02 The Enemy Closes In Read online

  Without a word, the two of them walked toward his office and entered.

  Since Jason liked darkness, there were no lights in the room, and the drapes were drawn to keep out the sun. He pulled up a chair at the end of a long table and sat. “So … tell me all you know about Zachary.”

  Ashley shrugged. “There really isn’t much to tell. He’s a nice guy, and he’s got a sister and a strange little brother.”

  “Yes,” Jason nodded and lit up a cigarette. “The brother. Tell me about the brother.”

  “I can’t really explain it. It’s like there’s something different about him. Like he’s really simple but at the same time he seems to know stuff .”

  Jason remained sitting in the dark for a long moment. It was impossible to see his face; only the glow from his cigarette. Finally, he spoke.

  “I think it is time to elevate you, my dear.”

  “Elevate me?” she asked.

  “The spirits have confirmed to me that you are very special.”

  “Me?” Ashley’s heart began to race. Wasn’t that the whole reason she’d been attracted to Jason and his group in the first place? No one else accepted her, but his group did. Not only accepted her, but there was always the hint that she just might have special powers.

  And now … wasn’t that exactly what Jason was saying?

  “Yes,” he whispered. “Very, very special.”

  “How — ” She could barely find her voice. “How so?”

  “You have the ability to draw people … to lead them to us for enlightenment.”

  “Like who? I don’t know anybody.”

  “You know Zachary. He is special, don’t you agree?”

  Ashley nodded, almost smiling. He was special … at least to her.

  Jason continued, “He will draw other special people — like his sister and, most importantly, his little brother.”

  Ashley continued to stare at the glowing cigarette.

  “Tell him he is invited to our séance this afternoon.”

  “But, you saw how freaked he was with the — ”

  “Yes … and I’m afraid I didn’t help. Please apologize to him for me. And tell him I am specifically holding the event in his honor.”

  “And if he still doesn’t want to come?”

  “You’ll see to it that he does.”

  “But, I don’t want to pressure him. I mean if he feels uneasy, maybe — ”

  Jason pounded the table. “You’ll see to it that he does!”

  The outburst shocked Ashley. She wasn’t sure what to do. But Jason’s voice quickly softened, becoming as quiet and mysterious as it always was. “That is your destiny, my dear. Your high calling. That is why you have been chosen.”

  Almost against her will, Ashley felt herself beginning to nod. Part of it was the excitement of being so pecial. Part of it was fear of what would happen if she disobeyed.

  Chapter Seven

  A Strange Customer

  It had been a long, tiring morning as Silas retraced their route back up the mountain road. They stopped at every turnout and rest stop along the way. The kids’ RV had to be somewhere.

  It wasn’t any easier with Bruno the Belching Machine sitting in the back. Apparently he’d eaten something that didn’t agree with him. Silas couldn’t imagine what. It was just the usual five double cheeseburgers, four greasy tacos, a couple of sides of onion rings, three apple turnovers, and one giant econo Big Swallow hold the ice.

  And if all his burping and belching wasn’t enough, there was the little call Monica got from Shadow Man.

  “You lossst them, didn’t you?” he hissed through her cell phone.

  Monica’s face twitched nervously. It’s not that she was afraid to talk to the Shadow Man. She was terrified. Come to think of it, so was everybody else in the van. It wasn’t the shadow part of his name that scared them. It was the man part.

  They just weren’t sure if it was true.

  There were parts of him that were like a man. I mean you could see him and everything. And there was his need to sleep and eat … and eat … and eat.

  But there were other things … like the way you could never quite see his face. The way he always seemed to be in shadows even on sunny days.

  And there was something else …

  The way he always knew what others were thinking. Or what they were feeling. Sometimes, even from a great distance, he knew what they were doing. Definitely weird. In fact, on the Freaky Scale of 1-10, he was defi nitely an 11. Someone whose good side you wanted to stay on. If such a thing was ever possible.

  “The bratsss are at a truck sssstop,” he hissed. “I ss-see a garage and diner.”

  Monica swallowed. “Sir, are you sure? Because, we’ve been — ”

  “Sssilenccce!”

  Monica closed her mouth.

  “You will find the little boy, and you will bring him to me!”

  “What about the others — the brother and sister?”

  “They are of no interessst. Dissspossse of them as you sssee fit.”

  “Yes, sir.” Monica waited until the man hung up and then, with shaking hands, closed her phone.

  “What did he say?” Silas asked.

  “What do you think he said?” she snapped. Talk ing to the Shadow Man always put her a little on edge.

  “Find them!”

  Another hour had passed before Silas slowed the van.

  “Why are we stopping?” Monica demanded.

  “We’re coming up to where we first lost them.”

  “How can you tell?”

  Silas pointed ahead. “There’s the railing we bounced off of when I almost hit that guy.”

  “Let me see!” Bruno leaned forward from the seat behind them. Unfortunately, he leaned just a little too far, just a little too fast, considering how queasy his stomach was. Which would explain his sudden…

  BLAAHH!

  as he threw up all over Silas and Monica.

