by R. D. Brady
“Will do,” Jordan said before heading back.
By now, Jake had Patrick back on the screen. “You said you might know why the altar is missing,” Jake was saying.
Laney, Jake, and Maddox crowded around the tablet. Patrick nodded. “I read through the church’s sermons online. The pastor focuses on righteousness. His people of course being the righteous, doing God’s will. Lately, though, all of his sermons are coming from Exodus.”
“Right. The ten plagues, we know that,” Laney said.
“Yes. But when I put together his sermons on the plagues, the name of his church, and the missing kids…” Patrick swallowed. “I hope I’m wrong.”
Laney’s heart began to beat faster. He was never wrong on these things.
“Go ahead, Patrick,” Jake said.
Laney could feel Maddox tense next to her.
“I think this is his warped interpretation of Passover.”
“Passover? The Jewish holiday? That’s related to the ten plagues?” Maddox asked.
“Passover is a commemoration of the Jews’ liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. But that liberation was accomplished thanks to God, who inflicted the ten plagues on the Egyptians. The term ‘Passover’ comes from the final plague, when God slaughtered the firstborns of the Egyptians, but ‘passed over’ the homes of the Jews.”
“And how does this relate to this church?” Jake asked.
“In the first Passover, Jews killed the fatted calf and put its blood upon their doors, to signify that God should pass over that home. When God came to smite the firstborns of the wicked, he left untouched the children of those with the mark of the fatted calf. And thus the Jews were spared,” Patrick said, his eyes boring into Laney.
Laney felt the shock roll over her when she realized where her uncle was going. “You don’t think…?” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Patrick nodded. “When the ten plagues besieged Egypt, the righteous were able to save themselves from God’s wrath by the sacrifice of a lamb. The murder of an innocent.”
Laney pictured the faces of all the children who were missing, bile rising in her throat.
“The children. You think they’re the sacrifice,” Jake said quietly.
Patrick nodded. “Yes. He’s focused on sacrificing. In rituals, blood is often used to sanctify. And by using the children, there’s the added bonus of ridding the world of abominations.”
The logic was twisted. It was sick and perverse. And Laney had the horrible feeling that it was right.
Another thought came to her then, one which shook her to her core. Her head jolted up and she stared at her uncle, hoping she was remembering it wrong. “Uncle Patrick, what day does Passover occur on?”
He nodded at her, his face filled with concern. “It begins on the fifteenth. That’s the day the Israelites were supposed to kill the fatted calf.”
Laney felt the world tilt. And today is the fourteenth. “We have only one day left to save them.”
CHAPTER 67
Laney strode toward the police van in the parking lot. She nodded at the officers standing next to it. “I need to speak with Beatrice Grayston.”
They nodded and pulled Beatrice out of the back.
Beatrice glowered at Laney, her lips clamped shut.
“Where’s your husband?” Laney asked.
No response.
“Where’d they take the kids?” Laney asked.
Beatrice’s eyes were bright, her face red. She spat out each word at Laney. “‘The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness’.”
The venom in the woman’s voice was so strong that Laney was tempted to take a step back. How was she going to break through this woman’s shield of righteousness? All right, what do I know? She’s a committed follower, a wife. She thought about the picture on the desk. Maybe…
“You’re a mother. What if it were your son who was in danger?”
Beatrice snorted, all but rolling her eyes at Laney. “I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.”
Laney narrowed her eyes. What the hell? She ignored the woman’s ranting. “You must be proud of your son. I hear he’s a big part of the ministry.”
Beatrice’s jaw tightened.
Laney pushed on. “He looks just like you. It would be a shame if you never saw him again.”
Beatrice laughed.
Laney looked at Jake, who had walked up next to her. She didn’t understand what was going on here. There’d been plenty of pictures in the office, but only that one of the son. And it was obviously years old. And Beatrice’s desk itself had absolutely no pictures of the son, although she did have pictures of herself and the reverend. Was she just not the motherly type?
Jake tugged on her arm. Laney stood for a moment, looking at the woman and thinking of Henry’s description of Linda. Apparently, men really do marry someone just like their mother.
Laney nodded back at one of the officers. “Put her back.”
The officer grabbed Beatrice by the arm, but Beatrice resisted; there was one last verse she needed to spit out. “‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.’”
Laney just shook her head.
“‘Let every oppressor perish from the face of the earth; Let every evil work be destroyed’!” Beatrice yelled as the officers manhandled her back into the car.
Laney walked away with Jake. What the hell was all that?
She and Jake stopped over by the Jeep. Jake looked at Laney. “Did you recognize the quotes?”
Laney nodded. “The first was Proverbs. The third was Revelations, and I think the second was Ezekiel, which is kind of ironic.”
“Ironic? How?” Jake asked.
“Ezekiel had visions of the future, like Cayce. In fact, some people even argue that Cayce was Ezekiel in a past life.”
Jake shook his head. “All right, well, let’s table that tangent for a moment. That last quote, though, where was it from?”
“I think it was the Book of Enoch.”
