by Justin Price
He crashed into his back and they both fell to the ground with a thud. The gun flew out of his hand and hit the ground a few feet away. He got up and reached for his gun and turned toward Noah only to be blinded by a flash of light. For a moment, all he saw was white and then he saw nothing but black.
Noah watched him as he felt around with one hand and held the gun in the other. The officer was panicking. It quickly became obvious to Noah that the man couldn’t see. He quickly side-stepped him and walked toward his family. The three of them embraced and quietly hurried off toward the main road.
When they were a safe distance away, they started talking to each other, exchanging stories about what had happened to each of them.
“Your hurt…,” said David.
“I know. I was shot, but it only skimmed the top of my shoulder. It looks like infection is setting in though. We really need to have it looked at, but the government probably has our pictures all over the place by now.”
“There is only one person I can think of that could help us and keep it confidential”, said Noah. “My old friend, Javier Fernandez. He became a gang banger before he ever got out of high school. Actually, he dropped out to join. Since then, he has turned his life around and we have reconnected online.”
“How do we get ahold of him? Does your phone still have enough battery left?”
“Yea, I turned it off when I realized that we were being chased. I didn’t want to give them another way to track us down. I will turn it on and give him a call to see if he can come pick us up.”
“That would be so awesome babe. You don’t even know,” said Joanna.
Noah turned on the phone and dialed the number for Javier. “Hello. Hey Javier. This is Noah Vasquez… oh, I am doing okay. How are you? Good…good. Hey bro, listen. My family and I are stranded up here at the southern part of the forest right off of the main road. Is there any way that you could come and pick us up sometime today? Oh brother…you are a lifesaver. I can’t thank you enough man. Great. Well my phone may be off if you try to call me again, but we will be right off of mile marker 357. If you get there and don’t see us, just honk and we will be there. Alright….thanks bud. Bye.”
“It sounds like good news daddy”, said Ryan.
“It sure is. My friend is going to help us out. How does that sound?”
“It sounds great dad. I am so glad that God brought you back to us.”
“Me too buddy…me too. I just want to say that I am so proud of you for taking over as the man of the house and helping your mom when we were separated. We couldn’t have done it without you buddy. You are becoming quite the man.”
Ryan smiled from ear to ear and hugged his dad tight. “I love you dad.”
The funeral was finally over and all of the visiting was done. Abbie could finally relax a little and deal with everything with a clear mind. It was first things first though. It was time to take a look at this bible in the basement. Her mom went upstairs to take a nap and she went downstairs to read.
The task of even making a dent in such a large book was daunting. She really didn’t know where to begin. Abbie just decided that she would have to start at the beginning for now. She began to read: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”
She continued to read for over an hour, completely intrigued with all of the stories and people in the book of Genesis. The origins of life, death, sin, evil, and redemption put a lot into perspective and gave her an understanding of what the God of her ancestors intended to do with the world. He wanted to restore the relationship that He once had with the human race.
After reading the beginning, she decided to move on to the New Testament. She read about Jesus and how he had stood against the status quo. He made so many people angry, yet helped so many to live a new life. When she got to the part where Jesus suffered and died, she felt like she had lost someone she knew personally. But wait… she continued to read… “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.”
‘He is risen?’ she thought. Even with medical advancements in the 22nd century, nobody that she knew of had ever risen from the dead after three days. It just wasn’t possible. Maybe this was what set Christianity apart from any other religion. It became very clear to her that the difference between religion and the belief in Christ was that religion was about man seeking God, but God came to seek man through Jesus. ‘How could someone give up their son to save the lives of people who are bad and don’t want anything to do with you?’ she thought.
Abbie knew that if all of this was true, that a decision had to be made. It wasn’t something that could just be ignored. After reading for six hours, she did the only thing that she could do. She prayed to a God that she had never prayed to. But, she already knew him. He had visited her in her dreams to comfort her in her most difficult time. He had been there with her, whispering in her ear as she read about him. He was drawing her heart to Him and her knees to the cold basement floor.
She never saw anyone actually pray in her life, but somehow she instinctively just started talking to God like she would a friend. As tears began to flow down her cheeks in streams, she prayed, “God, I know that you are real. I know that you have a plan for the world and everything happening now was part of your plan. Thank you for sending Jesus to take away my sin. Everything I have done wrong…all the guilt and the shame… can be wiped away. I don’t deserve your love or your forgiveness, but I accept it. I never had a father…” She began to weep as she felt the same warmth that she did in her dream. It felt like God was holding her in his arms. “…but I want you to be my Father. I want to know you and do what you want me to do with my life. I surrender my life to you.”
