The Arrival

by J W Brazier

  What will she think … and say? he wondered.

  He looked at Ian for support. The big man smiled and motioned for Glenn to get on with it. Glenn took a deep breath, then walked over and stood near Ann.

  “I’m not sure where to begin, Ann, so please, bear with me,” Glenn said. “Your mother and I were the best of friends … and, yes, lovers. Deborah was a beautiful, free-spirited woman. She captured my heart and no woman has ever filled that void. Except for the ceremony and papers, for all intents we acted and lived like man and wife. My regret is that we never married. Our careers got in the way. Our relationship remained strong, even as she pursued her research and I cherished my career in journalism. We managed to share brief but glorious moments together, the best of times in my entire life—that is, until GEM-Tech.

  “She called me, excited over her recruitment to a secret project. She said it would change the world. After that, months turned to years—not a letter or phone call, and then out of the blue, she shows up in New York. Her work at GEM-Tech had changed her. I did whatever I could to restore the Deborah I knew and loved. Our three-month vacation in Europe was magnificent … until we returned to New York. Dr. Bruner, her former supervisor at GEM-Tech, called her. The change in her was dramatic. Dr. Bruner explained that the complex had burned to ashes after she’d left and warned her that she was in danger.”

  Glenn paused for a breath as Ann and the others waited for him to go on.

  “Fearful that I’d be implicated, Deborah said she had to leave to protect me. I told her that was nonsense, but as you’re aware, your mother could be stubborn at times.”

  Ann gave a small nod and smile.

  “Our emotional good-bye in Central Park was my last contact with Deborah, but for an occasional phone call and letter. I couldn’t convince her to return to New York, nor would she allow me come to her. Her introspective letters read like a depressed person. She rambled on, obsessed with the book of Revelation from the Bible. The package you sent me contained her last letter. From what I read, she seemed at peace … and that’s when she explained the part about … you.”

  Ann fidgeted with her hands. She looked at Dean; tears had welled up in her eyes. She faced Glenn and waited. Glenn took a deep breath and took hold of her hands; it was time to confront an issue long overdue for resolution.

  “Ann, please, you must believe me. Deborah, for whatever reasons or misplaced logic, never once told me about you, until that last letter.”

  He lowered his head, then raised his moist eyes to meet hers. Say it, Glenn. She has to know, he told himself.

  “Ann, I’m your father.”

  Joshua’s mouth dropped open. Brenda now stood by him, with Sherry beside her, both women sniffling. Ian, Steve, and Dean exchanged small smiles.

  Ann, though, was a mess of instant tears and smiles. She flung herself upon Glenn’s neck, embracing him, hugging, kissing, and crying. Joshua felt a lump in his throat. Everyone was sniffling and wiping at their eyes. Ann let go of Glenn, then smiled and backed away, wiping at her face with her fingers.

  “Well … Dad, meeting a father I’ve never seen and thought dead … over an early dinner … It isn’t what I expected when I woke up this morning. I don’t … I don’t know where to begin myself … other than we have a lot of catching up.” She paused and smiled again. “I do remember a special box of letters Mom kept stashed. I often wondered why she cried and laughed reading them at night, thinking I was asleep. I wish she’d told me about you years sooner.”

  Glenn swallowed. “Ann, you’ll have my undivided attention the rest of my days. Even if I have to share my time with that tagalong over there you seem infatuated with. Why, I don’t understand.”

  Dean perked up, smiling. “Glenn, I’m touched.”

  “Don’t push your luck, Cohen. I’m still your boss.”

  Dean dropped his silly grin. “Ah, yes, sir.”

  Ann smiled, looking at her two favorite men. “This is going to be an interesting arrangement with you two, I’ve no doubt.”

  *

  Sharp knocking at Joshua’s front door interrupted Glenn and Ann’s touching moments of discovery. Joshua looked at Brenda. She shrugged. Joshua excused himself and walked to the front door.

  “Gus, Pearlette!” Joshua said. “What a surprise. Please, come in, you two.”

  Pearlette rushed inside. “Hi, Joshua. Excuse me please.”

  She smiled and dashed past him, straight for the living room, leaving Gus alone on the porch. Gus looked at Joshua and shrugged. Joshua motioned him inside.

