When we all reach the far side, Martha is standing with her hands on her hips, ready to kill me and Cameron. Cindi looks relieved that I’m alright, but the scowl on her face makes me wonder if she’s mad about something other than me risking my life.
Martha falls into my arms and holds me tightly, and then moves back and starts pounding softly on my chest.
“Don’t you ever do anything like that again, you crazy, stupid …”
That’s as far as she gets, when Cameron clears his throat.
“This was your idea, Cameron,” Martha says.
She heads for him, but I bear hug her from behind.
“Calm down,” I say. “Cameron and I just needed time alone to discuss some things. Everything’s fine.”
She relaxes; so I loosen my grip.
“Okay. I’m okay now. You can let me go.”
She’s going to clock him. Should I stop her? Nah.
When she’s free, she walks to him and rips a nice uppercut to his jaw, which he absorbs without betraying a hint of the pain it must have inflicted.
“I deserve that … but you deserve this.”
He reaches out and grabs her gently on both sides of her head.
“You’re the luckiest woman in the world. Congratulations on your wedding, and the baby.”
He kisses her on the forehead.
Martha’s still angry, but she can hardly keep hitting people after getting kissed on the forehead.
*****
Andrew wasn’t kidding when he said their backup location is a shack; but in a way, it reminds me of Bethany House, since it sits on a little hill all by itself. It looks like it was abandoned a hundred years ago. We enter through a tunnel that’s hidden between a large tree and a boulder and find that the space under the house isn’t much bigger than the shack above. It does, however, have all we need in terms of equipment; so Martha and Cindi get to work.
“Gethsemane is definitely under a local jammer,” Martha says. “Everything here is working fine.”
“Can you figure out how Gethsemane is being jammed?” I ask.
“I’m already working on it,” Cindi replies. “It looks like it’s a series of simple frequency scramblers set up in the trees around Gethsemane.”
She looks at Andrew.
“You guys couldn’t figure that out?”
“We’re a combat team; not technical,” he replies.
“I guess that explains the people lurking around the perimeter,” Cindi continues. “We’ll need to physically remove them, but it shouldn’t take more than an hour when we get back.”
“Good, but when they’re cleared, limit outgoing communications to just the Four network,” I say. “Let whoever planted them think you’re still jammed.”
Andrew looks to Cameron, who nods his head in agreement.
Cindi and Martha take over on the equipment and patch together a call to Brill in Capon Springs.
“I need this call to be private,” I say, when Brill’s face comes up on the screen.
The looks on their faces at being asked to leave range from angry from Cameron to hurt from Martha and Cindi, but they all clear the room.
“Brill, I’ve pieced together some surprising information - some of which goes back about twelve years.”
“Yup. It all started about twelve years ago, and we both know how and why it started at Bethany House,” Brill says.
“What I did at Bethany House had ramifications; but now I suspect that one of the ramifications didn’t turn out the way I’ve always thought it did. You have some information that’s currently held by only you, Austin, and two other people - if you follow my meaning.”
Brill’s smile confirms my suspicions.
“Aren’t you the clever boy?” Brills says. “Austin and I swore an oath that we’d die before letting the secret slip; but in your case, I’ll make an exception.”
“Good. Then tell me exactly what happened the night my parents died, and when you’re done, you’re going to make another call.”
*****
I’m happy to use the zip line method to return to Gethsemane, and equally happy to join the team climbing trees to locate and remove the jammers. There’s just something about climbing trees that makes you act like a kid again - even when it feels like the adult world is crashing down around you.
Cindi is laughing with Andrew about something, as they climb a tree together; but when I approach to find out what tree I’m in next, her expression goes cold.
When the jammers are cleared, Gethsemane’s screens all spring back to life and everyone sets to work collecting information.
The top news of the day - reported by the usual congenial anchor, with the usual empty smile - is not good.
“Government sources confirmed that all databases worldwide have been checked and rechecked. With the exception of the radicals in McIntosh, South Dakota, the vaccine will have been distributed to every known human being on the planet within the next two days.”
Two days? Garai said two weeks. Did he have bad information? Or was he lying?
“With everyone worldwide now accounted for, the government celebrated this historic medical achievement by burning excess supplies of the vaccine.”
We all watch the scene in silent horror. Medical professionals are seen shaking hands and slapping backs, as crate after crate of “excess” vaccine is tossed into incinerators. “Mark of the beast” or not, the doses of vaccine that could have saved millions of ‘off the grid’ Christians are going up in smoke. This isn’t just a case of government efficiency. This is Henry sending a message to all Christians that our time is running out.
“And it looks like the worldwide medical community acted just in the nick of time,” the announcer continues. “Medical officials have announced that an unvaccinated man in Vietnam is the first documented case of airborne transmission of the disease.”
Cameron says what everyone is thinking.
“Whatever information you plan to get from your aunt, you’d better get it soon.”
