Back aboard the drilling machine Jayla instructed the four shadow demons to stand out in the hall as she locked Noah and Moses into the holding cell. Just as she was about to leave, Noah spoke.
“Jayla, I know you, or at least I knew the old you before all of this. I have walked all of heaven and have visited every angel at every station, and I remember you at your gate.” Noah spoke sternly as a father to a child.
“I have not forgotten the day you came to visit. It was one of the highlights of my gatekeeper career. You are a celebrity among the population of heaven, and everyone remembers when they get a visit from a celebrity.”
“It honors me that you think of me so highly. Listen to me closely, Jayla. This creature Infernal Max and even Gezon are fooling themselves if they believe they can destroy us before the matters pertaining to the two of us as written in the Word of God are fulfilled. Moses and I have a divine date in the matters of the two witnesses of Jerusalem that have yet to transpire upon the earth. No matter our physical location, the Holy Spirit, invisible to all, surrounds us and will deliver us back to earth on the appointed day, and until that happens nothing, no one, can bring us harm, as it is the will of the Lord God Almighty.”
“Why speak to me, Noah? Why tell me this now? I fell from grace, and there is no going back for me. Angels cannot be redeemed; we have not a soul. I admit, none of this is what I thought or even believed it could be, but I cannot turn back now. It is too late for me.”
Moses stepped forward. “Perhaps it is, but maybe if you show a measure of compassion and perform an act of kindness, the Lord could consider judgment upon you in a more merciful manner. Could you accept exile with eternal separation from the Lord’s presence but in a place of peace instead of the prison of Hell that you deserve?”
“Easy, Moses…what my friend is attempting to say is that there is hope inside your actions. Rescue Abbadorn, and make amends for your transgressions. Release him, Jayla, and compensate for the error of your ways.”
Jayla smiled from ear to ear. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was a “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine. She looked over her shoulder to be sure no one was coming. She spoke softly. “If I agree to help Abbadorn, you will, in turn, petition the Lord on my behalf in an attempt to buy back my autonomy with a few minor restrictions, so that I could be free from all of this, as it was before?”
“We are not playing a game here, Jayla, so wipe that smile off of your face,” Moses said in the coldest of remarks, causing Noah to pull Moses by his elbow to the rear of the cell, where they whispered briefly to each other. Noah took a few steps in Jayla’s general direction. “This is the only time we will make this offer to you, and don’t worry about freeing us. Our time will come shortly, but I caution you this: do not mention this to Gezon or Captain Max, or the deal is off.”
Jayla thanked them both and left the holding cells. She passed the four shadow demons in the hallway and instructed them to stand guard. She walked away, and just as soon as she rounded the corner, she misted away in secret. Had she been two seconds later, she would have been discovered by Infernal Max himself. He had come bounding down from the antechamber well-rested after his meal and nap; he was thrilled and ready again to play with his toys, Noah and Moses.
chAPTER forty-one
The pearl glass doors were glowing red as the alarm bells sounded in the control room beneath The Palace of Holyroodhouse. The doors parted as the battle-weary travelers floated out of the tube and levitated down to the floor as if they had done this a thousand times before. Following slide room protocol to the letter, for the safety and security of the palace, the armed guards in the slide room stood down from their defensive positions after verifying the threat level of those who disembarked from the lava slide. Seeing none, they signaled to the standby medical team, who quickly came rushing in with a type of two-wheeled army gurney to carry Dester and Rosezella off to the infirmary ward. Lance was placed into a wheelchair when it became abundantly clear he could no longer endure the pain of his compound fracture protruding from his right leg. Agent Tate held Aunt Debbie-Lynne by the waist to steady her walking until a wheelchair arrived to take her the rest of the distance. The medics had managed to move Jasper’s hands off of Stacy’s forehead and apply bandages to the bleeding cut. Jasper wasn’t upset at the sight of blood but rather because it was Stacy’s blood. It was superficial, but those shallow cuts tend to bleed out a lot, making it look more serious than it actually was. She was going to be okay. Indeed they all were going to make it, and all of them would be processed and cleared by medical as, of course, protocol demanded.
Sadly, the wound that would take the longest to heal was the one now suffered by Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop. His big brother was dead, leaving a bucket-sized hole in his heart, mind, and soul. It was a hurt that only time could heal. Even then, we never stop missing or thinking about our lost loved ones. We carry them with us, as they are part of our memories. Over time the tenderness of sorrow caused by their absence diminishes, but we never truly forget the discomfort. Grief is the anguish of heartaches, the throbbing torture that delivers a menacing twinge of sadness when we least expect it. For example, you walk into a mall and smell a scent that instantly reminds you of a lost loved one. You draw a deep breath and release a big sigh in an attempt to push it away, but it is a soreness that never says goodbye completely. However, regardless of the agony Mop was in, he was now in charge, and grieving would have to wait until the mission had been accomplished. There would be time later to honor the fallen dead…Mop feared that there were still more deaths to come.
