by Alana Terry
Walking back to her cabin, Hadassah dragged her feet and prayed the Lord would teach her something through these emotions she couldn’t shake. He did. He showed her His desire for her. A passage from the Song of Solomon rang in Hadassah’s heart like sympathetic strings on a sitar, “I am my Beloved’s and His desire is for me.” In the middle of those ten days of fasting, the cycle of obsessive thoughts stopped. Now, whenever she prayed for Matthew, the Lord flooded her heart with peace and the knowledge of His desire for her.
Knowing how difficult emotional trials were, she prayed for Priscilla as well. What a mountain of emotion her friend must have.
Chapter 24: A Visit from Mom
ON THE LAST SUNDAY in June, during a rare afternoon nap, a strange buzz and beep roused Hadassah from sleep. She lay still, staring up at the wood beams on the ceiling and trying to remember where she had heard that sound before.
“My phone!” She couldn’t believe that in two short months she forgot what a text notification sounded like. She rolled over and checked her phone. Mom.
I’m coming 2 a nearby hotel on the beach 2 spend 10 days w/u. Yitz will b coming 2. he’ll interview w/Mr. Cooper 4 a position w/R.S.O.
Hadassah received another text just before midnight on the third of July.
Mom again.
I’m here.
All the other recruits headed home the night before, so she was glad for the company.
As soon as Hadassah walked through the door of the hotel room on the morning of the fourth, Mom took her phone and handed it to Yitzak. “He’s got an upgrade you’ll love.”
“Are you going to tell me what it is?”
Mom flashed a smile. “I’ll let him explain it when he’s done. You’re going to jump on that right away, aren’t you, Yitz?”
Yitzak nodded at her and smiled at the phone as he turned on his heels and left.
She turned toward her daughter. “Let’s have breakfast while it’s still hot.”
Hadassah sat on the balcony and stared out at the waves pounding the beach below. “I had no idea I was so close to the ocean all this time.”
“I take it Mr. Murray doesn’t let you explore the area much.”
“There isn’t time. I do an insane number of sit-ups and push-ups before breakfast, and afterward I don’t think about the surrounding area. But you’ve got to tell me what you know about Dad. And where you’ve been.”
“Need-to-know basis, Haddy, that’s how I’ve got to tell it right now.”
Hadassah gritted her teeth and pushed the omelet away. “I need to know a lot right now, Mom, beginning with whether or not he’s alive.”
“I’ve had strong intel to prove he’s alive.”
“Have you seen a picture, or talked to him?”
“We’ve had video evidence.” The corner of Mom’s mouth twitched as if she’d cry, but she wasn’t the crying type, then her expression turned stoic again. “And as for where I’ve been—Jordan, Syria even Russia, but I can’t get into Iraq yet. The security around Babylon is tighter than you can imagine.”
“Why? What are they hiding?”
Mom mimicked a stone again. “Tell me about your training.”
Knowing she’d get no further answers, Hadassah yielded. “I wish I had MP3s of some of the teachings we’ve had. You’d love them, Mom.”
“Like what?”
As she shared her new paradigms, she sensed for the first time she was teaching Mom about the scriptures and about the End Times. “I know most of this is similar to what Dad taught. I don’t know why I didn’t listen to him better. But these teachings hit so much closer to home now.”
“What’s your favorite part of the training so far?”
“I loved skydiving. And I love how strong I’m getting.” A facetious expression crept across her face. “I bet I could even arm wrestle you.”
Mom moved plates and glasses of grapefruit juice aside then put an elbow on the table with her hand extended toward Hadassah. “Show me your stuff.”
“You better not let me win. Because you probably won’t anyway.”
Mom did win, but barely. “Six more months and I’ll probably be embarrassed.”
Hadassah breathed a laugh. “When will Yitzak have my phone ready?”
“A few days at least. But tell me more about R.S.O.”
She fixed her gaze on Mom. “Tell me more about Dad.”
Mom continued as if she hadn’t heard Hadassah. “Any parts of your training you don’t like?”
“Not being in the field yet.” She stared at a group of girls frolicking in the surf below and prayed for them.
