But there were none.
* * *
One of the chauffeurs nodded to Paul as he drove through the gate at Allendo’s. A houseman was waiting when he pulled up to the front door, now shadowed by the gold fountain, the never-ending geyser. It was all Paul could do to be cordial. His valet informed him, “Dinner remains on schedule for seven o’clock. Mr. Allendo asked that I let you know that he and General Decenti are en route and will be on time.”
They were indeed on time, and from the tone of the festivities, it was clear that only Paul had a problem with what had gone on that day. Ranold was right. America was proud of them. Tiny had invited many friends and movie-business associates, all of whom crowded around Chief Balaam, who looked like the blade of a knife in a silver gown.
For the celebration Allendo had told the caterers to pull out all the stops. They came up with a spread featuring every sort of delicacy, most colored Tiny’s trademark gold. Ranold seemed to be having the time of his life, wolfing down toast points heaped with golden and black caviar and guzzling champagne from a gold-rimmed flute. But the pièce de résistance among the hors d’oeuvres was live sushi, small golden fish that darted through a trough down the middle of the table, which the bravest caught with tiny spears. Paul was revolted.
Bia Balaam appeared at his side, spear in hand. “Caught one yet?”
“No,” Paul said. “Can’t say that I’ve tried.”
“Maybe it’s the sport you don’t care for.”
“Spearing fish in a trough doesn’t seem sporting to me.”
“You seem very scrupulous, Dr. Stepola.”
“I try to do what’s right, Agent Balaam.”
“I’m sure you do. But what counts most is the ability to do what’s necessary.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I hope you do. And please also keep in mind that I am Chief Balaam.”
* * *
At twilight the guests were distracted by the hum of an airplane. “That’s awfully close,” Tiny said. “Even small personal planes are diverted from this neighborhood.”
The sound grew louder until the buzz was directly overhead. “I’m filing a complaint,” Tiny said. “Disrupting a party . . . I don’t know who these people think they are, or who they think we are. This isn’t some barbecue in the Valley.”
A cloud suddenly masked the darkening sky. As Paul and the others watched, it seemed to disintegrate and drift to earth. Paper from the sky.
Hundreds of fluttering leaflets.
Some guests shrieked. Others caught the flyers and read their messages aloud. They cited miracles, warning of the coming judgment and offering salvation through Christ. Tiny barked and the service staff scrambled, frantically gathering leaflets.
Red-faced, Balaam demanded a phone. Ranold shook his fist at the sky, bellowing drunken threats. Paul was thrilled but afraid for Barton. To hide his feelings, Paul strolled to the fountain. The bottom was clogged with sodden flyers, and the new ones blanketing the surface churned with the force of the spray. And a plan came to him—a plan so clear and complete he believed it was from God Himself.
Paul knew what he and the underground believers of Los Angeles had to do.
33
Ranold had recovered his good mood by breakfast the next day.
“Paul,” he said, “we caught a big break last night. Our guys were able to get a bead on the plane that littered L.A. Turns out it was unmanned, which we were able to determine through heat-sensitive reconnaissance.
They asked permission to shoot it down, but by the time they had it in their sights, it had spent most of its cargo. Balaam told ’em to just follow it to its owner. The thing led them to San Pedro Bay, and with some careful positioning, we put personnel in place where they wouldn’t spook whoever was controlling it.
“Sure enough, a guy came out in a boat to get it. Only mistake our people made is they apprehended him before he got the plane back to wherever he houses it. I suspect we could have rounded up some compatriots too, but as soon as he noticed he was being followed, he stayed in the drink and made us come to him.
“Insolent kid. Cool manner, articulate. Smelled of fish. Still had a supply of brochures, and what do we find but more of this stuff in the plane and on his boat. Other brochures, Paul, more about Jesus and getting saved and the coming judgment. You want somebody to interrogate? You got him.”
“Where is he?”
“In a holding room at the armory.”
“I’ll go now.”
“He’s not going anywhere. Finish eating and relax.”
“No, I’d better get over there before Balaam decides this guy is armed and dangerous and makes him kill himself.”
Ranold stared. “The people who have been killed deserved it, Paul, starting with your friend Pass, and you know it. Chief Balaam almost single-handedly cut the legs off the subversive sects in Washington, some especially virulent ones responsible for major sabotage. Killing the cherry trees on the mall—destroying a national symbol and disrupting the city’s economy—that was as much an act of war as if they’d blown up the Statue of Liberty. It was out-and-out terrorism, and that’s the same fire we’ve been putting out here in L.A.”
“No one proved anyone killed the cherry trees, Ranold, remember?
And we still have due process in this country.”
Ranold shook his head. “I swear, Paul, I’m starting to believe you’re jealous of Balaam. All this criticism, when we’ve managed to crush two major terrorist cells, eliminate the billboard saboteur, and grab this insurrectionist last night. I didn’t get it at first, but it’s killing you that she’s running the show and doing it well. You may be a hero who’s suffered for the cause, but this is bigger than any one ego—even yours.
