by Mark Romang
“Andrew, we need to talk with you. Three of the four Skeptikos Alliance agents that were staying in town have been murdered. Someone cut their brake lines. Their Escalade was found at the bottom of Rustler’s Gulch. No one survived the crash. And you are the number one suspect. Please turn yourself in. It will be better for you if you do. Otherwise an arrest warrant will be issued in your name. I couldn’t be more serious about this, Andrew. You’re in a heap of trouble. Don’t make me come after you. Stop by the police station as soon as you can.”
Maddix turned off his phone and removed the battery. He hung his head. Never had he felt such discouragement. His life spiraled into an earthly hell, and he could do nothing to stop the rapid descent. He would turn himself in as Crenshaw requested, but not right away. He had to find and retrieve the Eden sword first. He couldn’t allow the sword to enter the general population.
His mind groped for answers. What would Webb do? Where would he go? Who would he sell the sword to? Maddix got up from his seat and tapped Miller on the shoulder. “Do you have enough fuel to drop me off at St. George?”
“I suppose so. There is an airport in St. George.”
“No need to fly into the airport. Just drop me off somewhere close to the city limits.”
“What are you up to, Andrew?” Miller asked.
Maddix sighed. “I’m just acting on a hunch, Kyle. And whatever you may hear about me in the next few days, it’s probably not true. Remember that.”
“Okay, that sounds a little disturbing.”
Maddix patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about anything, Kyle. Just pray for me. Pray hard.”
Chapter 39
St. George, Utah. 3:30 a.m.
The 45 mile flight from Zion National Park to St. George went quickly. On the western side of St. George, Miller found a golf course and performed a taxi hover thirty feet over the back nine. Maddix slid down the fast-rope and landed on a fairway bordering the fourteenth hole. He started walking toward the downtown business district but stopped when he heard a quiet thud behind him.
Maddix turned. Sara jogged up to him. “What are you doing, Sara? You shouldn’t be here.”
“You’re not going anywhere without me. Webb has really ticked me off. I’m going to kick him in the groin the first chance I get.”
Maddix watched the MD-500 helicopter ascend and fly off in a northward direction. Whether he liked it or not, he had a companion. He held out his right hand. “Give me your cell phone, Sara.”
“I left it at home.”
“Good. That makes things easier.” Maddix angled his way toward the cart path and started walking toward the twinkling lights of downtown St. George. The town of nearly 75,000 people sat low in a desert valley.
“Hold on. Why did you ask for my cell phone?”
Maddix ignored her and kept walking. He didn’t want to tell Sara the truth that police were trying to triangulate cell towers in an attempt to find him.
“I’ve never seen you behave like this. Why are you being rude to me?” Sara persisted.
“I don’t want you get hurt. And I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.”
“How will I get in trouble? The demons are all neutralized. And we didn’t get caught fighting them. It’s over. We did it.”
“I wish it was that simple, Sara.”
“Okay, what did you do?”
Maddix stopped walking and faced her. “I didn’t do anything wrong. But the Felicity Police Department thinks otherwise.”
“I don’t understand, Andrew. You’re going to have to stop being so vague.”
Maddix sighed. “You remember the day I was talking to you in your store about the men in the Escalade following me around town?”
“Of course I do. It was only the day before yesterday.”
“Well, after I left your store I went over and talked to the men. It didn’t go well. Things got heated. The driver of the Caddy jumped out and got in my face. He jabbed me in the chest more than once. I placed my hand on his chest to keep him from crowding me. And then he just flopped on the ground like I’d shoved him. I left and went back to my apartment, and the driver went directly to the police station and pressed charges.”
“Okay, this isn’t ideal but it could be worse.”
“Oh, it is worse. Trust me.”
“What are you trying to say, Andrew?”
“Three of those men in the Escalade were killed last night. Their vehicle was discovered at the bottom of Rustler’s Gulch. The men were found dead inside the vehicle. Their brake lines had been cut. I just called my answering machine. Jack Crenshaw left a message urging me to turn myself in. He said I was the number one suspect.”
“That’s crazy. You would never do something like that.”
“I know. But it’s only natural they would focus their investigation on me.”
“What are you going to do? Are you going to turn yourself in?”
“Not until I take the Eden sword back from Webb,” Maddix said firmly. “Look, Sara, there are plenty of motels and hotels in St. George. You should go get you a room and get some sleep. Take a bus back to Felicity in the morning. I don’t want you to be wrongly accused of being an accessory.” Maddix studied her face. Moonbeams only cast a dim light on her. But he could still see the inner turmoil roiling inside her.
“I’m staying with you. This burden you bear is too great for one person. You need help.”
“That’s a kind gesture, and I enjoy your company, Sara. But I won’t be able to live with myself if you end up in prison.”
“It won’t come to that.”
“It might. Are you willing to risk your future, your business, your loved ones, and everything else you hold dear to tag along with me?”
“I think I’ve already made myself clear.”
“Okay, you can hang with me on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“If we get caught, you tell the police I kidnapped you. I’ll admit to it and back up your story.”
