by Chuck Black
He saw flashes of swords and bullets all around him. His heart began to race. It was evident that he and Sydney were surrounded by a war between the invaders like he had never seen before. There were thousands locked in battle everywhere he looked. What was happening? Why was his mind doing this to him now?
He reached for his gun. Whether this was fabricated or not, invader activity almost always meant something bad was going to happen. Or was this exactly what Dr. Whitton said it was—his subconscious refusing to let Sydney destroy its imaginary world? He was so weary of trying to figure it out.
Sydney put her hand on his arm and then he felt her gentle hand on his cheek, pushing his face back toward hers. “Look at me, Drew.”
“But it’s never been this bad before. Crazy or not, it always means something bad is about to happen.”
“Whatever is happening is happening because you’re close to discovering the truth. Keep your eyes on me.”
Drew tried to look only at her eyes, but it was impossible.
Validus ordered reinforcements to engage another wave of Fallen attempting to outflank them and get at Carter from the west. Malak’s legions had arrived just in time, but there hadn’t been enough time to properly position all the warriors. Validus was commanding the entire operation as Crenshaw fed him moment-by-moment movements and predictions. For a three-mile radius around Carter, the region was filled with the fury of the battle of the ages. Malak’s two legions, over ten thousand warriors, were fighting desperately to keep the minions of Niturni at bay. Thus far they had been successful, but…
“Three more legions of Fallen coming from the east!” Crenshaw shouted over the mayhem of an all-out war.
Validus was out of options. They couldn’t keep their protection of Carter and Carlyle up for much longer.
“Who commands them?” Validus took ten seconds to cut through a demon that had breached their line.
Crenshaw closed his eyes, concentrated, then pointed south…into the sky. “Niturni.”
Validus looked and saw his distant dark-winged nemesis commanding the assault. He looked over at Carter and Carlyle. “Almighty God, give your servants the strength to prevail. Draw this man to your salvation!”
Sydney slid closer to Drew and put her hands over his eyes.
“Close your eyes, Drew. It’ll be all right. How much of the Bible did you read again?”
Drew let the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her hands and her voice soothe him. “I read it all. I don’t understand it all, but this time I got a glimpse into why it’s so important to you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it gives you more to live for than yourself and…”
“And what?”
“And because God loves you.” He wanted to open his eyes, but Sydney wouldn’t let him.
“God loves you too, Drew. He wants to give you His peace and a purpose greater than anything you’ve ever experienced. Is that what you want?”
Drew couldn’t deny it. “I want what you have, Syd. Yes.”
“Then just talk to Him. He’s waiting for you. Tell Him that you know you have sin in your life and you need Him to forgive you. Tell Him that you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you want Him to come into your life. You’ve read it; you know that Jesus changed the world. That kind of change doesn’t happen unless it’s real.”
He reached for her hands and pulled them down. He opened his eyes and saw a world exploding around them. Thousands and thousands of light and dark invaders were engaged in an epic battle. The blue plasma was streaking out from Sydney in all directions, empowering Validus and his men, but their lines were collapsing. There were too many dark invaders. The whole scene was bizarre, his subconscious once again turning Sydney into a hero in the invader realm, just as Dr. Whitton had said.
He fixed his eyes on Sydney and forced himself to know that it was all in his mind.
“Just talk to Him,” she said again as she placed her hands on each side of his face, shielding his eyes from the chaos around them.
“That’s it? No ritual? No chanting? No ten steps to faith?”
She smiled and slowly shook her head. “No…that’s it. Just ask Him.”
Sydney closed her eyes, folded her hands, and bowed her head. They were now encompassed in a glowing orb of blue. Drew marveled at the beauty of such a soul. Ethan was the luckiest man on earth.
Drew bowed his head. “God, I’ve never talked to You, and I’m sorry for that. I guess I never believed You existed, and I’m sorry about that too. I’ve screwed up so many times I wouldn’t know where to start, so I just want You to know that I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I’ve read Your Word and I believe it. I believe that Jesus is Your Son and that He died for me. I don’t understand why, because I know I’m not worth it, but I believe it. I believe You. Please come into my life and give me the peace that Sydney has. Amen.”
Drew and Sydney both opened their eyes and lifted their heads at the same time. Drew stopped breathing. The world of the invader realm was absolutely still. Light invaders and dark invaders with weapons ready were frozen, and all eyes were on him. He looked around, realizing that if the battle were to continue, Validus and his men would go down.
“What is it, Drew? What do you see?”
Drew turned his face upward and saw it. At first a pinpoint of blue, but then like lightning from heaven, a shaft of burning blue plasma exploded down upon Drew. He was bathing in the glory and holiness of God as his soul filled with the Holy Spirit. He lifted his hands toward heaven, and the Spirit of God exploded outward like a shockwave in every direction. And as it went, every demon it touched for hundreds of yards dissolved in a green vapor that descended into the bottomless pit.
“Sydney…it’s glorious!”
He stood up, slowly rotating and feeling the power of God flow through him. It was as if he were being transformed from the inside out. There were no words to adequately describe it other than, as he remembered reading, he was becoming a new man.
