Jackie concluded she must have heard the bum behind the house a couple of days earlier. While he didn’t say so, Graham realized he had too quickly and easily discounted her experience. Too many thugs and punks were on the prowl. Vagrants like this man now wandered everywhere. At the least, he didn’t appear to be from the mayor’s office.
Graham finally decided that it would be best to bury the man somewhere out in the forest, and then the family would give Eldad a proper burial. They could hide the driver’s license in case it was needed later. Jackie and Adah reluctantly agreed. With Matthew helping him, he buried the assailant a long way from their property, covering the grave with pine needles to obscure all evidence.
“It won’t be easy to bury Eldad,” Graham told his son as they walked back to the house in the dark.
Matthew shook his head. “I could never have imagined this.”
Graham put his arm around Matt’s shoulder as they walked. “Obviously there was another man out there,” he said quietly.
Matthew stopped. “What?”
“Eldad was shot, and the man we just buried didn’t have a gun on him. Did you notice the footprints on the ground leading away from the place where we found Eldad?”
“No!” Matthew looked surprised. “No, I didn’t see anything at all.”
“I don’t want you to tell anyone, but we’re going to have to watch carefully. Probably the other attacker has disappeared, but possibly not. Regardless, we’re going to have to keep our eyes open and be observant.”
Matt nodded. “In one afternoon we’ve gone from tranquillity back into the maelstrom. The storm is churning again.”
“I don’t want your mother and Adah to worry about another attack any more than they naturally would. Let’s keep this between us.”
“Sure.”
“Our trip today was fortunate. We’ve made contact with another group of Christians, but we don’t want anyone to know about these deaths. We’ve got to make sure no one lets on.”
“What do you think really happened up there?” Matt pointed toward the rocks where he had found Eldad’s body.
“I don’t know, son.” Graham shook his head. “I’m guessing Eldad killed the man we buried with a large stone, and the other man who shot him escaped. I don’t expect we’ll hear from this criminal, but I can’t tell. There may be a much larger picture here that I’m not seeing.”
“I’ll start sitting out in the trees and watch during the day,” Matthew said.
“We’ll have to work out some sort of system, but we must guard the house carefully.”
The father and son walked through the trees until they came back out into the clearing where the cabin stood. They found the family sitting around the living room. No one was talking. George had slipped back into that distant, disconnected stare created by trauma. Jeff huddled in a corner of the room, drawn up in a tight ball. Mary’s eyes were red, and all smugness had vanished.
“We took care of our job,” Graham said. “Is everybody okay?”
Jackie shook her head. “I don’t think we’ll ever be okay again.”
Graham nodded and looked at the Jewish woman. Adah sat on the floor, leaning against the wall with swollen eyes. She said nothing, but her face told a story of grief.
“I think we should finish burying Eldad tonight,” Graham said. “I know it’s late, but we dug a grave earlier and already placed Eldad there. I believe it would be better than waiting until the morning.”
Jackie nodded her head solemnly.
“Adah, would you be able to do the service? I would think that everything should be said in Hebrew.”
“Women don’t say these things in Israel,” Adah said. “The rabbis always say the words, but we don’t have any rabbis, do we?” She stood up, assuming a dignity that fit her elegant profile. “I will cover my head.” Adah reached for a black scarf. “It is our custom for each person to throw into the grave a handful of dirt. Can we all do this?”
The children nodded solemnly. Mary’s eyes widened with fear, but she said yes. Adah reached for a Hebrew prayer book and motioned for the family to follow her. Like a solemn assembly marching down the hall, the family walked single file through the door with Graham bringing up the rear.
The wind had picked up and the night air felt cold. Even the trees seemed to be groaning in the breeze. The family walked fifty feet from the house and stood silently around the open grave.
“He was my friend,” Jeff said and cried.
“And a brave man,” George added stiffly.
“We will miss him dearly,” Jackie mumbled.
“Eldad gave his life for us,” Graham added.
Adah began reading the words, and the wind whirled about them as if adding its blessing.
CHAPTER 19
THREE DAYS AFTER ELDAD’S burial, another unexpected eclipse plunged the world into darkness. Intense blackness settled over Tomahawk at around 12:30. In a matter of minutes, midday became like the middle of night.
“Just as Revelation predicts,” Adah said, “the sun has turned black. Scripture warns, ‘Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.’ The warnings are intensifying.”
“I don’t think we ought to turn on the lights for a while.” Jackie said. “We would be easily identified in this darkness.”
“I’m terrified,” Mary wailed.
“Let’s all keep our heads,” Graham said. “If we’re right, this sign will soon pass.” He walked across the floor and turned on the television. “We can find out what the newscasters are saying.”
“Probably not much,” Jackie said.
“I’ll bet they are as frightened as we are,” Mary quipped.
“We interrupt this program for a news bulletin from New York City,” the announcer broke in. The sitcom disappeared and the face of Stephen Sutton filled the screen.
“Reports of chaos are just now coming in from around the country as citizens are caught in the confusion of unexpected darkness,” Sutton said in a clipped bass voice. “Apparently, another meteor has broken loose and created this current eclipse. Investigations are currently under way. Do not panic. We are not expecting anything worse than momentary darkness.”