Balaam’s in charge because she gets results, so get a grip and do your job before second-guessing your superiors.
“Make that kid tell you where these people are headquartered. Let us root ’em out and eradicate ’em like we’re paid to.”
* * *
At the armory, Paul was taken to a wing where army guards were smoking and shooting the breeze at the entrance to a long hallway. “Tough case down there, sir,” one said, standing when Paul identified himself. “Doubt you’ll get a thing out of him.”
When he got to the interrogation room, Paul found Barton in a fetal position on the floor, still in his bulky jacket and hands cuffed behind him.
His breath came in labored rasps.
“Get this man back in the chair,” Paul said to the guard. “And uncuff him.”
“He attacked us, sir. I wouldn’t advise that.”
“Get the cuffs off him and leave us. He attacks me, I’ll shoot him dead.”
“I like your style.”
When Barton was back in the chair, hands in his lap, Paul shooed the guard out and locked the door.
“You attack those men, Barton?”
“Of course not.” One of his teeth had been knocked out, and he also bled from the nose. He had a gash above one eye, and blood oozed from the back of his head.
“Want to take off your jacket?”
He nodded and Paul helped him wriggle out of it.
“Talk to me.”
“You turned on me?” Barton said. “Ratted me out?”
“Of course not. Nobody squealed on anybody. Now keep your voice down. I got here as soon as I heard. Tell me what’s been going on.”
“Can’t you tell? They aren’t going to lock me up. They’ll kill me like they have all the others.”
“That’s a very real possibility,” Paul said. “I won’t lie to you. I’m trying to figure out how to keep you safe. What have you told them?”
“Nothing about our operation. They haven’t been nosing around there, have they?”
“Not that I know of.”
Barton pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes. “There’s going to be no escaping, sir. What have they got, a couple thousand troops lodging here?”
“That’s about right. The best I can do right now is give you better odds. I’m going to get you out of army custody and have them transport you to the NPO bureau downtown. No guarantees, but at least you won’t be their trophy prisoner. And maybe there I can help you find an opportunity to escape.”
“Sounds like a long shot.”
“Not as long as if you stay here.”
“Well, I knew the odds. Hey, Doc, how long you been a believer?”
“Not long, actually.”
“Long enough to pray for me?”
“You bet your life,” Paul said.
He put a hand on Barton’s shoulder and prayed God’s will would be done in his life. He thought of the juxtaposition of the prayer and the location and had to wonder what in the world anyone outside the door would think if they could see this.
When he left Barton, Paul called Harriet Johns and told her to expect a suspect he wanted held for questioning.
“I’ll watch for him, Paul. It will be good to get some of the action back in our ballpark. Your suspect will be here whenever you’re ready to interrogate him.”
Paul filled out the paperwork, then waited to make sure the transfer got under way. He watched the guards lead Barton, shackled at the wrists and ankles, across the parking lot and put him into a jeep, praying Barton would make it downtown in one piece.
* * *
As a cover, Paul stopped to canvass a few of the sites on the task force list before making his way, circuitously, to Sapiens Fisheries. It was late afternoon by the time he arrived. The group there held an immediate prayer meeting for Barton.
“It was such a risk,” Lois said, weeping.
“Barton’s young and bold,” Carl said. “Now we have to have faith.”
“I have an idea how to stop the killings,” Paul said, “but we’ll need a hydrologist.”
“A water expert?”
“Do you know any? Anyone here or in another group?”
Lois said a woman who worked for the county public works department belonged to an underground group off the 405 near the Stone Canyon Reservoir. “Oh, Dr. Stepola, these are a wonderful bunch, mostly older, highly educated types. I know they’d want to help.”
“Tell me about this woman.”
“She works for the Los Angeles County Water and Sewer District.”
“This is too good to be true.”
“Her name’s Grace Dean, and she’s a tough old bird.”
“You know her well enough to invite her here?”
“Now?”
“As soon as possible.”
A few minutes later Lois told Paul, “Grace isn’t sure she wants to break the law, but I reminded her she’s been doing that for more than two years since she joined that little band.”
“How’d she know I wanted her to break the law?”
“She’s not stupid, Doctor. She’ll be here within the hour, soon as she gets off work.”
* * *
Grace Dean arrived with three others from her group. She was in her midforties, diminutive, and stocky with short, black hair. She proved fast-talking and blunt, and she clearly knew her stuff.
Meeting with her and her people and Carl and Lois, Paul cut to the chase. “If I wanted to shut off the water to the whole city and bring Los Angeles and the army to its knees, how would I do that?”
Grace pursed her lips and studied the ceiling. “For almost 200 years,”
she said, “L.A. has had to get its water from far away. About 135 years ago the California Aqueduct was finally finished, and it’s been bringing a lot of our water here from almost 700 miles north in the Sacramento Valley. Of course, once it gets here, it is redirected to various parts of the county through a huge network of pipes and channels.”
