Chapter 16
“So, we meet again, Doctor.”
“Hesidence, why did you do that? And why are you here or even better, how did you know that I was going to be here?” I growled at the C.I.A. Director.
“C’mon now, Doctor, this is the C.I.A. We should be able to find out little things like your whereabouts and your schedule. Besides I needed to talk to you and it had to be alone and away from the Prophet’s compound. Don’t worry about the tire, my agents are putting on the spare for you,” he said as his face went from a friendly smile to a concerned frown. I sat quietly and nodded at him to go on. “First of all, I want to remind you that I am interested in information concerning the messiah you made.”
“Listen, Director, you are really starting to irritate me. I cloned some DNA and out of it came a man. That man is Jesus. There was no crime in what I did and I wish you would quit talking to me like I did something wrong,” I snapped at him.
The smile came back across his face. “You’re right, Matt. I’m sorry. It is still the feelings of the agency that Jesus is planning something that could effect the well being of this nation and many others. We need help.”
“There’s nothing I can say,” I told him as I pulled my eyes away from his. My mind struggled with what he said. Was it just the paranoid pipe-dreams of a government agency that had outlived its usefulness? Or was he right? Had I created the beast that Hesidence believed Jesus to be?
“I understand, Doctor. Let me go on to the second subject. As you know, there are several groups that do not feel that Jesus is the messiah. Many of them are part of the dissenters movement. Two of those groups are planning to assassinate Jesus on his way to Disney World tomorrow. One group is out of Georgia with strong Klan connections that could make them very dangerous. The other one is from the northern and central sections of Florida. Both groups are tough enough to rip off your head and spit down your neck,” Hesidence said.
“Thanks for the graphic description. I can’t figure out what you want me to do. One geneticist against a bunch of psycho soldier wannabees can’t do much. If I could have gotten to them before birth I might have been to alter their brains so they could have used them but I’m afraid I’m powerless once a person goes beyond a single gene,” I argued.
“We’ll take care of the dissenters. I just want you to delay the departure time so I can get my decoys in place.”
“Couldn’t you just tell Bishop Russo. He’d change the whole thing if he knew the seriousness of the situation,” I said.
“I don’t want Russo, Thompson or Jesus to know what’s going on. I would prefer that they had no idea how close we are watching. Besides, if the dissenters knows your schedule then they have an informant in the mansion. Can you delay him about fifteen minutes until we get our people in place ahead of you?” Hesidence requested.
I nodded my head yes and the Director pushed the door open. I exited and climbed back into my borrowed car. I was too shaken to continue my trip but I was also sure that my quick return would bring too many questions. I forced myself to continue as planned.
The next morning, the whole household got up early and prepared for our Disney adventure. I swear, most of them were acting like little kids getting ready to meet Mickey Mouse. Several times during the preparations, I needed to excuse myself. My stomach was killing me. The stress of knowing what was going to happen left me with a slight case of diarrhea. Moments before we left, another attack sent waves of nausea through me. At first I cursed the ache inside me until it struck me that I had the perfect excuse to save Jesus’ life.
The cars had been brought around to the front. Everyone climbed into one or the other of the two limousines. I was the last one to enter. The moment I stuck my head in the car, I stopped and spoke to the others, “I’m sorry but this is terribly embarrassing but I need to run to the bathroom again. Maybe you should all go on without me.”
It was Thompson who responded true to form. “No way, Matthew. We can wait while a guy takes care of business. I don’t think that Mickey will close the place down if we aren’t there exactly on time. A few minutes won’t hurt at all.”
My stall was all that Director Hesidence needed. Two identical limos to the ones we were riding in pulled out from around the corner and assumed our pathway to the park. What happened never hit the papers but Hesidence let me in on the details in a later meeting.
The lead limousine would have been the one I was in and the following car would have carried Jesus, Russo, Laura and Thompson. The limos we were in were not armored. Bullets could have riddled the glass and metal driving home death blows to Jesus and the others in the car.
The dissenter’s plan was fairly simple: they were to pick off the limousines as they passed. My first reaction was that the C.I.A. simply needed to arrest the shooters. What I didn’t know was that there were several possible hit sites and Hesidence wasn’t sure which one they would use. He needed to draw their fire with identical decoys of our vehicles. I thought it ironic that a clone would have his life spared by a clone of another type.
As the decoys took the regular route to Disney World from the Prophecy Center, an assassin was spotted on the First National Bank roof. Hesidence’s agents moved in and eliminated him. Over the route there were six other attempts and all were thwarted. In two cases, shots were fired before agents captured the shooters. Had we been on that route, we would have been dead.
Meanwhile, our two limos pulled out of the estate and found an Orlando police officer in the middle of the street. She told us, “We’re sorry but there’s been an accident up ahead and we’re re-routing traffic. I’d suggest Okeechobee Boulevard for the next few blocks and then to the highway.”
