Seeking Refuge

by Alana Terry

  Mr. Blessing! The taxi driver’s cousin.

  “I tell you I seen what I seen,” Mr. Blessing said.

  “Well, ’e’s too late. Lavo found the ’ighest bidder. We leave before dawn, and there’s no one who can stop us. The delivery truck should be ’ere any minute.”

  Chapter 5: Such a Time as This

  HADASSAH’S BREATH GREW even more shallow. She had to send the pictures soon. Wrapping the scarf over her phone to conceal the LED light, she manipulated the applications and prayed she’d tapped the right place on the screen. Sweat seeped out of every pore, and her hands felt slippery.

  The men’s footsteps fell right beside her hiding spot and they shined the flashlight all over the metal.

  “See? What did I tell you?” Dez said. “Nothing ’ere. It must ’ave been an animal.”

  How long had it been since she breathed normally? Her head spun. Don’t fall asleep here. The terror alone was exhausting.

  The men lingered awhile as if Dez wasn’t as skeptical as he let on. “You stay ’ere to watch for ’im, Mr. Blessing. That is if you ain’t scared of the black mambas.”

  Black mambas? What are black mambas? Then she remembered. Only one of the deadliest snakes in the world. Why did I get myself into this?

  “I ain’t scared o’ nothin’, Dez,” Mr. Blessing replied.

  “If you shoot ’im when you see ’im, then you might not take the fall tonight.”

  As soon as she heard Dez walk off, her phone vibrated with a return text. Using her scarf to shield the light from curious eyes, she chanced a glimpse at what it said.

  Mom again.

  Good wrk. I hv enuf. Get as far as u can. Police & army r coming. ICE txt 1 mile or more from there.

  Okay, Hadassah texted back.

  The fact she sat in an African jungle at night, miles from any friend, paralyzed her muscles. While she tried to calm rising anxieties, the headlights of a truck pulling into the driveway shone across the metal where she sat. There was lots of yelling. Then it was dark again, but the yelling grew louder. Was Mr. Blessing still close? There was no sound of footfall, no light.

  His voice startled her. “I know you are here,” Mr. Blessing said. But he sounded different from when the other man was around. He sounded kind, but such kindness might be a lure. “I hope you are here for good and not for evil. I mean, I hope you are here for God and not the devil. There is too much of the devil here already.”

  With all the yelling and noise around the truck, no one from inside the fence would have heard his words.

  “If you are here for good and not evil, please say something,” the man continued.

  She glanced through the holes in the metal and saw his silhouette.

  Hadassah’s heart beat in her mouth. Her staccato breathing was so loud she must have given herself away already. But she couldn’t bring herself to say a word. The taxi driver had said his cousin cut himself off from the family. Numerous reasons for this flooded her mind.

  “My name is Andrew,” the man said. “If you know something, please tell me.”

  She was so afraid she decided to risk it. Maybe he was as kind as he sounded. “The army and police are on their way.”

  “You are a girl!” Mr. Blessing burst out in whisper. “And American. How can I believe you about the army?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, unable to keep the fear out of her voice. “There is too much of the devil here, but God is here too.”

  “I can help you. Will you take my help?”

  Her phone buzzed once more.

  I c u via heat satellite. One of Lavo’s men stands near. Police & army r on the way. u must leave as soon as u can.

  Hadassah wasn’t sure what terrified her more, the guards or the possibility of black mambas and other wild animals in the jungle. She began to dig her thumbnail into the tips of her fingers. “I will take your help. I need to leave.” She fought back rising tears.

  “When I count to three, run for the trees toward the northwest, right behind us. I will shoot toward the trees, but not at you.”

  “How can I believe you?”

  “Because God is here too, little friend. If we meet on the other side, after the police and the army come, my name is Andrew Blessing.”

  “I spoke with your cousin, Joseph, today. He misses you.”

  “Little American girl, you bless me with this news. But now is your chance. Now or never.”

