The Called: Chosen (The Called Series Book 2) (9 page)

“You aren’t far off in that reasoning sir”, said Cain. “I was sworn to secrecy for the time being, but the man himself claimed to be the Messiah of the world and also claimed that his lineage was not of this world.”

“You have got to be joking…” said Steven in disgust. “Who the hell does he think he is then? An alien? I tell you what…this man is either completely insane or he is pure evil. I have to think that he is a horrid combination of both.”

“Well, tell us how you really feel about it”, said William jokingly.

“It’s obvious that you think that your country made a bad decision”, said Cain. “I too made a terrible mistake in allowing us to give up our independence and freedom. Since closing the deal with the remaining world powers, Assad has shown that he is only interested in being a dictator. Our country and yours have spent centuries removing dictators. If he is left unchecked then he will be Hitler or Stalin on a grander scale because not only does he have his region buying into him but he also has the entire western world bowing at his feet.”

“What shall we do then? Secede? Declare war?” asked Steven.

“We will first try to secede peacefully. We will join together and petition to break off from the World Council.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” asked Steven.

“We will have to declare war. We can try to go through Congress, but if that proves unfruitful then we will simply have to issue it by executive action. If Assad is as irate as I think he will be then he won’t waste any time. We certainly can’t afford to.”

“That’s right”, Assad said as he watched the feed in his own office in Syria. “You certainly can’t waste time. I’ve got a head start.”

Charles was sitting in his study when the doorbell rang. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there with his glass of scotch, but time didn’t really matter to him anymore. He had been daydreaming for quite some time. Depression had crept in on him as he thought about his wife, what he had witnessed with Assad, and his coworker’s obvious worship of the man.

The sound of the doorbell going off again snapped him out of his state of mind just enough to push him out of his chair and down the hall. His hair was all over the place and his glasses were slipping down over his nose. Half of his shirt was untucked and he hadn’t shaved for a week. On his way to the door, he tried to slick his hair back into place and tuck in his shirt.

“One minute please!” he yelled as he came around the corner and stood in front of the door. He pressed the button beside the door and it showed an image of who was on the other side. ‘Odd’, he thought. ‘Must be one of Caitlin’s friends. She looks a little too old though’.

He opened the door to the nervous young lady who stood there fidgeting. “May I help you?” he asked.

“Um…yea”, she said hesitantly. “My name is Abbie…Abbie Clark. You knew my mom.”

“I’m sorry hon. I’m not sure I know who you are talking about”, he said. “I think you have the wrong guy.”

“Charles Billingsley right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“My mom is Susan Clark. You dated her in high school and she got pregnant her senior year. By the time I came along, you were at Harvard University beginning your first doctorate. She raised me there in that little town in Arkansas.”

“What’s this about?” he interrupted. “I knew Susan, but I never knew she was pregnant. We agreed that I needed to go to Harvard because it was such a great opportunity for me and when I moved, I never heard from her again. I couldn’t get ahold of her and she never attempted to contact me. Eventually, I just gave up and let my new life happen here.”

“Hold on. You never knew?” asked Abbie.

“No. I had no idea. I figured that she had met someone else and just didn’t want to break the news to me. I quickly made new friends and got immersed in school and my work. The only time I ever came back to Arkansas was to visit my parents before they moved away. That was fifteen years ago.”

“I don’t know what to think or say now. I feel guilty for coming over here and dropping all of this information on you.” She looked him in the eyes and said, “Charles, I am your daughter. At least my mom says that you are.”

“I see. Listen Abbie…I am a successful doctor and scientist. This isn’t the first time that this has happened to me. I’m not accusing you or your mother of anything, but it would need to be proven before I can accept that.”

“We don’t want anything from you Charles. I’m obviously not a kid anymore and my momma is doing just fine. Gosh… I am even doing pretty well myself now. Just signed a record deal with Moonshine Records out of Nashville.”

“Well that’s great to hear”, he said. He looked at her for a few minutes. It was obvious that she had some of his traits. “Listen…tomorrow morning, we will go to the clinic and they can do an immediate DNA test there to determine if what you are saying is true. If it is, then I would like to get to know you. If I’m not your father then I hope you find the truth.”