Mom smiled empathetically. “Of course, Haddy. You’re my daughter.”
FOUR DAYS LATER, WHEN Hadassah knocked on the door of Yitzak’s hotel room, he emerged slowly, stretched, then shook his lanky limbs before hugging her.
“How’s the super-spy?” he asked with a chuckle. “Are you ready for your upgrade?”
“Always ready. Whatcha got for me?”
Yitzak held up her phone and a set of ear buds. “Sonogram. Look at this.” He connected the ear buds and turned on the phone. After pressing the screen in a few places he put the ear buds up to the wall. “I made it strong enough to work through steel.” He chuckled as the outline of a person in the elevator across the hall appeared on the screen. “And then this.” He slid his finger quickly across the screen. The image changed into colors, with the person’s body glowing red and orange, while the rest of the area showed green and blue. “Heat sensor. Then last but not least...” He pressed the screen with his thumb and forefinger then placed the ear bud on his arm. The image appeared of his radius and ulna. “X-ray. Neat, huh?”
“I like.” She grinned.
“There are also some fun new apps, including mapping and map interfacing. So here, have fun. Explore. Yada yada.”
“Thanks so much.” She stared at the back of the phone looking for any sign of his tampering. No sign—the thing looked brand new.
“You look really healthy, Haddy. I think this R.S.O. program has done you good. I’m glad I’m moving down here.”
“You’ll fit right in.” She didn’t want to show him her excitement over his move. The longer she’d been at R.S.O., the more stoic she’d become. Like Mom. And that didn’t upset her at all. Then she chuckled. “And you might even see sunshine twice a week.”
He nudged her with a pale and bony elbow. “Yeah, I might even put my desk near a window.”
WITH YITZAK WANDERING the campgrounds, homecoming at the Lighthouse felt different. Most of the students were still away, and those at the campgrounds wanted to socialize most of the time. Lisa arrived at Hadassah’s door every morning and urged her to join in the fun and discussions in the Lodge. Even Priscilla was in the lodge every day.
AFTER ALL THE RECRUITS returned to the Lighthouse in August, Mr. Murray brought them to a remote beach for a few days of training.
“Safar!” Mr. Murray shouted to Zacharias on the third day. “I want you to touch the buoy next time you swim out there. You too, Michelman!” He stood where the highest waves would just hit his shoulders with a megaphone to his mouth and twelve of the recruits swimming around him.
Hadassah had spent the summer between her sophomore and junior years in high school as a lifeguard, and Mr. Murray’s training reminded her of that. Except this was no cozy indoor pool, this was the Atlantic, which was cold even in the dog days of summer.
Her eighteenth birthday passed almost without notice as she swam laps through the salty waves. When twilight descended and every muscle in her body yearned for those easy days back in the beginning of January, she collapsed on the sand, licked her salty lips and stared vacantly at the strange activity Matthew, Dave, Zach and Zeke had taken up. Collecting sticks and stacking them up seemed an odd way to wait for the van, especially after an exhausting day battling waves. Then it occurred to her—they were building a bonfire. Mr. Murray must have obtained special permission for this. Once the blaz
e got going, Hadassah revived. She laid on her back beside her friends and watched shooting stars while a party bloomed around her.
When Hadassah woke early the next morning, with sand in every strand of hair, stars still graced the sky and two silhouettes of her friends sat at the last hill of dry sand before the crashing waves hit the shore. She ambled over and plopped her tired body beside Hyun who was pointing out constellations to Priscilla.
“Good morning, Haddy,” Hyun whispered. “You should see this.”
“The Perseid meteors?” Hadassah asked.
“Better than that. See there and there, it looks like a woman. The woman with twelve stars around her head like a crown. If you notice, there’s the half-moon under her feet like a pedestal—before this month, no one has ever seen that.”
“But she doesn’t look pregnant.” Hadassah had memorized that portion of Revelation 12.
“Look at these stars here. Planets, actually. There, there and there.”
Hadassah followed the direction of Hyun’s pointing finger. “I see it now, like a half circle in her middle. Wow.”
