Chapter Twenty-four
The explosion rocked the floor of Wander’s compartment. Digs showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, he raised his fists to the ceiling, his robe falling back to expose the dragon tattoo swirling down his right arm. His neck so taut the muscles stood out like cords, he shouted, “Yes!”
“I hate this waiting,” Wander said. Somehow the tension left him quieter, more focused, counting the seconds like endless days.
“Your plan is a good one. You’re sure they know which chamber?”
“I gave them the clearest instructions I could.”
“Then they’ll be here any moment.”
But they weren’t. Instead, there was only silence. Alarms sounded in the distance, then halted, then started back. Nothing else. The waiting stretched out so long Wander felt his nerves were snapping, one by one, threads as taut as the chamber’s atmosphere, splitting under the unending strain, leaving him tottering on the brink of—
Through the heavy portal there came the sudden chinking of metal on stone. Wander leapt up and shouted in a voice not his own, “Open!”
Chief Petty Officer Tucker stormed in, eyes blazing, weapon at the ready. “Time to fly, lad.”
Another trooper fitted through the portal, spotted Digs, and raised his weapon. “Wait!” Wander shouted. “He’s a friend!”
Tucker eyed the stranger and demanded, “He’s coming?”
“Yes,” Wander and Digs said together.
“Let’s be off, then.”
Together they raced down the corridor, around one bend after another, until the transport came into view.
The portal opened, spilling out a brown-haired figure in a gray spacesuit who came racing over, her arms outstretched and hair streaming, eyes wide and filled to overflowing. She flew into Wander’s embrace, holding him with a force that promised never to let him go, saying things to his ear that he could not hear for the pounding of his own heart. A heart that shimmered with the fullness of hope and promise.
Tucker let the reunion continue for a brief moment, then said gruffly, “Into the transport. Hurry, now. We’re not out of this yet.”
The transport lifted and started before the last trooper was settled, heading back to the platform chamber. The chamber’s door lay shattered upon the corridor floor. They entered the chamber, hovered above the floor, and Tucker said, “Everybody fixed down tight? Take a good grip.” He then said into the microphone, “All right, Rick. Easy does it.”
For a moment there was nothing, then the floor below them began to glow. Stronger and stronger, until there was a rending tremor, which rose until the very air seemed to shake.
Then the Blade’s energy lance came into view, prodding a hole that grew and grew, and with it came a shrieking wind, powering through the chamber’s destroyed portal, pouring air from all the corridors, a hurricane of air and dust and moisture. It streamed through the hole where the Blade had been, pulling the transport down through the ceiling and into the mind-amp chamber.
“You’re sure about what you told us,” Tucker demanded, “all the monitors’ private chambers have airtight doors?”
“It’s a fact known by most,” Digs confirmed. “When I first arrived, they still held regular safety drills, everyone going into the nearest chamber and sealing it down. But then the new diplomat arrived, and all that was stopped. The alarms sounded when you attacked. Even the ones who never practiced the drill will know to go into their chambers. There is emergency food and water in each. They will be safe.”
A voice over the intercom said, “Shall I blast these amps?”
“No,” Wander ordered. “It could crack the planet in half.”
Tucker looked doubtful. “It would save us all a lot of worry in the future, lad.”
“It’s not necessary,” Wander assured him, both his hands captured by Consuela’s. “I’ve found a way to protect us.”
“Eh? How’s that?”
Wander shared a look of love and joy with Consuela, and replied, “I’ve learned the secret behind Citadel’s mystery.”
Epilogue
Rick stopped in front of the carnival entrance and said, “I sure hope I know what I’m doing.”
It was here that their adventure had begun. An unexpected shift to new challenges came through the same roller coaster which glittered and soared just up ahead. Consuela looked up at him, her eyes shining. “You have prayed about this, haven’t you?”
“All last night and most of today,” Rick confirmed.
“And have you been given a sense of direction?”
