She pursed her lips and continued. “If Moriarty was present at Toomey’s show of support for UCD, then that event must be important. But is it just because of the kids, or does the bigger Green agenda come into play? UCD is a United Nations undertaking. Do either of you know if UCD has any affiliation with the Global Religions Initiative?”
Jason and Evans looked at each and shook their heads.
Immediately Jason pulled out his phone. “I know who can tell us.”
He composed a quick text message and sent it. Over the next five minutes everyone was silent while they finished their meals.
The phone at Jason’s hand buzzed and he read the text that had come from Ted Wordlaw’s secretary. To his query as to whether the UCD had any ties with the UN’s GRI, the one-word response was: Yes.
“Affirmative,” he said.
“Which means,” Evans said, “your suspicions are probably correct. Something big may be happening on Universal Children’s Day.”
“Something,” Lizzy added, “that could be the beginning of the end.”
Chapter 51
Jason gave Lizzy a spare key to his house, where she would be staying the next couple of days. She had plenty of work to keep her busy that afternoon tying together loose ends from other clients. When he got home at 6:15, she surprised him by being in the middle of making dinner.
“I didn’t expect that,” he said. “Beautiful and talented.”
She kissed him and said, “We’ll see what you think about that after you’ve eaten my food.”
They sat on the couch later and talked. It gave them an opportunity to further get to know each other. When their conversation grew intimate, Jason, who wouldn’t have thought twice in the past about going to bed with Lizzy; in fact, had thought about it much following their passionate embrace on the mountain in North Carolina, reached up to remove her arms from around his neck.
He held her at arm’s length and said, “Um, this is awkward.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to make love with me.”
“I do! It’s just that, for some reason I’m having these moral thoughts about right and wrong and what God would think of it.”
“Tell me you’re kidding.”
He gestured helplessly. “Lizzy, the more I’m with you, the more I want to be with you. But I keep getting this inner sense that it’s got to be done the right way.”
“Which is…?”
It was so frustrating. He’d never experienced anything like this before. How to even explain it?
In a small voice he said, “Only within the bounds of marriage, not outside it.”
Lizzy pulled back. “What are you saying? That you want us to get married? Don’t you think we’re a little early in this relationship to go there?”
Jason held up his hands. “No, no. That’s not what I’m saying; not now anyway. I guess I just don’t think we should have sex until the right time. And maybe there’s never a right time. Maybe it won’t work out between us. But if it does, I want it to be—I can’t believe I’m saying this—what God wants for us.”
“That’s just bizarre.” It appeared to frustrate her as much as it did him.
“Believe me, it’s too weird for words. I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately. This is what’s come from that. What can I say?”
She sat quietly to process things. From what little Jason knew about Lizzy and her beliefs, she might decide this was too crazy for her and that would be the end of it.
“Actually…” She scratched her head in a perplexed sort of way. “I haven’t told anyone else this, but I’ve been having some God thoughts lately also.”
“Seriously? Like what?”
“Now that I think of it, maybe your stuff isn’t so strange. I can’t pinpoint why, but I seem to have this desire to attend church. That’s wacky, isn’t it? My parents tried having us go to church when I was young, but after a couple Sundays of that, we never went again. I really don’t know anything about God, just what people in the environmental movement I hung around with said. That God was a moral monster because He ordered whole groups of men, women, and children to be annihilated. That most of the things Jesus supposedly said were made up. That much of the Bible is nonsensical because so many things in it make no sense, like Jesus’ mom—who they say was a virgin—getting pregnant by a ghost; or Jesus dying and coming back to life then flying up into heaven. Some people say it might even have been a UFO that beamed Him up.”
Lizzy shifted position beside Jason. “With all that floating around in my head, Christianity never had much appeal. Why would I want to follow a religion like that which defied all rational logic? And yet, just like you, I’ve been having this urge to—I can’t even describe it—what?—seek out God?
Jason burst out laughing. “You know what you sound like?”
Giving him a dirty look, Lizzy said, “No, what?”
“Like somebody being hauled, kicking and screaming, into a place she doesn’t want to be, but can’t resist the person dragging her.”
She snorted. “I suppose. Well, since we’re not sleeping together, show me my bedroom. Tomorrow’s another day.” She gave Jason a chaste kiss as she got up.
Jason got her settled and lay in his own bed alone, hands under his head, staring in the dark at the ceiling, wondering what was going on that both of them seemed to have these un-sought-after God thoughts.
Just like with Lizzy, it was beyond him as well, since he didn’t have much religious background either. He slipped into a perplexed, yet deep sleep.
***
It felt like someone poking him. Jason rolled over and tried to avoid the persistent thrust of a finger stabbing him in his side. He groaned and opened his eyes.
A fleeting apparition in white disappeared.
Trying to figure that out, he smelled the gas.
A curse escaped his lips, and he ran toward the second bedroom, woozy, but determined. “Lizzy! Get up. We have to get out of here. There’s gas in the house!”