Five hours had passed, and the away team had reassembled for debriefing. Those who remained were connected by various electronic means. Aunt Debbie-Lynne was stationed in the infirmary along the bedside of her little brother Dester and his wife Rosezella. They were both on life support and slipping deeper into comas; their vital signs dropped with each passing hour. The very best medical team in all of the United Kingdom was tending to them and very soon would be recommending a course of treatment, pending the results of the latest lab tests. Aunt Debbie-Lynne listened and watched the conference room monitor, all the while keeping one eye on the doctors and nurses. She didn’t like doctors and had no trust of hospitals, way too many sick people and germs for her liking.
Lance was on crutches. He had already made his journey back to Abraham’s Bosom via the lava slide with Thunder and another black ops team in tow. Jasper was able to instruct Thunder to levitate the returning away team, and he did just that. As a reward for Thunder, he was allowed to stay in his original, God-created form of a horse, and was now enjoying the grasses on the plains just south of Teddy’s home, which was, of course, base camp. The active slide allowed Lance to connect to the control room with his Internet booster equipment, enabling an open video conference link. Teddy waited on him hand and foot and seemed rather grateful for the distraction. Lance was currently the ranking field officer on-site, giving instructions to the black ops team deploying the sonar equipment. He was allowed to advise in a non-physical role only. The troops would have to do all the heavy lifting.
Lance was focused on his mission but couldn’t stop his thoughts of Debbie-Lynne from entering his mind. He hoped to hold her soon. He missed her constant sassiness. He kept going back to the conversation they had had in the infirmary before he entered the tube and swirled away. Whatever it takes, we’ll be together, but I fear we are running out of time to turn this situation around for Dester and Rosezella. There is a lot at stake. Too much riding on the actions of a boy and his horse. Like it or not this is the way it has to be, I go, you stay. Come what may, we have to see this through to the end, and when the dust clears I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to be found standing next you. And before he left he kissed her for the world, or at least the nurses, to see.
Jasper and Stacy were waiting in the conference room for Mop and Tate. They both had managed to squeeze in rather lengthy phone calls to both Kevin and
Gena. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do, anything to get a piece of home in order to feel normal, or at least what they once knew as normal. Afterward, however, they were both exhausted from skirting around the truth and dodging the most revealing questions of all. For example, “What time on Sunday will you be back in town?” or “How about we all ride into school on Monday in Gena’s yellow Corvette?” Kevin and Gena both happened to be together collecting the Allegan County Newspaper and letters from Jasper’s curbside mailbox when their calls connected. Kevin’s discussion centered on taking Gena to bed in the barn, leaving Jasper wondering why he bothered to call in the first place and begging Kevin to stay out of Thunder’s stall. Kevin peppered him with sexual innuendos from his father’s long-haul trucker days: “Keep the shiny side up; have fun on your run; and another day, another way.” Gena’s call centered on hair highlights, makeup, sparkle fingernail polish, and her need of a new diet that would allow her to drop one dress size in order to fit into a killer prom dress she had spotted at Barbara Elaine’s Formal Wear on Marshall Street.
Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop and Agent Tammy Sue Tate entered the conference room, followed by a small army of administrative staff. “I take it we are all present and accounted for,” Mop said as he viewed each monitor in turn, nodding to both Lance and Aunt Debbie-Lynne. “Our governments have concluded from this moment forward that I will be in charge of the mission, and I have received the field promotion of commander. While this would normally be cause for celebration, everyone here knows that this has only transpired due to the untimely death of my brother. The trauma of that event unites us, and we will have time to grieve after the mission is complete. To that end I will now turn the rest of the briefing over to Agent Tate.”
Agent Tate cleared her throat, giving Mop a pat on the back for being such a brave man and pushing onward through the loss of Bucket. “Thank you, Commander Mop. At this moment, at base camp ‘Teddy,’ we have stationed 200 heavily-armed troops into position. The teams are made up of both American and British special forces with three directives. One, locate and excavate the two portal ships code-named ‘The Moses’ and ‘The Noah.’ Two, destroy both ships. Three, return to the control room and detonate a thermal nuclear device inside the lava slide transport systems. These actions will block the arrival of the Trinity Throne into the hands of evil and also prevent the escape of supernatural creatures via the lava slide onto the earth. Our governments have agreed that it is in the best interest of humanity if all these supernatural creatures be kept right where they are. If we happen to come across Infernal Maximus and his drilling ship, we are to terminate them with extreme prejudice. Questions?”
“Do you really intend on letting Jasper’s parents die?” a female voice said from within the room. “Humanity is so destructive. Why on earth did the Father create you?” Black mist filled the far end of the conference room, and as it dissipated, out stepped Jayla. “I give you greetings from Moses and Noah; I was just with them. They will be happy to know you have named the portal ships after them, something else in which they can use to stroke their human egos. My name is Jayla. No need to press the ‘Red Alert’ button, I am here to help. You could say I am turning over a new leaf, or perhaps an old one. It is really all personal points of view, but the bottom line is this: you destroy those ships, and you are guaranteeing Jasper’s parents to an untimely death.”
“You’re fallen and evil. Why should we trust you?” said Jasper, standing up from his seat at the conference table.
“Because not only do I have a plan to save your parents, I also have a plan to rescue Abbadorn. You need to ask yourself a question: why would evil care? The answer is I need to atone for my sins as per the instructions of Noah and Moses.”