“So clear and so strong,” Rick hesitated, then finished, “I feel as though God has been waiting for me to ask the right question.”
Daniel moved up to stand alongside Consuela. He said for them both, “Then you should do as you feel called.”
“I will,” Rick agreed. He looked upward at the stars, their light white and beckoning against the dark sky. “I just wish I could be sure I’m doing the right thing.”
“Sometimes God’s promise of blessings to come must be enough.” Daniel said. “He urges us to set out upon His chosen road, accepting that there will be times when only He is able to see the way ahead.”
Consuela looked from one face to the next, feeling sad and excited and happy and confused all at once. The carnival’s jangling noise seemed held at bay by the same calm that reached through the unsettled storm and granted peace to her heart. And that defined her own path.
As though reading her thoughts, Daniel said, “God promises change. Just as He said to Abraham, He tells us, I will bless you. And in doing so, He opens up a future. A future of hope, of change, of renewal. Like Abraham, though, you may be called to a land whose name you don’t even know. And if that happens, your trust must grow to meet the challenge.”
Consuela shivered, half in anticipation, half in fear, and clutched her bundle tighter.
“You must realize,” Daniel went on, “that in fully accepting the Lord as your God, you accept the future He has chosen for you.”
“That is how I feel,” Rick said solemnly.
“Me too,” Consuela agreed.
Daniel turned solemn eyes to Consuela. “Then go. We will miss you. But our prayers will be with you always.”
Rick offered her as much of a smile as the sadness in his eyes would permit. “It was great seeing you and your mom together like that.”
“And to see her so well,” Consuela agreed. The words brought another bloom of sadness and longing, and for a moment she faltered.
As though reading Consuela’s mind, Daniel patted her arm and assured her, “Your mother has blessed your decision. She is well, and she is praying for you. That is a gift and a sign both, or at least it seems that way to me.”
“Thank you.” Consuela hugged them close, first Daniel and then Rick, trying to seal their presence into her heart for all time.
Together they turned and entered the carnival. The crowds and music and noise and lights flitted about them, leaving them untouched. The stillness and peace moved with them, granting the action and the moment a sense of rightness beyond thought, beyond words.
They stopped before the roller coaster. As Rick moved over to buy the tickets, Daniel hugged her a second time and said, “I will pray for you, each and every day.”
Rick returned, and together they mounted the platform, handing the man four tickets so they all could go forward. But it was only Consuela who seated herself. Rick held her parcel until she was settled, then handed it to her before moving back to join Daniel. He called over, “Do you think I can ever go back to that other world?”
“If it is God’s will,” Consuela replied, as sure of that as she was of anything in her entire life.
The roller coaster started forward with a jerk. Consuela pulled the Bible from her parcel and wrapped her arms tightly around it, pressing it to her chest. As the roller coaster gained speed, she turned back and called out a single word to the two men who stood and waved her onward.
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“Friends!”
DAVIS BUNN, a professional novelist for over twenty years, is the author of numerous national bestsellers with sales totaling more than six million copies. His work has been published in sixteen languages, and his critical acclaim includes three Christy Awards for excellence in fiction. Formerly an international business executive working in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Bunn is now a lecturer in creative writing and Writer in Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University. He and his wife, Isabella, divide their time between the English countryside and the coast of Florida.
Books by Davis Bunn
The Book of Hours
The Great Divide
Winner Take All
The Lazarus Trap
Elixir
Imposter
Lion of Babylon
Rare Earth
All Through the Night
My Soul to Keep
ACTS OF FAITH*
The Centurion’s Wife • The Hidden Flame
The Damascus Way
SONG OF ACADIA*
The Meeting Place • The Sacred Shore
The Birthright • The Distant Beacon
The Beloved Land
HEIRS OF ACADIA†
The Solitary Envoy • The Innocent Libertine
The Noble Fugitive • The Night Angel
Falconer’s Quest
*with Janette Oke †with Isabella Bunn
The Dream Voyagers Page 37