“Alright, I can arrange to meet you there Charles”, said Abbie. “I’m pretty confident that you are. Here… I’ve got something for you. Regardless of the results tomorrow, I want to give you a few free tickets to the concert at Madison Square Garden. Bring yourself and a couple family members or friends and have a good time.”

“Oh no…I can’t accept this”, he said pushing the tickets away.

“I insist Mr. Billingsley.”

“Alright, but I can’t promise that I will be able to make it. I am a busy man.”

“I understand. Just make sure that if you don’t use them that someone does.”

“Alright. I can do that Abbie. Thank you.”

“You are very welcome. So, I will see you tomorrow then at the clinic?”

“Yep. I will see you there at eight.”

“You’ve got it”, said Abbie smiling.

She walked away with a sense of fulfillment that she didn’t imagine she would experience, but also a creeping doubt that he could be the one. After all, it seemed that her mother was less than truthful with her.

She stepped back into the limo and it took off back to the arena for the second of three sold out shows there. Things were falling into place it seemed, but now she had to have a conversation with her mom that she wished she didn’t have to have. ‘Why did she tell me that he left us?’ she thought. ‘Did she not think I would find out?’

‘I wonder if Charles is playing me. Maybe he is the one lying because he doesn’t want to mess with the thought of having a daughter.’

There was so much going through her mind. Whatever the reasons were, she would find out the truth tomorrow. Tests don’t lie like people do. They don’t have an agenda.

―――――

Maggie looked like she had seen a ghost as she turned around. “Chaim?” she said in utter shock.

“Yes, it’s me”, he said rather solemnly.

“How did you get here? I thought you were dead!”

“I came pretty close. In fact, I knew that my only chance was to play dead. A spray of bullets came within inches of hitting me so I just acted like I had been hit and fell into the ocean. I let myself disappear under the docks until they were gone. I saw you come back for DeShawn, but I didn’t want to give away my position yet in case there were reinforcements.”

“Oh my gosh. How did you get back here Chaim?” she asked inquisitively.

“Well, I jumped into the van and took off. I just hoped and prayed that they weren’t looking for it. It was a really big risk, but it was the quickest way I could get back. I was probably just a couple of minutes behind you guys. I barely made it in before the bombing began.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” she asked. “The whole tunnel system has probably collapsed. We are probably buried alive under tons of rubble.”

Chaim flashed an assuring smile and said, “We thought of just about everything down here. We knew if we ever had to use this bunker then we would need a different way out than the way we came in. We have a smaller tunnel system right through that escape door.”

He pointed at the far wall where a small door was located. It was more of a hatch than a door. Only standing about three feet high and two feet wide.

“I hope that the rest of the tunnel isn’t as small as that door. I don’t like small spaces and it is taking everything in me right now not to just lose it. In fact, I was in the middle of that before you interrupted me.”

They both laughed and sat down on the benches that lined each side of the bunker. There were several cuts and scrapes being taken care of, but everyone who had made it didn’t have any major injuries.

“Do you think that DeShawn would have made it?” asked Maggie.

“To tell you the truth Maggie, if he was up there during all of this and didn’t make it to one of the bunkers then I don’t like his chances.”

“That’s what I was afraid of”, said Maggie as she teared up. “I just don’t know what to think anymore. John’s here, he’s gone again, Bo is dead, you are dead, DeShawn is alive, nope…you are alive and now DeShawn is probably dead. This has been the single most exhausting day of my life and it may even be worse than the day I was kidnapped by the government and used as bait.”

“I understand”, said Chaim. “Nothing is easy these days. Sometimes, I feel like we would all be better off somewhere more secluded. I have heard stories about large groups of believers living relatively peaceful lives in the Appalachian Mountains. If we get out of here, maybe that’s where we should go.”

“I just can’t stand the thought of leaving John in the hands of the government. God only knows what they will do to him”, she said.

“Yea, I know. We just can’t risk any more guys on a nearly impossible mission. What we had to deal with in getting you was a piece of cake compared to this. They basically gift wrapped you for us. I highly doubt that they will make that mistake again.”

“You’ve seen the way they operate Chaim. What do you think they will do with him?”