  The route she used to get there seemed the safest and the wisest, and she took it at a run, Prayer pulsed inside each heartbeat: please get me out alive, God, please get me out alive. Even though she anticipated it, the gunshot made her jump. Her feet landed solidly; she continued to run and counted the 2,000 footsteps to measure off a mile.

  The rustle of every animal, the screeches of every monkey, the squawks of every bird caused her to start. Even the leaves on the trees looked menacing. She was so afraid. She was so afraid she began to feel nauseous. Fear tried to convince her she didn’t care if she got caught. But when she remembered that predators smell such emotions and follow the smell to their next prey, she thought of Mr. Lavo at the warehouse; he was an animal the way he treated those children. This excusable dread would victimize her if she didn’t get rid of it.

  How did that verse go? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. When she was a child her dad prayed the verse over her when she awoke from nightmares. And his sermon two weeks ago. Perfect love casts out fear. But terror crowded all her thoughts.

  With those 2,000 steps all counted out, she scanned the trees for a place where she could sit and send off the ICE text. The branches of one tree hung wide, low and sturdy, like a cradle of unbreakable boughs. She swung her tired body up and clung to the surrounding branches to brace herself. How she wanted to sleep! But she didn’t want to fall off: the boughs were wide enough for a couch but not a bed. At least she had her phone. She sent out her text right away.

  The night passed like a walking-through-gelatin-dream at first, and Hadassah sucked on the tips of her fingers which were sore now from scraping at them all day. Her heart raced, and her body shook as much as a mouse in the talons of an eagle.

  Mom sent a text saying a friend of a friend in the American Embassy would extract her, but they shouldn’t talk until they knew the raid was under way. Hadassah didn’t feel up for conversation anyway with as embarrassed as she felt about her fear.

  As she waited in the darkness, Hadassah repeated the scripture verse from 1 John over and over, like a prayer, like a reminder, like a shot in the dark to the heart of God. She needed Him as Father so badly. She needed His perfect love to cast out this fear.

  Suddenly, the feeling of dread left her and, in its place, she felt the presence of the Lord. Her heart swelled with gratitude. The more she thanked Him, the more she felt His presence.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Abba Father,” she whispered. Both Mom and Dad taught her to call the Lord by the same name Yeshua did, by the Hebrew name meaning ‘Papa’ or ‘Daddy’.

  Helicopters whirred overhead, and the sound of trucks, perhaps army trucks, bumped and thumped down the road beside where she staked out in the trees. She prayed the police and army arrived in time, before the men left the warehouse with the babies. She prayed Andrew Blessing would be kept safe.

  Shouting and gunfire escalated in the distance; the animals grew quiet, as if in response.

  In the darkness, in the jungle, as the raid of the warehouse took place a mile away, she perceived the presence of the Lord stronger than she ever had before. Stronger than when she gave her life to Him at the age of ten. Stronger than when her dad preached on the book of 1 John two weeks ago.

  And as God spoke to Hadassah’s heart in what Dad called the internal audible voice, her heart filled with another kind of fear—an awe invigorating her, challenging her, setting her heart into stillness. Dad had preached on the internal audible voice of God before, and this sense of awe accompanying it. “A beautif
ul fear,” he called it once. She agreed. And it came with a promise. She would never be afraid again, at least not like she had been tonight.

  “Hadassah,” she heard.

  “Speak, Abba,” she said in her heart, “for I am yours.”

  “You were born, My daughter, for such a time as this,” He said within her. “Watch for the Cooper and watch for the Hop. When you see them—go there, go there, GO THERE!”

  She passed the next two hours leaning on His everlasting arms, never once wondering why Mom’s friend from the embassy took so long.

  The night grew cool and damp. She began to doze again when a car drove up the road and stopped beside where she sat in the trees. The car door’s slam jarred her to wakefulness.

  “Hadassah!” a woman with a thick accent called out from the road. “Hadassah Michelman, are you here?”

  “I’m here,” Hadassah said. Her mouth felt so dry.

  “I am Manuela. I was told to pick you up, but I was afraid you would not be here.”