Beth stuck her head out the window and asked, “Is anyone hurt? Maybe we can help.” In her mind, I imagine she was thinking of the messiah’s miraculous powers. Not that I had ever seen them work in the realm of healing of accident victims but Beth was still believing on and off that Jesus could be the real thing. I was getting more serious doubts by the day.
“No, mam. Everyone is fine but the street is filled with disabled vehicles.” With that the police officer turned back to her post. We took Okeechobee Boulevard as instructed and arrived at Disney World about a half hour behind schedule.
Disney’s usual proficiency moved us quickly into the theme park and onto Main Street, U.S.A. There was enough of a Disney personnel bubble around the messiah and the rest of us to keep the crowds from pressing in. In many ways this was one of the funniest sights I had ever seen. Jesus walking down the streets of Disney World with his mouth hanging open, staring at the man-made wonders. I believed that I saw the little child come out in him. That kid-like innocence that Bishop Russo had robbed from him was racing from his eyes and gushing out in the “ooos” and “ahhs” he constantly uttered.
We had just exited Main Street and turned right to head up the small hill by the food stand and then into the Future. The Prophet thought it would be the perfect photo op to have himself and Jesus standing in Future Land. I hadn’t taken more than five steps into the future when I was surrounded by the Seven Dwarfs. They were all jabbering and talking away. The others had stopped to watch while the horde herded me away from them.
I was getting irritated at these cartoon escapees when one of them, Grumpy, leaned in close and said, “Doctor, please come with me, Director Hesidence is waiting for you in the Enchanted Castle.”
“Tell him that I am here with my wife and don’t want to play his silly, secret agent games,” I barked back as I pushed Grumpy out of my way. But Grumpy pushed back at me and growled, “This is not a request and I’m not that excited about being dressed in this hot, ridiculous costume. So don’t make a sweet little cartoon character beat the tar out of you and drag you along the miserable walkway.”
Grumpy was grumpy enough but when he flipped out and threatened to pound me I quickly smiled and said, “After you, dwarfs. Is the Director dressed as Snow White?” I called to the others to go on into Future Land while I traveled with my seven favorite diminutive friends to find the facilities.
Hesidence stood inside the door that went up to the Castle’s restaurant. He was casually dressed in a Mickey t-shirt, sunglasses, ugly plaid Bermuda shorts and a camera swung around his neck. I would’ve laughed except that there were probably a hundred other men in the park dressed with much poorer taste.
He greeted me, “Matthew, I’m sorry for having to bring you to me this way. It does seem a little like overkill but I needed to get you away without any suspicion. I have to seek your help again.”
“What now?”
“We found out from one of the militia men that we captured that the groups had a fail-safe. One of them is here in the park. He is their best trained man in every area of weapons and explosives,” Hesidence grunted.
“It’s like that in every movie, isn’t it? Can’t you come up with some other story that isn’t so tired and lame?”
“Matt, listen to me. This is not a story. He’s on a suicide mission. The kook is wired with enough explosives to take out Jesus and all his entourage. That includes Beth. Now, if you don’t want to help, that’s OK,” Hesidence said as he looked into my eyes with his piercing, cold stare. He knew that mentioning Beth would be enough to win my agreement.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked.
“Get your whole group outta here,” he snapped.
“And how do I do that?” was my response.
“Take this,” Hesidence told me as he pulled a small pill from his pocket and showed it to me in his extended palm.
“What? Are we back in a bad spy movie again? I suppose this little pill will make me look like I’m having a heart attack,” I scoffed in his face.
“Yeah, you’re right. Now, take it so we can end this visit to the fantasy world before it ends your world.” He pushed it closer to me and I picked it out of his hand. Grumpy shoved a bottle of designer water in the other.
“Hesidence, what happens if this wacko catches up to us before you catch up to him? What do you want me to do, dance with him?” I asked sarcastically.
“Yeah, MacDonald, dance with him. Now, don’t be such a wise guy and get your friends out of here,” Hesidence retorted as he pulled his walkie-talkie to his ear.
I caught up with the group a few minutes later. I already felt the effects of the pill. My head dropped down to look at my watch. In another ten minutes, I’d drop to the ground with a sudden pain down my arm. I moved close to Beth and whispered, “I can’t explain what’s going to happen to me in the next few minutes but no matter what—don’t worry.”
She looked stunned and tried asking questions but I put my finger to my lips. Her eyes were filled with worry. Isn’t worry the craziest thing. We tell someone not to worry and the first thing they do is worry. Beth worried. I tried to relieve her before hand but I failed. I ended up extending the worry period for her.
In five minutes, the pains started slowly and with slight intensity. They would increase, I knew it. I moved in closer to Jesus with a grimace on my face. Each time a pain struck I flinched. He noticed it.
“Matt, what’s the problem? Is your stomach acting up again? Do we need to get you to a toilet?” he joked. I was about to say that I felt pains coming down my arm when I looked up. I stared at my old friend Grumpy who was walking away from the kid’s rides in Fantasy Land towards us. We were only a few steps from Space Mountain. I grinned at my dwarf friend. I had to laugh when I thought of the grouchy attitude of the agent inside the Grumpy costume. It was very appropriate. Then another pain hit.
