"Holy Spirit," Jake prayed, "Please come and fill Megan with Your Holy presence. May Jesus come and make His home in her heart."
"I feel Him!" Megan pushed the covers completely off of her and she got on her knees in anticipation. Joy began to flood her spirit, soul and body, and it radiated from her beautiful face. When she could no longer contain the joy, she stood up and started jumping on the bed with her hands raised toward heaven.
Liz and Casie began jumping as well; Deanne was standing with her eyes closed and her hands lifted in worship; Gary was shouting praises and thanksgiving, and Jake was just watching, thanking God for this amazing miracle of deliverance and transformation as Megan was transferred from darkness into the Light.
Finally, Megan dropped to her knees again and she looked up into heaven and prayed her first prayer. "Jesus, Holy Spirit, whoever you are. Thank you for saving me. That's what it feels like. I didn't even know it was an option. Please forgive me for all the things I did before. I want to start over with You. Thank You for wanting me, for claiming me, and for Jake and Nicole who claim me now as family. I claim You as my God and them as my family. Thank You for Casie, Deanne, Liz and Gary who have helped me. I claim them as my friends…" she stopped and looked up at Casie wondering if she had overstepped her bounds.
Casie smiled, nodded and agreed by adding, "Yes, we claim Megan as our friend and sister in Christ," Liz, Deanne and Gary agreed.
Then Megan closed her eyes and continued. "I never had family or friends before. I never belonged before….I just was. But now I am…I don't know what, but please give me a new job, Jesus. I don't want my old one. Take it away from me, please…. Oh, You already did? That's right, I can barely remember what it was…Oh, ok, I won't think about it anymore. Well I'll be right here, so when You're ready to tell me about my new job…Oh, You want me to read the Bible? That sounds easy. Oh, that's, just the first part of it? Oh. Ok, I'll do that."
Megan looked up at Liz and asked, "Can I use your Bible? Jesus wants me to read it. He said that was just the beginning but that's where He wants me to start."
Liz reached for the Bible and handed it to her. "Of course!"
Deanne smiled and said, "It looks like Megan is already taking after Nicole's heart for God."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicole had been left in the hotel room to wait while Sam and Gus procured an invitation to the fashion show that evening, and were now shopping for the appropriate attire for the black tie affair.
When Sam and Gus got back, Sam set up his computer and equipment while Gus changed. Gus stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later and Nicole had to keep herself from whistling.
Gus headed toward the door. "On my way."
Sam said, "Just about there…" as he made a few more technical adjustments and Gus opened the door. "Testing, testing. You copy?"
"Copy that, Harry. All set."
"I've got visual. Going silent."
"Agreed."
Nicole watched the screen with Sam. They watched him step out of the room into the hall, then into the elevator, then out. He stepped up to the street and hailed a taxi.
Nicole said, "I thought Gus was going alone."
"He is," Sam replied.
"Then there's someone following him. Aren't you worried that the guy in the elevator got into the taxi with him?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you see him? He's right there beside Gus in the cab."
If Sam didn't know Nicole better, he'd think she was crazy, but considering Maria and the men in black, he decided he wanted to see for himself. "Lord, open my spiritual eyes," he prayed, then said, "Harry breaking silence…no auditory feedback necessary; just turn your head toward your right. Stop. Well I'll be! Gus, blink once in affirmation if you see someone beside you, twice for negative if you don't."
Two blinks.
Sam said, "Well buddy, we do. You're being accompanied by a very large angel dressed in a black tux like yours. He picked you up when you got into the elevator and followed you into the cab. So if anyone mentions a bodyguard, just agree with them. He'll be allowed wherever you go."
One blink.
"Going silent."
Nicole said, "Gus is wearing camera contact lenses so that we see what he sees?"
"Yep. Except that the digital images that show on our computer screen are much more powerful than the human eye can see. Gus basically looks right through the lenses and sees normally. But we have the ability to see wider areas than he does and to zoom in for a closer look.
"And what we call 'wires' for auditory sound are not really wires at all, just bugs like you had, except that they're not imbedded, they're just resting on the skin. We can hear everything he hears and more with them; and we can hear him at all times even though he can't hear us unless I push the talk button."
"That's what I'd be wearing if I have to go in?"
"Basically, only your contact lenses will be made to look just like Megan's. There will be an almost invisible insignia on hers that we'll have to copy."
"What if they use one of those devices and it detects the bugs on me? Won't they find them and know that they've been compromised?"
Sam looked at Nicole. "Yes, it's possible that they'll be detected, however, we have a new technology that they don't have yet…as far as we know…and it causes a misreading in the device so that it sees the bug more as a freckle and not as a piece of technology."
They watched and listened in silence as the cab pulled up in front of an expensive hotel and Gus paid the taxi driver, then he and his body guard walked through the front doors and into a hallway. He walked up to the doorman/guard.
"Uh oh," Sam said. "He's got a bug scanner. I guess we're about to find out how well the new tech works."
Gus addressed the guard and said, "I'm here to see Macchiato."
"Who's Macchiato?" Nicole asked.
"Shhh," Sam shushed.
