by Chuck Black
“Hey!” Drew called before Willis was more than a few steps away.
Willis turned around, and Drew held up his meal ticket and the forgotten Bible.
Willis reached back and grabbed the ticket. “You can keep the Bible. I won’t need it anymore.” He hurried to the till at the front of the bistro, paid, and left.
Drew stuffed the napkin note in his pocket, grabbed the Bible, and left the restaurant.
He went back to his hotel just a few blocks away. When he got to his room, he threw Willis’s Bible onto the table in the corner and flipped on the TV. Tomorrow he would finish setting Sydney’s life back in order and then catch his flight back to Philadelphia. Mission accomplished.
Drew flipped through all sixty-two channels twice and was reminded for the hundredth time that there was nothing worth watching. He clicked off the set and threw the remote to the other side of the bed.
The big black book stared at him from the corner of the room. Drew looked at it and shook his head. What did intelligent people like Sydney see in such malarkey?
He rolled over and tried to take an afternoon nap, but sleep eluded him. And every time he turned over, that book seemed to be waiting.
In frustration he got up from the bed and sat down at the table. He spun the book around until it was right side up. The Holy Bible.
Drew sighed. What a sham. He thumbed through the pages until one stuck and started reading out loud.
“The Gospel According to John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He skipped a few verses. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Drew stopped. Shivers went up and down his spine. “Dwelt among us,” he said once more. That is exactly what the invaders are doing…dwelling among us.
He thumbed further through the Bible until he recognized a word, Ephesians. He stopped and remembered the message Sydney had given him over a year and a half ago in the FBI interrogation room. “Ephesians 6:12 is your verse, Drew. It’s real!” she had said.
Drew turned pages until he found the reference.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Drew froze, then read the verse again and again. It was eerily representative of what he was seeing.
He closed the book and stood up. He walked down to the lobby to buy a soda, and by the time he returned, his mind was in overdrive, racing with possibilities.
He walked over to the big black book and sat down. He turned to the first few pages.
“In the beginning God created…”
11
THE BURDEN OF COMMAND
The next day, Drew arrived at Kally’s Bistro at one thirty. He sat in the same booth Sydney and Willis had sat in the previous day. When the waitress came, he told her he had to leave and asked her to keep the booth open until his friend arrived. He slipped the waitress twenty bucks and asked her to give Willis’s note to the girl who would come to the booth.
He then slipped through the door to the outdoor tables and positioned himself so he could see through the glass wall and into the booth he had just left. He ordered a piece of pie and a cup of coffee, then pretended to read his newspaper again, placing it at just the right position so he could see the booth but Sydney would not be able to see him.
Then he waited, dreading the hurt that his beloved Sydney was about to feel. He dreamed of a different life, of meeting Sydney without the chains of a CIA sentence or the knowledge of a worldwide invasion. Why couldn’t he have normal? Why couldn’t he have happiness?
A few minutes into his imaginings, Sydney came and sat down at the booth. Drew watched her every move, her charming smile, the brush of her hair over her ear, and the blink of her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Sydney,” he whispered.
The waitress arrived, spoke a few words, and then handed Sydney the note. Drew watched as she read. When she was through, she slowly set the napkin on the table. At first she looked stunned, just staring at the empty seat across from her. Drew expected tears, but there were none. Perhaps she was tougher than he gave her credit for, or perhaps she would save the tears for later, in the privacy of her car or room.
He watched as she slowly turned and looked outside, setting her chin in her hand. She looked so sad. It took everything in him not to run in and take her in his arms, even though such selfish action would add years to her misery. It was done. She would never know it, but he had saved her once more.
He knew he should go, but he loved to watch her, and besides, there was no way to stand up without drawing her attention while she was looking out the window. At one point she changed her blank stare to a couple sitting at a distant table, and Drew considered making his escape.
Just then, a dark invader flashed through the restaurant behind Sydney. Drew had come to be able to identify the difference between a dark invader just watching and one about to engage in some ill-intentioned action. Drew turned to see if there might be more than one. He scanned the surrounding area and saw more activity from both the dark and light invaders. Something was up, but he couldn’t tell just what it was yet.
When he turned back, Sydney had shifted and chosen his table to gaze at. The distraction of the invaders may have cost him his cover. He moved the newspaper so that not even the sliver of his eye could be seen, but of course he could not see her anymore either. Better to play it safe for a few minutes.
After three minutes he shifted the paper slightly to bring her back into view, but Sydney was gone. Before he could drop the paper and make his exit, he caught the teasing scent of her perfume, and he froze. Then came an enticing and soothing voice next to his right ear. He could feel her breath on his neck.
“Mister, did you just chase my boyfriend away?”
Drew slowly turned his head to see Sydney’s sparkling blue eyes and a subtle smile that disarmed him like nothing else could.
“Hi, Syd,” he said quietly.
Her eyes were impossible to read—surprise, anger, fear?