“Really?” Graham spoke back to the television. “You newspeople have no idea what any of this means.”
“I repeat,” Sutton said. “The phenomenon is only momentary, and the sunlight will return shortly. In the meantime, the president of the United States requests you turn on your lights and go about your business as if everything were normal.”
“Normal?” Jackie laughed. “We’re sitting out here in the woods miles from our Chicago home, which we can’t return to because we’d be arrested—for doing nothing? That’s normal? I’d call it chaos.”
“Once begins the Tribulation,” Adah said, “nothing is normal. That word has gone out the window. Abnormal is now the regular condition.”
“You know,” Graham said slowly, “Alice Masterson, the woman we met in town, said there would be a meeting tonight. I think this would be a good time to go back and see what the new Christians in Rhinelander have to say about today’s blackout.”
“I like that idea,” Jackie said. “It’s been hard to sit around here stewing in our grief over Eldad’s death. We need to get some fresh air.”
“Good!” Adah said. “Tonight we do this thing.”
“Should we take the kids?” Jackie asked.
“Mary wouldn’t go unless we dragged her, but she could babysit,” Graham answered.
“Someone else might show up around here,” Jackie mused.
Graham nodded. “Let’s leave Matthew in the woods, watching the house to make sure there’s no problems. He can take care of the kids.”
“Okay,” Jackie said, “I’d feel much better with that arrangement.”
“It’s settled!” Graham said in the darkness. “We’ll try out the first meeting this evening.”
CHAPTER 20
FOLLOWING ALICE MASTERSON’S instructions,
Graham parked their car a block away from the church. Jackie and Adah walked with him around the corner. Just as Alice had said, the church’s front door hadn’t been opened in months, and pieces of plywood were nailed in front of the stained-glass windows of the sanctuary. The edifice looked completely deserted.
“She said to go around to the back to get in,” Jackie said. “That door should be open.”
“Here goes nothing!” Graham said. “Let’s give it a try.”
A long, narrow walkway led along the side of the church building. Flower beds had months ago sprouted weeds and contained only remnants of once beautiful plants. At the back of the church lay an abandoned playground with a slide and swings.
“What do you think?” Jackie asked.
“Looks like a perfect place to hide out I think,” Adah answered. “Obviously no one ever comes here.”
“I’ll try the door.” Graham turned the knob and found it unlocked. “First sign of life that we’ve hit. Looks dark inside.”
“Go on down,” Jackie urged.
“How brave of you to send me first,” Graham jested. “I’ll take the first step down if you ladies stay behind me.” He walked down the steps.
At the bottom Graham stopped in surprise. In front of him stood a large fellowship hall, but there were no electric lights. Instead, candles had been set around the room, casting long shadows across the old asphalt-tile floor. In the back corner he could see a group of people sitting in a circle. It looked like maybe ten or twelve people had gathered.
“Ah, Mr. Peck!” Alice Masterson immediately stood up. “How wonderful of your family to come.”
“Thank you.” Graham nodded to the group and introduced Jackie and Adah. “We appreciate being able to visit you.”
“I’d like you to meet some of my friends here in Rhinelander,” Alice said and introduced the people sitting in the circle. “We were just about to open with prayer. Please join us.”
“Sure,” Graham said. “We’d like to.”
The group prayed for a considerable time, with individual members offering intercessions for friends, relatives, the community, and the confusion sweeping across the country. The opening prayers were followed by Bible reading, and then Alice taught for a while.
Graham sensed the people watching them with oblique glances and subtle stares. No one had yet discovered Adah was Jewish, but the town’s people sometimes stared at her. Their openness and warmth appeared somewhat tempered by their ethnic backgrounds and the disorder occurring everywhere. No one offered a name.
“Graham,” Alice said and turned to the family, “I believe you’ve come here from Chicago?”
“Actually, we have a place over at Tomahawk and live there now.” He smiled reassuringly at each person in the group. “I’m wondering how you feel about the eclipse tonight?”
After a brief pause, an older lady said, “I’d have been just as terrified as I was every time them motorcycle people come buzzin’ through, except for Alice. She’d already taught about what the book of Revelation says about such things.”
“I agree,” a middle-aged man wearing overalls added. “I felt the same way months ago when the moon turned red. But we’re probably the only people in town that didn’t get all bent out of shape. Lots of folks sure turned strange.”
For several minutes the conversation wandered on, with different people sharing humorous stories of what they had seen and heard during the darkness. Finally, Graham turned the conversation in another direction.
“You folks don’t seem to be worried,” Graham observed. “I’m surprised.”
“Oh, there’s plenty to worry about!” the older lady said. “It’s simply that we know the Lord is in control and not us. Makes a heap of difference when you know whose hands are really on the controls.”
A roar of motorcycle engines buzzed down the street in front of the church. The disquieting sound increased with loud popping and banging noises.
“Bolt the door!” The man in overalls jumped up and ran for the back door. “Get this place secured.”