In that moment, she saw the face of the man her murdered Jenna come before her. She was repulsed and disgusted that this was what she was seeing in a moment like this. As soon as that thought came to her, she heard a clear voice speaking to her. “I have forgiven you daughter of your sins. Everything you have ever said or done wrong has been buried and you are made new. My child, you must forgive anyone in your life that have hurt you. Your earthly father and your attacker need to be forgiven for hurting you and causing you pain in your life. This is not for their benefit, but yours. You shall no longer attach yourself to them through your pain.”
Abbie wrestled with that for a moment, but she couldn’t shake it. She had to find the man who had nearly raped her and her best friend and then murdered her best friend in cold blood. It had to be God’s voice. She would never have even thought of doing such a thing. She also knew that she needed to find her biological father. He was a young man when he got her mother pregnant and he had ran away from it all. He had left her and never even called or checked on her in the twenty five years of her life. He went on to be a real “somebody” in the scientific world. She would eventually need to connect with her dad…Charles Billingsley…a man that she didn’t know and to her knowledge…didn’t know her.”
Shock quickly turned into an intense standoff as John and David stared at Maggie and Rakeem, the government officer that had been pursuing John.
“Put down your weapons!” shouted Rakeem as he pressed the barrel of the pistol to Maggie’s temple. “I am warning you. Either you put your guns down or you witness me blowing Maggie’s brains all of this room. Which will it be?”
“You take your gun off her head now or you will wish you hadn’t crossed my path again”, said John. His rifle was pointed directly at Rakeem’s head and he was a sure enough shot that it could be all over in a millisecond. He knew that. The gun was an extension of him. It was his constant companion for years and he had killed more enemies that any other man in any branch of the military.
There was a second officer in the corner with his gun pointed directly at David. “Put your gun down. I don’t want to kill you but I will if I have to. Do not try me.”
David stood there in silence, waiting for someone to make the first
move. He knew that Chaim, Bo, and DeShawn were all in the other side of the house and knew by now that they were in a standoff.
“John, I love you”, said Maggie. I never thought I would see you again.
“It’s okay Maggie”, said John. “We are going to walk out of here together. I promise that nothing is going to happen to you.”
“That’s a pretty big promise John”, said Rakeem. “You and this man here are responsible for killing a federal officer…my partner. You didn’t really think you guys would get away with that did you?”
John’s face got red and he said, “I am going to tell you one last time before I shoot you to let her go. You don’t need her. It’s me that you want.”
“I suggest then that you guys drop your weapons”, said Rakeem.
John looked over at David and nodded as he slowly lowered his weapon to the ground.
“What are you doing John?” asked David.
“I am doing what I have to do. It’s going to be alright. Just trust me.”
David looked at him for a moment and then looked past Rakeem to the window behind him. He sat his weapon down and kicked it out of reach. They both put their hands in the air and the other federal officer began to walk toward them. Suddenly, the officer’s head exploded and a red mist flew into the air and covered the wall behind him.
Rakeem immediately fired at David instinctively, not realizing where the shot had come from. David fell to the ground screaming in pain as a pool of blood quickly started to spread out from under him. In one swift motion, John picked up his weapon, rolled to the side, and fired at Rakeem right through the center of his head.
His head snapped back as he fell into the wall behind him. With eyes wide open, he took one breath and exhaled until there was no air left in him. Maggie ran to John and embraced him. He held her head on his shoulder so that she couldn’t look back and see the bloody mess that had been left in the room.
Meanwhile, the three men rushed in and attended to David who was fighting for every breath. “We’ve got to stop this bleeding”, Bo said.
“Come on David. You’re going to make it”, said DeShawn.
“We’ve got to get him out of here. He needs a doctor. We have what we need back at base. We’ve got to move now.”
Bo and DeShawn got on each side of David and helped him to his feet as blood seemed to pour from his rib area and his back. The bullet had entered and exited, but the damage was severe. The two men practically carried him out to the van with Chaim and John covering them and Maggie standing in the middle with her head covered.
They all jumped in the van and laid David across the back. He was wheezing and crackling with every breath as his lungs filled with blood. Chaim jumped into the driver seat and took off as fast as he could. He navigated the empty streets of Newark as they headed back toward New York in hopes of getting help for David.
He saw the wound though and knew that their window was quickly closing. There was no way that they could get the van parked, drag him three blocks and then walk a couple miles underground to base. He just tried to block out all of the commotion in the back and focus on driving. It wasn’t in his hands now.
David turned paler as the minutes passed and his breathing became much shallower. They tried to keep him awake by talking to him, but he kept slipping in and out of consciousness as he continued to lose blood. They grabbed a first aid kit and wrapped him up as tightly as they could and applied as much pressure as they could to the wound.
David opened his eyes for a moment and said, “John…I want you to remember what we talked about. Remember Him. He is your only hope. The hope of the world. I am going to see Jesus today…I see Him. I love you all. My brothers…” With those words, David O’Reilly breathed his last and passed from this life to the next. John, Maggie, Chaim, Bo, and DeShawn all sat in the van in silence as the lights of New York shown in the distance. Their leader was gone…
Charles and Nick stepped off the massive luxury plane in Damascus as the sun was shining hot in the middle of the day. They both slipped on sunglasses as they strolled down the tarmac. There was a limousine waiting on them with two World Council secret service agents standing on either side. The two scientists felt like dignitaries with the first class treatment they were being shown.
