"Theo, don't start this God business again. You know it only gets Jenny upset. If the doctors can't help her, how can he?' Johnny answered, 'Friend, is anything too hard for God?" "First of all, she replied, I'm not your friend. And Jenny can certainly do all right without the likes of you. She's given away a fortune to the church and she's had a stadium full of folks to pray for her and nothing has happened yet.' 'Today is her day.' Johnny said. 'Listen, I'm warning you. You get out of here now or I'm calling the police.' Johnny stood and looked at her. She made a motion for the telephone. Earl stood up and stopped her. 'Listen Mr. Angel, he said, we don't want any trouble. It's just we've had our fill of religious people who promise one thing and produce another. So, please, just leave.' 'Yeah, Jenny's been through enough.' Penny added.
Jenny began to thrash about and make noises. She reached for her mother, and when Joyce leaned over, Jenny whispered into her ear, 'I want him to pray for me!" 'But Jenny,. . .' her mom protested. Jenny interrupted, 'Mom, please!' 'Oh, all right. If you insist. She want's him to pray for her.' she said while looking back at the others. They looked angrily at Johnny. Theo was smiling as though he had won a major victory. 'Well, go ahead." Joyce snapped. Johnny said, 'I'd like for you and everyone to leave the room.' 'Hey buster, if you think I'm leaving you in here alone with my daughter after what she's been through, you're nuts," Joyce said. 'What about me?" Theo asked. 'Let me stay." Johnny looked at the sincerity in his eyes and said, 'all right, he can stay.' Reluctantly, the others filed out of the room.
Theo stood in the corner of the room out of Johnny's way. Johnny walked over to her and took her hand. She began to cry as she felt the warmth and radiance of God as he held her hand. 'Don't cry daughter, today healing has come unto you. Do you believe God is able to heal your body?' he asked. Too overcome to speak, she nodded yes. 'Then weep no more daughter. The Lord says in this day, you will be rewarded for you years of faithfulness toward him.'
He took his other hand and placed it on her forehead as he prayed. 'Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that above all things, you desire us to prosper and enjoy good health. And as you have instructed me, I lay hands on the sick and they do recover because your word says so.' He looked at Jenny and continued, 'silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, and according to your faith, I command your body to be whole from the top of your head to the soles of your feet in the name of Jesus."
She blinked her eyes a few times. "Do you see anything?" She shook her head. "You can talk, he said, your jaw is healed.' She slowly opened her mouth. The pain was gone. She tried to talk and a word tumbled freely from her mouth. 'I see things in a blur.' she said excitedly. 'All right, lay back and relax.' There was a small bottle of baby oil on her night stand. He took it and lifted it over his head, and once again, giving thanks to the Father, he blessed the oil. Afterwards, he squirted the entire contents in Jenny's eyes. It ran across her face and onto the pillow where it was quickly absorbed. 'Okay, sit up, blink your eyes until they are clear and tell me what you see.' She did as she was told. When she stopped blinking, she opened her eyes. Her mouth swung open. For a moment, Theo thought that her jaw had become unhinged again. Her eyes were wide and focused. 'Uncle Theo?" she asked while looking at Theo. He stood there quivering with joy. Tears trickled down his face. 'Yes. It's me, Theo.' he said. She threw back the covers leaped out of bed
and ran over and embraced Theo. They were crying and laughing at the same time. They stopped momentarily and Theo introduced her to Johnny.
"Jenny, this is Johnny Angel, Mr. Angel, meet my niece Jenny." She ran over to him. He extended his hand, but, she vaulted into his arms, kissed him, and thanked him for her miracle. "Oh no, don't thank me. I didn't do anything. I'm just an instrument of the Lord. That's who you should thank." So she did. She began to thank and praise God and so did Johnny.