  Hungry, parched and stiff, Hadassah edged her way to the ground, happy to see the flashlight Manuela waved about.

  “I am glad I finally got to you,” Manuela said. “The army had the road blocked off for hours. And this is not a safe place to be trapped for hours.” The woman shined the flashlight around the jungle. “See, look!”

  There in the tree, ten feet above where Hadassah’s head had been, a three foot black mamba encircled a branch. The snake stared at her with its beady eyes, angling its head back and forth as its silvery brown body writhed and coiled about the branch.

  “You are like Daniel in the lion’s den,” Manuela said. “I bet you an angel’s up there holding that mamba’s mouth closed. But let’s go. I’ll take you by my place first, so you can get cleaned up. I will give you some fresh clothes as well.”

  “Thank you,” Hadassah said. She climbed into the front seat of the Jeep, where a bottle of cool water waited for her. After a slow, deep drink she closed her eyes, and sleep overtook her despite the Jeep bumping over all those holes and ruts.

  In the evening, when Manuela took Hadassah back to see the rest of the missionaries at the orphanage, every one of the kids from the youth group had a thousand or more questions for her.

  “You would not believe what has been happening,” Isabella said when the questions let up. “They’ve found our daughter. They found Ariella! It’s been all over the news stations since late last night, and we received a call this morning. The police have her and will be bringing her here this evening.”

  Hadassah smiled with her friend’s joy. “That’s amazing. Praise the Lord!”

  “So, what did happen to you?”

  “I got lost.” It was easier than she thought to lie to her friend. To all of her friends. Especially considering how sick she felt. Though she wished she invented a better excuse.

  Chapter 6: Debrief and Dinosaurs

  NEW YORK, NY, USA

  Three days later

  Her flight home, including all the transfers, took almost 30 hours, and Hadassah came in to JFK airport sometime after midnight. Dizziness and nausea rocked her the entire trip. After she saw Mom in the terminal and held her for a full minute, Hadassah relaxed.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “He’s at home, waiting for you.”

  “Is he really mad at me?”

  “No, but he didn’t want to get emotional in front of the team. Both of us thought it’d be better. And he’s getting food ready for us.”

  “I wish I was hungry. I miss his cooking.” She sighed another laborious breath. “But I’m sure he’s angry at me.”

  Mom hugged her again and whispered in her ear. “Look at how many children’s lives were saved. He’s so proud of you.”

  Hadassah smiled as she dragged her weary body to the car. New York City, once her comfort zone, seemed so foreign after Africa. The glare of street lights off the sea of cars looked extraordinarily artificial, and she wanted to be overseas again. She had no memory of her fear in the jungle but thought about the prospect of joining Revelation Special Ops. Will Dad say yes? Have I proven myself?

  When she walked through the door and glanced at Dad, she rested into one of his bear hugs and listened instead of trying to say anything.

  “Oh, my Haddy. My wonderful, brave, foolish Hadassah.” His tears stopped him from saying anything more. He held her face in his hands and kissed the top of her head.

  For the first time in who knew how long, she allowed the tears to escape her eyes as she held onto Dad, enough tears to soak the front of his shirt.

  She didn’t remember eating more than a bite of Dad’s delicious roast chicken. After crawling into her pajamas, she climbed into bed. One aspect of her comfort zone was welcoming—the memory foam still remembered her and enveloped her aching body. As soon as she had tucked herself in, Dad knocked on the door.

  She propped her tired body up on an elbow. “Come in.”

  “I know it’s been years since I’ve done it, but I’d like to pray with you tonight. I hope you are not too old for this.” His eyes still glistened with tears.

  “Not at all, Dad. I’m just so tired.”

  “Well, you rest, and I’ll pray.” He sat on the edge of her mattress and held her hand.

  As tired as she was, she couldn’t concentrate on the words of the prayer, but rested her soul in the presence of the Spirit. No sooner did he say “Amen” than she fell asleep and didn’t wake until midday the next day, feeling physically weak but refreshed.