Suddenly a whole pocket of meteors shot through the constellation as if they came from the woman’s face.
Priscilla gasped. “She looks like she’s crying.”
Hadassah agreed. “But she’s supposed to be clothed with the sun.”
Even as she spoke the horizon grew brighter and brighter. The light sprayed across the stars concealing them in a robe of the sun’s new rays.
A tingle ran from the tip of Hadassah’s toes to her scalp. “Do you think anyone else sees this?”
“I have a few friends who are keeping their eyes on the skies.” Hyun sighed. “Most of the people watching this, though, will misinterpret it into some twisted and self-serving astrology.”
“But what do you think it means?” Priscilla asked.
“That we are being trained for such a time as this.”
AT THE END OF AUGUST, Mrs. Cooper signed up Hadassah, Priscilla and Lisa for an eight-week self-defense course taught by Hyun, Christina and Tameka.
“This isn’t meant to hurt anyone,” Mrs. Cooper explained on the first day. “This is to protect you in dire circumstances so you can escape from unspeakable harm.”
From day one to the end of the course, Hadassah’s jaw dropped open every time she saw Hyun give a demonstration. This woman was as limber and swift as a hummingbird when she began sparring with anyone. By the end of the eight weeks, Hadassah could give a roundhouse kick almost as high as hers but nowhere near as fast. A goal to work toward, she told herself on the last day.
THE HEAT FINALLY SUBSIDED, and every morning Hadassah observed the trees fading from green to golden brown. In November, when the recruits celebrated Thanksgiving together, Dave and Pedro talked Mr. Murray into renting a television for the weekend so they could watch the football games; those not interested in football played board games. Hadassah lost miserably in Monopoly, took Asia before utter defeat in Risk and ended up with a bruised knuckle after playing the card game Spoons, but fun and general mirth healed all wounds.
Staying at the Lighthouse for Hanukkah and Christmas meant Hadassah missed the lights and the hustle bustle of New York. Not nearly as much as she missed Dad and Mom. Mr. Murray, Yitzak and Hyun stayed with her; Hyun’s company was the most comforting of the three. Both Mr. Murray and Yitzak kept to their cabins, Yitzak to work on gadgets and Mr. Murray to do the work he always kept secret.
Andrea, Lisa and Priscilla arrived back at the Lighthouse just before a blizzard shut down the airports. The girls enjoyed foraging for themselves and having girl time. Hadassah, Hyun and Priscilla encouraged one another to stay fit, while Lisa and Andrea tried their hands in the kitchen. With Amelia still in Georgia the cooking wasn’t as spectacular, but no one complained. Until their stores ran thin and the campgrounds lost power. An ice storm following the blizzard forced them to cook over the fire pit in the dining hall, and to sleep in the lodge rather than their own cabins.
With the power outage lasting a full week even Boaz needed more food, so a trip to the grocery store became a necessity. Mr. Murray turned this opportunity into cold-weather survival training.
Hadassah doled out the extra wool clothes and Siberian-like winter coats from Mom to Hyun and Priscilla. Using broken chairs and flat boards they had found in the storage shed, they made snow shoes and hiked the twelve and a half miles to the nearest open store. Mr. Murray led. Lisa, Andrea and Yitzak stayed at the Lodge with Boaz, tending the fire and hot soup until the group returned.
It was dusk when they finally arrived back at the campgrounds, cold, starving and full of laughter and stories to tell. The milk had frozen, some of the eggs had cracked, and the bag of coffee got a hole in it, spilling some of the grounds onto the snow.
“Oh goody,” Lisa remarked. “I love iced coffee.”
The ice storm gave Hadassah time to study what she wanted to through the scriptures and books in the library. The revelations she received were meteoric infusions into her heart, especially regarding events leading up to the Lord’s return.
More than ever, Hadassah grew desperate to know where Dad was.
Chapter 25: Preparing for the Philippines
WHEN EVERYONE RETURNED from Christmas break, Mr. Murray and Mr. Cooper called a meeting of those chosen to go to Manila for Operation Double-edged Sword: Hadassah, Hyun, Matthew, Paul, Christina Priscilla, Zach and Zeke.