*****
The raid on my childhood home on Hickory Street is planned for noon the next day. At first, Cameron thinks a daylight raid is too risky; but when his surveillance team tells him that the house is unoccupied and most of the neighbors are out during the day, he agrees. Together with Andrew, we come up with a plan that makes us all happy, and Andrew takes a team out the night before to make some final preparations.
When noon arrives, Martha, Cameron and I simply walk up to the backdoor and give it a good kick, just like we did to my door in Colorado Springs. The inside of the house makes my skin crawl. Everything that was here when I was a kid is still sitting exactly where I remember it. Jennifer took nothing with her when she left, except the ancient wooden desk she loves so much. Worse, the smell of her perfume still permeates the house - like a dog that marked its territory with its scent.
We steal up the stairs to my childhood bedroom, which I’m thankful to see has also not been touched. When we enter, the projection system activates automatically, covering the walls with childhood artwork. Martha stares at the fractal drawings, as if she’s trying to absorb my childhood in the few moments she has in the room. I head straight for the closet and reach up to a hook that I hid above the doorframe, and retrieve the framed picture of my parents. Although the rest of the house has been kept clean by robots, I can see from the dust that the picture hasn’t been touched.
“Let’s go,” I say, and head for the door without looking back.
“Just a second,” Martha replies.
Martha activates her com and tells it to download one of my fractal drawings.
Should be any moment now…
A large screen pops on.
“Hello, Aunt Jennifer,” I say.
“So, you and the little wife are still stealing my property, I see. That house has been thoroughly searched three times. It doesn’t contain what you’re seeking.”
“You’re slipping, Jennifer. That sounded remarkably like an admission that you don’t have the page either.”
Aunt Jennifer simply grunts in response.
“Your searchers missed something,” I announce, and hold up the picture.
Now Aunt Jennifer’s eyebrows go up.
“I saved this picture of Mom and Dad from the dumpster the day you moved in, along with a box of neckties. Would you like to see what’s hidden behind the picture?”
I open the back and remove the panel, but there’s nothing there. I look up at the screen with a shocked look on my face. Aunt Jennifer looks surprised for a moment, but recovers quickly and gets a smug look on her face.
“I told you the house had been thoroughly searched. Can you see now that your situation is quite impossible? If you surrender now, I’m sure that Henry will be merciful.”
Just a meter away, on matching tables, stand the two puzzles that fascinated Aunt Jennifer so much when I was eight-years-old. The one nearest to me is the spherical ‘Impossible Puzzle,’ which I pick up and rotate in my hands.
“You think our situation is impossible?” I ask. “They said this puzzle was impossible, yet here it is.”
I remove a few key pieces, causing the nine thousand unique pieces to fall through my hands like water and crash to the floor.
“The Bible says that with God, nothing is impossible,” I add. “However, since I’m just a man, I know to stick, instead, to the ‘nearly impossible.’”
I pick up the ‘Nearly Impossible’ puzzle; then slip it into my backpack.
“You don’t mind if I keep this one, do you, Jennifer? I’m sure it’ll make a great conversation piece in my living room one day.”
I nod to Martha and Cameron, and we head for the door.
“You should have quit, Cephas. You’re too late,” Aunt Jennifer calls to my back as we exit.
We hear the drones descending, even before Andrew announces over our coms that we have company. There are five in all, each one an advanced tracking drone that will follow us relentlessly until Federal agents can run us down. They descend to just twenty meters above us, and mirror our moves. Cameron shoots at one with a stunner, but it easily dodges the pulse. They must have target acquisition and face recognition software, because three of them seem to be keyed to me, while just one each are targeting Martha and Cameron.
“They’re all inside the perimeter,” Andrew calls into our ears.
“Take them down,” Cameron responds.
The words are barely out of his mouth, when the drones shut down and we have jump out of the way, as they fall to the earth. Cameron shoots each one, for good measure.
“If we ever find out who set up the jammers around Gethsemane, we should send them a ‘Thank You’ note,” I say, as we take off running.
*****
When everyone has returned from the raid, I push two small beds together and rest.
“I guess that’s it,” Martha says. “Jennifer found the paper hidden in the picture frame. I guess you’ll walk up to the nearest cult hunter and surrender yourself now.”
I say nothing for a long time, because I don’t want to face Martha’s anger.
“Jocie would have been proud,” I eventually say.
“What does that mean?”
“Proud of my acting job.”
She contemplates what I’m saying.
“You knew all along that the paper wasn’t in the picture frame,” Martha says.
I nod.
“Then what was the point? Jennifer knows she doesn’t have it; so she’ll know you were just gaming her. Why take us into a trap, knowing all along that nothing would come of it.”
“Nothing would come of it? Martha, everything has come from it.”
“How can you say that? Have you looked at people’s faces since we got back? Cameron was standing right there when you opened the frame. By now he’s told everyone here, and soon all of Four will know …”
She stops herself.