Sydney watched, tears streaming down her face.
“Is it like this for everyone?” he asked. He looked down at her with eyes open wide and his face aglow.
“God works a miracle in anyone who is willing. Yes, you just seem to have a better view.” She smiled wide.
A few seconds later, the shaft of blue dissolved away, but now the flames he had seen in Sydney licked across his arms. He touched them.
“I’m…like you!” he said.
Sydney nodded as she wiped away her tears. “Yes, you are. You are now a child of the King!”
Drew looked around and realized that Validus and his men had all lifted their arms toward heaven too. Though he couldn’t hear them, they were singing and shouting victory to each other and to heaven.
Then as if the warrior came to understand something profound, Validus stopped and looked at Drew. He held out his hands for his thousands of warriors to be quiet. They were waiting for something, but whatever it was did not come. Their joy was replaced with concern and then apprehension.
“Are they gone?” Sydney asked.
Drew turned and looked at Sydney. Slowly the exhilaration he felt began to fade.
“No,” he whispered. “They’re still here, and something is wrong.”
23
AMBUSH
“Where is Gabriel?” Crenshaw asked. “Why don’t we hear the trumpet?”
The salvation of Carter had happened, and they had been saved by the power of Ruach Elohim, but something wasn’t right. If Carter was indeed the last salvation, where was the trumpet calling all believers to heaven?
Validus’s men gathered around him, swords still in hand, as an eerie calm in both realms caused them all to hold their breath.
“I don’t know,” Validus said. He was confused and unable to give his men an answer. This had been the moment they were waiting for…fighting for…dying for. Even the Fallen, those who were left, seemed confused.
Validus looke
d toward Niturni, then to Carter. Had they all made a mistake?
Then Validus caught movement on the ground out of the corner of his eye. More danger was coming, and he heard the whisper of Elohim to his spirit, Protect the man.
Drew first heard them in the trees. He scanned and saw movement in the gray of the night. He looked at Sydney, sorry once again for what he had brought into her life. He pulled his FN Five-Seven.
“We need to get back to the cabin right now! Run fast!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the beach.
“What’s happening, Drew? Who is it?”
“Sydney!” Drew heard Ethan call out.
“Oh, crud,” Drew said as he continued to pull Sydney toward the cabin as fast as her legs would carry her. He counted four commandos behind them and speculated another four would be ahead of them—fully armed and wearing night-vision equipment.
Ethan stood on the beach, looking up and down the shoreline for Sydney. When Drew and Sydney reached him, he was more than upset.
“Carter—”
Drew put Sydney’s hand in Ethan’s and shoved them toward the cabin. “Get in the house now!”
He hurried them toward the house, but just as they were entering the back gate, the bricks in the gatepost just above Ethan’s shoulder exploded from multiple rounds of 9mm.
“Stay low and get to the house.” Drew turned and spotted the shooter. He squeezed off two rounds, then ran to catch up to Sydney and Ethan.
He could see Validus and his men engaged with their enemies again, but he wasn’t sure how to even think about them anymore. He hadn’t had time to fully process any of this.
Inside the cabin, Drew locked the door and called for Ben, but his friend didn’t answer. He pushed Ethan and Sydney to a corner in the kitchen behind a solid-wood island. Their eyes were wide with fear.
“Carter, what’s—” Ethan whispered, but Drew held his finger to his lips.
He heard quiet footsteps coming down the hallway from the front door. The glass pane on the back door shattered, followed by the sound of the deadbolt turning.
“Stay here,” he whispered.
Drew was struggling. He was still weak from the loss of blood, and the exertion he had already made was causing his shoulder to throb. He pushed the pain back and dug deep for the energy he was going to need.
He knew these men were American soldiers or agents just doing the job they were told to do. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear they were here to take prisoners but to kill. Drew would do his best not to kill them, but he would protect Sydney at all cost.
He crawled to the corner of a stub wall that separated the kitchen from the back entrance and watched the reflection off the glass front of the microwave as two men approached. The man from the front door was nearly to the kitchen too.
The men entering from the back reached the opposite side of the stub wall, and Drew didn’t wait. He shot six rounds through the wall at their legs, which dropped the two men immediately.
The house erupted in automatic gunfire as Drew dove into the living room to acquire the man coming from the front. He tumbled, came up on one knee, and unleashed two perfectly placed rounds into the agent’s M16.
“Get on the ground,” Drew ordered, but the agent dropped his damaged gun and drew a 9mm handgun. Drew attacked him before he could fully lift the weapon to get a shot. The next few seconds of fighting were desperate and happened just a few feet away from where Sydney and Ethan were hiding.
Drew disarmed the man and put him in a neck lock with a gun to his head just as three more agents entered the cabin. Drew felt like he was about to pass out at any moment. He wondered if he was even strong enough to hold his hostage for more than a few seconds.
“Put the gun down, Mr. Carter. There’s nowhere for you to go.”
Drew knew that they had infrared lasers pointed at him that he couldn’t see, so he kept moving himself and his target at random intervals to foil any shots they might consider. The situation was bad—hopeless, in fact.
“Let these people go, and I’ll give myself up,” Drew said.
