Wired (26 page)

One day there would be summer-like temperatures; twenty-four hours later a blizzard blew in. Everything was out of order.
Now an earthquake had undermined their city!

Jackie walked through all the rooms of the house looking for cracks in the wall or through the ceiling. Finally, she picked
up the phone and called Graham.

“Did you feel the shock?” Jackie asked.

“Yes. Our building swayed for several seconds. When I looked out the windows I could see hugs waves rolling in off of Lake
Michigan and slamming the piers. Looks like significant damage is being done there by the docks. Did it hurt our house?”

“I don't think the damage is severe. What do you make of it?”

“I think the quake must have occurred out there under Lake Michigan,” Graham said. “It's really created chaos downtown.”

“I can't actually tell how badly the house got hit, but we do have a cracked sidewalk.”

“I hope we don't have any trouble with the foundation.”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Jackie said.

“No problem down here that I've detected yet. Have you started gathering up those items we spoke of last night?”

“I was making the list when the earthquake hit,” Jackie explained. “I'll be on to it shortly.”

“Good,” Graham said. “Let me know if any other problems pop up.”

“You bet!” Jackie hung up.

She walked back to her office. The small writing desk had moved three or four inches more after she left the room and books
had fallen from the bookcase. Jackie readjusted the furniture and picked up the list she was writing.

“Flashlights, pocket knife, extra blankets, dehydrated food, a rope ladder,” Jackie read out loud. “I sure hope Graham knows
exactly what we need.” She sat down to complete the list.

Graham's door flew open and Sarah Cates burst in. Behind her Graham could see turmoil in the outer office. Employees were
shouting and some of the women were darting hysterically back and forth.

“The glass on the front door shattered,” Sarah said breathlessly. “We've got a dangerous crack in the front wall! People are
frightened to death.”

“Okay. I'll be there. “Graham walked through the doorway and leaped up on top of Sarah's desk. “Everybody listen to me!” he
shouted. “The earthquake appears to be over, It's all right. Let's settle down. No one's hurt. Get back to your own desks.”

The noise started to subside.

“I'll have workmen up here as quickly as possible,” Graham assured the staff. “Don't worry. We're not in danger anymore.”

Some of the men waved their appreciation. Several of the secretaries returned to their workstations.

Climbing down, Graham looked around the office. The truth was that he didn't know that there wouldn't be another quake at
any moment, but he couldn't let the office fly out of control. He had to put a lid on a boiling kettle.

“I think the disturbance will settle down now,” Graham said to Sarah. “Please come back into my office.” She followed him
inside and Graham shut the door behind them.

“Have you found anything yet?” Graham asked.

Sarah shook her head. “Like you said, I have to be extremely careful. I've been by his office several times but inside it
only once. Mr. Pemrose has been here most of the time. No. I haven't seen anything like what you described.”

“You're frightened?”

“Of course I am!” Sarah forced a smile.

“Good. Keep your eyes open for information about something that will neutralize the security devices placed on people's foreheads.
Watch for any clues. Remember this search is a total secret.”

“
You bet
,” she whispered.

“Okay, Sarah. Go back and look liked a hardworking secretary.”

Sarah took a deep breath. “I'll keep watching.” She walked out and shut the door behind her.

Sarah seemed to be playing her part well. Her apprehension appeared genuine enough. On the other hand, if Sarah was a plant,
she might have talent for this sort of thing and might only be acting. Should the woman balk then he'd know she wasn't trustworthy
and he could believe a plot was unfolding within the mayor's offices. However, if Sarah really did come back with something
revealing, he might know what Pemrose was doing behind the scenes.

Picking up his cell phone, Graham dialed Matthew, hoping that it had not been worse to the north.

“Hello?”

“Son, we got hit by a earthquake down here. Did it do any damage at the university?”

“Dad, it's been terrible. Several classrooms collapsed and the side of the library caved in.”

“Sounds worse than what we got I downtown Chicago. I take it you're not hurt.”

“I came out without a scratch because I was walking across the campus. If I'd been in the library, I might have been injured.”

“Okay,” Graham said. “I'm relieved to hear you're in good condition. Is it possible for you to come home tonight or could
I meet you somewhere if the roads are open?