“The book about the angels falling.”
“Yes.” Laney looked over to the SUV Beatrice had been loaded into. Was she just ranting, or was there something in those passages?
“I’m not the biblical scholar you are, but is there anyway she actually just told us where the kids are?”
Laney’s hope began to build. “What do you mean?”
“Well, maybe she’s suggesting that the kids are in the spot where the angels fell,” Jake said.
Laney shook her head, the hope ebbing. “That can’t be right.”
“Why? Does anybody know where the angels first fell?”
“Mount Hermon,” Laney said absentmindedly. “It’s also called the Gates of Hell.”
Jake gave a low whistle. “Hermon’s caught between Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. It’s a magnet for violence.”
“I know.” Laney wondered again if perhaps that was more than a coincidence. There must be a reason why the Fallen chose that particular spot.
She pictured the tall mountain peak. It had always been shrouded in difficulties. Millennia ago, a pagan city had sat at its base at a time when all the communities around had turned to one god.
In fact, it was as if the place itself was always luring people to their baser, most narcissistic selves. Jesus himself had been to the foot of the mount at Caesarea Philippi, and had called upon Peter to build his church on this rock—and to defy evil.
There was also something else about Hermon, something on the edges of her mind. She pulled out her phone and called her uncle, wishing he were here in person. He’d probably have a better angle on this than anyone.
Patrick picked up quickly. “Is everything all right?�
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“Maybe,” Laney said, putting the phone on speaker. “Mount Hermon was mentioned.” She quickly recapped what she had told Jake and what Beatrice had said. “But there’s something else about Mount Hermon, isn’t there?”
“Hermon—it means ‘Forbidden Place.’ And for all of history that’s what it’s been. People have given the mount itself a wide berth, building only around its base. There’s supposed to be a cave within it that leads to the underworld. At the foot of the mountain was a town named Panias, where pagans worshipped the god Pan, in contrast to all the surrounding religious towns at the time.”
Laney nodded. “And Jesus gave his famous speech about Peter building his church at its base.”
“Yes,” Patrick said. “There’s debate about whether Jesus was directing Peter to build it right there, or if it was a more general command.”
“Why would Jesus tell him to build it right there?” Jake asked.
“Well, it was an interesting speech,” Patrick said. “You see, Jesus seemed to be calling his followers to arms. Telling them they needed to battle evil.”
“You mean physically battle?” Laney asked.
“If Mount Hermon was, or I suppose is, a gateway to Hell,” Patrick said, “then Jesus’s speech takes on a different meaning, doesn’t it? He seems to be calling on the church to be a vanguard against a physical evil.”
Laney swallowed. Well, that’s slightly terrifying. “Okay. Anything else?”
Patrick was silent for a moment. “There is one more thing.” He paused. “Mount Hermon is rumored to be the location where the anti-Christ will be born.”
Laney turned to Jake, her eyes going wide. She’d forgotten about that part.
Jake shook his head. “But Hermon can’t be part of all this. I can’t imagine Nathaniel would be able to sneak over a dozen kids into that area. It’s a perpetual war zone.”
Laney nodded wearily. “Plus, he’s never been out of the country, at least that we know of. I can’t see his first trip being this one. It doesn’t feel right.”
“And there’s no indication that he has any connections over there,” Jake said. “And he’d need connections in order to do what he plans. Plus, if this is all supposed to go down tomorrow, he couldn’t make it in time.”
“I agree,” Patrick said. “One of the other themes inherent in all of Nathaniel’s sermons is patriotism. I think wherever this is going to happen, it’s in the States.”
“So what did Beatrice mean?” Laney asked, frustration rolling over her. “Was it nothing? Because it seemed like she was gloating.”
“I don’t know, Laney,” Patrick said. “Because if she was referring to where the angels fell, it wasn’t in the United States. Not even close.”
“Not even close,” Laney echoed. Which is exactly how she felt about the likelihood of them finding the kids in time.
Not even close.
CHAPTER 68
Chicago, Illinois
Henry closed the phone. Damn it. They’d come up empty at the church.
He’d stepped outside to take Laney’s call, leaving Jen with Northgram. The man hadn’t shared any more relevant details, just babbled on about the hardships of having to deal with a difficult first wife.
He shook his head. The man was a jerk, but Henry didn’t think he was holding back. They just had to find the right questions. He could hear Jen’s voice as he approached the back door. Maybe Jen had found the right ones.
As Henry stepped back into the room, his thoughts were still on Laney’s ideas of the children as the sacrifice. The logic felt right; now all they needed was a location.
Jen’s eyes were narrowed and she stood a few feet from Northgram. “You grimaced.”
Northgram squirmed farther back in his chair, looking away from Jen. “No, I didn’t.”
Jen stalked across the room. “Yes, you did. Why?”
“It’s nothing, nothing.” He turned to Henry, his eyes pleading.
“I’d suggest you tell her,” Henry said dryly.
Jen reached for the front of Northgram’s shirt.