“That’s noble of you, Andrew. But I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Those are my terms. Accept them and stay. Otherwise, I have enough cash for you to get a room and a bus ride back to Felicity.”
Sara considered his proposal for a long moment. “Okay, I’ll say you kidnapped me if we get caught.”
Maddix nodded and started walking again. Sara kept pace. They walked shoulder to shoulder on the cart path. Silence overtook them. Only bugs chirping and buzzing in the grass disturbed the quiet. The earthy symphony serenaded them all the way to the eighteenth green.
Maddix veered away from the clubhouse. Security lights bathed the structure in harsh light. And he was sure surveillance cameras were trained on the building and currently filming. He wanted to stay in the shadows as much as he could. He cut through the woods.
“Where are we going?” Sara asked, trying her best not to snap twigs and crunch leaves.
“I think there’s a city park not far from here. We’ll stay there until daybreak.” Although he’d only been in Utah a few months, he’d been to St. George a number of times. He thought he knew what golf course they were on.
“And then what?”
“I have a safe deposit box in a bank in St. George. I have a wad of cash and fake identification, as well as a throw-away, pay-as-you-go cell phone in the safe deposit box.”
“You certainly have an interesting skillset. Are you really a pastor, or are you an intelligence operative?”
“I’ve found it hard to make a clean break from my SEAL training. When Webb and I were on missions in foreign lands we always kept an emergency kit with stuff like this on us in case an extraction became too dangerous. We called it a “go bag.” When a mission fell apart we were expected to find our own way out of the country. Our focus became escape and evade.”
Maddix came to a narrow creek. He jumped over the water, and then held out his hand for Sara. Her soft hand slipped into his as if it was a natural
thing to do. Her hand fit like a glove in his. Their fingers interlocked. Sara hopped the creek, and Maddix reluctantly let go of her hand.
A road soon appeared at the forest boundary. Maddix scanned the deserted road for a second and determined it was the entrance/exit road to the golf course.
“There’s only one way to go, Andrew.”
“I know. Come on; let’s stick to the edge of the road in case we need to duck back in the woods.” They headed south, following the road. At this hour the road remained deserted. They had the road to themselves. A quarter-mile later they came to a park. There was a pavilion and a bathroom to go along with the playground.
Maddix studied the pavilion. He didn’t see any mounted cameras and deemed it safe to enter. He and Sara entered the shelter and slumped down on the picnic table.
“Okay, it’s four in the morning. Banks don’t open until nine. What do we do for five hours?” Sara asked.
“We wait. It’s all we can do. We can take naps to kill time. But we have to do it in shifts.”
Sara looked at him. “I know you’re a private man, Andrew. So forgive me for prying. But what got you to this point in your life?”
“Huh?”
Sara tapped the picnic table. “What life events brought you here to this table in this pavilion?”
The question caught him off guard. His near death experience came immediately to mind, but it never occurred to him there may be other events, other factors that brought him here to this fateful moment. “Why do you want to know?”
Sara looked away briefly, shook her head, and then returned his gaze. “You’re like an action hero in a novel or movie. Nothing can stop you, not even the devil. But I don’t know how you arrived here. Every hero has a backstory that shapes who they are. What is yours?”
“Where do I start?”
Sara laughed. “You always start at the beginning. It’s where you begin.”
Maddix cleared his throat. “Okay, I grew up in California. I have no siblings. My parents were both collegiate swimmers. So swimming is in my genes. I started swimming competitively when I was six. I broke about every high school boy’s record in California. I won the state championship four years in a row. My parents dreamed I would someday be an Olympian. But that was their dream, not mine.
“My dream was to be a Navy SEAL. It was an unshakeable dream. So when I told my parents I was thinking of turning down a full ride swimming scholarship at Stanford, my parents went ballistic and said they would disown me if I joined the Navy.” Maddix paused. Recalling the estrangement still wobbled him. After all this time, the scab covering his heartbreak still hadn’t healed. It kept ripping open. “They kept their word. I haven’t seen them or talked to them in nine years.”
Sara gasped. “How could they do such a thing?”
Maddix shrugged. He dragged a hand along the wooden picnic table. “I’m still trying to figure that out. And I guess I never will. All I can come up with is that they never really loved me.”
Sara pawed at her eyes. “It can’t be that. There has to be a deeper reason. There always is. So then what happens? I know you achieved your boyhood dream and became a SEAL. And I know you had an accident that took your leg. But what made you become a pastor, a pastor that hunts demons?”
Maddix spent the next several minutes telling her about the Afghanistan tunnel, the landmine he stepped on, and his near-death experience that took him to the edge of hell.
“That is quite the story,” Sara said when he finished. “Thank you for sharing.”
“I wish I could say it was my pleasure to do so.”
Sara touched his forearm and squeezed it gently. “Facing pain and fears is scary. But it’s also beneficial. It can be healing if you do it enough.”
Maddix winced and jerked his arm back.
“I’m sorry. What did I do?”
“It’s nothing. One of the demons I fought sliced the sleeve of my fire suit. I have a small burn on my forearm.”
