Truth Runner

by Jerel Law

  Jonah hadn’t called Eliza on the way, deciding that he’d rather talk to her in person first. But he had decided to call his dad, about an hour before the bus was set to arrive. They really talked for what felt like the first time all year. Jonah told his dad everything. He knew it was a lot for his father to take at once, but he had to know. Jonah figured his dad would be in New York soon.

  “It should be two more blocks this way,” said Frederick, studying the map on his phone. “We’re almost at the waterfront.” He glanced over at Jonah walking beside him. “You left so fast last year. I never really got to say it . . . but I’m sorry about your mom. I truly am.”

  Jonah nodded at Frederick, and he was surprised that he could barely remember what the South African boy had been like two years before when they’d met. He’d been so arrogant, but he’d changed a lot since then. The old Frederick was still in there, somewhere, and occasionally got out, but change was happening. Elohim was really working in Frederick’s life.

  “Thanks,” Jonah answered. “It’s been a hard year for everybody.”

  “We’re not going to let the same thing happen to your brother,” he added.

  The words hung in the air as they crept down the barely lit street. Jonah had tried to push the thought out of his mind—the one that reminded him that there was a very good chance that they wouldn’t find Jeremiah.

  “I think the water is just ahead,” Jonah said. They could make out a bridge lit up, and they could see the red brake lights of cars moving slowly across the East River. Wind whipped off the water, funneling down their block, and Jonah grimaced as it hit his face.

  Eliza stopped before they rounded the corner. “The yacht is supposed to be docked just down this street,” she said, pointing behind her. “We’re in the hidden realm, so we ought to be able to sneak on board without too much trouble. That will be the easy part.”

  Frederick chuckled. “Yeah, we know. The hard part is not getting seen by any of the nonhuman bad guys.”

  But she was hopeful. “When we find him, we ought to be able to just walk right off with him. No one will know.”

  “How do you think they’re holding him, though?” Hai Ling asked, a frown on her face. “Shouldn’t he just be able to walk away anyway? I mean, just enter the hidden realm and escape.”

  “Yes, I was actually kind of wondering the same thing,” said Julia.

  Eliza tugged at her lip. “I don’t know, and I have to admit, I’ve had those thoughts too. But the last I checked, none of us can walk out of an unlocked door, can we? We can’t walk through walls. It’s possible he’s stuck somewhere. Anyway, it’s time to go see. Just be on your guard.”

  They stepped around the corner, and ahead, docked on a long pier, was an enormous ship. It was mostly black and spanned almost the entire length of the pier. Blue lights ran the length of it, giving off a strange glow.

  “That’s a big boat,” said Frederick, whistling. “I’ve seen some large ones in South Africa before. But nothing close to that.”

  “It looks bigger than a football field,” Jonah said. He turned to Eliza. “That’s going to be a lot of rooms to search.”

  She walked faster, buoyed by the actual sight of the ambassador’s vessel. “The faster we get there, the quicker we can find him and get out of here.”

  I sure hope she’s right, Jonah said. He wanted to grab Jeremiah, maybe give him a shake or two for running off on his own, and then speed back to the safety of the convent as quickly as possible.

  He studied the boat as they approached. There was a long ramp that connected the yacht to the dock, and people in fancy clothes were all walking up onto the boat that way.

  “There are people getting on,” Andre observed. “Looks like a lot of them.”

  “And there are a lot of black limousines parked out in front,” Jonah said, pointing down the street. Several were pulling up, and a few had dropped off their passengers and were leaving. “They’re all dressed up. It looks like we’re not going to be the only ones on this ship tonight.”

  As they drew closer, and the boat became more visible with its upper deck lit up with music blaring, Jonah only felt a deeper darkness. The cold wind whipped, but the chill he felt had nothing to do with that. Something swept over him that almost made him stop.

  “Did you guys feel that?” he asked tentatively.

