After the Rain

by Vanessa Miller

  “Yeah, Mickey, I remember you.” They did the Black man’s handshake. Isaac’s head nodded in the direction of the Navigator. “I see you’ve come up in the world.”

  His gold teeth glistened as he smiled. “Well, you know, I couldn’t be a runner forever. You taught me better than that.”

  “You can’t stay in the game forever, Mickey. The game gets played out, one way or another.”

  Mickey shook his head. “Nobody ran them streets like you did. You ain’t played out, Isaac. That’s why I came to get you.”

  A silver Mercedes pulled up next to the Navigator.

  Mickey continued. “I already got you a house.” He handed Isaac the keys to the Navigator. “I bought it for you. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Me and you, Isaac. We will own the city once again.”

  Isaac looked at the keys and studied the jewels on Mickey’s hands. “Looks like you already own it.”

  Mickey lit up the friendly skies with his smile again. “Man, there’s room enough for the both of us. I started in this business because of you.”

  Isaac flinched. Life would be so sweet if only he didn’t have to think about how many dead men walking he had started in this business.

  A suit stepped out of the Mercedes. Armani down to his shoes, with a Sunday go-to-meeting hat on his self-assured head. He trotted his well-to-do self in Isaac’s direction.

  “Isaac Walker?”

  Isaac turned toward Mr. Well-to-do wondering if he was getting ready to be gifted with a Mercedes next. Isaac didn’t know how much of this he could take.

  “That’s me,” Isaac said and the man extended his hand.

  Isaac glanced at it, but his hands still felt like resting at his side. There was something about shaking a man’s hand. Isaac didn’t take it lightly. Shaking a man’s hand connected you with him. It said, “I agree with you.” And Isaac wasn’t agreeable all the time.

  “I’m Bishop William Sumler. Your friend, Keith asked me to come and pick you up.”

  Isaac shook his head. He had to work on his trust issues. He took Bishop Sumler’s hand and shook it gladly. “I thought Keith was picking me up.”

  “He had some car trouble. I told him that I wanted to meet you in person anyway. So I made the trip for him.”

  Mickey got fidgety. Started looking around. “Look, Isaac, can we get going? I really don’t want to hang around this place any longer than necessary.”

  Bishop Sumler eyed Mickey as he moved a little closer to Isaac. “Is this young man a friend of yours?”

  “Yeah,” Isaac told him. “Me and Mickey go way back. As a matter-of-fact,” Isaac lifted the keys in his hand. “Mickey just brought me a car to roll out of here in.”

  Bishop Sumler’s high yellow cheeks reddened. “So you don’t need a ride?”

  “That’s not what I said.” Isaac plopped the keys back in Mickey’s hand. “Thanks for the offer. But I’m a new man now. I can’t go back to life as usual.”

  Bishop Sumler put a possessive hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “God is pleased with you. Just keep looking to Him for answers.”

  “That’s what I intend to do.” Isaac smiled at Mickey. “Thanks for looking out for me. I’ll catch up with you another time—shoot the breeze or something.”

  Mickey backed away. “All right, man. But if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  “Didn’t I always?”

  Mickey gave a small, nervous laugh. “Yeah, I guess you did.” He opened the door to his Navigator. “Well, keep holding it down. I’ll see you on the other side.”

  “I sure hope so,” Isaac said, even though he knew they were thinking of two different sides. Mickey wanted to see Isaac back on the gang-banging drug dealing side. While the side Isaac hoped to see Mickey on had pearly gates and streets of gold.

  Mickey had smiled at him and wished him well that day. But then he’d come after Donavan, thinking that Isaac wouldn’t do anything about it. Things hadn’t gone quite the way Mickey planned and Isaac was praying that Lou would soon discover what the word of God meant when it said, “touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.”

  Isaac rushed back into the family room; he told Nina to take Ikee and get out of the house.