Mr. Cooper passed out packets on the operation details while Mr. Murray gave the run down. “One of our sister organizations in Manila, a group of people who love Jesus and work to rescue women and children enslaved as prostitutes, are setting up an underground railroad. They need some extra people to come in and spy out the land. Our board approves the expense, especially since one of you has a family member over there, so the eight of you will be leaving in March. I’ll sort out visas, but I want you to make sure to give me your passports.
“Your tasks until then will be to get your vaccines and attend a conference, the details of which you will see on page two of your packet. You’ll need to introduce yourselves to those teaching about trafficking in South East Asia. I will have a speaker here the last week of February, but I want every one of you to be familiar with this issue before he gets here. Yes, Paul?” He pointed to the raised hand.
“Do the people at the conference know we’ll be going on a mission to the Philippines?”
“Some of the conference organizers are friends of mine, but they don’t know your names. Part of your training is to seek them out. Zeke?”
“Who’s coming in February to give the talk?” Zeke asked.
“Mack MacArthur.”
Eyes grew wide all around. For over two decades Mack MacArthur had been the foremost voice on trafficking. His work toward justice had sparked cells of abolitionists in every corner of the world. Hadassah smiled, remembering Mack MacArthur’s teaching nearly two years ago.
Before he dismissed everyone, Mr. Murray told Priscilla to see him up at the front after the meeting.
Hadassah channeled her excitement about the trip into this next phase of training. Knowing as much as she did about human trafficking and forced prostitution, submitting to a year of training without rescuing another girl had frustrated her. Now she felt useful and empowered again—enough to comfort Priscilla during the conference.
“I can’t believe what some of the girls go through.” Priscilla’s body gave a tremor as she spoke. “More than twice this week I thought I’d be sick listening to the stories of what people do to children. Those are children. Children should be playing and having fun.”
Hadassah looked up at her friend, and a flood of empathy made her knees weak. How hard it must be for Priscilla to restrain from mention her sister outright. “I saw you get up at one point and go toward the bathroom.”
“I didn’t get sick, but I didn’t want to cry during the lady’s story. I guess I could have handled myself better.”
“I don�
�t think there was a dry eye in the room when she shared how she was freed. I wish you had stayed.”
“Mr. Murray told me something after the meeting a few weeks ago. He told me that the organization in Manila located someone who matched my sister’s picture and description. All during the lady’s talk I just couldn’t stop thinking about Filipa.”
Hadassah held Priscilla until the girl’s tears ebbed. What could she even say? “Learning what happens in these brothels made me want Yeshua to come sooner rather than later. Until that day, I’ll do whatever I can to help you find your sister.”
THE DAY MACK MACARTHUR arrived, he shared on Psalm 27 and about how Yeshua must be the One Thing they sought. “A heart devoted to Jesus partners with Him, with hands of tender love, to liberate the crushed spirit of a child. No amount of therapeutic training can substitute for the healing power of the Holy Spirit.”
Just like they had two years ago, his statistics stunned her. “Every year, 27 million children are trafficked. This is the conservative estimate; the real number might be devastatingly higher. The average age of a trafficked victim is seven years old. This should break our hearts, folks, but don’t be afraid of your heart breaking. Having a broken heart prompts us to pray for them, to remember them, and to fight for justice on their behalf.
“This crime of human trafficking generates as much as $32 billion annually around the world. Some pockets in the governments are quite padded by this money. In some countries you can’t even trust the authorities to work for justice for their own children. Be as wise as serpents out there, and as innocent as doves.
“As you go into the streets of the red light districts, remember individuals. Each one of the 27 million children is an individual who was made in the image of God. Please don’t forget this out there. The sheer numbers can be daunting, but don’t forget the one. Look at her, really look at her, and remember Jesus loves her. He gave His life for her. Her life may look like a charred and black stone, but Jesus will redeem all of that and turn her life into a white and living stone. Even if no one else in this world shows her love, love her as Christ loves her.”