  “Yes,” said Julia, shivering beside him and stopping in the middle of the street. “I feel . . . a sadness. It’s hard to describe. There is something very, very bad on that boat.”

  “Yeah, I did too,” said Andre.

  Jonah looked at the yacht, and then back at Julia. “There’s an evil there. I can feel it.” He took a few steps to stand beside her. But what were they going to do, just leave? They couldn’t abandon the search—not if there was a chance Jeremiah was on that boat. “We have to do this, Julia. For Jeremiah, remember? Elohim is with us. Even in the darkness.”

  She shivered again, studying the lights on the coastline across the water for a few seconds. Finally, she nodded, turning into the wind again.

  “It won’t take us long,” said Eliza, “and then we’ll be off this boat and back home again.”

  Jonah stepped ahead, trying to at least appear brave in front of the rest. But he was shuddering inside, as much as any of the others. It was a coldness, and one he’d felt before.

  They scanned the top of the boat and all along the streets for signs of fallen angels, but, so far, they’d seen none. As they approached, though, Frederick pointed high.

  “Up there, at the top!” he whispered. “Four fallen angels, on guard!” He pulled them down behind a garbage bin.

  Jonah watched the fallen ones pace back and forth up above. They were watching the people board the boat. There was a security check at the front of the ramp where two officers were using scanners and checking purses.

  “There must be some famous people here,” said Andre. “They look fancy, and they’re all getting scanned.”

  They watched for another minute before Eliza spoke. “We have to get on this boat,” she muttered. “There seems to be only one way on. Here’s what we’re going to have to do . . .”

  After they’d huddled for a minute more, with Jonah keeping a careful eye above, they waited until he gave the signal. He watched the guards pacing slowly, trying to find a moment when they were all turned away.

  “Okay, go!” he said, and the six of them scurried out and into the street. The line of people boarding was right there, and they each quickly found a place in between a couple, spreading themselves out in the line and just trying to mix in with the crowd.

  “Keep your heads down. Whatever you do, don’t look up, and you should blend right in!” Eliza had told them.

  Jonah was almost at the end, sandwiched behind a couple who were both very short and very wide, and in front of another couple who both had the tanned faces and chiseled features of supermodels.

  Why did I decide to get behind the short people? He kicked himself for finding this spot, but he didn’t want to risk changing and giving the fallen angels above another reason to look.

  I guess if they saw us, we’ll be hearing from them soon.

  But as the line progressed forward, he realized they apparently hadn’t been seen yet. Andre appeared to be having the toughest time of it as the largest of the quarterlings. He peered back at Jonah a couple of times, looking as if he were trying to hold his breath, as he had wedged himself closely between two very talkative couples.

  If he ended up touching them . . .

  Jonah quietly prayed that they would all be able to make it through the line without shocking any of the guests with an accidental touch.

  He shuffled along, trying to keep his eyes on the wooden pier beneath his feet.

  “What an opportunity,” the supermodel woman behind him murmured. “I can’t believe we’re getting to do this, James. Everyone who is anyone in politics is going to be on this little boat.” She trilled with laughte
r at her joke.

  Jonah heard James, the other supermodel, lean in. “You-know-who is in town, dear. You never know. Rumor is, he might be making an appearance as well.”

  This caused her giddy laugh to rise even louder, and Jonah wondered whom it was they were referring to. But the way they were speaking, he thought he had a good guess.

  The short, portly woman in front of him turned and looked directly at him. He panicked for a second before reminding himself that there was no way she could see him. She wore an enormous strand of jewels around her neck, and he was close enough to see the caked-on makeup over her eyes and along her cheeks.

  “Darling,” she drooled, “have you never met the POTUS before? What a pity.”

  Jonah was all of a sudden stuck in the middle of a conversation.

  “POTUS?” The supermodel was clearly confused.

  The short man turned around, smiling at her, and eyeing her up and down. He took her hand in his, reaching right around Jonah, so that he had to stretch himself like a pretzel to avoid getting touched. “You know, the president of the United States. POTUS. He’s a personal friend of ours. I’d be happy to introduce you if he does indeed arrive.” He nodded to James. “And your friend, of course.”