“I don’t really want to speculate on that Maggie”, he said.

“Come on. I am a big girl. I can take it.”

“Alright, alright”, he said; throwing his hands up in surrender. “They will probably use torture tactics on him to see if he will give them valuable information about our operations here. If they can’t get the information, then they will just increase the torture until he wants to die. But, they won’t let him die. He is too valuable of an asset to them. A man with his skills and background would be a prime candidate for cerebral reconditioning.”

“Cerebral reconditioning? That sounds familiar. I feel like John had mentioned that one time.”

“Yes. It’s a process reserved for military personnel that have come back home with severe psychological damage. Instead of living with the trauma their entire life, they are taken in for reconditioning of their brain. They basically take the traumatic memories and replace them with any memory they want. If the subject is still physically able, they put them back out in the field many times for combat. They are essentially recycled.”

“That’s terrible”, said Maggie; nearly coming to tears.

“I know it is. The worst thing is that it is a pretty secretive thing. Most of these people are caught during debriefing before they even get to go back to their family. They will usually make up a story about them being killed or missing. I have no doubt that was the plan for John until he escaped. He knew what was coming.”

“It’s terrible to think about what they could do to him. What they could make him forget…or what they could make him think he remembers. That’s probably the scariest thing of all. He wouldn’t be John anymore. He would literally be another government puppet.”

“I know that you want us to try to rescue him, but with the resources we have right now…it’s just not possible.”

“Maybe God can rescue Him. If He can do that, then I would believe in Him completely”, she said with desperation in her voice.

“We walk by faith and not by sight Maggie. Have faith and then you will see.”

―――――

Javier and Noah pulled up to the curb and ran inside as fast as they could. There wasn’t any time to waste. As they came blasting through the door, Joanna and Ryan jumped.

Noah put his hand up to calm them. “I’m sorry to startle you guys. We just need to go right now. The position of the group has been given away and everyone is in danger. Let’s gather a few belongings and get out of here.”

“But, where will we go?” asked Joanna.

“Joshua Tree National Park is where we will meet”, said Javier. “We aren’t sure yet where we are going permanently. Things have just gotten too bad for us here in California. It will need to be somewhere in the southern states. Our beliefs are at least still tolerated there.”

The four of them, Ryan included, were picking up necessities and throwing them in duffle bags as Javier explained what had happened at the base in Los Angeles.

“So, it’s very important that we get out of here. Those drones have facial recognition software and they would have picked up on who we are. They could be tracing me back here right now. There is just no more hiding that I am a part of this group anymore. Even if by some miracle they didn’t scan my face during the strike, I won’t be able to hide once they institute the mark of the beast.”

“The mark of the beast?” Noah asked curiously.

“Yea. I will have to explain all of that to you later. The antichrist, who we believe to be Assad, will demand that everyone in the world receive a mark of loyalty to be able to buy or sell. Anyone who resists that mark of allegiance and worship will be beheaded. It isn’t far down the road. Assad has already announced the plans. I give it three to four years tops before it is in full effect.”

“You’re right”, said Noah. “We have no other choice than to go even further off the grid.”

“Dad, I’m scared”, said Ryan.

“Buddy, don’t be scared. Let’s just look at this as an adventure. You remember the dreams you’ve had about God right?”

“Yes”, said Ryan.

“Well it’s all true. He will watch over us through everything and as long as Javier, your mom, and I are around we will make sure you are taken care of. It’s all going to be alright.”

“Okay”, he said hesitantly.

“Hey, your dad is right”, said Javier. “You have a direct line to God called prayer. Whenever you start feeling scared or worried, then just talk to him. He will give you peace and keep you safe.”

Joanna’s heart ached for her son. She was so thankful and blessed to have her son, but for his sake she wondered if it would have been best to be without a child. There was nothing more difficult than seeing him so frightened. ‘Of all the times for us to live and raise children, it had to be in this one’, she thought. ‘What are we supposed to do?’

It wasn’t that she didn’t have faith. She just knew that being a believer wouldn’t necessarily always protect them from bad things. She had seen too many families split up, imprisoned, and killed in the name of world peace and unity. They were part of the divergent group that presented a perceived danger to the world.