  Of course Monica did her usual screeching and name-calling.

  Silas, on the other hand, was too busy jerking away and yanking the steering wheel. No problem, except that he threw the van completely out of control. So, just like old times, the vehicle skidded and the tires squealed.

  “Look out!” Monica shouted.

  “I got it!” Silas yelled.

  BLAAAAHHHH!

  Bruno threw up again.

  They slammed into the exact same railing as before. And, for a moment, it looked like they were going over the cliff. But Silas fought the wheel, and after a few more skids, squeals (and screechings from Monica), he regained control.

  The good news was they had once again missed seeing the garage and the diner.

  The bad news was, Bruno still had a little food left in his —

  BLAAAAAAHHHHHH!

  Never mind, it’s gone now.

  If Piper thought the breakfast folks were demanding, they were nothing compared to the lunch crowd. The place was packed with twice as many customers, who were twice as rude.

  “Where’s Ashley?” Piper called to Stan, her boss. He was cooking at the grill. “When does she come in?”

  “Not till tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow!? You mean I’m all by myself ?”

  “Don’t worry, kid.” He set out three more hamburger platters for her. “You’re doing great.”

  Piper grabbed the platters and turned. Unfortunately, they were hot, and one slipped from her hands. It crashed to the floor, sending hamburger, fries, and catsup in all directions. Of course, everyone stopped and stared. And, of course, Piper felt her ears turning their usual beet red.

  Stooping down to clean the mess, she muttered, “This is obviously a new definition of ‘doing great.’ ”

  When she rose, she saw that a gray-haired gentleman had entered and was sitting next to Elijah. He was pointing something out in the Bible, and Elijah was nodding, eagerly listening.

  Feeling a surge of panic, Piper made a beeline past the other customers to her b
rother’s table. When she arrived she asked, none too politely, “May I help you?”

  The man looked up, and Piper caught her breath. “Aren’t you … aren’t you the guy who had the heart attack in Pasadena?”

  The man smiled kindly. “Lots of folks mistake me for other people.”

  “Yes, but — ”

  “I guess I just have one of those faces.”

  Piper frowned, not entirely convinced. She wasn’t sure how to ask the man to leave her brother alone, especially since Elijah was so excited over what they were studying. So she tried another approach. “Can I get you something?”

  “No, thank you.” He pointed to the cherry pie and cup of coffee in front of him. “This should do me.”

  Piper’s frown deepened. “But I … I didn’t wait on you.”

  The man’s grin broadened. “Maybe you just don’t remember.”

  “No, I — ”

  “Actually, I think you’re a lot better waitress than you give yourself credit for.”

  “Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes and turned to the customers behind her. “Tell that to all these — ”

  She came to a stop. To her amazement, every customer had their food. Not only that, but they were all perfectly content.

  Her mouth dropped open as she slowly turned to the man.

  But he was back in the book studying with Elijah.

  “How … how …”

  He looked up. “I see your little brother likes to read the Bible.”

  “Yes,” she answered numbly. “He likes Revelation.”

  “Especially Revelation 11,” the old-timer acknowledged.

  “Revelation 11?”

  “The passage about the two prophets.”

  Piper scowled, trying to remember. “You mean the two guys that come out of heaven?”

  “Not exactly,” he corrected.

  “What do you mean?” Piper asked.

  “I mean prophets usually start off as little boys, don’t they?”

  “Miss,” a customer politely called.

  Reluctantly, Piper turned to a young mother.

  “May I have a refill on my iced tea? When you have the time, I mean?”

  “Oh, sure.” Piper turned back to the gentleman. “I, uh, have to get back to work.”

  “Certainly,” he smiled.

  With her mind spinning, Piper headed over to the iced tea pitcher. She heard the little bell above the door ring and turned to see Zach enter. He looked a little tired and a lot pale. She picked up the pitcher and moved to refill the young mother’s glass.

  “Thanks,” the woman said.

  Piper nodded and looked back to Elijah’s table just as Zach sat down beside him.

  The gray-haired gentleman was nowhere to be found.

  Dad turned to Mom in the dark cell. They’d been praying off and on throughout the night and into the morning. It was harder work than either had expected.

  “How are you doing, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she said. “It’s just — ”

  “Just what?”

  “I feel like all I’m doing is asking for the same thing over and over again — for the children’s protection, for their safety, that we get out of here and help them.”

  Dad nodded. “I know what you mean.”

  “It seems like there should be more.”

  “More?”

  “More than just asking the same thing over and over again.”

  Dad thought a moment then answered. “Maybe there is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Instead of just asking … maybe we should also be worshipping.”

  “What, here? Now?”

  “God’s still in control, right? Whatever happens, he still deserves our love.”

  “Right.”

  “So maybe part of our prayers should also be worship.” “Like a song or something?

  “I know it sounds crazy, especially in a place like this, but …” He dropped off , feeling a little embarrassed. But when he turned to Mom, he saw she was starting to nod.

