“Well, I hope to see you and your mom back real soon.”
Enjoying the game, Tony said, “She asked me to bring her to the revival that you’re putting on out here this weekend. So, we’ll see you then.”
Walt ended the call and then turned back to Lamont and JT and said, “What’s the hold up? Are we going to look at this place or not?”
Lamont said, “Come on, since you’re in such a hurry, let me get you on up there.”
As Lamont and Walt walked off, JT said, “See you this weekend. God bless.”
“Yeah,” Tony said to himself as he walked away, “Hopefully, God will bless you also.”
As Tony entered the picnic shelter he scanned the area for his client. She had asked that they meet here so Tony could get a feel for the area in which she’d like to have a preacher slain. He would have handled the job a few minutes ago, but Tony hadn’t received payment yet, and he didn’t do pro-bono jobs. The shelter was empty when he arrived. Tony sat down and waited a few minutes. After about five minutes, he figured he’d been stood up. It happens sometimes… people think they want someone dead, but when faced with making it happen, their moral code just won’t allow them to go through with it. Tony didn’t have a moral code, so it didn’t bother him. As far as he was concerned, he was just creating more space for others to dwell on the earth.
Getting up, Tony was about to head back to his car when a woman in a navy blue jogging suit strolled into the shelter. She had a hood over her head and looked as if she was trying to hide. He flopped down and waited for her to take her seat next to him.
“Hey,” she said when she sat down.
Tony wasn’t much for small talk. “Did you bring my money?”
“Half, right?” She handed him a white envelope.
“I don’t want to meet with you after the deed is done, so I’m going to need the other half the morning of the revival.” He quickly counted the money and then asked, “You do still want the hit at the revival right?”
She hesitated for a moment. Tony said, “Hey, if you’re having second thoughts, let me know right now.”
She shook her head. “No, no. This needs to be done.”
“Okay then, you’ve got two days to come up with the rest of my money.” He stood up and told her, “Take my advice and don’t go up by the pavilion area.”
“Why?” His client nervously looked around.
“The three of them are up there checking the place out. My mark, however, doesn’t realize that this is the last place he will ever see.”
Sixteen
Lamont was on his knees again, crying out to God. Today he was praying for his fellow preachers, those who live according to God’s will. He prayed that they would find the strength to continue fighting the good fight of faith and so they could teach others to do the same.
He then changed his focus and cried out to God on behalf of preachers who had gone astray. From listening to JT, Lamont learned about the torture and guilt that a man of God who chose to do the wrong thing faced on a daily basis… that is until he finally stopped being pricked by the word of God. Lamont prayed that thousands and thousands of preachers would be turned back towards God, before they went too far to be restored.
Lastly, Lamont petitioned God for himself. He admitted to the Lord that he had feelings for Margie, but that he was scared of those feelings because of what happened to his ex girl, Sonya. They had been in love with each other, and that had been why Sonya had felt so comfortable with getting on his motorcycle with no helmet.
Lamont knew now that he had been careless with another person's life, and he never wanted to feel the deep despair that came over him every time he thought of how carelessly Sonya had died again. He couldn't live with himself if being around him caused another woman's demise. And the way that Margie tackled Diane Benson at that wedding, really freaked Lamont out. Was Margie the type to run towards trouble? "God, please help me and direct me concerning my feelings for this woman."
When he was finished praying, he got off the floor, dusting off his pants. Grabbing his keys, Lamont headed out of his office.
As he was walking past Margie’s desk, through the cracked door, she called after him. “Wait a minute, Lamont.” She covered her mouth with her hand and then spoke again. “I mean, Pastor.”
Lamont walked into her office. “It’s all right, Sis. Margie. You don’t have to be so formal with me all the time. I know that I’m a pastor, but my name is Lamont.”
She picked up a water bottle and handed it to him. “Don’t leave without this.”
Lamont laughed.
“I’m serious,” Margie told him. “You’ve been fasting all week.”
He raised a questioning brow.
“You don’t have to tell me that you’re fasting. I work here and I know that you haven’t been eating. Are you able to drink water on your fast?
He nodded.
She pushed the bottle toward him again. “I don’t want you to get dehydrated, so drink.”
Lamont saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” He opened the bottle, took a drink and then said, “I’m headed to JT’s church for our final meeting concerning the revival.”
“All right, just take the bottle with you, finish drinking it and then refill it when you get to Pastor JT’s church.”
He laughed again and gave her another mock salute before he went on his way.
***
As Walt grabbed his keys to leave for his meeting with JT and Lamont his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, so he started not to answer it, but then he changed his mind, sat down and answered the call. “Pastor Walt speaking.”
“Where is my money?” the woman on the other end asked.
“Look, I keep telling you that I don’t have any money. People have been leaving the church and tithing is way down.”
“Tithing will go down even further if I tell your congregation everything I know about your old tired behind,” The woman said with a sneer.