  “No, Dad,” Ikee said. “I created this mess. I’m not leaving you and Donavan to deal with it without me.”

  “What’s going on?” Nina jumped out of her seat.

  Isaac couldn’t lie to his wife, no matter how much he wanted to spare her from the realities of what she signed up for when she decided to love him, in spite of his past. “Lou kidnapped Donavan. He’s on his way here because he wants to trade Donavan for Ikee and Candy.”

  “Lou is coming to get me?” Candy said with excitement in her voice.

  Isaac wasn’t going to spare this girl this badly needed jolt of reality. So, he said, “Yes, he’s own his way. He’s asked me to give you and Ikee to him so he can kill the both of you. Now do you understand that this man does not love you anymore?”

  Candy didn’t answer. She put her duffle bag in her lap, then lowered her head and started crying.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nina grabbed the bible and then quickly turned to Proverbs chapter three and read for all their hearing: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

  After reading those words she went upstairs to her bedroom and sent out a chain email and text messages to the prayer warriors she associated with. Isaac had his way of doing battle and Nina had hers. If her prayer warriors would get out of bed and go to war with her, they would win this fight. Not by power, not by might, but the spirit of the Lord shall rise up and help them fight another battle. Nina was sure of it, so she turned on praise music and began walking the length of the room, singing praises to her God.

  Isaac came into their bedroom with Ikee. He stopped and stared at his wife for a moment. Even after all these years, she was still so beautiful to him. Her spirit was so in tune with God that Isaac sometimes worried that the Lord would send a chariot down here for her, she’s jumped on and then ride it all the way to heaven, leaving him his to deal with all the problems he’d created in the world.

  “I want you to get out of the house, Nina. I already have Ikee refusing to leave… please don’t be just as stubborn as the rest of us.”

  “What can I say, Isaac. I guess you just rubbed off on the entire family.” Nina walked over to her husband and put her arms around him. “You need me here, honey. And I need to be here. This battle belongs to the Lord and I’m going to pray until we get the victory.”

  He wasn’t going to talk her into leaving. And they didn’t have much time left before Lou and his gang would get to the house anyway. “Then promise me that no matter what happens, you’ll stay in this room. Don’t try to be a hero. Okay?”

  She touched her husband’s handsome face. “I’m no hero, husband. But Spiderman, Iron Man and the rest of them don’t have anything on the Hero I serve.”

  Isaac stepped over to the bed and picked up the tasers and pepper spray he’d taken out of the closet earlier. He handed one of each to Ikee and then showed him how to use each one.

  “I didn’t know we had these.” Ikee was fascinated by his new toys.

  “Remember, son, we are not destroyers. We want abundant life for everyone we come in contact with, but that doesn’t mean we won’t defend our home and our family.”

  Ikee nodded. “Gotcha.”

  Before leaving the bedroom, Isaac handed Nina a taser and some pepper spray as well. “If someone comes through this door, blast ‘em with everything you’ve got.”

  She took them from her husband, so that he would have a little less to worry about. But the moment he left the room and shut the bedroom door, she threw the weapons on the bed and kept praying and praising. Yes, Nina was aware that they were in a fight with a human, but she also knew there was an evil force guiding that human. She
and Isaac could do nothing with that force, so she was calling on a legion of angels to come down from heaven and take care of business.

  ~~~~~

  Brogan and Luke were already on the job. But they could feel the force of a thousand demons marching their way. In his attempt to whitewash his past, Isaac hadn’t ventured into the hood on a salvation hunt in many years. Oh, he ministered to the inhabitants once they found their own way to his church, but he chose not to go to the source and loose the captives, so the enemy had grown stronger and had multiplied during those years. Brogan and Luke would need help if they were going to come out victorious this night.

  “Are you ready?” Luke asked Brogan.

  Brogan drew his sword. “I have fought many battles for Isaac Walker. I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be ready to not only fight, but to win.”

  “They’re getting closer, Brogan. I know you say we will win, but if we don’t get more help…”

  Brogan smiled as he told Luke, “You hear the sound of demons marching our way, but I hear the sound of prayer. Trust me, old friend, help is on the way.”

