Pulling The Dragon's Tail (30 page)

“Come on! Be a man! Hit me again!” As she forced
the words out, he jammed his knee roughly against her back. “Mr.
Perfect Christian! If only people knew the real you, and not the
fake one behind that Jesus suit.”

“But they’ll never know! Will they?” He closed
his eyes, and took a couple deep breaths.

Honshu remained silent. Suddenly, her fear
caught up with her anger, wary of what his silence meant.

He let go of her hair and rolled over onto his
back, covering his face. Gradually, his heavy breathing subsided.
“God, I did it again! Why, God, why? Honshu, I’m so sorry! I don’t
know what came over me. It’ll never happen again, I swear!”

She turned her head around to face him. Staring
wordlessly, doubt filled her mind. Her face stung from his slap,
but she knew just the right amount of makeup to conceal it.

He tenderly reached over and rubbed her
shoulder. “Please!”

She was still silent and brooding. She had no
other choice but to submit. He had her where he wanted her; where
he wanted all his women.

His hand slowly caressed her cheek, then her
breasts and headed down toward her legs. “You’re looking so sexy
and hot!”

A moment later she smiled. He climbed on top,
giving her deep passionate kisses.

Suddenly she responded, returning his kisses
with her probing tongue.

Several moments later, Chad was breathing
heavily again, but this time with a look of peace and contentment.
“That was the best ever! You were incredible!”

She lay beside him on the king-size bed. A
lonely tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t have the strength to
wipe it away.
Why do I stay?,
she wondered
. Is it because
he’s the father of my child? Is that why we all put up with this
man?

Chad remained in an expansively giddy mood. He
got up and poured himself another glass of wine. Sitting on the
edge of the bed, he asked, “So, ya really want to know what’s on my
mind?”

“Yeh,” she grunted, half-heartedly.

“I’m having trouble with a business
proposition.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m not usually confused when it comes to
making money.”

“So have you prayed about it then?”

He sat up straighter. With a hint of annoyance,
he said, “Well, of course, yes, I’ve prayed about it. But I kind of
already know what the answer is”

“So what’s the dilemma?”

He sighed. “Just doing it, I guess. I want to be
alone now.” He kissed her on the forehead.

That was the signal. She had done her duty, and
now she was being asked to leave. As she gathered her clothes, she
contented herself with this realization,
I’ve made it one more
night with him. Oh, well, I guess this life is better than no life
at all.

Chad walked out onto the west balcony. The
ceiling dome hung just above him, and he gazed out at the thousands
of stars visible through the window-like dome. Five kilometers
away, stood the giant statue of Christ, its outstretched arms
beckoning for all to take comfort.

But the chief executive officer of Heaven on
Earth didn’t have the statue in mind, instead contemplating another
business deal. He looked out past that all the way to Kansas.
Deftly hitting a button on his wrist, he made a phone call.

“Brown? That you? Hey, got a minute, ol’ buddy?”
He paused. “Good. Family fine? Turning a profit on that farm of
yours? Great! So, I’d like to ask you a question. If you have the
right amount of money, I think I may have a very lucrative business
proposition for you. How much? Oh, about thirty pieces of silver’ll
do.”

Nguyen, the Vietnamese waiter, was as good as
his word when he met Campbell and Thatcher. Waiting at the entrance
to a service tunnel underneath the Heaven on Earth complex, Nguyen
insisted they disguise themselves as Heaven on Earth employees. He
produced two appropriate uniforms along with ID that would get them
through security. The security tunnel, which cut through the heart
of the mountain, was mainly used to transport Heaven on Earth
employees back and forth to work. Thatcher wore the coveralls of a
maintenance worker while Campbell was attired as a maid.

Their destination on the other side was the town
of Thomason where most employees of Heaven on Earth resided.
Thomason was also profiting handsomely from Heaven on Earth-related
business, including operating the secret psychiatric treatment
facility that was the focus of Nguyen’s concern.