Theo walked over to them and knelt at Johnny's feet and asked, 'Sir, please, tell me; what must I do to be saved?" Johnny lifted him up and looked him in the eyes. 'If you will confess with your mouth, and believe in your heart, that Jesus Christ is the son of God, you will be saved.' 'Do you believe that?' 'Yes!" Theo said. 'Then repeat after me.' Johnny began, and Theo repeated everything. 'Father, I thank you for caring for me all the days of my life and I stand before you this day to acknowledge that I believe in Jesus Christ and that He died and went to hell for me so that I might live eternally with you. I repent of all my sins and ask your forgiveness. I invite you into my life, and I accept and recognize you as my Savior, Lord, and King. And now Father, according to your word, I am saved.'
He leaped for joy and began thanking and praising the Lord, all of a sudden, seemingly from thin air, the Spirit of the Lord rushed in and they all began speaking in unknown tongues. Earl, Joyce, and Penny heard all of the commotion and barged in. "What the . .. . !' Earl stopped in mid sentence, and was slain by the spirit at the same time. When Joyce saw that Jenny was whole, she began to say, "there is a God, there is a God, over and over and over. She was filled with the spirit within minutes. And Penny likewise, was overcome by the goodness of the Lord, and she too surrendered all and was filled with the Spirit of God. Everyone was hugging and thanking God and Johnny. After a while, Johnny asked Jenny, 'What happened to you.' She said, 'I was blind at birth due to an . . . ' "No not that.' he said. "I talking about now, what happened to you that you're in the hospital now?" 'I was attacked by two men.' she said. 'Did you get their names?" 'Yeah, one was named Terron, and the other, Vice; they had mentioned something about me being a sacrifice of some kind. Since they couldn't use me, Uncle Theo told me that they used my dog, Blondie.'
'BA-El." Johnny whispered. 'What?' Joyce asked. 'Oh, nothing, Johnny said. Listen I must be going. It was nice meeting all of you, I'll be in touch. Goodbye.' He waved as he stepped into the hall.
He went to the telephone and made a call and within ten minutes, five of his guardian angels, from the business were there. He told them what was going on and gave them Marla's room number with instructions not to let anyone near her without proper authorization. He knew if BA-El found out that she was alive, he'd try to kill her because she was the only one who could identify him. "BA-El must be stopped, he thought, and I'm the only one who can stop him."
Chapter 18
'Skrr. Skrr. Skrrrr.' The tires shrieked as the airplane touched down. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we have just landed at the airport. The time is 6:13 a.m. and the temperature is a pleasant 68 degrees. We'd like to thank you for flying with us and ask that you'll fly with use again on your next trip. Please remember to gather all of your belongings and watch you step as you deplane. Thank you and have a nice day.'
Thayer nudged Terron, 'Wake up, we're here.' Half asleep and grumpy, Terron got up, stretched, and moved down the aisle toward the exit. Once they got inside the airport, Thayer looked around for his contact. There, standing in the back of a crowd, was a middle aged man holding a placard with Thayer's name on it. Thayer walked over to the man and said, 'I'm Thayer Diamond.'
'BA-El, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you my lord." the man said while bowing his head in reverence. 'And your name?" Thayer asked. 'I am Charles Walls, master.' 'Listen Charles, I sincerely appreciate the formality, however, if we are to maintain our cover, you must call us by our earthly names. Understood?' 'Yes, lord. I mean sir.' 'Good. Now then, I hope Jake Quinnery has informed you why we are hear?' 'Yes he has. I have everything you requested sir.' 'Well, I guess we should get on with it, don't you?" 'Oh, yes sir, right this way, our limo is waiting.'
They arrived at a swank office building. From the outside, it appeared to be business as usual, but once inside, it was apparent that this wasn't your ordinary building. It was spacious and adorned with bullet proof glass and two way mirrors. Armed guards roamed about, surveillance equipment was in every corner and before they could progress further into the building they had to go through body searches.
The guards had completed their search of the
men and were searching the women. One of the guards was fondling Sisela as he searched her. Thayer saw it an leaned over and punched the guard in the jaw. Furious, the guard pulled a gun and threatened to shoot. Charles stepped in front of Thayer and commanded the guard to drop his weapon. Reluctantly, he did. Thayer whispered in Charles' ear, 'I want him dead by nightfall." Charles started to turn and question Thayer, thought better of it and said, 'Yes sir."