  “I’m as clueless as you are, Joshua,” Gus said. “I was cleaning up the kitchen when Pearlette drug me over here, but wouldn’t tell why. She said, ‘Joshua and Brenda have dinner guests and need to hear what I’ve got to say.’ So … here we are.”

  Joshua chuckled. “I know the feeling, Gus. Brenda does the same thing to me. Let’s find out what’s so important.”

  They walked in and found Pearlette standing in the middle of the living room, just starting.

  “Hello, everybody,” Pearlette said. “I’m sorry to barge in on y’all, but it’s important.”

  Then Pearlette played with her hands. Will they believe me or think I’m a nutcase? she wondered.

  She turned around and faced Joshua. “Oh … Joshua, I … I apologize, but I … A voice told me to come here right away.”

  Joshua cocked his head, clearly puzzled. Brenda, Ann, and Sherry, though, came to Pearlette’s rescue, chattering hellos and embracing her with hugs.

  “Your dogs are sure making a lot of racket since we drove up, Joshua,” Gus said. “They smell something they don’t like. They want to run and can’t.”

  Joshua turned and listened. “You’re right, Gus. I’d better check on them. Gracie is in heat. The kids penned them up, worried about other dogs bothering her.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that with your big male guarding her,” Gus said.

  Joshua walked outside onto their porch. He called the dogs by name to quiet them down, but something in the woods held their full attention and they ignored his command. He just frowned and went back inside. When he rejoined the others in the living room, Gus was already speaking.

  “We really do apologize for our surprise visit everybody, but Pearlette insisted on coming to see y’all. She has something important she has to tell you.”

  “All of us, Gus?” Joshua asked.

  Gus nodded and prodded his wife. “Pearlette, go ahead, baby. You tell them.”

  Pearlette stepped toward the fireplace, pointing a finger. “I know everyone else here, but you must be Mr. Ian Taylor.”

  Ian smiled and extended his hand. “Yes, that would be me. I’ve heard good things about you and Gus. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

  Gus sprang to his feet and came alongside Pearlette, joining in the handshakes, but Pearlette was a woman on a mission.

  “I think all y’all had better sit on down, because what I have to say is important.” She turned, singling out Ian again. “Mr. Taylor, I think you know what I’m talking about?”

  Ian instantly became the center of everyone’s attention. Joshua eyed Dean, both knowing that Ian had said the time wasn’t right for him to talk about his Palestine expedition from 1948. Their exchanged looks confirmed they were thinking the same thing: The right time has arrived.

  “Yes, Pearlette, I do,” Ian said. “But I’m interested in what you believe, so why don’t you explain.”

  Pearlette stared at him before answering, as if deciding how to answer. Why is he asking me? she wondered. He’s here for the same reasons I’m here.

  “Okay, I will explain, Mr. Taylor, but first I have to talk with Ann.” She turned toward Ann, now seated beside Glenn. “Miss Ann, before your mother died, she gave me a package. It’s for you. She said it would be safer with me and told me not to worry, that I’d know the right time to give it to you. I thought it a strange request at the time, her being so mysterious and all, but I didn
’t argue. After what happened today, I understand, at least in part anyway. Ann, that right time she mentioned is today.”

  Ian sat up. Unknown to Pearlette, she’d validated that his time had come to reveal his own secrets.

  “Let me explain,” Pearlette said. “I was cleaning up and Gus was in the kitchen when I heard a voice.”

  Her friends’ blank expressions reflected their skepticism—except for Ian, who just listened.

  “I haven’t lost my mind, y’all,” Pearlette said. “It was a voice as clear as I’m standing here.”

  Joshua cleared his throat. “Gus and Pearlette didn’t drive out here for nothing, everybody. How about we get comfortable?”

  Everyone settled into a seat, including Gus and Pearlette.

  Gus smiled and nudged his wife. “Go ahead, baby, tell them.”

  She nodded. “The day Deborah came to the restaurant with her package, she looked like a frightened rabbit. Her persistent glances out the windows, checking the parking lot, made me nervous, as if she expected trouble to drive up any minute. Well, anyway, it was closing time, so her and I had time sit down and visit. I fixed her a pot of her favorite hot tea. She talked a little about her work at GEM-Tech.” Pearlette looked at Brenda. “Brenda, you know what I mean. My friend just needed someone to talk with and unload a heap of burdens?”