Security was of no great concern to Nguyen. He
knew which security cameras to avoid and which guard was friendly
to his concerns. Thirty minutes later, he showed Thatcher and
Campbell into a dingy, dimly lit hospital corridor. The dilapidated
hospital building had been bought and renovated by Chad Delavan,
and this was where Nguyen’s wife was a patient. What Nguyen showed
them inside those secret corridors made Thatcher’s reporter juices
drool and made Campbell incensed as a medical doctor.

The Stadium Experience, Heaven on Earth’s most
popular virtual reality experience, was the most tantalizing VR
environment yet developed. The seductive dance of religious ecstasy
and the pulsing of neurotransmitter pleasures was now known to be
literally addictive. Over the years hundreds of people, among them
Nguyen’s wife, had fallen under its spell, experiencing unremitting
depression and psychosis. In addition to Nguyen’s wife, Thatcher
and Campbell saw many of The Others within the walls of the
clandestine hospital.

Thatcher and Campbell were mostly silent during
their return trip back through the mountain. Nguyen was less
somber, now that he had seen his wife. However, she was still doing
poorly; being both delusional and manic. The Vietnamese man also
shared stories about Chad Delavan’s private life, afforded because
of Nguyen’s work in the penthouse kitchen.

That had settled it for Campbell and Thatcher:
the billionaire made his money by exploiting vulnerable people. In
fulfilling their spiritual longings, in return he gave many of them
unimaginable suffering.

Campbell chafed at the tight maid’s uniform.
Most of all, she was impatient to get back to talk with Nate. She
made numerous calls to Nate; all of them unanswered. She exchanged
a knowing glance with Thatcher, for both knew where Nate was that
evening.

* * * * * *

“The Stadium Experience will leave your body
tingling, your senses tantalized. Thousands of other believers will
simultaneously be with you as you are raptured up to meet the
Christ in the air.”

“When I emerge through the clouds,” Nate
recalled Chad saying, “the sensation of flying will overtake you.
But keep your eyes open! You’ll greet me— I mean Jesus—who will
welcome you.”

With fifteen thousand people murmuring, the
excitement in the stadium was palpable. A quiet attitude soon hung
over the huge crowd as they began to assemble their VR apparatus on
their bodies and goggles onto their heads. Music throbbed through
loudspeakers. Nate discovered he had plenty of room for his body to
twist and turn without getting in anyone else’s way.

Then the moment began with the roof opening up
and a gigantic four-sided TV screen dropping down. This was the
attraction they had come from all over the world to see, he
thought.

Nate lost sight and feeling of his body. He felt
his entire body lifted up. He was lighter than air! No longer in
the stadium, no longer on the ground, he was flying!

His consciousness told him that he was hearing
Chad Delavan’s voice. Each time he heard a reference to Jesus, Nate
tried to substitute Father Abraham instead. But he found that the
pleasure increased when he simply stopped thinking, stopped
fighting, and just let himself BE.

Cherubim and seraphim, golden colored and
multi-winged angelic creatures, flew over his head. He was flying
with the thousands of others up toward the sky. A massive choir of
untold thousands ringed the edges of his vision. The
Hallelujah
Chorus
resounded in his ears and coursed through his entire
being.

Jesus/Chad was surrounded by a brilliant cloud
of light. Nate allowed himself to see only the Jesus figure, and
began to let go even more. The light of a thousand suns seemed to
fill the sky, but there was no need to squint. The hues and shades
of every color imaginable permeated his vision.

Jesus drew closer. The beat of music, color,
texture, and aroma grew ever stronger. His last conscious thought
was,
If anything, this is even more incredible than Chad had
said.

Chad’s voice became Jesus. Jesus became part of
Nate. As Jesus said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,”
Nate’s emotions melded into the soft, loving arms of Jesus. He felt
the blissful connection with the Living and Eternal God!

He found himself flying above the Earth. The
final battle for God’s Kingdom had begun! The Garden of Eden had
been invaded by Satan! A sword was placed in his hand. Gracefully,
powerfully, he swooped down. The battle of Armageddon! Fighting
hideous demons, he skewered one through, and decapitated another.
The awful stench of death and destruction filled his nostrils.
Hell’s warriors lay strewn on the battlefield.