By now one of the other guards was searching Ora. He too began to fondle her yet even more blatantly. She waited for Thayer to object, when he didn't, she turned around and slapped the guard. He slapped her and pushed her back against the wall . Thayer and the others laughed. Sisela couldn't bear to watch anymore so she turned away. Moments earlier,
Quanna and Olar had arrived. Quanna stood by Ora and began talking. 'Look at that slut, she's laughing so hard she had to turn away." Ora glanced over at Sisela. Enraged, Ora swore to herself that she'd get even. Seeing Ora's hardened expression, Quanna suggested to the guard. "Give her a little something to remember you by.' With that, the guard removed his blackjack and gave Ora a sizzling slap across her buttocks. The blow was hard enough to produce a large red welt and a trickle of tears.
Olar applauded, 'Well done, he said, well done." He extended his hand to Quanna and said, "Come, let us go and celebrate the inevitable.' She beamed, grabbed his hand and they darted through the ceiling. Olar smiled. He knew his luck was holding and he didn't want to risk having Quanna around Thayer and the others too much. 'Someone might call him by his real name and then I'd be sunk, he thought. It won't be long now, revenge, how sweet it is."
Charles and his entourage had made it to the top floor. They went into a large conference room where a meeting was in progress. Seated in the head chair was Cecil Carrington. He was flanked by guards as he directed a meeting with his drug dealer from various states.
'Excuse me sir, Charles said, this is the gentleman that I told you about, Mr.Thayer Diamond." "Yes, Mr. Diamond, well, as you can see I'm in the middle of something right now when I'm finished I'll talk to you then."
'We can talk right now, Cecil. I won't take up much of you time and I'll get right to the point. I'm here to make you an offer for your drug and prostitution ring.' 'First of all buddy, I didn't give you permission to call me Cecil. Next, the business is not for sale now or ever. And if that's all you wanted, you're free to go.' 'You don't understand Cecil, this is an offer you can't refuse. You see, you either accept it or you die. Those are your options." "Up your's buddy. I'm tired of talking at you. I hope the next life is kinder to you.' He looked up at his guards and said, "Waste them, all of them.'
The guards were going for their guns when Terron, Connley, and Vice pulled out semiautomatics and shot and killed the guards. 'How did you get in here with those?" Cecil shouted. The men who had been sitting around the table were now standing opposite Cecil Carrington on the far side of the room.
Thayer and Charles walked over to him and he stood up. 'How we got the weapons in is not important, what is important is the answer to the question you've been presented. Being a fair and reasonable man, I'll give you another chance to decide, seeing that you didn't fully understand the question.' 'I gave you my answer, scum and you, he said while looking at
Charles, you no good, dirty, double crossing, little punk. You're a dead man. You hear me, you're dead. Even if I have to come back from the grave to kill you myself.' Thayer laughed, 'My good man, no one comes back unless they are sent, and quite frankly, you lack what it takes.'
Charles started to laugh along with Thayer. Without warning, Cecil lunged at Charles, punched him in the mouth and knocked him down. Before he could get at Thayer, Vice and Connley grabbed him. He yelled some obscenities, broke free and reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade. He was trying to get to Thayer when Terron stuck his foot out and tripped him. As he was falling he dove toward Thayer and slashed his bad leg in the same spot that Nimmeon had slashed it. Thayer's leg buckled and he dropped to one knee. Before Cecil could do any more damage, Terron hit him in the back of his head with the butt of his gun. The blow knocked Cecil unconscious.
'Get him up.' Thayer commanded. They taped him to a chair and then threw water in his face to arouse him. Thayer had the other men take their seats as he began to speak. 'I'm very disappointed in you Cecil. You should have taken my offer, it was a good one. I see that stubbornness runs in your organization, I'll have to change that. Two of your other men had an opportunity to work with me but they too chose the hard way. I'm sure you remember them, here, I have pictures of them.'