“Do you have any idea what’s going through my mind right now?” She seemed to sense the secrecy he was supposedly shrouded in.
He wanted to jump up and hug her, but he couldn’t bring any extra attention to them. He slowly pushed the chair on the opposite side of the table away with his foot. She took the cue, slipped around the table and sat down. Drew lowered the newspaper to see her eyes filled with wonder.
She leaned forward. “What…what are you doing here?” Her voice was trembling. “Are you in trouble?”
Drew cursed himself for having become distracted by the invaders. If Ross knew that he had made contact with Sydney, there was no telling what the repercussions would be. He took another scan. Activity in the invader realm seemed to have subsided. He checked for any potential real-world threats or observers. All seemed clear.
There was no lying his way out of this. She knew him too well.
He looked straight into her eyes. “I’m not in trouble. Not yet anyway. I’m sorry, Sydney. I can’t tell you anything.”
She raised an eyebrow, and her coy expression caused Drew’s heart to skip a beat. “And you think I’m going to let you get away with that?”
He shrugged.
Sydney stared at him, then shook her head, closed her eyes, and said, “What do I do with that?” She opened her eyes, hopeful. “Are you telling me the truth?”
He reached across the table, and she gently laid her hand in his. The touch seemed to ease her mind, and the lines of worry on her face disappeared. She struggled with what to say.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I didn’t know if I would ever see you again.”
“You weren’t supposed to, not for a long time, but—” He stopped short, not sure how much he should say.
“But you had to chase Dustin out of my life?” Sydney finished.
Drew grimaced. “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.” He focused on every detail of her face. “I guess I have some explaining to do.”
Sydney pulled back her hand. She placed her elbows on the table, interlaced her hands, then rested her chin on the backs of her fingers and nodded. Drew just stared at her for a moment.
“What?” she asked.
“Well, first can you explain to me why you don’t seem very devastated, or better yet, angry at me for messing up your love life?”
Sydney briefly dropped her gaze to the table, then looked back into Drew’s eyes.
“The truth is, you saved me the trouble. Although Dustin seems like a nice guy, the Lord impressed upon me that he was definitely not the one. I never felt like I could trust him. You know what I mean?”
Drew laughed. “Yes, I know exactly what you mean.”
“I don’t know what you told him, but thanks for being used by God on my behalf.”
Drew smiled and shook his head. There it was again, attributing the natural actions of circumstances to God.
Sydney’s expression became quizzical. “What did you tell him, anyway?”
“Well…” Drew hesitated, then figured she might as well know. “I told him your father was a ruthless weapons dealer and that we needed him to gather information for us but that his life would be on the line the whole time.”
Sydney laughed, but Drew didn’t. Then horror filled her eyes. “You didn’t!”
Drew nodded. “Yes…yes, actually I did.”
Sydney’s mouth dropped open, and she leaned back in her chair. “Drew, are you insane?”
He tilted his head. “I’ve wondered,” he teased, but she was not amused. He leaned forward. “Sydney, your perceptions of Willis were right, except he was much more of a scumbag than you would have ever dreamed. He was scamming you, setting you up because he discovered your father was rich. Which, by the way, you never told me he owned an aircraft manufacturing plant in Wichita.”
Sydney’s mouth dropped open. “Are you sure about this, Drew?”
“I heard it from his own mouth. And all that religious stuff he was pretending to believe—total fake. I’m sorry, Syd, but I had to step in.”
Sydney covered her mouth with her hand. Drew let her gasp a few times.
“Well, anyway, you won’t be bothered by him again. He’s so scared he’s going to hide out in northern Maine for a couple of years.” He shot her a wry smile.
She slowly lost her ghastly expression and began to laugh. Drew joined her until they both had tears coming down their cheeks. When they recovered, Sydney gazed into his eyes.
“How long have you been watching over me, Drew?”
He lowered his head and then looked into her penetrating eyes. “I guess about as long as you’ve been praying for me.”
She reached across the table and touched his arm. A shockwave flooded his arm and body from her touch. “I started praying for you the day you said hi to me in the hall after speech.”
Drew stared at her, remembering the day that she stole his heart playing hard to get. “Really?”
She nodded. “Really.” Her eyes seemed so sad at that moment. “Have you figured it out yet?”
“Figured what out?”
“Those men you said you were seeing. Have you figured out who they are?”
He sobered. He looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear and that there were no invaders nearby. Talk like this was institutional-worthy. He had to be careful even with Sydney.
“I think you should tell me who you think they are. You seem to have influence over them.”
Sydney furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Syd. I saw you nearly paralyze them. I need to know.” Drew wasn’t sure how far to take this. “Are you…Do you…” He watched her expression closely, but it was unchanged. “Who do you think they are?”
Sydney took a deep breath. “I think God is allowing you to see angels and demons.”
Drew rolled his eyes. “Please don’t play games with me, Syd. I saw what you did. There’s nothing in your Bible that describes that. I think your devotion to this religious stuff is as fake as Willis’s.”