He shook her but got minimal response. The gas had already begun its dance of death.
Jason struggled to clear his head. His knees buckled. His arms felt leaden.
“Lizzy! Open your eyes. Can you hear me?”
A slight moan. She was still alive. Thank you, God.
He dropped to the floor and hefted her limp body in a fireman’s carry. Jason was strong, and Lizzy couldn’t weigh more than one fifteen, but the fumes took their toll. Only on the third try was he able to rise to his feet.
The carpet grabbed at him, like it had tentacles that wanted to drag him down. He stumbled through the door into the hall. The back door was closest. Lizzy’s weight pushed down on him. His bare feet slid haltingly along the floor. Friction seemed to keep him from moving.
His head wanted to burst. Where was he going? Memory and determination faded.
He stopped. What am I doing?
In the middle of the kitchen he looked helplessly at the door only eight feet away. There’s a reason I’m here. Is it the door?
Lizzy’s weight was too much. All his limbs became jelly. Sit down. Rest a while.
With that thought and his downward motion to the floor, arms lifted and propelled him. The door opened of its own accord. The next instant he was two hundred feet from the house in the neighbor’s yard. Again, a momentary glimpse of a figure in white.
Outside lights came on at the neighbor’s porch. Sirens sounded in the distance.
A heavy weight came over Jason’s eyes.
Chapter 52
“He should be with us soon.”
“It was a close call for both of them.”
Jason swam upward toward consciousness. He was in a small room, a nurse on either side of his bed. A pounding headache threatened to lift his head from his body.
“Where am I?”
“Oh, good, you’re awake. You’re at Loyola University Medical Center—in the Emergency Room. It was touch and go with you and your friend for a w
hile.”
He tried to sit up but the hammering in his head drove him back down.
“Lizzy’s okay?”
“About like you,” said the nurse. “A little worse for wear, but alive and kicking.”
“Thank God.”
One of the nurses gave him a questioning look. “Are you religious?”
He wanted to shake his head but thought better of it. “I haven’t thought so until recently.”
The nurse that hadn’t spoken left the room. The remaining one said, “You never know when God will show up.” She patted his arm and was about to leave.
“When can I see Lizzy?”
“She’s in the room next door. Give it an hour and let’s see what the doctor has to say.”
They had been brought in unconscious, both fighting for their lives. In the hours they’d spent in the Emergency Room, both had recovered sufficiently for the doctor to allow their release after another hour of observation. Jason learned from the physician that his house was intact. The fire department had found the source of the gas leak and cleared the house of the noxious fumes. His neighbor had unexpectantly awakened, saw them stumble out of the house, and called 911.
As Jason and Lizzy gathered themselves to leave the hospital, two policemen showed up. After convincing them that neither had desired to commit suicide, one of the policemen asked, “Who wants you dead?”
They were sitting in a small waiting room where no one else was at the moment. Lizzy said, “Why are you asking that?”
The policemen exchanged glances. “The gas line was tampered with. This was no accident.”
Neither Jason nor Lizzy volunteered any information. Each expressed bewilderment. Finally, they were allowed to leave.
Back at Jason's house where the taxi dropped them, they examined where the gas line fed into the house.
“Whoever did it was inside,” Jason said.
Lizzy did a one-eighty in the basement where they stood. “All your windows are glass block except for that one. Even though the glass isn’t broken, look at the latch.”
It had to be where their assailant had entered. The fire department had simply closed the window but not done anything with the lock.
“I’ve been meaning to get that done. My procrastination almost made it too late.”
A sparkle of glass with a tint of color hiding under the bottom edge of the dryer caught his eye. He bent to see what it was. When he came up with it, his face was a study in concentration.
Lizzy noticed. “What’d you find?”
He held up the item sitting in the palm of his hand.
She covered her mouth. “Oh, my. That looks familiar. I assume you haven’t been playing games with the neighborhood kids down here?”
“Nope. I’ve never liked these things because of the association from back home.”
“Understandable.” Lizzy plucked the marble from him and examined it. “Not your run-of-the-mill cats-eye.”
Indeed, it didn’t sport the typical colors that school children had with a red, green, yellow, or blue vertical banana injected into the hand-blown glass. The image it presented was more realistic: a long black slit surrounded by reddish-brown that edged into a grayish-brown and encircled by black. Jason could picture an actual cat with an eye like this.
The truth revealed by this simple marble wearied Jason. He couldn’t understand the hatred and sheer evil behind his brother’s actions.
Lizzy walked over to the basement window where their assailant had entered. “For Rick to squeeze through here he would have had to contort himself pretty good. Maybe that’s when he lost the marble.”
“Right.” Jason sat down on the nearby weight bench, where he worked out when he couldn’t get to the gym. “Why would Rick do this?”
“Rick Ruger is a vile, conceited, jealous man. The difference between you and your brother is vast. He obviously feels threatened and figures that without us around, his life would be easier.”