  “Maybe … maybe you have a point.”

  He shrugged. “I mean that’s what they did in the Bible, remember? Even when they were thrown in jail, they sang songs to God.”

  “I’d almost forgotten.”

  There was a long moment’s silence. Then, in the dark, Mom started to hum.

  Dad recognized the tune immediately. It was one of his wife’s favorites. He smiled as the humming turned into words:

  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

  That saved a wretch like me …

  Eventually he joined in.

  I once was lost, but now I’m found,

  Was blind but now I see.

  Together, their voices grew louder and louder. And, although they were tired and exhausted, they soon filled the room with their singing.

  Chapter Eight

  Conflicts Grow

  “Zach …”

  Zach looked up as Ashley approached their table. “Can I talk to you a moment?”

  “Oh, hi. Sure.” He noticed Elijah reaching out to her. So did Ashley.

  “Outside?” she said. “Alone?”

  Zach nodded and stood. “I’ll be right back, little buddy.”

  Elijah nodded and sadly watched as Zach followed Ashley to the door.

  Once they were outside in the afternoon sun, she turned to Zach. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened back there.”

  “No, that’s okay.” He shrugged. “It was my fault. I should never have gone in the first place.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean there’s some bad stuff going on up there.”

  “Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t make it bad.”

  Zach nodded. “It’s just that the Bible says pretty strong things against doing that kind of — ”

  “That’s why Jason wants you to come back,” Ashley interrupted.

  “Come back?”

  “Yeah. He wanted me to apologize for him for making you feel so bad.”

  “He said that?”

  “He thinks you’re real special and that you deserve to be treated a lot better.”

  Zach arched an eyebrow. Maybe this Jason wasn’t such a bad guy, after all.

  Ashley took a step closer. “He wanted you to better understand what we’re about.”

  Zach frowned.

  “I mean,” she moved closer, “how do you know something’s wrong, if you don’t really know what it is?” She looked up at him with those big, beautiful eyes.

  He swallowed.

  “You know,” she reached out and took his hand. “He thinks you and me … he thinks we both have potential.”

  Zach’s voice cracked. “Potential?”

  She smiled and nodded. “He’s going to do something special in your honor, and all he wants is for you to come back so he can show you.” She glanced down and then looked back up with those incredible eyes. “That’s all I want too.”

  “Well …” Zach cleared his throat. Most of him knew that he shouldn’t. But there was another part that figured it wouldn’t hurt. Besides, like she said, how could he know something was wrong, if he really didn’t understand it? He cleared his throat again. “We’ll, uh, we’ll see.”

  “Great!” She rose up on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. “We’ll see you at five o’clock.”

  Before he could answer, she turned and started up the hill.

  “Ashley …”

  She turned and flashed him that killer smile. “Don’t be late.”

  Zach wanted to say something, to tell her not to get her hopes up. But at the moment, he couldn’t think of any words.

  It was late afternoon by the time Piper finally got her lunch break. She dragged herself with Zach over to the RV to see what progress the mechanic had made.

  “It’s the weirdest thing,” the grizzly old guy said. “I fired her up ’bout an hour ago, and she ran like a top.”

&nbs
p; Zach and Piper exchanged looks and then glanced over to Elijah, who was playing with a ladybug on a bush.

  Zach turned back to the mechanic. “What exactly do you mean?”

  “I mean, as far as I can tell, there ain’t nothin’ wrong with your vehicle … at least now.”

  Piper’s excitement grew. “You’re saying it runs?”

  “As good as new.”

  “You mean, we can just go?”

  “Any time you want. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got some real work to get to.” With that, the old man limped off .

  Piper turned to Zach and practically squealed. “Can you believe it? We can leave! I don’t have to work at that place anymore! We can get out of here now!”

  Zach nodded.

  She turned toward the diner and then back to Zach. “I’ll finish my shift, though. I owe Stan that much. But afterward, we can get out of here and — ”

  She came to a stop. Zach was shaking his head.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “There’s something I gotta do first.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I promised Ashley I’d go back to Jason’s.”

  “Jason’s?!”

  He glanced to the ground. “Yeah.”

  “You said they were messing with spirits and witchcraft and stuff .”

  “They are.”

  “But — ”

  “But Ashley’s different. I think I can help her.”

  “Why? ’Cause she’s pretty and thinks you’re cool?” He gave her a scowl. “Get real.”

  “What then?”

  “She’s just trying to fi nd herself and be liked.”

  “So?”

  “So she’s going to the wrong place for it.”

  Piper blew the hair out of her eyes. “And what are you going to do, point her to the right place?”

  He shrugged. “I should at least try.”

  Piper couldn’t believe her ears. She put her hands on her hips. “What are you saying? You’re going to tell her about God and stuff ?”

  Another shrug. “I’d be a jerk if I didn’t.”

  Piper’s anger grew. She couldn’t tell if he really wanted to help the girl or if he really liked her. Either way, going back to that house was stupid. And dangerous.