“We need to keep an eye on your arm. It could become infected.”
“It’s not that bad. It would have been a lot worse had I not rubbed the fire gel all over my body before I put the fire suit on,” Maddix said, wanting to deflect Sara’s attention away from his minor injury. “So what is your life story, Sara? I told you mine.”
Sara nodded. “Believe it or not, my life parallels yours in many ways. I don’t have a relationship with my parents either. And I was almost an Olympian.”
“Your parents disowned you?”
“No. They’re both dead. My mom died of cancer when I was twelve. And my dad died from a heart attack when I was seventeen.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I have one sister that I haven’t heard from in years. Erin is a lost soul. She’s addicted to crack cocaine. The last I knew she was living on the streets in Sacramento. I don’t want to know what she is doing for money.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your sister. That must be tough not knowing where she is or if she’s even alive.”
“It is hard. I think when my dad died Erin lost it emotionally. She turned to drugs to escape her grief. Now I’m afraid it’s too late for her.”
“It’s never too late, Sara. Keep praying for your sister. Never stop praying,” Maddix said. He massaged his right knee where his prosthetic attached. The upsurge in activity over the last three nights caused chaffing and inflammation to enter his skin. “So tell me about your Olympic aspirations. I can’t believe I didn’t know this. What event did you compete in?”
“Kayaking was my sport. But I never made the squad. I came about as close as you can get twice. I spent ten years of my life chasing the Olympics. But I’m over it now.”
“How did you get involved in kayaking?”
“I grew up in Colorado. My dad owned a white water rafting company. I worked as a guide during the summers when I was in high school. We guided people through the Royal Gorge. We also rented kayaks.”
“So when did you become a business owner?”
A breeze picked up and mussed Sara’s hair. She brushed her bangs back. “I went back to college after I retired from competitive kayaking. I became a corporate accountant. I absolutely hated it. I dreaded going to work every morning. And then one weekend I came down to Zion National Park and fell in love with canyoneering. I quit my accounting job and opened my store a little over a year ago.”
“I’m glad you found your calling. Most people search and search but never find theirs.”
“I’m not so sure I’ve found my true calling; the one God designed me for. I feel so restless, like I should be doing something more in life than guiding people through canyons and selling ropes and pitons.”
“A lot of people get tripped up on what God’s will is for their lives. God is good with any vocation as long as it’s honest. The true purpose of our existence is pretty simple. But we tend to complicate it.”
“So what is the meaning of life then? Why did God create me?” Sara asked.
“To know God and make him known to others.”
“That’s it?”
Maddix smiled. “That’s it. It’s truly liberating when you come to this realization. All the pressure to achieve just lifts off your shoulders.”
“I like that, Andrew. But for several years now I have felt like God is preparing me for something unique and special. Even now, I can feel him pruning me. Am I just imagining this?”
“He’s transforming all believers, little by little, day by day. What you’re feeling, Sara, is the Holy Spirit working within you.”
Sara yawned. “That’s awesome to think about.” She stretched her arms and yawned again. “I’m sorry to be a party pooper, but I really need a nap.”
“Be my guest. I’ll keep watch.”
“I think I will.” Sara turned away from him and then lay down on her back, resting her head on his leg. She sighed heavily and then fell asleep almost instantly.
Maddix watched her sleep. He lightly st
roked Sara’s head. His heart ached. He suddenly realized how lonely he’d been the past few years. He’d been flying solo for so long he forgot how pleasant it was to have a companion to share life with. Sara was nearly perfect for him. But he didn’t want to bring all his legal problems down on her. He couldn’t do that. She deserved better.
Maddix shoved his emotions back down into his mind, away from the surface and into the small closet where he kept them hidden. Sunrise would arrive soon. He needed to come up with a surefire plan, a blueprint for locating Webb and getting the Eden sword back.
Maddix looked up into the graying sky. Dawn approached, and with it a day filled with uncertainty. I could sure use some inspiration, God. I’m coming up blanks right now. Show me where Webb is. Delay his buyer. Place obstacles in his way. Help me get your sword back from Webb before the cops find me.
Chapter 40
Felicity, Utah—later that morning
The pounding on his front door interrupted Kyle Miller’s breakfast. Miller stood up from his kitchen table and left his warm scrambled eggs untouched. He tromped over to the door with a steaming coffee mug in his hand. He opened the door.
Police officer Jack Crenshaw and Sheriff Webster Morgan stared back at him. Their dour faces darkened the sun-drizzled morning. “Good morning, Jack. Good morning, Sheriff. How can I help you?”
“We need to talk, Kyle. Can we come in?” Crenshaw said.
“Of course you can. Have you two had breakfast? I overcooked again. I still haven’t learned how to cook for only one.”
“Yes, we’ve ate,” Sheriff Morgan said as he stepped across the threshold into Miller’s cluttered bungalow. Crenshaw followed him inside.
“Have a seat at the table. You two may have eaten but I haven’t. And my eggs are getting cold,” Miller said. He sat down at the table and started eating. Crenshaw and Morgan sat down at the table with him.