Chapter 28
“Dr. MacDonald, I presume,” Elliot said with a smile.
I raised my hands and sighed. It was over. I expected to be shot at any moment.
“Yeah, what are you going to do with me?” I asked.
“Get ya outta town, Doc. There’s some people out there that would love ta knock ya off. And this is one cop that ain’t gonna let that three dollar bill Jesus do it to ya. Now, put your hands down and tell me what’s going on.”
We went back to Father Fred’s office and I sat there telling the cop what happened. I gave him the whole story. I figured someone had to know the trail of terror and murder that was being left behind the door fake priests.
Then I asked him, “Detective, why aren’t you turning me in and how do you know about the messiah’s true nature?”
“There’s a lot of us out there that don’t trust our government and this one world government that Jesus and that almost Pope Russo are tryin’ to pull together. We’ve tried to stop it before but you were the one that ruined our best chance.”
“Disney World?” I said as both a question and a statement.”
“You got it, doc. And now that you have seen the light it’s my duty to make sure that you live long enough to get the truth about this one world government into the hands of the public. First we got to get you outta here. I figure those two killers in collars are sittin’ out there waitin’ for ya to leave. When ya do, they’ll be there.”
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“I’ll take you to my old partner’s house. He lives out in the township. Great lookin’ country around here. If anyone follows us, I’ll shake ‘em. Once we know it’s safe then we’ll get ya to the airport,” Elliot said.
“Why the airport?”
“Our movement has a network of safe houses around the country. I’ll set it up for ya to have a place you can hide. It will be jist about untraceable.”
“Even from the CIA?” I asked.
“Especially those idiots,” Charlie said.
“Listen, Elliot, you’re the only chance I’ve got right now. But what about my family?”
“Are they safe right now?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Tell me where they are and we’ll get them to you ‘cos they won’t be safe for long,” he warned.
“They’re with a pastor from a dissenting church,” I said.
“The one in Riverdale, Maryland?” he asked.
“They ain’t safe no more. Two guys attacked the place yesterday and shot the pastor’s wife. No one else was found. The only description of the perps was that it was two guys dressed in black. I heard somebody report that they were supposed to look like Starsky and Hutch.”
I didn’t say a word. I simply began to cry with heavy sobs. Mary Grace was dead because I dragged her into my problems. Her death had made up my mind. I was going to use Elliot's contacts to find a safe house and have my family brought to me. After that, all communications about the messiah, Russo and Thompson would dry up. No more info. No more people will die.
As the evening’s darkness thickened we headed for Elliot’s unmarked police car. He pulled out and we started to head west out of town. In a few minutes he spoke.
“It looks like we got company. Two guys in a car behind us. They are staying a good distance away. These two are pros. This just ain’t two priests that decided to do a Thelma and Louise impersonation. We got two trained killers behind us. It looks like the evening is going to get more exciting. Hang on. I’m going to lose them.”
Elliot whipped his car onto a dark dirt road and then over a small bridge. We fishtailed into a left turn and climbed a hill lined with trees on both sides. He kept glancing up into the mirror as we raced over the road.
“Those boys are good. I guess I’ll have to use my more advanced evasionary tactics,” he said with his grin showing in the green glow of the dashboard light.
Elliot and I bounced out of our seats each time he crested another small hill in the unmarked police car. It had the engine power to stay in the lead but it struck me that it’s infinitely easier to follow a car on a dark, bumpy, dirt road than it is to see the upcoming twists and turns. Something told me though that Charlie Elliot had run this road before.
We had just made a sharp bend when Charlie pushed off the headlights. I was afraid to say a word as the detective maneuvered the car into a bare spot along the side of the dirt road. I watched as he turned around and got back on the road heading right for our pursuers. Then he stopped the car and waited. It was difficult to see his face but I could hear him well in the country quiet.
“I’m going to do something that they’ll never suspect. The other driver is going to slow down to try and find this turn off. He’ll find it OK and then he’ll coast into the road heading right at us. The two will have been looking at the side of the road away from the light. A bright light at this point will blind them. He’ll pull in and I’ll snap on the high beams and my searchlight. It will give us about ten seconds to blow right by him and that will give me enough time to get a few shots off. Are you ready?”
“I guess so but what if they get a few shots off as well?” I asked.
“Little chance of that but just in case duck down in your seat.” He stopped talking and then whispered, “There they are.”
Elliot flashed on his lights. I saw the other car swerve into the side the of the road. It looked like they had run into a ditch. In another three seconds we were right on top of their car. Charlie’s window was down and his hand held his service revolver. I saw the flashes of light escape from the barrel as he shot three times into the other car.
We came to the end of the road and Charlie whipped the car to the left and turned out his lights again. This time he hurtled down the dark road with no lights. The black night and the clouds of dust made us impossible to see. Then without warning he turned the car sharply into a driveway that seemed to be obscured from the road by bushes. I wondered how he knew where it was.
“Welcome to the Quaker Movement's Summer Camp, doc. It will be a miracle if they find this road and a bigger one if they can get through the security gate.” He pushed an electronic button that sat in the middle of piece of black plastic hanging from his key chain. The gate opened and we passed through. We went another mile down the road and I saw a small cabin nestled in the middle of several pine trees.
“What’s here,” I asked. I still didn’t trust Elliot. In fact, I was starting not to trust anyone.
“Our people do some training on these secluded acres. My old partner from the force stays here and guards the camp from snoops and feds. You’ll like old Ed. He’s about 6’7” and built like a brick wall. Between the two of us we’ll figure out a way to get you out of this place and then to somewhere safe.”
We stopped on the far side of the cabin and climbed out. In the dark I could see a figure standing in the doorway with an automatic rifle in his hands.
“Charlie, wassup? What yinz doin’ ‘ere?” Ed called to us.
“We got a very important guest, Big Ed. Meet Matthew MacDonald, the guy that did the cloning on Jesus,” Elliot said as we crossed the grass to the front porch of the cabin.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. MacDonald. I was just watchin’ yer clone on the boob tube,” Ed said.
“Nice to meet you as well but why is he on TV?” I asked.
“Hey, I guess it’s already Good Friday over in Israel and he’s preachin’ to the whole world. It just started. Sit and watch it while I get ya both sumptin to eat,” Big Ed told us as he motioned me to a seat near the television.
“Nothin’ for me, Eddy. I gotta use the communications gear and get this boy a safe house far away from here.” Elliot continued through the room and through a door. I could hear him go down a set of stairs. I sucked in a deep breath and relaxed as my clone’s voice spoke. I could see the strain in his eyes when the camera’s came in for a close-up. More importantly, his speaking lacked its normal power. It almost seemed disjointed and unlinked. Nothing I had ever heard before from the messiah.