Northgram tried to bat her hand away, unsuccessfully. “Okay, okay. I mean—I didn’t lie. Linda never belonged to a church. She used to take him camping at the Grand Canyon. She called it ‘their church.’”
Henry waved him on. “And?”
“And I thought that, being he seemed to like the Grand Canyon, it could be something we could do to get closer.”
“Go camping?” Henry asked. Northgram was wearing a Cartier watch, creased khakis, a new pink Polo shirt, and loafers minus the socks. The man definitely did not look like the roughing it type.
“Oh, God, of course not.” Northgram curled his upper lip in distaste. He looked like he’d eaten a lemon. “But there were these finds from the Grand Canyon at the Smithsonian.”
The Smithsonian. Laney had mentioned something about the Smithsonian. “One of the exhibits?” Henry asked, straightening.
“No. I, um, arranged for a tour behind the scenes.”
“What find?” Jen asked.
“Well, there was this cave in the Grand Canyon. It was found some time around 1900. Had these mummies, and other artifacts. “ Northgram shrugged, looking away. “I thought he’d like it.” He went silent, not making eye contact with either of them.
“He didn’t?” Henry prodded.
Jen was less diplomatic. “For God’s sake, get to the point!”
Northgram threw up his hands. “I don’t know! Nathaniel freaked out. And when we came home, Linda freaked out. That’s when she left.”
“But why?” Henry asked.
“There was a room in the cave. And each shelf had the mummified remains of giants.”
Abominations, Henry thought, remembering Linda’s cries.
“Were the finds dated?” Jen asked.
Northgram nodded. “Yes. But the dates had to be wrong.”
“Why?” Henry asked.
“They dated to before the last Ice Age.”
Jen glanced quickly at Henry and then back at Northgram. “But why did that freak out your wife?”
“She said it was the ultimate defilement of God’s church.”
“So if Nathaniel was looking to sanctify ground…” Jen said slowly.
Henry nodded slowly. “He might start there.”
CHAPTER 69
Sacramento, California
There has to be something we can do. Laney paced in the hangar of the private airport outside Sacramento, California. They didn’t know where Nathaniel had gone, but with that many children to transport, it had to be somewhere closer to here than Baltimore.
Laney ran her hands through her hair, her nerves on a razor’s edge. Fear was clawing its way up her throat and she was having trouble thinking around it. What if Nathaniel was heading out of the country? Or to the other side of it? They only had twenty-four hours. What if she was pushing everyone in the wrong direction?
And every time she tried to calm and focus her mind, she pictured Max being sacrificed on a bone altar.
Laney reached the end of the hangar and turned to head back to the other side. The door opened and Jake stepped in. He had been helping with the interrogation of the women from the ministry.
Laney hurried over to him. “Anything?”
Jake shook his head. “No. The women say they don’t know where the rest of the group has taken the kids.”
“They have to know,” Laney said.
“Actually, I don’t think they do. Apparently, the group was very patriarchal. Women weren’t part of the decision-making. They were just expected to follow the men’s dictates. I don’t think they know where the kids were taken.”
“But Beatrice Grayston. She knows.”
Jake nodded. “I agree. But she’s not talking. In fact, the only things she’s said so far are what I’m guessing are more passages from the Bible.”
“Like what?”
“‘He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the right
eous are both alike an abomination to the Lord,’ or something like that.”
Laney ran her hands through her hair. More abomination quotes. But what did it mean? Was it just her equivalent of name and serial number? “It’s Old Testament, I think Proverbs again. But I don’t know how it relates. Maybe she’s just spewing out her greatest hits of Bible verses.”
“Her version of a soldier’s name and serial number.”
Laney gave a little laugh. “Yeah, that’s just what I was just thinking.”
She turned, needing to walk more, but Jake caught her before she could and pulled her into his arms. She stiffened, unable to enjoy the embrace, too stressed to think straight.
“Laney, look at me.”
She looked up into the face she knew so well.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“How can you say that? We have less than a day to find those kids, and we have no clue. Nothing. They’ve disappeared.”
“Okay. So let’s go over what we do know.”
Laney looked at Jake, thinking he was crazy. He couldn’t expect her to focus right now, not with… She took a breath. No. She needed to focus. She didn’t have the luxury of letting fear take over. She owed the kids and Max her best. And right now, they weren’t getting it.
Laney swallowed it all down. All the fear, the frustration, the anger. She shoved it into a corner of her mind, promising herself she’d deal with all those emotions later. Right now, she needed to help the kids. She couldn’t let any emotions get in the way of that.
She headed back to the table they’d set up in a corner of the hangar, with all the papers and information they had. She blew out a breath, trying to exhale all her fear and anxiety. “Okay. Nathaniel thinks the kids are abominations who need to be sacrificed. We know they were alive a few hours ago when he moved them. And the kids are most likely safe until tomorrow.”
“Good. And we know Nathaniel’s mom is a paranoid schizophrenic.”
“Which means there’s an eight percent chance that he is, too.” Laney felt herself calm, the logic making her feel more in control.