Walt regretted the day that he ever even thought about hooking up with this woman. He had been speaking at a church conference in Houston, TX, thinking that he was far enough away from home to have a little fun without anyone finding out. Walt gleefully took her hotel room key and spent the night with her. However, he never expected that she would tape the whole escapade. But she had and for the last two years, he had been her unwilling sugar daddy. “I don’t have any more money, Carmen, you’ve taken everything from me already.”
“Well, you better find a bit more or wifey pooh will be getting the shock of her life. Or maybe I’ll send it to Dynasty, your new woman.”
“Do what you have to do. I don’t have any more money.” He hung up, shaking his head as he walked out of his office. Victoria, his secretary was sitting at her desk, watching him as he walked toward her. He could see by her expression that she was about to get something started, and he really didn’t have the patience for it, so instead of stopping by her desk to tell her where he was going, he kept walking.
Victoria got up and followed him to the door. She grabbed his arm as he tried to leave. “Walt, I really need to talk to you.”
“This is not a good time, Victoria.”
“But I haven’t seen you in a month,” she whined.
Lifting his eyes heavenward, as if he needed the Lord’s help, Walt said, “You see me every day at work.”
“You know what I mean.” Victoria leaned in and whispered, “You haven’t come to my house in a month.”
He pushed her back and said, “Look, Victoria, I’m on my way to a meeting, but I don’t think my wife would appreciate you inviting me to your home.” With that he walked out of the church and headed to his meeting about the revival he was helping to host this weekend.
***
“Okay, are we all right with the schedule?” JT asked as he sat down at the round table in the conference room at his three thousand seat church.
“Yeah, I have a question,” Walt said, while looking at the p
aper as if it offended him. “Why am I preaching on Friday night, while Lamont gets to preach on Saturday night? I mean, come on,” Walt pointed at Lamont and said, “I know that you have three thousand members, so I understand why you’re preaching the Sunday morning message, but I have fifteen hundred, Lamont only has three hundred.”
“So, you think because your numbers are higher that you should get Saturday, rather than Friday?” JT asked.
“Darn straight, I do.” Walt leaned back in his chair.
Lamont started silently praying. He reminded himself that he was in consecration mode, and this was not a battle worth fighting.
JT said, “Didn’t you tell us that you weren’t even inviting your church members to this revival?”
“You know that the people in my church are always starting some mess. I can’t take them nowhere without shame and embarrassment.”
“Don’t you think that as their leader, you need to show them how not to be messy, shameful and embarrassing? Or are you telling us that you are just as messy?” Fast or no fast, Lamont couldn’t help himself. As far as he was concerned, that question needed to be asked.
“Come back and see me in a few years, after your congregation sings your praises after each sermon you preach and tell me if you aren’t a little messy after that,” Walt said with smugness… like he’d seen it happen to a hundred or more preachers and Lamont would be no different.
Lamont wanted to tell him that he would never be that guy. He could look Walt up in ten or even twenty years and his name would still not be as run down as Walt’s was. But Lamont was gently reminded about the Bible verse that warned believers to be careful when they think they stand, lest they fall. So, he said, “My prayer is to continue to serve God without blemish.”
Walt laughed.
JT said, “Back to business.” JT looked down at the program schedule in front of him and said, “We have the offering scheduled right after praise and worship, but we can move it to the end of the service.”
“Uh-uh. Bad idea. If you wait until the end of service, half the congregation will have already tipped out. Especially on Saturday night when Lamont is up there boring everybody with his long messages.” Walt looked over at Lamont with an apologetic half smile and added, “I’m just saying.”
Ignoring Walt’s rude comment, Lamont said, “Why don’t we just keep the offering after praise and worship.”
Walt leaned forward. “Speaking of offering time… have either of you thought anymore about adding a special offering? We can get a couple of hundred dollar lines going.” Walt raised his hand as if in praise to the Lord. “It will be glorious.”
In unison, Lamont and JT said, “No!”
Walt held up a hand. “Hold up, brethren. Why so hostile?”
“We keep telling you that this revival is about the people of God. It’s not about us fattening our pockets.”
“Whatever,” Walt said. Then his cell phone rang. He looked at the number displayed, grinned and then put his cell back on his hip clip. He turned back to Lamont and JT. “If there’s nothing else we need to go over, I need to be somewhere.”
When he walked out of the conference room, Lamont said, “You know that was some woman ringing his phone, right?”
JT nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Lamont sat silent for a moment, then as if something had jumped into him, he got up and said, “Once again I need to ask, why in the world we have to partner with someone like him?” he jerked as if a bug had fallen on him and he was trying to shake it off.
JT didn’t answer.
“Can’t you see that he’s no good?” Lamont tried again.
“I can see it,” JT said with his head bowed as if he was in prayer.
Lamont was still standing, pacing the floor now. “Then I don’t get it, JT. Why are we putting up with Walt’s nonsense when we need to be worrying about souls that need to be saved?”
“Walt has a soul, too.”