Bike wheels squawked, and it sounded like the bikes had gone around to the alley and were coming up behind the church.
“Everyone hide!” Alice commanded. “Get down and out of sight. Blow out the candles!”
The group scattered, with several people hiding under the long serving tables still sitting in the room. The older lady rushed for a closet. The man in overalls locked the back door and pushed a heavy piece of timber against the knob to secure the door from being forced open. Alice kept extinguishing candles.
“What’s in there?” a man’s voice echoed from the backyard.
“It’s one of ’em churches! Let’s break in and have a party,” a rough voice answered. “Ain’t used no more.”
The men hammered on the back door and worked the knob, but the lock held.
“Break it open!” some man’s voice growled.
The sound of men crashing against the door boomed around the room, but the timber didn’t give.
“Can’t get the damn thing open!”
“Think we can break in a window?”
“Ain’t worth the effort. Let’s go down the street. There’s a bar open a block from here.”
Graham could hear the men complaining, but in a few minutes the motorbikes roared back to life and drove off. The believers began crawling out of hiding.
“That’s the third time we’ve had some wild batch of bikers try to break in,” the man in overalls said. “Fortunately, we was ready.”
“That group’s been here before?” Graham asked.
“Hard to say,” Alice replied. “Some of them come down from Duluth, and others ride over from Iron Mountain or even as far away as Traverse City or Manistee.”
“Anyone ever come from Saginaw?” Graham asked.
“Never seen one of them,” the man in overalls said, “but it’s possible.”
“Mobs of these unwashed crazies are crusin’ all over the country these days,” a woman said. “We just happen to be sitting here tonight.”
“Yes, yes,” the elderly lady added. “Don’t make no difference where they come from, it’s the fact that the Lord was with us that made the difference.”
CHAPTER 21
HASSAN JAWHAR RASHID’S personal jet flew into New York City escorted by American fighters protecting the flight plan of the 747 as the huge plane came down over La Guardia airport. Surrounded by his personal bodyguards and Abu Shad, his secretary and aide, Rashid walked into the airport through a private entrance. Avoiding reporters, he walked straight to a waiting limousine. The long black Lincoln and a police squad surrounding the vehicle whisked him away from the airport toward the United Nations Building off FDR Drive.
“I have already summoned Frank Bridges and his people to meet me there,” Rashid said. “When I arrive at the United Nations headquarters, I want to talk with him before the opening session begins. Make sure we are not interrupted and have complete privacy.”
“Yes sir.” Abu Shad scribbled on his electronic data pad. “Should I make the secretary general aware of this arrangement?”
“No. Bridges is already there and prepared to meet me. However, I want the room electronically swept for any surveillance equipment. That goes for Bridges and his associates as well.”
Abu Shad nodded his head. “It will be done.”
“I will make a speech that will rock the UN,” Rashid continued in a cold voice. “You must be prepared for negative reactions, but they can be discarded because I am too strategically positioned to worry about what these monkey faces think of what I say. Their response is irrelevant.”
“Naturally.”
“In the last area of armed conflict, I brought Pakistan and India under my control. The oil flow to these countries is now dominated by Royal Arab Petroleum’s wishes and how we handle delivery and production.” Rashid chuckled. “Of course, millions died. Whether they liked it or not, both countries have buckled under to me.”
Rashid’s eyes became hard. “We still have work to do in this hemisphere. Don’t worry. I’ll soon have them in the palm of my hand as well.”
The police motorcade zoomed past the Fifty-seventh Street exit and continued south. Abu Shad made a phone call to ensure the electronic security devices were in place and that the rooms and people had been checked.
“We’ll be there in a moment,” Abu Shad said. “Do you have any concern about security?”
“No!” Rashid snapped, and then paused. “Of course, some of our officials have concerns, but I think they are overreacting to the Americans’ disturbed state of mind. After all, these people have lived with such affluence for so long that they can’t handle change. We must not be swayed by their preoccupations.”
“Yes sir,” Abu Shad repeated.
“No, I am not concerned.”
The motorcade swung off the freeway and into the private entrance to the United Nations Building. Reporters wearing badges of certification around their necks huddled on the walkways, trying to get pictures of Rashid. He only nodded back to them while maintaining his air of formality. The cavalcade pulled to a halt, and Rashid hurried inside where an elevator waited for him. The door closed and he shot up to the top floor.
“We will be there in a moment, sir,” Abu Shad said. “Bridges’ people should have been tested and the room prepared. You will be able to begin at once.”
“Good! Time is of the essence.”
CHAPTER 22
WEARING A REGAL SILK Armani suit, Rashid had carefully dressed for this formal occasion. The world would be watching, and he wanted to make sure he conveyed elegance of style as well as substance. He walked into the room reserved for his meeting with Bridges. Looking equally well groomed in a black suit with a red tie, the mayor of Chicago stood at attention, with Al Meachem and Jack Stratton standing on each side of him.
“Ah! Mr. Carson. It is an honor to have you in our country again.” Bridges rushed forward and extended his hand. “Welcome, Your Honor. Welcome to America.”
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