The two agents stood silently with no expression as they opened the doors for Charles and Nick to enter. They sat in the spacious limo with champagne on ice available to them. “Charles, would you like a glass?” asked Nick.
“Sure. Why not…,” said Charles.
Nick popped the cork out of the bottle and poured a glass for each of them. “I want to propose a toast”, said Nick. “To our health and prosperity and the advancement of science.” The two of them clanked their glasses together and drank to it.
They were having the time of their lives and they had not even met Assad in person yet. They could only imagine what it would be like to actually meet the man and stay at the palace. The limo was given the clearance to leave the airport and they rode away toward Assad’s palace.
Damascus had become a marvelous site after twenty years of updates. The western world influence could be seen side by side with Middle Eastern influence, which would have never happened had the Muslims still been in power. Now, they were just a fringe group who Assad was growing increasingly hostile towards.
Along the streets stood several banners with Assad’s face on them, hailing him as the king of the world. Damascus was certainly proud of her status as the world’s capital city. Not since ancient Babylon had a city been so splendid, so pristine. The car pulled into the government district, which consisted of several office buildings specifically designed for the World Council government’s operations.
At the end of the government district, on a high hill overlooking the city, stood the huge palace of Samyaza al Assad. It was breathtaking in its splendor. The sun gleamed off of the gates that were made of pure gold. The walls surrounding it were five feet thick and fifteen feet high. An invisible force field extended above the wall over one-hundred feet in the air.
Snipers stood on the roof of the palace and two armed guards were in front of the doors at all times. The place was nearly impenetrable. There would not be anyone entering without Assad and his staff knowing about it.
“Wow”, said Charles in awe. “It’s even more impressive in person.”
“You’re not kidding Chuck. It’s unbelievable.”
The front gate opened up to let them through and shut behind them as soon as they had entered. Inside the gates, they could see statues of gold strategically placed in various places in the yard. Fountains and streams of clear water ran throughout the property and they all seemed to lead through the palace itself.
The driver got out of the car and opened the door for them. Nick could actually feel his legs shaking with nervousness and excitement at what they were about to experience. He almost tripped on the first step leading up to the front door, but caught himself just before he really embarrassed himself.
‘Get it together’, he thought to himself. He didn’t need to hurt himself on Assad’s front steps. He would never live that down.
“Here we go!” said Charles excitedly.
One of the guards in front of the doors scanned his hand in front of a small box placed next to the massive red door and it slowly opened to reveal the lobby and Assad standing in the middle of it with a huge smile on his face.
Charles’ pulse began to race as they approached. Samyaza extended his hand and said, “Charles and Nick, it is such a pleasure to meet you both. Are we ready to make history?”
CHAPTER 13
Abbie looked out the window of the airplane and saw Nashville below. It was her home away from home, but she never could have imagined that she would find herself back here this soon…Not after what happened. It didn’t matter though. She had a mission to carry out from God and she was going to make sure she did it as soon as possible.
She still wondered what her reac
tion was going to be when she saw the man who murdered her best friend in front of her eyes. She tried not to think about it too much or worry about what she was going to say. She trusted the newfound presence of God to be her guide when the time came.
The first thing she needed to do was to go see Jenson Moon. He had tried to visit her in the hospital the day after the attack, but she was in no condition to see him at that time. She got off the plane and had a shuttle car rented to take her to her old apartment where her own car was still parked. After arriving there, she decided to not even go inside. There were too many memories and too many of Jenna’s belongings waiting.
She got in her car and headed toward the headquarters of Moonshine Records to see Jenson. He had left a message while she was back home that he wanted to see her about something important. She had dismissed it at first, but there was too much drawing her back to Music City.
Abbie drove into the heart of downtown Nashville, where the record company’s offices were. She parked and stepped out to take a deep breath of the cool, fresh autumn air. She had been a struggling artist for seven years with her friends, Jenna and Lexi. It seemed that not even small recording agencies wanted to sign them. She couldn’t imagine what Jenson Moon would want with her other than to offer his best regards in the wake of Jenna’s death.
She entered the office and walked through the huge lobby, which had a beautiful fountain in the middle of it and two transparent elevators moving up and down the twenty-one floors in the building. ‘Great’, she thought. ‘I have a fear of heights and closed spaces. Double whammy.’
She walked up to the desk and said, “Hi. I’m Abbie Clark. I’m here to see Mr. Moon.”
“Oh, I know exactly who you are! I am so sorry about your friend, Abbie.”
Abbie smiled politely. “Thank you. Me too.”