“So,” Paul said, “if we wanted to cut off the supply?”
“You could make mischief with the aqueduct, but what’re you going to do with all that water? It has to go somewhere. You redirect it, you’re going to flood somewhere else.”
“Where would the best place to flood be, without hurting other people?”
“Oh, there are places,” Grace said, “many between here and there. But you’d have to do it in one of the places that’s not carefully guarded, which has been an issue ever since terrorists got the idea of poisoning the water supply. But you know, water is such a precious commodity that the city, the county, the whole Sunterra region, and the federal government would train all its resources on the problem. You’ve seen what they’re doing.
How long do you think you could get away with vandalizing the water supply? Would you really bring L.A. to its knees, or would you just be a one- or two-day nuisance?”
“I don’t know,” Paul said. “You’re the expert.”
“Seems to me,” she said, “you’d be better off to have God do something.”
“Sometimes I wonder if God has abandoned us,” a man said. “Is His hand still on us? Have we gone too far ahead of Him and sped past His reach of blessing? I don’t blame all these deaths on Him, of course, but if He was still with us, would He allow His people to be cut down like vermin?”
Carl raised a hand. “I make no apologies for being a man of the Word.” He leafed through a well-worn Bible. “Listen to this from Isaiah fifty and verse two. God is speaking. He says, ‘Was I too weak to save you? Is that why the house is silent and empty when I come home? Is it because I have no power to rescue? No, that is not the reason! For I can speak to the sea and make it dry! I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.’
“And then in verses seven and eight the prophet says, ‘Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be dismayed. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do His will. And I know that I will triumph. He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare oppose me now?
Where are my enemies? Let them appear!’
“And in the next chapter, verses twelve through sixteen, God Himself makes this promise: ‘I, even I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator, the one who put the stars in the sky and established the earth. Will you remain in constant dread of human oppression? Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies from morning till night? Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!’”
Paul was thrilled and could see on the faces and in the body language of the others that they were coming to life.
“Now hear this, my Christian brothers and sisters of Los Angeles. ‘For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
My name is the Lord Almighty. And I have put My words in your mouth and hidden you safely within My hand. I set all the stars in space and established the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, “You are Mine!”‘”
Carl sat only briefly, then pitched forward to his knees and lay prostrate on the floor. Suddenly others were doing the same, and Paul found himself weeping. It was as if God Himself had spoken aloud, and Paul did not feel worthy to stand or sit.
“You are God,” Carl prayed. “We worship You.”
And from the others came murmurings of assent. “Yes, Lord. Thank You, God. We believe in You. We trust You, Lord. Help us remember You.”
Paul haltingly and fearfully approached God aloud, asking for a miracle. “God,” he said, “we’re asking that You shut the mouths of the atheists, that You reclaim ground won by our enemies. We pray You will act in such a powerful and supernatural way that even the armies of the United Seven States will know it’s You and that they will cower. God, we need You to do something.”
As others prayed, Paul felt closer to God than he ever had. He silently thanked Him for the miracle of his own sight and asked God to show him what he was to do next. He couldn’t long continue to work both sides of the street. How could he do the most, make a real impact, best serve the cause before he was found out and executed for treason?
Paul lay there, waiting on God, praying for an answer, some nudge, some leading, some word. He knew that merely railing against his father-in-law and Balaam would serve little more than to see him found out and exposed. He wanted to be through with driving throughout Los Angeles, finding and meeting fellow believers, only to share in their frustration and dismay as their colleagues were attacked and killed by the enemy.
Paul was moved to hear the others praying, and he was suddenly overwhelmed with a view of what God could do. It was as if he had a leading from the Lord Himself to mobilize the believers from all the seven states—and especially Sunterra, specifically in greater Los Angeles. He heard no audible voice, but it seemed he could sense the mind of God, that if all the underground Christians would unite as one and devote themselves wholly to God, He would act on their behalf.
Paul felt his whole purpose coming into focus. That was why he was here. There was no more wondering, trying to decide how best to serve while being a clandestine agent. His job was to motivate every underground believer he could find to pray and plead with God to show Himself to the enemy.
Trembling, all doubt escaping him, Paul stood. He didn’t know whether to announce this or keep it to himself. He had an overpowering feeling that believers all over the country must pray. God could not—
would not—ignore the fervent prayers of righteous people.
“I want to get all the underground Christians to agree in prayer that God must do something in Los Angeles to stop this killing,” Paul said. “I believe we are to be specific. Let’s all pray that God will stop the flow of water to Los Angeles. Then we have to somehow communicate to the leadership that it is God who did it and that He can do the same all over the country. The killing of believers must stop, and they must be given the freedom to spread the truth of the Bible. I’ll call Chicago and have my contact there get in touch with as many underground centers as he can.
Then let’s expect a miracle.”
34
It was almost seven. Grace and her companions walked out to their car with Paul, who had offered to pick up dinner for the Sapiens group. The mood in the basement room was so buoyant that none wanted to leave, and there was a lot to discuss.
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