“He’s always had those stupid marbles. I can’t tell you how many times I told him to stop playing with them. The persistent sound of their knocking each other drove me crazy. Now we know one of the people out to get us.”
“Remember, Rick disappeared back home several days ago. You know your feeling yesterday?” Lizzy said. “When we were in the restaurant? I guess you had that right. Just a little bit early.”
“I thought of that. Now I wonder who they wanted dead, you or me?”
“Or both,” Lizzy said. “But, if Rick came up here before me, that may indicate you were in his crosshairs.”
“It makes me angry. Not only do Rick and his scumbag associates kidnap and molest children; now they’re after us as well.” Jason gently gripped Lizzy by the upper arms. “I want you to know. I’m really glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.”
She smiled. “Me too. But now what?”
“What they just did. It upped the ante. I don’t care what my bosses say—what case I can or can’t work on. This has become doubly personal. They’ve declared all out war. And they’ve done it to the wrong guy. Are you with me?”
“Completely.”
Chapter 53
Once Jason briefed Nancy Evans on the attack, she became indignant and offered to join forces with them. She suggested that Jason sweep his house for bugs before they had a working dinner.
To his dismay, he found a number of listening devices. It riled him even more, increasing the sense of violation. He took a last bite of pizza and said, “Before we get down to business, I need to ask you a question, Nancy, a religious one.”
She sipped her ginger ale. “Go for it.”
“I haven’t told Lizzy this,” he flashed her a quick smile, “so I’m also springing it on her. What do you know about angels?”
Evans cocked her head. “Why do you ask?”
Jason swallowed hard. “I think one saved our lives last night.” He continued to outline what he’d seen or thought he’d experienced.
At his description, Lizzy’s eyes went wide. “I couldn’t move during that whole time. It’s like I was paralyzed. I heard you calling me from a distance, but had no body control. However, I had one point where…” she tried to find the words, “a being, a man in white appeared to me while I was in that catatonic state and told me everything would be all right. He told me not to fear.”
“Wow.” Jason shook his head. “I think it was that same guy who helped me. What just happened, Nancy?”
“I think you both had a divine encounter. Sounds like God has His hand on you both and has plans for you.”
Lizzy said, “Jason and I were just talking last night about the doubts I’ve had regarding the supernatural. Now this. What could God possibly be doing to inject that kind of thing into our lives?”
Evans pointed at the file on the dining room table that held information for the Global Religions Initiative. “Maybe it’s related to that. Don’t they embrace all religious expression plus the mystic and occult? Maybe God needs you ready to accept things beyond the natural, outside your comfort zones. So that when you encounter them—things that are evil and not of this world—that you won’t dismiss them out of hand. And perhaps call on the Name of Jesus to help you.”
Jason knew that Lizzy felt as inadequate to respond to that declaration as he did.
Chapter 54
Jason extracted the Gaiatic Charities file from its secure hiding place. The three of them poured over its contents and discussed them in light of the many other pieces of information they’d learned: UCD, GRI, the Georgia Guidestones, Senator Toomey’s lust for power and subservience to Stephen Moriarty, Jason’s brother Rick and his deadly involvement. Lizzy even brought the Ruger family business into it. Jason added his knowledge of the abductions of children, his ex-wife Mary Sue, and his alter ego of Smiley on his Cheshire Cat blog. Everything was on the table.
Nancy Evans laced her hands behind her head. “It’s a lot, but what do we do w
ith it? Especially since we can’t officially work on the case.”
“What if I took a leave of absence so I can go where I need to and do what I have to?” Jason proposed. “If you stay connected at the office, Nancy, when we need inside information, you could provide it.”
She considered the idea. “It could get a little dicey with Drennan around, but I’m in. Norris seems like he’s okay with some of our extracurricular activities, so hopefully he’ll run interference when necessary.”
“What do you want me to do?” Lizzy asked.
“If it’s all right with you, why don’t you go home and figure out Rick’s haunts. I’ll head back to North Carolina as soon as I can extract myself from work, and we’ll address that personal side of this business.”
***
It didn’t happen as Jason had envisioned. He’d missed work the prior day while in the hospital emergency room until almost noon. Upon his arrival the following morning, Norris Malony spotted him as he approached his desk.
His boss came over and said with a pinched expression, “Drennan wants to see you.”
“Wonderful.” He detoured for a mug of coffee and knocked on the Branch Chief’s door.
The man was waiting for him and pounced immediately. “You’re suspended starting right now.”
Of the many things Drennan could have said, that wasn’t what Jason expected. Rather than put him on defense, it triggered an ill-considered outburst of offense. Later, when he thought about the encounter, he wished that he’d held his tongue by counting to ten first.
“I know what you’re up to Drennan. You’re up to your eyeballs in illegal activities. I’d be very surprised if you haven’t been bought off. Tell me, Steve, what’s your connection with Smithfield Academy?”
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