  Jonah was having a hard time keeping his eyes on all four people surrounding him, to make sure no one reached out and put their hand through him or leaned in a little too close.

  Apparently, though, someone up ahead hadn’t been so lucky because a woman screamed.

  Jonah looked ahead, like everyone else in the line, trying to figure out what was going on. Andre stepped out of the line, his face bright red. The woman standing behind him was shaking her head and holding her chest.

  “Something shocked me!” she was saying. “Who did that?”

  TWENTY-THREE

  HEARING THINGS

  But no one around her had any answers. A man, who identified himself as a doctor, came over and checked her out, but she appeared unharmed.

  “Andre!” Jonah whispered, peeking up to see the fallen angels above, staring down at them. Andre was still standing outside the line, watching the woman and scratching his head. “Andre!”

  He turned toward Jonah and raised both hands in the air. What am I supposed to do? he was saying.

  Jonah pointed ahead. “Get back in line,” he said.

  Andre glanced up and then slowly moved closer to the line.

  The Fallen watched for another minute, but then kept pacing around the top deck. Jonah breathed a sigh of relief.

  They were moving forward, at least, and Eliza and Julia had reached the ramp. They walked across it slowly and finally made it to the end, disappearing inside the door of the yacht. Hai Ling and Frederick were next. Hai Ling looked back at Jonah several times, and he could tell she was nervous. But with Frederick’s encouragement, she made it.

  Jonah watched Andre go, trying to stay within the gap, and he prayed that somehow Andre wouldn’t touch anyone again.

  Jonah kept his head down as he walked across the ramp, sensing the darkness again, growing heavier with each step. Folding his arms across his chest, he tried not to let the shivering fear overtake him. He wondered if any of the people who were laughing and carrying on all around him felt anything at all.

  “We all made it,” said a relieved Eliza when Jonah met them just inside the doorway, underneath a stairwell. She glared at Andre. “Barely.”

  “What was I supposed to do?” he protested. “That woman just backed up into me. I couldn’t move out of the way fast enough.”

  Jonah watched the guests file up the staircase above their heads. He figured they were heading for the top deck.

  “Forget it,” Frederick said. “We made it on this ship. Now what? Anyone have a clue where to go?”

  Jonah was about to suggest that they split up and search the boat in pairs so that they could find Jeremiah faster.

  “I’m not splitting up,” said Hai Ling. “No offense to anyone here, but there’s something sinister on this yacht. I can feel it, and it’s creeping me out.”

  She shuddered visibly, and although Jonah thought the others would protest, Julia and Andre both nodded their heads.

  “Okay, then,” he said, looking at Eliza. “Want to all stay together?”

  “Considering everything we’re all feeling, that might be the best thing to do.”

  “Let’s go floor by floor,” said Julia. “It’s a huge boat, but it shouldn’t take too long if we move quickly.”

  They agreed that it would make the most sense to start at the top and move down, if they needed to, into the lower levels of the boat. Jonah led the way up the staircase, following the passengers upstairs until they were just below the top deck. A small spiral staircase led one more level up, and the last of the guests were on it.

  “This is the level below the top,” Jonah said. “I don’t think Jeremiah’s going to be up there in the open.”

  Frederick turned the handle of a door. It opened up into a narrow hallway. “This looks like a good place to start.”

  Eliza pushed herself in front of him. “You know I don’t even need say it, but keep your eyes open and alert for fallen angels. If we can get out of here without being spotted . . .”

  “It will be a miracle,” Andre finished her sentence.

  As they began to move down the hallway, a woman emerged from a door at the end, moving toward them quickly.

  “Step to the side, step to the side!” Eliza said.

  She was wearing black pants and a white dress shirt with a bow tie, carrying a tray of food on her shoulder. She was in a hurry.