  ~~~~

  While Nina prayed, Isaac took his spot on the porch to wait for Lou to arrive. Isaac had bullet resistant windows installed in his home a long time ago. He had lived a hard life. And turf wars had been a part of his existence. Stray bullets had hit people that had been close to him more times than he cared to think about. So, even though he was no longer in the drug life, Isaac always thought of safety first and had set up certain protections, like being the point of contact for the alarm company, and bullet resistance windows with a brick structure. No one was coming into his house that he didn’t want in there.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust God, quite the opposite, Isaac trusted God with everything that he had; he just didn’t trust man. He saw car lights down the street, making their way toward him and Isaac got the feeling that this normally quiet street was about to get the shock of its life. He would be hearing from the Homeowners Association about this.

  ~~~~

  Nina’s prayer warriors hadn’t let her down, and with all the prayer and praise making its way up to heaven, God loosed a platoon of angels to assist Brogan and Luke.

  Once Brogan’s help had arrived, he lifted his sword as he told the other warrior angels, “I hear the sound of destruction coming our way. But I see no reason to just sit here and wait on them. Let’s take the fight to them!”

  A mountain load of demons were slithering their way. These demons knew that Isaac Walker had the protection of God and had stayed away from him and his family while he stayed away from them. But once Ikee went over into their territory, they had been given free rein. But Brogan was about to interrupt this party.

  Luke walked next to him as they got closer. He scrunched his nose and asked Brogan, “Do you smell that?”

  Brogan nodded. “Death; it’s all around us.”

  Jaundiced green eyes cast menacing glances from their perch on tree branches as they watched the army of the Lord boldly walk into their encampment. One of the small monkey-like imps flapped its black wings trying to signal the others that trouble was approaching. But they were all too busy getting rowdy, raising their fists and swords and talking about crushing some heads and doing damage to notice that a host of angels had just swooped down on them.

  Brogan looked at the sea of angels that had entered the encampment with him and said, “We came here together, I’m praying that each of us lives to fight another day. So let’s get in and get out while we still have prayer support.” Brogan lifted his sword and the other angels did the same as he yelled, “For all that is holy and all that is right!”

  And with that, the angels charged toward their enemies.

  ~~~~

  “Does your mother really think all that praying is going to stop Lou from killing every last one of us, if that’s what he wants to do?” Candy asked Iona while running her shaky hand over her duffle bag.

  Iona was sitting next to the window that overlooked the porch. She had a gun in her hand as she said, “You don’t get it do you?”

  Candy shrugged as if to say, Get what?

  “The Bible tells us that when we face adversity, that the battle is not ours, but it belongs to God… He will fight for us.”

  Pointing at the gun in Iona’s hand, “Candy asked, “If you believe that God is fighting this battle, then why do you have that gun?”

  Iona wanted to say, Don’t judge me. But instead she told her, “I’m a firm believer that God uses humans as well as angels. And if He wants to use me tonight to protect my father, I’m going to be ready.”

  “Another thing I don’t understand about this family…,” Candy began. The drugs were wearing off and she was becoming curious. “…why did your father and brother risk their lives to save me tonight? I mean, look at me. I’m worth less than nothing. My own family don’t want me around. I’m probably better off dead.”

  “If that’s what you think, you’ll probably be dead before long anyway,” Iona told her. “But if you can think back to a time when you knew for sure that God had you on the planet for a reason, and then fight to get back to that… you just might live to see another day.”

  “If I do live to see another day, what am I supposed to do with it?”

  Ikee walked back into the room and before Iona could answer the question he suggested, “Why don’t you pray? If I had done more of what my mom is upstairs doing, my family wouldn’t be in the trouble we’re in right now.”