The guard picked up the scanner and ran it over Gus's body. He looked at it and ran it again, then opened the door and said, "Enjoy the show Mr. Frank."
Sam answered Nicole's question. "Macchiato isn't a person; it's a code word for this new type of fashion show. It means marked or stained, which is an actual literal description for these guys and girls being displayed and then sold for the remainder of the night."
"I thought these types of things would have gone out with the internet. Isn't it illegal?" Nicole asked.
"Basically, yes, it's illegal. But our system is so whacko that very rarely is it being addressed. They'd rather go after the Christians than the perverts. And you're right in assuming that the internet stole a lot of the personal porn viewing for a time. But people get tired of the same thing and after awhile they're looking for something new. They could look at all of this in the privacy of their own home, but that's old school. Instead of private viewing, the trend is swinging back to public viewing, and the larger the audience, the better. Thus the Macchiato Fashion Show."
"How sad!" Nicole gasped.
"Are you going to get all emotional on me? Cause I don't have time for that right now. You don't have to watch you know. In fact, when the show begins, I suggest that you don't watch it," Sam said as they watched Gus walk through the door and into a plush, luxurious auditorium.
Most people were already seated and were drinking alcoholic-looking beverages. The pre-show girls on the stage had already begun dancing to loud, seductive music. As Gus stepped inside and turned to scan the room, Nicole noticed that there was a large bar in the back that still had a long line of customers waiting for their drinks or whatever drug of choice they were purchasing. The stage at the front of the auditorium divided into three runways that flowed down the center and both sides of the audience.
Nicole stood up. "You're probably right. I don't want to get in the way." She went to the bathroom and ran some cold water on her face. She knew that Gus would try not to look on the defilement that would be going on, yet he had to s
tay until the show was over in order to have a chance of speaking with Daemon under the guise of purchasing one of the models.
"God, this world is such a mess, how can you stand it?" she prayed as she held a dry towel over her eyes.
Sam had briefed her earlier on the types of things that would go on in the course of the show so that she wouldn't be shocked if she happened to see something.
This was far from a clothing fashion show. This was a full blown pornographic show, ranging from sexual innuendos to full blown sex acts on the stage, and encompassing everything from heterosexual to homosexual acts, to orgies, masturbation, torture, and even bestiality.
Nicole knew that most of these people if not all were slaves. Even if they had not been through SRA or trauma based mind control, they were hurting people who had been enslaved and forced to do unimaginable things according to the wills of perverted humanity.
Sam had told her that many of these were sold by their parents as children into the sex trade. Some were runaways who had been snatched up into this system. Some had stumbled into it through the intoxicating poison of drug addiction mixed with the desire to become a famous model or actor. And some had been purchased as sex slaves from other countries.
There was at least one common denominator among them. Regardless of how they ended up in this place, they were all hopeless; hopeless of ever receiving love; hopeless of having a normal life; hopeless of experiencing joy or peace; hopeless of escaping their life of slavery. And each of them would do whatever they had to in order to survive and to avoid the punishment of their captors. Any appearance of pleasure that was portrayed on the stage or in the company of the "john" afterward was all an act.
Nicole fell face down on the floor. "Oh Lord, how your heart must hurt. Mine feels as if it's going to break as I think of these poor people. Isn't there something that can be done for them?" She wasn't sure how long she lay there, but she got to her feet and opened the bathroom door when she heard Sam talking.
"The one in the purple tie?"
Nicole went to stand behind Sam to see what was happening.
"Affirmative," Gus replied. "It's uncertain as to whether or not he recognizes me, but he's a big wig in the sex trade industry and I took him down at a similar affair in Sydney about three years ago."
"Ok, watch his moves. You may need to abort."
"Not yet. I had a beard at that time. My cover may still be intact."
"Copy that. But on my word, you get out."
Sam had been intensely watching the screen and now he leaned back as he continued to help Gus patrol the room for possible signs of detection.
Nicole made coffee and brought a cup over to Sam. She sat on the edge of the sofa with her eyes closed. She suddenly opened them and asked, "Sam, have you seen a man with a long ponytail?"
"Yes, why?"
"I'm not sure, but in my spirit, I see someone like that and I feel that he's dangerous."
Sam hit the talk button. "Eyes on the ponytail."
They watched carefully as Gus turned his head. "There!" Nicole said. "On the far wall across the room."
Sam directed Gus, "He's watching the purple tie, and now he's looking your way. Turn slightly to the left…Ponytail is communicating via lapel. The camera above him is moving toward you. Look up slightly to the right….We have movement in the gallery above…I see two, no three from different directions heading toward the elevator. Gus, stand up, exit your row to the left and walk toward the back of the room," Sam continued to direct.
Two guards walked in the back door and looked toward the place where Gus had been sitting a moment earlier. "Looks like purple tie recognized you. Abort. I repeat abort!" Sam ordered.
"Roger."
Nicole couldn't follow the images that flashed across the screen as Gus worked his way through the crowd of people, using them as his cover. If the situation hadn't been so serious, she would have been tempted to laugh at his attempts at kindness during his escape.
"Oh, sorry." "Here's your purse Ma'am." "Excuse me sir." "Did you drop this?" "Sorry. Sorry, sorry." "Oh pardon me."