He pulled two framed pictures from his briefcase, stapled to the canvas were the faces of the men who had been murdered by Thayer and the others. Everyone that immediately recognized the faces turned away in disgust. "As you can see, Thayer continued, I'm not to be taken lightly. He looked around the table at the men, "Listen closely, do as I instruct you and you will live. Disobey, and a long, painful death is your reward, guaranteed." He pulled a long yellow folder filled with reports from his briefcase.
He passed out a report to each man there. 'Listen up, he said, what you have just received is very important. We will discuss it in detail. I hope that you have no other arrangements because we will be here for at least four days getting to know one another. At the highlight of our little convention, Mr. Cecil Carrington will personally demonstrate what will happen to those who have a difficult time following the rules. Before we officially begin, allow me to introduce myself and my troupe. As you know by now, I am Thayer Diamond. To my left is Terron, Vice, and Connley. To my right is Sisela and Ora, who happens to be one of the major players in the report.' Ora smiled. 'Humph, maybe things will get better.' she thought. Thayer handed Ora a report and told her to grab a chair.
'You won't get away with this.' Cecil said. He began yelling for the guards. 'Guards, guards, come quickly.' Tenon got up and taped his mouth shut. Thayer whispered something to Charles and he disappeared. 'All right, he said let's get started.'
At the conclusion of the meeting, reality, again, had thrown Ora for a loop. Her part in coming to earth was nothing more than a cheap prostitute whose job was to convince the public that she and Mayor Matthews were lovers. She couldn't believe it. Charles entered the room with a jar of crushed leaves. 'What's that?' Vice asked. Thayer smiled and said, "You'll find out.' 'Listen up everyone, Thayer said, we're nearly through for today. All that's left is preparing Mr. Carrington for his demise.' He looked around the room and selected two men to take Cecil's clothes off. Wearing rubber gloves, Thayer knelt down and rubbed the chopped leaves on Cecil's testicles, down the middle of his behind, across his lips, over the tips of his ears, on the inside of his nose, and under his armpits. 'What is that?" one of the men asked. Thayer laughed, 'I have just smeared Mr. Carrington with a combination of poison oak and poison ivy. "All right, Charles, take him away. We'll finish him up on the last day.' Charles smiled, and had some guards take Cecil to another room.
Thayer spent the next few days going over the details of the report with everyone and learning about Cecil's drug operation. Finally, the last day arrived. Thayer had Cecil taken by van to a special location. He told the other men to meet him there at 1 p.m. When the others arrived, Thayer, Tenon, Vice, Connley, the women and Charles were waiting. They were standing in a vacant field beside a tree and a four foot tall anthill. Next to the anthill a grave had been dug and a pipe about six foot long lay beside the open grave. There were piles of fresh dung all around, probably from stray dogs who had the run of the field.
The others were assembling themselves and fanning flies as they wondered what was going to happen. Tenon had a wad of bubble gum in his mouth. He would blow large bubbles and leave them hanging out of his mouth until flies would buzz around it and get stuck. He'd haul them in and chew them up and blow another bubble. At one point, a big lazy horsefly flew off a steaming pile of manure and plowed into Terron's bubble gum. He chewed him up and rubbed his stomach. 'Um
mm, good.' he laughed, as the men turned away nauseated.
'All right, Thayer said, listen up. This is the climax of our convention, and, as I promised, Cecil will supply the entertainment.' Thayer nodded and Charles wheeled Cecil out of the van and dumped him, still naked, on the ground. He was twitching and rubbing various parts of his body against the ground. It was his crude effort to scratch himself. He was swollen and red everywhere that Thayer had rubbed the poisonous plants. His hands
remained taped so that he couldn't scratch himself. He seemed to have aged rapidly as the itching drove him mad.
Next, Charles pulled from the van, a coffin-like wooden box. They dropped Cecil into the box and closed the lid. Directly over Cecil's forehead was a hole about a half inch in diameter, just large enough to insert the iron pipe. Thayer screwed the pipe into the hole in the box. Terron, Connley, Vice, and Charles laid the box into the grave. Charles went back to the van and threw out shovels for the rest of the men. 'Grab a shovel and fill up the hole." Thayer commanded.
Neon Nights Page 17