With the merest of thoughts, Nate was flying
again. A view from high above the Earth took his breath away. Peace
now reigned supreme! He was a spectator with a front row seat as he
witnessed God’s transformation of the Earth. Pollution was gone.
The Garden of Eden was restored. Jesus resided on his throne in a
newly restored Temple in Jerusalem. Nate soared through the solar
system, past galaxies, through black holes and supernovas.

As the strains of a million-voice choir echoed
through his being, he saw Jesus sit at God’s right hand. Then, the
Lord God of the Universe gently reached out and, with the gentlest
of touches, placed His hand on Nate’s head.

Nate found himself on a mountainside, a
trickling stream nearby. Something told him to drink of its waters.
He gladly obeyed. He stooped down and gazed into the azure blue
water. He placed the cool pure water to his lips. The sensation
delectably floated into every fiber of his body. He lay down beside
the Life-Giving Stream, content to stay forever on God’s
Mountain.

But slowly the music faded, the mountain grass
no longer soothed his feet. Slowly, haltingly, he began to wake up,
and found himself back in the stadium.

It was over.

Unusually strong emotions pummeled him. Bliss.
Sadness. Ecstasy. Longing. He breathed heavily, concentrating on
removing the VR gear.

Then he noticed the sounds around him. Some
laughter, some cries of joy. Others, with their VR gear tossed
aside, simply stared into space, a transfixed look of contentment
on their faces.

As happy as he told himself he felt, Nate sensed
a burgeoning, yet inexplicable, despondency. He found himself
walking down the Via Dolorosa, heading for the giant cross ahead,
Dugan at his side. The CCR’s presence seemed to stabilize his mood.
Reminding himself that the violence in the Stadium Experience was
not part of his calling with Father Abraham, Nate was finally able
to shake off his longing to re-visit the stadium.

Campbell and Thatcher met up with him. They
followed his every movement, asked frequently how he was feeling.
He answered as best he could, but still they persisted. They told
him something about victims and Chad and exploitation. It didn’t
seem to matter what his friends thought at the moment. For it
seemed that all his anxiety and fear had floated away with
Jesus.

Nate fell into a deep slumber after the Stadium
Experience. He had awakened with one goal: to enjoy his day at the
Heaven on Earth complex. Dugan informed him that Es had called,
stating she had just completed surgery of some kind, but would not
say any details. Instead of concern, he was happy for her. But
shouldn’t he be concerned that she may be laid up, unable to help
him if matters required it? No matter, he finally reasoned, he was
content to be at Heaven on Earth, where he felt quite safe, for a
while longer. Perhaps the remainder of his mission could wait just
a bit. Besides, the next Stadium Experience was tomorrow night.

Chang Chuang-tze had called once again from The
Organization of Concerned Scientists. That made it three times in a
month, the most recent contact when Nate was in England. He said no
once more. Chuang-tze, the executive secretary of this secretive
organization of scientists and academics, had extended Nate an
invitation to join the OCS, also known as The Organ. Over the
years, Nate had heard pros and cons of The Organ’s purpose and
constituency. Perhaps he could and should join, but he didn’t like
to be pushed. And Chang had this way of questioning that bugged
him. The sense of utter relaxation engendered by the Stadium
Experience was slowly fading. By midday he was in a foul mood.

Perhaps the pestering tag team of Thatcher and
Campbell were responsible for Nate’s change of attitude. All
morning long they had informed Nate of the strange psychiatric unit
they’d discovered, calling Chad a fraud. He had been through the
Stadium Experience though, and he was fine. Couldn’t they
understand that?

At lunch, Campbell was unrelenting. “This guy
puts on a holier than thou act! While he laughs all the way to the
bank, innocent people are stuck in secret psych wards.”

“I can’t believe the charges you’re leveling
against Chad,” said an irritated Nate.

Campbell replied with growing exasperation, “The
VR last night must have zapped some of your critical thinking brain
cells.”

Thatcher chimed in. “His ego’s as big as this
dome. Chad’s got a harem of women, and lots of kids by them
too.”