Another agent came down the stairs with a gun pointed at Ben’s head, and two of the gunmen turned their weapons on Sydney and Ethan.
“You mean these people?” the leader said.
Ben looked terrified. Drew could hear the stark fear in Ethan’s and Sydney’s heavy breathing behind him. His mind raced through the calculations and options. Four agents inside, probably four more outside. If they were here to kill them all, he didn’t have a choice but to take as many with him as possible.
“Who are you?” Drew asked.
“NSA. Now put down your weapon!”
Drew knew he was lying. The NSA didn’t threaten hostages like they were doing with Ben.
Drew decided to make his move, but before he could, a dozen high-intensity light beams filled the ground just outside, and another dozen red-dot lasers landed on the agents inside the cabin.
“Put your weapons down! We have all of your agents in custody.”
Drew recognized the voice. Jake had come to save them.
The Fortress team entered the home and held the fake NSA agents at gunpoint.
“I don’t know who you think you are. You are interfering with a sanctioned NSA operation. I demand—”
“You’re on the wrong end of the barrel to be demanding anything,” Jake said without emotion. “If you’re NSA, how come the serial numbers on your vehicles trace back to a UN account?”
The man just glared back at him.
“Zee, secure them. When you get to the facility, you know what to do. Lock it down.”
“Yes sir.”
Drew tried to help Sydney and Ethan to their feet but instead nearly collapsed to the floor. Sydney grabbed him and helped him stand. Drew held onto the kitchen island countertop and pulled away from her. “I’m okay. Just a little dizzy.”
Drew found Ben and put him back together. A few minutes later, everyone exited the front of the cabin. Zee took eight Fortress soldiers and stripped the UN agents of their weapons and gear, then led them under escort into the woods. Drew, Sydney, Ethan, and Ben joined Jake, who was organizing containment and extraction.
“Taco, secure the perimeter. I figure we’ve got ten minutes before their op HQ responds. We extract in five.” Jake turned to Drew. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Man, am I glad to see you. How did you know?”
“I got an inside tip that you might be in trouble,” Jake said with a wry smile.
The man next to Drew pulled off his black mask. Reed grinned. “Carter, no matter where you go, trouble just follows you.”
Drew had a range of mixed emotions about Reed. This was the man who had gotten him eliminated from the CIA, and now he had come to save him. Or had he?
“Reed. You saved our skin. Do you know what you’ve gotten into?” Drew could hear a chopper in whisper mode coming toward them.
“I have a feeling I’m about to find out.”
Drew nodded toward Ethan and Sydney. Ethan’s eyes were still wide with fear. “We have to bring them. There’s no place safe until this is over.”
Ethan realized the comment was about them. “What? No. No way. We’ve had enough G.I. Joe antics for a lifetime. Sydney, we’re out of here.”
“I’m sorry, Ethan, but we can’t let you go. What you saw tonight is just the beginning. They know you’re connected, and they won’t stop unless we stop them. Your lives are in jeopardy. You have to come with us.”
Ethan was about to protest, but Sydney grabbed his arm. “We’d better do what he says, Ethan. Drew knows what he’s doing.”
Ethan didn’t look happy, but he nodded. The air around them began to swirl, and a few seconds later a black helicopter set down on the grass in front of the cabin.
“Wait!” Ethan yelled and ran back into the cabin. A few seconds later he emerged carrying a silver briefcase.
The seven of them loaded into the chopper. Once airborn
e, Jake radioed Taco to clear out of the area.
“Where are we going?” Drew shouted to Jake.
“Someplace secure and off the grid.”
Drew gave him a thumbs-up. He hoped it wouldn’t be too long. He needed to lie down soon.
—
By the time the chopper set down, Drew was done. Jake and Reed had to help him get into the main bunker, which was actually a hardened shelter covered in earth and shaped perfectly to match the surrounding terrain. Drew couldn’t guess where they were, and he didn’t even want to try.
Inside, the bunker was large and completely furnished with everything a crew of fifty would need to survive an apocalypse for twelve months. Though it was a survival hideout, Jake had taken extra measures to ensure it was comfortable and very livable. It was divided into multiple rooms. There was over ten thousand square feet of living space and another five thousand square feet of storage for equipment, weapons, and nonperishables.
They put Drew in one of the side rooms and laid him on one of the four beds. Sydney and Ethan followed. Sydney went straight to Drew and felt his forehead while Ethan went to a small table on the other side of the bed and set his silver briefcase on it.
“What’s wrong with him, Ethan?” Sydney asked, her voice thick with worry.
“I’ll be fine,” Drew mumbled, barely coherent. “I jus’ need ta res’.”
Ethan grabbed Drew’s wrist and checked his pulse. “He’s right actually. He needs rest, but he also needs blood.”
“We don’t have blood here,” Jake said.
“What do we do, Ethan?” Sydney asked.
“When I was cleaning up your apartment, I knew he had lost a lot of blood.” Ethan opened the silver briefcase on the table and removed two pints of blood. “I typed him and brought this. It’s why I came to the cabin.”
Sydney looked dazed. “I didn’t think you believed him.”