  Andre sniffed the air as she passed by. “Shrimp,” he said excitedly. “I think that was shrimp!”

  “Missing dinner, are we?” said Frederick, patting Andre on the stomach. Andre nodded sadly.

  “Well, we’re not here to eat,” snapped Eliza. “But I think we’ve found the kitchen.”

  This was confirmed again when two more waiters, carrying their own trays full of delicious-smelling food, followed the other down the hallway. The quarterlings stood to the side again, Jonah having to duck not to get hit in the face by the trays, held aloft in the air.

  “There are other rooms down here that we should check,” Eliza said. “We need to be thorough.”

  Jonah tugged on a doorknob across from the kitchen entrance. It opened into a closet, full of all kinds of dry goods. “I think it’s just a pantry,” he said, pulling the door back shut.

  They opened three other doors along the hall, two containing some type of kitchen supplies. The third appeared to be some kind of break room for the staff, with a round table, chairs, and a small television set. “Nothing here,” Julia said, peering into the small, dark room.

  They moved down to the other end of the hallway, back past the spiral staircase.

  “Now this is quite different,” said Frederick with a low whistle. A door to a room was open in front of them, and through it, they could see a fancy sofa, a couple of lamps, a flat-screen television turned on to a twenty-four-hour news station, and a bank of huge windows.

  Suddenly, a man emerged, straightening his black bow tie. They slammed themselves against the wall as he strode by, Andre’s head making a thunking sound. The man paused for a second, as if he had heard something. But, seeing nothing, he shook his head and hurried past them, bounding up the staircase.

  “That was him,” said Eliza. “That was Ambassador Cherkov.”

  “The guy who owns this boat?” asked Hai Ling.

  Eliza nodded.

  “Then this must be the master suite,” Hai Ling said, and without waiting for the others, she moved into the huge room directly underneath a crystal chandelier.

  “Hai Ling,” Jonah said. “Wait for us, all right?”

  “This is pretty fantastic, don’t you think?” she gushed. “Even if there is a creepy feeling I still get on this ship. I mean, look at the view!”

  Eliza stood with her hands on her hips. “We don
’t have time for you to do a yacht tour of the rich and famous, Hai Ling. He’s obviously not here.”

  Eliza turned and strode out of the room, followed by the rest, with Hai Ling taking up the rear.

  “I just wanted to check out the view,” she muttered.

  There were two more rooms on that hall, smaller, but just as nicely decorated, but both were empty.

  “This hall’s clear,” said Jonah. “Let’s go down one more and do it again.”

  They went down the steps again in a single-file line, having to avoid two more servers on the way.

  “Must be quite a party they’re having,” Hai Ling said longingly, watching the servers pass.

  “Focus, Hai Ling,” said Julia. “I know you love all of this glamorous stuff, but we’re not here for that right now.”

  Jonah led the way into the next floor, which was another series of rooms. These were all smaller guest rooms, as well as what appeared to be sleeping quarters for the crew. A quick search of the rooms found them to be entirely empty, with no one in the hallway.

  The next level down was back where they entered the boat. Two guards stood beside the doorway where the ramp led back down to the pier. They were husky men with thick necks and earpieces on their ears. Jonah saw the glimmer of a gun inside one man’s jacket, attached to his waist. They were watching the ramp closely, and in silence, even though no one was coming up anymore. He saw two more stationed at the bottom, the ones who’d been scanning the guests.

  “They’re taking this seriously, don’t you think?” he murmured as they moved past the guards, invisible.

  “I’m pretty sure I saw the prime minister of South Africa in line earlier,” said Frederick. “They’d do well to guard this yacht carefully.”

  There were two hallways to search on this level, just like the last. This one, however, seemed dedicated to entertainment. On one end was a large game room, with a pool table, video games, and six large flat-screen televisions on the wall.

  “This wouldn’t be a bad place to watch a soccer match, would it?” Andre said, touching the soft leather of the club chairs in front of the TVs.