  “I do, Pearlette.”

  Pearlette took a breath. Gus smiled and patted her knee.

  “Deborah rambled about Pandora’s box and an evil that she’d helped create. Y’all, hearing her talk like that scared me, and then that’s when she gave me this package.”

  She pulled a small, brown paper bag out of her purse and handed it to Ann.

  “What about the voice you heard, Pearlette?” Dean asked.

  Ann elbowed his ribs. But Pearlette smiled and continued her story.

  “Ann, I’m not sure if you know it, your mama got saved at a camp meeting not long before she passed away, praise God. Hallelujah!” Pearlette shouted with a wave of her hand in the air. “Girl, we had us some fun that night.” She surveyed the others faces. “Y’all knew that, didn’t you?”

  Ian nodded. “I knew about it, Pearlette. Deborah glowed when she visited me the next day.”

  Ann could only smile. “Pearlette, I knew something had happened, but I wasn’t sure what.”

  “Well, girl, believe me, your mama is walking the streets of gold tonight, child. Amen!”

  Dean cleared his throat. “Pearlette, can you move ahead to the part about that voice?”

  Glenn shot Dean a look that said, Wait on the woman!

  “Well,” Pearlette went on, “Deborah said that she’d seen and talked with angels. I can guess what y’all must be thinking, but I’m telling you, Deborah was in her right mind. The woman was my friend, and I would know. She said the angels told her to make the cassette tapes, but to hide this package. The angel told her that he would tell me when the time was right to give it to Ann. Deborah seemed excited that an angel would call her by name.

  “Anyway, so like I said, I was cleaning up in the kitchen when a deep voice spoke as sure as I’m setting here. ‘Pearlette, it’s time to deliver Deborah’s package.’ He told me to come to Joshua’s house. Glenn Boyd and Mr. Taylor would be here, the voice said.” She looked at Joshua and Brenda. “You two believe me, don’t you?”

  “Yes, of course we believe you, Pearlette,” Brenda said.

  “Then it’s time for Ann here to open the package,” Pearlette said.

  Ann tore into the package. A letter fell out. She picked it up and opened the envelope as if handling precious china. After a few moments, she stopped reading and looked at Glenn, then to the others.

  “Joshua, would you play this tape, please?” Ann asked.

  But Ian stood and spoke before Ann could hand Joshua her mother’s tape: “Ann, Joshua, please, wait a moment.” He faced Ann. “I already know what’s on the tape. Your mother made the recording at my house. Glenn, Deborah wanted to write you, but she couldn’t. Any communication would’ve put you in grave danger and was the reason why she vanished. Believe me when I say being unable to call, write, or visit you, it tore at her heart.”

  Glenn’s eyes filled with tears. He reached out and took his daughter’s hand.

  “Ian, what about this tape from Mom? She said in her letter that she wanted to—”

  “Tell the whole story,” Ian said with a nod. “Yes, I know, and it’s why I’m here.”

  Pearlette smiled. “The voice spoke to you too, didn’t he, Ian?”

  Ian grinned. “Yes, Miss Pearlette, he did, and has many times.”

  “I told y’all,” Pearlette said.

  Ian turned to face his audience. “The voice Pearlette and I speak about … is real, not a delusion. You may make of it what you will. I’ve kept quiet for a long time because I was told to wait, but that changed today and now your questions will be answered.”

  Dean started to ask a question, but the sharp rebuke from Ann and Glenn’s expressions changed his mind.

  “King Solomon said there’s a time and season for all things under the sun,” Ian said. “I say nothing happens by chance. We’re gathered here for a reason for this particular time.”

  Not one person in the room moved, as if breathless, awaiting Ian’s forthcoming story.

  “First, I’ll begin with my eyewitness accounting of my work in Palestine and what my friends Charles and Deborah experienced at GEM-Tech.” He took a deep breath. “The year was 1948, the beginning of the end for mankind, I believe.”