  Candy turned away from Ikee. She couldn’t stand to look at him in her sober state. “You think I’m trash, I don’t know why you even came after me tonight.”

  He walked over to her. Stood right in front of her and looked at her as if she was someone who mattered and not some monstrous thing jonesing for a fix. “I think that offering your body for drugs is a trashy thing to do. I also think that selling drugs is a trashy thing to do.” He pointed at himself, “I made that mistake. But my parents didn’t throw me away like I thought they had. And I don’t think God has thrown you away. So, stop doing it to yourself.”

  A car pulled up and they heard a guttural sound escape Isaac’s mouth as he yelled out, “What did you do to my son?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Brogan was the first to slice through the crowd of demons. His mighty sword gutted two demons at once. And then a mighty battle cry soared through the sea of angels that pierced the very core of heaven as the angels attacked.

  The leader of the demons stalked toward Brogan and demanded, “Why are you here? What have we to do with you?”

  “We are sent by the Lord. You will not prevail against the man of God,” Brogan told him as he lifted his sword and positioned himself to fight.

  “It’s over with. Face it, Isaac Walker’s family will be destroyed tonight, so tell your men to back off.”

  But Brogan wasn’t in the mood to listen to demon spawn. He took his sword and split the monster in half and then moved on to cut down as many demons as he could find.

  Luke wasn’t sleeping on the job either. He swooped down on a group of demons. The surprise of seeing this magnificent warrior angel left the gorilla-monster-like demons in mouth dropping, slime oozing surprise. Luke wasted no time in slicing them from gullet to gut.

  None of the angels were being shy about handling their business. In no time at all the multitude of demons had been banished back to the abyss. When they were finished, Brogan sheathed his sword as he sniffed the air. It was clear.

  “Isaac Walker ought to be able to handle Lou now that he doesn’t have the help of those demons bolstering him on.”

  “I have no doubt. We have cleared the way. And Isaac will now be able to take on his enemy as well.”

  ~~~~

  Lou and Bobby-Ray stepped out of the car. They took pleasure in the pain etched on Isaac’s face. “What’s wrong?” Lou asked gleefully, “Don’t you recognize him?”

  Isaac didn’t care what happened to hi
m, but he wasn’t in the mood to ask for permission to open the car door and get his son. If it was locked, he was going to snatch it off the hinges. The way he was feeling at this very moment, he could choke Lou and Bobby-Ray with his bare hands and send them off to hell where they belonged.

  The door opened. Lou said, “I didn’t give you permission to open that.”

  He tried to take the door handle out of Isaac’s hand but Isaac turned around and zapped him with a taser and then in the next second he sprayed Bobby-Ray with the pepper spray. “Back off,” Isaac told them as if he was the one with the gun rather than some spray and a taser.

  While Isaac was untying Donavan’s legs, Lou pulled out his gun and tried to shoot Isaac. Ikee ran outside and tased Lou again.

  “Help me get your brother in the house.” Isaac pulled Donavan out of the car. Ikee grabbed hold of Donavan’s arm and helped him move towards the house while Donavan moaned at every step. “Keep going,” Isaac told them. “Don’t stop.”

  Bobby-Ray looked like he was recovering from the pepper spray so Isaac zapped him while he made his way towards the house behind his sons. Lou recovered from the zap Ikee gave him, and got off the ground again, dazed and a little confused about why his gun wasn’t shooting since he had pulled the trigger numerous times.

  “Forget it,” Lou said as he took the butt of the gun and cracked Isaac over the head with it. Isaac went down like a lead balloon.

  As Ikee and Donavan burst through the door, Iona rushed into the room, and aimed her gun at Lou as he stood over her father. “Don’t even try it.”

  “What you gon’ do?” Lou barked. “It’s not like you can hold that gun on me and Bobby-Ray. And if I don’t get what I came here for, trust me, one of us is going to shoot this old man.”