Mop made a hand gesture to the guards outside the conference room to stand down, and with eye contact to Jasper, he transmitted body language that told Jasper to sit. Jasper sat down slowly, not sure how to play out this latest turn of events. Mop walked within feet of Jayla, showing her he wasn’t afraid. “We’re listening; please explain this plan to us.”
“It is very simple. We locate a portal ship and fly Dester and Rosezella to the planet Iconium. Once there, we rush them to see archangel Volnar. He is the angel of space-time healing and the only one outside of the Lord who can save them. Dester and Rosezella are in their current condition due to the prolonged period of time in which they had contact with the spirit realm while trapped in their physical bodies. Volnar is the only one who can restore them. Keeping them here in the physical world is killing them. At the very least, we need to use the slide now and get them back to The Bosom of Abraham, or they will be dead within the hour. We need to act fast.”
“How do we know this isn’t some elaborate ploy to lure us into a trap? We would be doing your boss a favor by getting you to Iconium; once there you would have no problem getting to the Trinity Throne.”
“None of my kind will be going. It will be up to you to decide who will make the trip. Besides, I need to be here to coordinate the rescue of Abbadorn and undo some other damage that I have caused. The clock is ticking away; can we work together?”
Mop looked at Tate, then by gazing around the room before locking eyes again with Jayla he realized the entire room, including Lance and Aunt Debbie-Lynne, were all waiting for him to make a snap decision. Sir Lord Bucket would not have hesitated. This was the moment in which he needed to be half the leader his big brother was or at least that is what he told himself when he reached out and shook Jayla’s hand and said, “It’s a deal.” A short time later they all departed together, and not one of them felt good about it; but they all knew it was the only way to save Dester and Rosezella. In the back of Commander Mop’s mind all he could see was the moment that had cost his brother’s life, leaving a gaping void in his being that he would never be able to fill or replace. He wasn’t about to let that happen to Jasper now, not when he just had been reunited with his long-lost parents. That would be a fate just as cruel as the Hole in his Bucket. Where it may have appeared that he had made a snap decision outside the consultation of the U.S. and British governments, he knew otherwise. A seventeen-year-old boy shouldn’t have to face losing his parents twice in one lifetime. He did this for Jasper and Jasper alone. He would tell the governments later, after the mission was done; and if luck was on their side with positive end results, then who would really care how he got the job done? They would win this and turn his bucket full of tears into a bucket of joy.
chAPTER forty-two
Deep within the farthest reaches of the prison known as Hell, the light was all but gone. The lower levels of this realm belonged to King Lucifer. Darkness was remotely chased away by the distant burst of blazing brimstone shooting across the open areas like fireworks from The Lake of Eternal Damnation. Lucifer had no use for light and did not require light to see the world around him. Aside from the sound of catapulted brimstone crashing into the face of solid rock walls, there was no other noise in this moment. No moaning of the dead, no wailing or gnashing of teeth just silence…the eerie stillness of nothingness, void and empty, deafening silence. Only the highest-ranking demons and aliens visited here. This was a place of ultimate torment, and Abbadorn, exhausted from using all his powers to free himself, was trapped here.
Abbadorn wasn’t moving. His body was crumpled in the back corner of his cage. He appeared bruised and wounded from the long struggle of attempted escape. His right hand, reaching outside from between the iron bars, looked oddly alone. His body was all but drained of life. His skin was ash grey, his eyes sunk in defeat. There was no hope. Done for, adrift in his thoughts, and his despondent spirit gone astray, he waited. He was separated from everything. There was nothing to do but wait. Vulnerable…spent…orphaned…he waited.
What’s that sound? Abbadorn could hear something…a different noise, it was far away but getting louder by the second…the ground began to rumble…the side of his cage began to shake…and then it hit. A gale-forc
e wind blew upon him, lifting him up to his feet as far as his chain would allow. It was as if he had been turned into a kite blowing out over the waters of Lake Michigan and all the while his connecting string was snagged on a rock from the shoreline. The powerful wind held him steady as he angled his face into the wind and blinked…suddenly his apprehension vanished…it felt strangely refreshing, almost…familiar.
The wind slowly diminished, allowing Abbadorn to land softly on the cage floor. “Come to me, Abbadorn.” It was a male voice, warm and reassuring. Abbadorn spun around in the direction he believed the voice was coming from. His cage…the door was wide open. His collar was open at the hinge upon the cage floor. He was free.
“I’m waiting for you, Abbadorn.” The voice came again, full of empathy and great compassion. A kindness that could only come from one being…Abbadorn rushed out of the cage and ran into the darkness toward the voice as fast as his trembling legs could carry him. “This way, Abbadorn…come to me.” He slammed into a barrier of energy and fell backward to the ground. The energy barrier was a greenish yellow from where he had crashed into it. It slowly faded away, leaving darkness again. Abbadorn stood and placed his hand upon the barrier, and it glowed again. The vibration of energy from the barrier flowed into him. He knew this energy, and it was of the Creator. He started to walk to the left with his hand upon the barrier, raising his arm up and down and watching the energy trace his every move.
Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1) Page 22