I was ready to say something when Grumpy got closer. I thought I’d give him a little of his own medicine and drag the character into my heart attack scene. I stepped away from Jesus and walked toward Grumpy. “Grumpy, my old friend, it’s so good to see you again.” I threw my arms out and hugged him. They wrapped around the costume.
“Get off me, jerk,” Grumpy said in character but there were two things wrong. The voice was different and Grumpy was carrying some extra baggage strapped to his chest. Then the thought struck me, this was the assassin and I had my arms around him. In another three minutes, I would crumble to the ground in intense pain. It was lousy timing. I had the killer in my grasp but I had one hundred and eighty seconds to let the C.I.A. know or to take the militia madman out on my own.
Another pain hit and another few seconds ticked by. What could I do? I felt like I was Doctor McCoy on Star Trek and I should be saying, “Jim, I’m a doctor not a government agent.” But when the next pain hit, I knew I had to react quickly or Beth’s life might be endangered.
What could I do? Then I remember saying, “Hesidence, what should I do, dance with him?” That’s it. The pains were coming constantly but I had to dance. I needed to dance to save my life, my wife’s life and my friends’ lives. I pulled my arms away from the bomber and grabbed his two hands and screamed, “Let’s dance!” Arthur Murray lessons came in handy. I moved my aching body into a waltz. Grumpy was trying not to give himself away to the others but I’ve got to say that he wasn’t whispering sweet nothings in my ear as we twirled around on our paved dance floor. I took another spin when someone smashed my chest with a sledgehammer. I spasmed away from him and fell at his feet. The dance had ended. I had failed.
Things started to go black and I faded from the scene. It’s strange to have been in the midst of all that action and only know the events by what I was told and what I saw on the news. A woman was shooting a video of her family and had moved the camera to capture some shots of Jesus. Her video was all I saw from that point on because I was out cold.
When I fell, Beth screamed. The assassin didn’t have a chance to move before the C.I.A. grabbed him and whisked him into the underground system beneath Disney World.
The next thing I remembered was the back of an ambulance. I expected to see Beth’s face leaning over mine but what I got was the icy, deep lined face of Jack Hesidence. “Matt, wake up. The antidote should be working by now.
“Antidote?” I mumbled.
“Without the antidote you could have died,” Hesidence filled me in.
“I’m glad you told me that. I just wish you would have said it before and I might not have done it.”
The Director smiled and said, “That’s why I didn’t tell you before.” He patted me on the shoulder and smiled again. Smiles were so rare that I was surprised that I got two of them. “Doctor MacDonald, we got our man because of you. For a second, I couldn’t imagine what you were doing dancing with Grumpy. Then when one of the other agents asked why you were dancing it hit me. You said it as a joke but it was the signal we needed to move in and take the suicide bomber down. The most unusual one I’ve seen in all my years of service but pretty smart. What you did was very brave. That was a lot more than we asked of you.”
“I did it for my wife so don’t pull out any medals yet.” I sucked in a breath. I was starting to gain my strength and my concentration back. There was enough of my mind gaining alertness at that point that I asked the C.I.A. Director, “If my clone is such a danger to world peace and prosperity then why didn’t you let one of the assassins take him out?”
“That isn’t the way we do things, Matt. Besides, a murdered religious leader creates a martyr. Martyrs are much tougher to stop than a living messiah. I need him alive so I can prove that he’s a fake. You might even have that proof and that’s why you keep seeing my face,” Hesidence answered.
“Look at all the great things that he’s done in the world. Why do you want to prove he’s a fake?” I asked.
“His political connections are building allied armies so large that the balance of power is growing out of balance. The most frightening thing about it is that these countries will no longer be led by their elected officials. The real power will be in a man made from DNA, debated not to be the real Jesus, a power hungry priest and a man that hears voices from God. You tell me, is that what you want for the world?” Hesidence stopped talking. I knew he was emotionally bothered by the world’s situation but wasn’t sure that I agreed with him on the causes.
By the time the ambulance pulled up in front of the hospital, I was feeling fine. Beth ran to the back doors of the vehicle as they were opening. I saw the shock on her face as I sat up and greeted her with a big smile and said, “It was indigestion. They gave me some baking soda in water and I’m fine.”
We hugged and she whispered, “Will you please tell me now what is going on around this place?”
“In time, hon, in time.”
At Thompson’s mansion, Laura intercepted me when I walked through the front door. She said, “Jesus wants to talk to you. He wants to offer his deepest thanksgiving for what you did for all of us He’s upstairs laying down in his room.”
“Why is he in bed?” I asked concerned.
“He complained of a pain in his side, his hands and feet were going numb and a ring of stabbing pain around his head. He didn’t look well,” Laura answered. He had never been sick for even a second in all the years since his birth. What was happening? My body chilled with an icy shiver. I shook and looked up the stairs in time to see a shadow move slowly along the landings wall heading for the clone's suite.