Here comes the anger.
“The purpose of the raid was to fool Cameron and his team? Why?” she asks.
“To solidify a secret,” I say.
“To perpetuate a lie is more like it. Has it occurred to you that Zip’s people are dying of dehydration in McIntosh because of your secrets? Are you willing to let them all die?”
“How many would die if Henry found out, and did an airborne release tomorrow?” I reply. “You saw the water in Brill’s bus, it’s tens of thousands of doses of vaccine. Would you have me sacrifice all the people off grid who could be vaccinated? When Zip refused the pill that Henry offered, I knew what she’d do if our roles were reversed. Even now, if we were to tell her about the water, she’d refuse to drink for the sake of protecting the secret and saving others.”
“So you spared her a difficult choice,” Martha says. “I suppose you think that makes you better than Henry.”
“What are you saying?” I ask.
“Following Christ is about making choices, Cephas. Do I choose to sin, or do I turn my back on sin? Do I repent, or do I continue to be disobedient? When you take away the choice, you rob people of the chance to make the right choice.”
*****
For weeks when I’ve woken up first, I’ve had to untangle myself from Martha because she’s taken to sleeping on her side with her arm over me. Today I reach out and find that she’s slept so far away there’s a cold spot in the bed between us. She murmurs for a moment, as I slip out of bed; then rolls over and falls back to sleep while I get dressed. Luckily, the command center is the opposite direction from the escape tunnels; so I don’t need to walk past whoever is working the early morning shift. I choose the tunnel that will put me into the woods farthest from the building, and hope it’s far enough out that the infrared cameras won’t pick me up.
It’s not my first time walking the deserted streets of Sheridan before dawn; nor is it my first time sneaking into the old church that houses the Sheridan Museum and Historical Society. Anyone else would have upgraded to an electronic lock coded to their com frequency, but I find the spare metal key hidden by Mrs. Pierce under a rock - exactly where it was when I was a boy.
The basement windows are covered, so I’m able to turn on the lights and get to work. Having once housed a library, the basement contains an old box of stubby green pencils, bits of scrap paper, and some tape. I write a message on a scrap, and then tape it onto the blank piece of greenish paper that was in the old trunk in Colorado Springs, which already contains a five-word message.
Last, I take the Bible I stole from this basement from my pack, and place the paper between the pages that tell the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. I’ve carried this Bible everywhere for months and it’s hard to leave it behind. The boxes containing things rescued from my parents’ house are still where I left them; so I place the Bible inside.
I’ll see you again, my old friend, I’m sure of it.
*****
Martha is still asleep when I get back to Gethsemane House, but I find Cameron, Andrew, and Cindi in the command center. They’re all lost in their own thoughts rather than talking. Once again, Cindi scowls at me.
“Gethsemane, and all of Sheridan, are in danger as long as I’m here,” I say. “If I make a public appearance in another town, it should take the heat off you.”
“What difference does it make now?” Cameron asks. “Without vaccine, there’s nothing left to do except wait for the cult hunters to finish it.”
I turn to Andrew.
“This house is compromised by Garai. You should start moving equipment and your water stash to a new location as soon as possible.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Cameron says. “This is our home and we’ll defend it. You can stay or go.”
I continue to look to Andrew, and get a nod. Water and equipment will start moving out of Gethsemane - whether Cameron knows it or not.
“We have a courier car in place. Where do you want to go?” Andrew asks.
“It so happens I got a message from Brill last night. I need to be in Dallas by tomorrow at dawn.”
“A message from Brill?” Cindi asks. “What’s this about?”
“Family secrets.”
“I’m part of your family too, or have you forgotten again?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“You never told me that Geoff was on the list of those missing in Maggie Valley. Didn’t you think I’d want to know? Didn’t you think I could handle it?”
“I didn’t have all of the information. If he’s dead…”
“He’s not dead. He was in the rear command post with Andrew and Cameron, and now he’s gone off to fight in McIntosh. If you’d told me what was happening, maybe we could have intercepted him - but you never tell anyone anything, do you? You just love being the amazing Cephas Paulson, who can see everything, and solve everything, all by himself.”
I turn to leave.
“Knowledge is dangerous,” I say.
She grabs my shoulder and spins me to face her.
“So am I, Cousin.”
Of that, I have no doubt.
I swear she’s about to hit me, when Cameron speaks, with his head down on the table.
“Please leave my house, both of you. I’m done. I’m done watching friends die. I’m done waiting for the end. I’m done believing we can win.”
“Cameron!” I say his name like the Lord is commanding him through me, and wonder if He might be.
His head snaps up, and his eyes meet mine.
“You’re here with me as part of the Lord’s plan. Find your faith, and be ready for a mission when I get back.”
Those were exactly the right words to reach this man’s heart. Thank you, Lord, for giving them to me.