  There was a text notification on her phone. Mom. How long had it been there?

  Meet me @ office b4 3pm 2day. Coins in jar.

  The clock read 1:12pm. She wouldn’t have enough time to wash the airplane smell off if she lingered even a moment.

  She didn’t mean to take an eight-minute shower, but she felt so drained, and water pressure was a precious gift she had forgotten to be thankful for. Hadassah grabbed enough money from the jar for an OJ from the corner store as well as subway fare, and she raced to catch the M train to Mom’s office.

  When she stepped through the door at 2:53pm, still sipping her OJ and regaining her composure after battling crowds, she allowed nostalgia to wash over her as she soaked in the familiarity of the place. Photos of missing and found children and teens lined the walls of the foyer and covered the four cubicles beyond the secretary’s desk.

  Eva Michelman worked as a private investigator in tandem with police to find any child or teen who had been missing. She would even take cases 23 hours before the police would, often within the hour of a child’s disappearance. Both her fee and her success rate were better than almost any other in the city.

  Instead of greeting Hadassah, the secretary paged Eva over the intercom. “Your daughter is here.”

  Mom would usually page back, ‘Send her in.’ This time, she came out herself, and every employee in the front office rose to give Hadassah a standing ovation.

  Mom raised her hand until everyone in the office grew quiet again. “I’ve never seen someone do a solo operation like that before. And you did it in Africa. Nice work.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Hadassah felt warm inside and hid her blushing cheeks between her shoulder and her hand.

  “Oh, and happy birthday, four days late.” Mom brought out a chocolate cheesecake. “Mazel Tov.”

  Hadassah shared it with the office staff until there were only crumbs. She knew Mom was making a big deal out of what happened in Africa; Eva Michelman never splurged on an office party so much as to buy a cake this good. There were too many other expenses. Such as the back office, which cost Mom nine years of investment capital.

  Following Mom, Hadassah passed through the bank-safe-thick door and fireproof walls of the back office. The five small air ducts on the walls and ceiling, too small for any adult to fit through, always spurred a chuckle in her whenever Hadassah saw them. But what Mom spared no expense on was the equipment. She had three computers, two of which could access satellite
footage from American and Israeli spy satellites. And then there was Yitzak’s station.

  Yitzak, her cousin and eight years her senior, worked in the corner of Mom’s back office, and Hadassah wondered if he still kept fourteen- to nineteen-hour days here like he used to. His thin frame, hunching over his desk, seemed as permanent a fixture as the hanging lamp; before him the desk was littered with jewelry, watches, computer chips, soldering irons and various gadgets in process, almost finished, or lying open for further inspection. He looked melded to the soldering iron in his hand as if he hadn’t left his seat for coffee since that morning.

  Yitzak carefully set his latest project onto his desk and looked up at her. “Nice of you to come back alive.” He grinned. “How’d you like the iPod?”

  She nodded. “And the transmitter. Thanks. Couldn’t have done it without you, Yitz.”

  “That’s all the gratitude I need. You wanna see my latest project?”

  Mom sat in her office chair, straightened a few of her papers and cleared her throat. “Maybe later, Yitzak. How was your birthday cake, Haddy?”

  Hadassah smiled. “It was delicious. I felt woozy and disoriented when I woke up today, but I’m feeling better already.”

  “I felt woozy and disoriented after my first trip to India. You better get used to it if you still want to join Revelation Special Ops.”

  Hadassah allowed another wave of warmth to fill her.

  “Dad wants to take you out tomorrow to celebrate your birthday. If you’re not too tired.”

  “I hope I’m not too tired.”

  “Yitzak, work on the new surveillance camera later. You need a coffee break and some sunlight while I meet with Haddy for debriefing.”

  The debrief was tough for Hadassah, but she kept her face and voice as placid as she could while relating the details and reliving the whole episode. She almost cried when she recalled the sight of the warehouse. When she recounted meeting Andrew Blessing she fidgeted, remembering her fear. Yet all the while, Hadassah looked forward to telling Mom what God had said to her.