldn’t he realize the act of buying a lot of assault-type weapons would attract attention?”

  “Of course. He’s promised his followers an Army of Babylon who’ll fight them and bring on the End Times. No End Times, no Second Coming. Isaac Caleb wants you to fulfill his prophecy.”

  “That’s your opinion,” Knerr said, though Alexei thought he didn’t sound sure of himself.

  “No, Agent Knerr,” Mai replied. “That’s the opinion of two FBI agents.”

  13

  Recruiting

  The national media types didn’t hang out all day as the local media did. The A-level reporters came for the morning and late afternoon FBI press conferences and spent the balance of the day at their hotels’ bars or pools.

  The B-level reporters arrived before dawn and left after dark, striving to get some tidbit to gain them a spot on one of the national news broadcasts. Their pool of potential interviewees, however, were more sympathetic to the People of the Eternal Light than the FBI. It was hard to put a spin on that.

  They held out hope, though, and milled about among the demonstrators or locals, who’d come to see what the fuss was about.

  It made for some good people-watching.

  The newest arrival had stayed on the fringes of the crowd
the whole day, his face serious, his gaze intent. When the media types tried to cajole people into saying something ridiculous for the camera, he warned them about having their words taken out of context. He’d spent most of his time staring through his binoculars at Calvary Locus and hadn’t noticed the two men in an RV watching him.

  “Seems like a good prospect,” said one man, his accent Australian. “Has military bearing. Young but not inexperienced.”

  The other man focused his binoculars on the man they watched. “What makes you think he’s a good prospect?”

  “I thought someone recommended him.”

  “That’s the case, but I want to know what you think.”

  “He’s not putting himself front and center. Stays away from the media. Doesn’t draw attention to himself. He’s quiet, unemotional.”

  “Doesn’t he look angry to you?”

  “But he’s not acting on it. If he’s bottling up his anger, we can use that.”

  The man lowered his binoculars. “Radd, do you know you’re starting to sound like my father?”

  “You honor me, sir. He’s a visionary man.”

  “He is, indeed, Radd. When the media take their break, go talk to this guy. Feel him out. Give him some supplies to sell and tell him he can keep the proceeds.”

  “Yes, sir. I think a copy of the book.”

  “Definitely a copy of the book. Any questions?”

  “Will you want to talk to him?”

  “No. Too soon. Before he sees my face, let’s make sure he’s a good prospect.”

  “Of course, sir, but again, I thought he came recommended.”

  “He did, but I want to be satisfied he’s the right one. Once we get moving, I don’t want to have to change horses midstream. Understand?”