Sydney’s eyes narrowed, then filled with fire. She pulled back. “Fake? What would you know about real faith, or better yet, the Bible?”
“I know because I read it,” Drew shot back.
Sydney turned her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to decide if he was teasing her. “When?”
“Last night.”
“Ha! I don’t believe you.” She crossed her arms and glared at him.
“You don’t believe me?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “You believe that I’m seeing aliens from another dimension, but you don’t believe I read the Bible last night?”
“It takes most people a year to read through the Bible, and you’re telling me you read it in one night?”
“I’m a fast reader.”
“Uh-huh. And if you read it that fast, how much do you remember?”
“Almost all of it.”
Sydney eyed him skeptically. “Who were the sons of Noah?”
“Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
“Who’s Hezekiah?”
“A king of Judah who turned out to be a pretty good dude. Man, the Bible’s not much of a history book. The time line is all over the place. It’s a pretty crazy book.”
Sydney seemed stunned as she looked at Drew in amazement. “That’s remarkable, Drew. I can’t believe it. Then you know…you know what this is all about. You know who Jesus is and what He did on the cross for you.”
Drew fidgeted. He couldn’t deny that there were things he read that pricked his heart and made him uncomfortable. But in the end, he had to dismiss the spiritual mumbo jumbo because of science and because of what he was seeing. He looked at Sydney, trying hard to decide if she really did believe this religious stuff or if she was still playing him and was some secret agent of the invader realm. It was a moment when the burden of the world fell on him as he came to the conclusion that he and he alone was the only one who really knew what was happening. Or maybe he really was going insane, as Jake and his mother had thought.
“Here’s what I got from reading that book, Syd. To an ancient, pretechno-logical civilization, alien invaders would look like gods. Everything in that book can be explained by it, especially if you could see what I’ve seen.”
“It’s more than a book, Drew, but until you have a heart to find God, His living Word will only be ink on paper to you. And consider this, to a modern technological civilization, angels and demons dwelling among us might look like alien invaders.”
Drew opened his mouth for rebuttal, but no words came. He had never considered that, and it was so logical that he couldn’t refute it.
“Sydney Carlyle, every time I’m with you, you surprise me.”
He caught the blurred movement of a dark invader in the street behind Sydney. Sydney followed his gaze. Another invader came from the other direction.
“What is it, Drew?”
Drew did a quick 360 scan. Within seconds, dozens of light and dark invaders began converging around them. He spotted Validus commanding and engaging. Their focus seemed divided between someone on the street and Drew and Sydney.
The dark invaders were coming after them. But this trip was so random and spontaneous…how could they have known? He glanced at Sydney as his senses kicked into hyperdrive, evaluating the situation and possible threats.
“Do you come to this bistro often?” he asked as he continued to watch the invader realm escalate around them.
“Ah…yes. It’s my favorite. What’s going on, Drew?” Fear laced her words as she saw Drew begin to react.
“Where are they?” Validus stood in front of Kally’s Bistro. Persimus, Crenshaw, and Tren were next to him. Sason and Brumak were positioned at strategic loca
tions around the restaurant, as were Rake and Jayt, who had rejoined them after determining that Reverend Branson was not a target. Crenshaw was looking, searching, feeling.
“Niturni’s too smart to let this encounter happen without a fight. He’s got too much at stake. I expected a legion of the Fallen.”
Crenshaw turned and pointed. “There, Commander. Niturni didn’t miss this—he planned it. He’s going to try to kill them both at the same time!”
All at once, a dozen Fallen collapsed on them, jumping from second- and third-story buildings to pull them away from Carter and Carlyle. Validus instantly recognized them as some of Niturni’s best.
The invaders were now engaged in half a dozen fierce battles. Drew finally saw and understood the threat in an instant. A young man of Middle Eastern descent was walking toward the front entrance of the bistro. His jacket was too thick for the temperature and too thick for his build. He was a suicide bomber.
Drew wondered if his warning to Langley had been passed on to Homeland Security, the NSA, and the FBI. What were the odds that Drew just happened to be at the one place in the United States that had been targeted? It was beyond coincidental. Drew looked at Sydney and realized that this had to be about her.
He grabbed her hand and whipped her out of her seat. Though he couldn’t abandon the eighty people at the restaurant, he could make sure she was safe first.
He was about to tell her to run out the back gate of the bistro’s outdoor patio when he saw a second suicide bomber coming from that direction. The terrorist was just opening his coat to show his explosive-laden vest while chanting praises to Allah. This was a multiple bomber hit. There might even be a third. They were trapped.
It looked like Validus and another light invader were trying to get to Drew and Sydney, but it would be too late.
Drew flipped their solid metal table over on its side. “Get behind this and cover your ears!” he shouted to Sydney.
Then he charged the second man, who was just thirty feet away.
“Everybody hit the floor!” Drew shouted.