Lamont sighed and then sat back down. He looked at his friend and mentor. “I know that Walt is some kind of mission for you. But I can’t go on this journey with you again. The man’s name is so run down on the street that the people laugh at his members when they admit to attending his church.”
“I understand that, too.”
Seventeen
At about five in the evening on Friday, Tony Denario picked up his final payment for the job he had to do that night, he then drove to Edgewater Park. Tony took a compressed duffel bag out of the trunk of his car and walked over to the restroom area. He had dug a small hole two days before, and now he was back to fill it. It wouldn't have been the smartest thing for him to walk through the park with a shovel and a duffel bag all on the same day, no matter how small the shovel or duffel. Someone might have noticed and got suspicious enough to alert the authorities. But today he just looked like a regular guy holding a duffel bag.
He reached the spot where he'd dug his small hole, and looked around. He could see no one for miles. Tony turned back around and quickly dropped the bag in the hole. He then slightly covered it with some of the dirt he had moved to the side the day before. While the revival was going on tonight, Tony would sneak off to the restroom, grab his duffel, decompress it and take out his change of clothes and his mask and then he'd shoot his target, run back to his SUV, where his duffel would be stashed, and change back into his regular clothes.
He looked at his watch as he made his way back to his SUV. His mom had asked him to pick her up at six. She wanted to arrive at the park a little early in hopes of getting a good seat. "What Mama wants, Mama gets," Tony said to himself as he got in his SUV and sped towards his mother's house.
Margie arrived at the site at about 6:15. Lamont would not be preaching tonight, but since he was one of the planners for this revival, she wanted to make sure that everything was set for the start of the event. The park officials had placed the podium on the stage. There were three rows of chairs behind the podium for the preachers and their wives and for special guests. Margie placed several water bottles on the table that separated Lamont's chair from JT’s and Cassandra's chairs. As she stood there for a moment, she noticed that Lamont was the only one who didn't have a second seat next to his. And she wondered, not for the first time, why a man as handsome and dynamic and as godly as Lamont Stevens didn't have a wife to call his own. She knew she was flirting with danger to even think about such a thing, especially with her past. Margie closed her eyes and recited, "Who the Son sets free is free indeed." Lately she had been reminding herself of this fact on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day. She had no past where Christ was concerned. She belonged to God and He belonged to her... the rest would take care of itself by and by.
A commotion in the back of the pavilion caused her to turn around. She looked past the hundreds of chairs that had been put out for the congregation, and watched as a camera crew began setting up their equipment. Lamont had told her that The Word in Action Network would be filming on Sunday when JT preached, but she had no idea that any other station was scheduled to film. She walked to the back of the pavilion to speak with the cameramen.
When she approached the tall, lanky one, Margie stuck out her hand and said, "Hello, I'm Margie Milner, I'm Pastor Steven’s office manager."
"Good to meet you, Ms. Milner," he said while shaking her hand. He pointed at the cornrow wearing man standing next to him and said, "We’re the camera crew. We freelance for the Word in Action Network among others."
With a look of confusion she said, "But I didn't think The Word in Action would be filming until Sunday."
"That's correct," the cameraman said, "but we'll be here tonight and tomorrow night to get some footage that we might be able to add with the Sunday event."
Margie smiled. All that fasting and praying Lamont had been doing was paying off already. For she truly believed that the exposure he was about to receive from this weekend would help to grow the church ten fold.
JT’s and Walt’s assistants pulled
up at the same time. Margie went out to the parking area to greet them and to let them know where everything was. Walt’s assistant would want to test the mic since Walt would be preaching tonight.
***
Diane stood on the porch of JT and Cassandra's home banging on the glass panel door as if she was getting paid to stress test the glass. “I know y’all hear me out here, so come open this door!” she yelled as she kept banging on the glass.
Cassandra swung the door open and screamed at her. "What is wrong with you, Diane? Why do you have to act as if you don’t have any kind of sense every time you come over here?”
"Why did it take you so long to answer the door? Next time, answer as soon as I ring the doorbell and you won't get no drama out of me," Diane said as she stepped past Cassandra and walked into the house as if she was first lady of the joint.
As Diane put her hand on the banister preparing to trot herself up the stairs, Cassandra stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To see my daughter." Diane put an emphasis on the word my.
"You'll have to wait downstairs in the family room. And you'll only be able to see her for a moment because we are on our way somewhere."
Diane swung around and got in Cassandra's face. "I am so tired of you and JT thinking that you can tell me when and where I can see my own child."
"We didn't tell you anything," Cassandra corrected, while not backing down. "The courts gave you two weeks a month. And this is not your weekend for visitation, so I don't have to make any accommodations for you at all. But I'm willing to let you see Lily for a moment, provided you don't upset her."
"Don't act like you're doing me any favors. You're just jealous because your little girl died, so you want to steal my baby and try to pass her off as your own."
Forgotten (Book 3--Forsaken Series) Page 11