  Ian then took his audience on a fantastic archeological journey, in vivid detail, through the ancient lands of Palestine in his search of the two-thousand-year-old Jew. He left no stone unturned, answering every question in minute detail. Ian then intertwined the horrific GEM-Tech genetic experiments by his friends Dr. Charles Wagner and Deborah Holland. He brought his listeners full circle to the present.

  “GEM-Tech paid me to find the body of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ. The DNA from Judas enabled Abram Solomon and Deborah’s team to clone an exact flesh-and-blood copy of that same two-thousand-year-old Judas. So … there you have it. Once again, the spirit of the Devil himself now possesses Judas for a final showdown. The arrival of the antichrist is upon us, and with it comes the end of days.”

  *

  Joe Bob weaved through the pasture in silence, like a stealth tracker sneaking up on his prey. Stooped low, he maintained cover behind eight-hundred-pound round hay bales scattered about the pasture. Joe Bob was fifty yards away from his target when he fell to his belly and slithered the short distance toward the dogs’ kennel.

  The two dogs jumped at the fence, growling and barking, trying to escape their pen and taste-test old Joe Bob.

  Two hundred yards from the Austin home, Junior Boggs peeked around the corner of Joshua’s barn, waiting on Joe Bob to do his deed. Junior snickered, noticing the artwork on Joshua’s truck. He pulled out his knife. Like a cur dog marking his spot, he commenced to carve more obscene graffiti.

  *

  Ben listened as Farnsworth confirmed his position via the small microphone earpiece draped over his left ear.

  “Ben, I got a clear view of the back of the house.”

  “What about the dogs, George? They’re making a—”

  A rifle’s silencer spit two quick shots followed by the faint sounds of two painful whelps from the kennel. Ben had his answer.

  “Hey, Archer, this is Joe Bob. Dogs are down.”

  Ben made a mocking face at Joe Bob’s announcement. He didn’t like the man. He had a big mouth, but with a little money, Joe Bob was anyone’s to buy.

  “Ben, call it off. It’s not too late.”

  Startled once again, Ben flung himself around, pointing his rifle from left to right while searching for the voice behind him. No one was there. He could feel the faint pulse of blood throb at his temples. He stood still, keeping his movements quiet in the dense underbrush, listening
for any noise or movement around him.

  Twice now, someone had spoken to him. Whoever it was knew his name. Ben’s thoughts ran wild. His breathing strained, he cursed at the unknown voice to quell his fears.

  “Whoever you are, I’m gonna add you to the list when I get a bead on you,” Ben whispered. “Count on it.”

  His palms were sweating on his rifle stock. His nerves were starting to fray. The least little sound in the woods spooked him, but he forced himself to focus and concentrate. He repositioned himself for the best shooting solution. He was ready to complete the task.

  “Farnsworth?”

  “Yeah, Ben.”

  “Stay alert. I’ll give everyone the signal. Are the charges set?”

  “There won’t be anything left except splinters.”

  Chapter 37

  After Ian told his mesmerizing story, Joshua played Deborah Holland’s last tape. No gaps or holes in either story: a perfect match. When the tape ended, not one person in the room spoke. The couples held their loved ones close and sighed in unison, as if relieved that Deborah’s final tape had stopped.

  The room was quiet except for the soft crackle of wood burning in the fireplace. Their senses numbed, first by Ian’s disclosures and now confirmed with Deborah’s recounting of her work with Project Phoenix. The time line detailed an incredible chain of events that had but one purpose, one outcome: the arrival of one man.

  The name “Judas Iscariot” tolled like a cathedral bell in their minds. Each soul wrestled with the tape’s heart-wrenching confessions and assertions, but there was still more to come. Ian had one more extraordinary tale.

  Ann and Glenn lingered in their cherished memories of a mother and lover, respectively. Ann laced her arm in Dean’s and held him close, dabbing at tears, thinking how her mother would’ve liked to have met him.

  Glenn struggled the hardest. His head bowed, his face in his hands, he wept. He tried to hide his tears, wiping at his eyes with his hands. He missed Deborah. Hearing her voice yet again on tape tore at his heart. The tape reminded him of the price he’d paid for success and what he’d lost, forever. His thoughts questioned over and again: Why didn’t I ask her to marry me sooner?