Chapter 23
I looked down the hallway and saw the sign for the Avis Rental. Beth was near it but not close enough that we would be seen together. I approached the counter and started the paperwork procedure for the rental. I purposely used my charge card. I wanted to leave a trail right to the counter clerk.
“It looks like a beautiful day for a drive,” I told her.
“Yes, Mr. MacDonald. What’s your destination?” she asked.
“I’m heading to Maine for a few days and then back to here to catch a flight to Florida,” I said.
“Like you said, it is certainly a good day for a drive,” she said as her fingers dropped the keys to a foreign four door sedan into my hands. I headed to the shuttle bus that would carry me to the rental car lot.
Beth was only a few feet behind me, acting as if we didn’t know each other. I turned and spoke loud enough for the clerk to hear, “It should be a nice ride to Maine, hon.” It was time for Beth to be seen with me. If my wife was not at my side when I exited the airport it would cause Starsky and Hutch or my friend from the C.I.A. to ask too many questions.
As we went through the doors Beth spun me around.
“What happened to you?” she asked with a worried and frightened voice.
“I don’t know, Beth. I never saw what attacked me. I smelled it. I felt it. I heard it but I never saw it. The encounter made me sure of one thing: I’m doing the right thing. As soon as I figure out what happened to me, I’ll tell you.”
Our daughter Cari had started her departure moments after I called. She grabbed her children’s clothes and threw them in a large suitcase along with her own clothes. In her haste she made one mistake. Cari picked up the phone and called her best friend, Jeanna Bashara. Jeanna and Cari were both single mothers and often shared the struggle of raising children on their own. Jeanna worked as a secretary at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic church a few miles from Cari’s home.
From what Cari told me their conversation went like this.
“Hi, Jeanna. I can’t explain right now but I have to leave town immediately. There’s a family emergency.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t say but please stop by my house later today and grab my cat and plants. I’ll call you in a few days and let you know what happened.”
“Cari, you’re scaring me.”
“Jeanna, everything will be all right. I’ll be fine and the kids will be fine. Before you know it, we’ll be back. But to be real honest, I don’t know what’s going on. It scares me a little as well but my dad sounded desperate and very emphatic that I meet him immediately.”
“Where are you meeting him?”
“Jeanna, I can’t tell but I’ll call when I get there. Take care and kiss your kids for me.” She was out the door and in her car heading for Riverdale to meet us.
Beth and I climbed into our rental car and drove out of the airport. I had hoped that the rental counter clerk would remember Maine as our destination and send our pursuers off in the opposite direction. Beth and I pushed along the highway hoping to avoid getting stopped or involved in any type of accident. I wanted to leave no trail from New York to Washington, D.C. I had already pitched our cell phones and planned to pick up some pre-pays along the route. In a way, I thought it was ironic that I’d be hiding out less than an hour from Hesidence’s office.
We made it to Mary Grace’s house about mid-morning. When I rounded the corner and rode up over the hill, my old friend was standing in her front yard overlooking the flower beds that flowed beneath the bay windows. She always grew flowers because of her son, Trevor. Trev would often appear through the kitchen door with different colored pollens dusting his upper lip and around his nostrils. But that was all part of a time more pleasant and more settled.
She heard our car pull up and twisted around. Her mouth went wide open with surprise. “Matthew! Beth! What in the world are you doing here?”
“It’s a long story,” I answered as I wearily crawled from behind the wheel of the car and went into a full body stretch.
“Good, Brian is home and we’ll all sit and have a cup of coffee and you can tell us this mysterious long story of yours,” she told me as she hugged Beth and I.
For hours I explained our situation and showed them different items that I had brought along. When I got to the part about the airport’s dark hallway I tried my best to tell the others what I thought it was. It was then that Brian finally spoke up.
“Matthew, I really think that you’re in the middle of a battle that is lot bigger than any of us. The scripture says that we wrestle with powers that we know little about,” he said.
Beth leaned forward and sat at the end of the couch. “What do you mean?”
“I believe that Matthew is a part of a great battle between good and evil. Things are happening in the spiritual realm that he is intimately involved with. You see, the Bible is plain that there are 'principalities and powers' that rule this earth. They're not earthly but spiritual powers. These are things he doesn’t know anything about, but at the same time he seems to have all the information at his finger tips to thwart the evil one’s plans,” Brian said with a somber tone.
“But what is it that I have?” I asked.
“I’m afraid that only you can figure that out. My fear is that if you don’t do it soon then the whole world will be caught in the greatest battle of all times. Matthew, you’ve come face to face with Satan and his Antichrist. The problem is that there is only a few of us who would believe you and I have a feeling that believing you will cost people their lives.”
The room went silent. We were afraid to look at Brian. What if he was right?
I cleared my throat and spoke. “What are my choices?”
“Figure it out and you may save the world,” Brian answered then continued, “or you can sit on what you know and hope that you’re never found. Maybe by doing that you can protect yourself and your loved ones.”
“What about you, Brian? What would you do?” Beth asked.
“I’m going to meet several of the other dissenting pastors and get out the information that Matthew can give me. I’m afraid that I signed on to do battle with the devil a long time ago. Before it was just one soul at a time. Now, it looks like the odds have increased,” Brian answered.
“I can’t give you anything, Brian. My fear is that it could get you all killed,” I said.
“‘To live is Christ. To die is gain.’ Those are the words of the Apostle Paul and I guess we’ve got to take our chances,” Mary Grace added. She and Brian took each others hand and I could see them squeeze hard. They made their commitment.
“I’ve got to go to Philadelphia tomorrow to see an old professor of mine. He should help me answer some of those questions. After that I’ll come back here and we’ll make copies of everything for you. I think you’re taking a big risk though,” I told my friend’s husband.
“I don’t. I’ve been given a holy trust. If I was a Presbyterian I’d say that God foreordained for you to come walking in my door. And even if I’m not a Presbyterian I believe that anyway,” he answered.
I could feel my body finally relax. I needed sleep and I needed it badly. Brian and Mary Grace showed us to their guest room. Within moments of me slipping into the covers I was asleep.