"What is he doing?" Nicole asked.
"It looks as if he's crawling on his hands and knees through the auditorium. I think he's working his way to the front. The back would have been too difficult to navigate through."
They suddenly saw that Gus had stood up and was very near the front stage. There were five guards lining the stage to keep back any of the crowd who might try to get involved with the show or the people on stage. Gus used the element of surprise as he suddenly leaped up onto the stage between two guards and ran past the frenzied actors toward the rear stage exit.
Nicole hadn't seen the angel body guard once since he had entered the hotel, but she caught a glimpse of him again as Gus charged past the dancers. He had stopped beside a young lady who had been virtually hiding behind the other actors. Nicole yelled, "STOP! Tell him to stop!"
Sam turned and looked at her. "Why?"
"Didn't you see the angel Sam?"
Sam hit the button, "Gus, stop and turn back around." As he did, Sam saw the angel standing near the young girl. "See the girl with the red negligee? Grab her and take her with you!"
"What? No time!" He started running toward the back stage exit. He was almost there and the guards were already on the stage coming towards him.
"Gus! That angel is here for the girl. You have to go back and get her!"
They watched as Gus stopped, looked back, then ran to the girl, picked her up and flew out the back door of the building. He stopped to look around and get his bearings.
Sam said, "I've got eyes on the street. Go to the right. Good. Turn into the alley. See the door standing ajar? Go in there. Good. The car will pick you up one block west of your present location and one street to the south. Can you get there?"
"Affirmative," Gus responded.
They were standing in the back room of a tobacco shop. The sign in the front window was blinking, "OPEN 24 Hours." He put the girl down and said, "I can take you to a safe place. Do you want to go? To be rescued?"
Nicole about melted as the girl who couldn't have been more than fourteen years old looked up into Gus' eyes with such a hopeless, lost puppy dog expression even through her drug induced gaze, and nodded her head, yes.
"Ok then," Gus said. "I need you to listen to me and do whatever I say. Will you do that?"
The girl reached out and put her hand in his as her answer. Gus took his jacket off and wrapped it tightly around her. Then he took her hand again and they walked through the shop without interference.
He looked out the front door of the shop to get his bearings. They were on a side road behind the hotel. No sign of trouble. Yet. They exited the building and walked as quickly as possible down one block, and stepped out into the cross walk to go one street south. He heard a shout, picked up the girl and ran. A bullet whizzed past his ear as he rounded the side of the building on the other side of the street.
Nicole breathed an audible sigh of relief as the car pulled up next to them just in time.
Gus threw the girl in and yelled, "Drive!" before he even had both feet in the car. He shut the door and pushed the girl to the floor as another bullet flew through the rear window and exited the windshield on the passenger side. "That was close. Where to Sam?"
He thought for a moment before answering. "There's a safe house on the north end of town. Do you know the place?"
"Been a long time. What's the address?"
"357 W. Oak St. 302," Sam directed. "I'll call ahead and let them know you're coming."
"Copy that," Gus confirmed.
Nicole disappointedly asked, "You mean he's not bringing her here? Shouldn't we take care of her?"
Sam turned and looked at her. "She's not a lost puppy, Nicole. Just because we found her doesn't mean we get to keep her. Get a hold of yourself. We've got other things to worry about!"
He looked at Nicole's face and realized he may have sounded harsh. "I'm sorry Bree
ze. She'll be in good hands, really she will. They'll know how to take care of her better than we could, and she's going to need a lot of care at first. Drug addiction, broken heart, broken spirit…"
"You just called me Breeze," Nicole said. "You're right Harry. I need to thank God for rescuing her and remember what we are here to do. We probably should get used to calling each other by our working names."
"And another thing we should do is get some sleep," Harry said. "You take whichever bed you want. I'm going to make a call and then watch until Gus gets back."
Nicole suddenly realized that she was exhausted. She lay down on the bed nearest the window and said, "Goodnight Harry." She never heard his reply. In fact she didn't hear anything until she woke up at 6:00 am.
She looked around and saw that Gus had returned and was asleep on the other bed. Harry was asleep in the chair. She got up and used the restroom as quietly as she could.
As she washed up, she looked in the mirror and reality suddenly hit her. She had been so preoccupied with the rescue of the girl that she had forgotten that Gus' failure to procure an interview with Daemon meant that she was going to have face the enemy.
CHAPTER 26
SISTERS
Sam's phone rang startling him awake. Nicole giggled as he looked around trying to make sense out of his surroundings. "You want me to get that Sam?" Nicole offered.
His answer was to grab the phone and look at the number calling. "Sir," he answered.
Joel said, "The package was delivered, disconnected, and the new eyes are in process."
"Plan B?" Sam asked.
"Affirmative. Go to the place of the package and wait for the next order."
"Sir? The package is in compliance?"
"Yes. Take Breeze and Gus. Go."
"Roger."
Sam put the phone down and rubbed the top of his head while he yawned. Nicole wanted to ask questions but decided she better make some coffee first. She was pleasantly surprised when Sam offered an explanation.
The Soul Redeemer: From Victim to Victory Page 34