“
You
asking
me
?” Matthew laughed. “Now, that's a twist!”

“No, son. I'm serious.”

“It would help me if you could come up here. I am supposed to have a big exam tomorrow.”

“Is this afternoon bad?”

“No. Not at all.

“I'll see you at three o'clock. The regular place.”

“You bet!” Matthew said.

Graham hung up the phone. Going back to the window, he watched the waves pounding against the shoreline. Like the bizarre
glow of the moon, nature had spun out of control again with a quake that had unleashed terror up and down the Chicago waterfront.
Workmen worked frantically on the docks with every possible tool. Wherever he looked, it seemed that God himself was screaming
at the world.

R
EPORTS OF INJURIES
poured in from up and down the coastline of Lake Michigan with the damage up north appearing to be worse. People in the Highland
Park area around Glencoe reported severe losses. The entire Chicago tram system sank into chaos while officials worried about
the effects of the earthquake. The downtown Metro Express train closed while workmen checked out the overhead trusses for
damage to the supports.

Graham discovered that the Kennedy Expressway hadn't been damaged badly enough to stop traffic and grabbed a taxi to travel
up the Highway 94 route that wound around Skokie before a side road went east toward Evanston.

Graham watched the driver carefully. The man seemed nervous and shaken. Even his usual disheveled appearance had dropped a
notch and his driving was on the erratic side.

“Where're you from?” Graham asked to calm him.

“Immigrated form Lebanon.” The driver glued his eyes nervously on the highway.

“Really? You came here for more opportunities?”

“No! I came here to keep from being killed! Lebanon has turned into nothing more than an enormous battlefield. Now
this
happens to Chicago!”

“Yeah. You look like this earthquake frightened you?”

“Of course! I've been through tremors in the old country. You can get killed in an instant.” He snapped his fingers. “Boom!
The shakes frighten me plenty.”

The shakes had certainly frightened Graham. His first reaction had been to make sure the world was still in order and keep
the office under control. It was only after he found the Metro closed and got in the taxi the full emotional impact descended
on him. Fear had to be setting over the entire city.

The cell phone ran. “Peck here.”

“Graham, this is the mayor. I'm concerned about what this quake has done to the city.”

Graham paused and thought about his position in the taxi. He was actually
running away
from the office. “I'm heading north to check out the current situation,” he finally said. “I understand damage is worse up
the shoreline. The Metro is now closed.”

“Closed!” Bridges said. His voice filled with seriousness. “I didn't know the train was shut down.”

“I'm checking it out.”

“Good. Excellent. Let me know as soon as you have a report.”

“Yes sir,” Graham answered briskly and clicked off his phone. At least, he was covered with the front office, but he still
had to pay close attention to what had happened around him.

The driver eventually turned down Dempster Street toward the Lake. Graham kept thinking about what this man had said about
war in Lebanon. No matter where he turned, the world seemed to be in endless turmoil. On every street corner, wars and rumors
of wars confounded Graham.

“Let me out at that dormitory straight ahead.” Graham pointed across the campus. He could see buildings that had been damaged.
“I'll walk the rest of the way.” The taxi pulled up to the curb and Graham paid the driver.

Everywhere Peck looked, he saw mayhem. On one side of the street a few smaller houses had front porches bent at strange angles.
Around the university cracks ran down the sides of buildings and windows had shattered. Pieces of the concrete sidewalk were
twisted and tilted at strange angles. Graham hurried on toward the dormitory cafeteria where he always met his son when he
was visiting on campus.

The building looked like it withstood the quake fairly well; no cracks or broken glass anywhere. Students were coming and
going as Graham hurried inside. He found Matthew sitting at a back table by himself.

“Quite a day.” Graham sat down across from Matthew. “I had to grab a taxi to get here. Makes for a long ride. Looks like we've
had one of the most unexpected disasters anyone would have thought possible around Chicago.”

“Anyone who has never read the Bible,” Mathew answered. “If I am reading Revelation right, this big shake is about on schedule.”

“That's what I need to talk with you about. As best I can tell, you've bought
everything
the New Seekers are saying.”

Matt smiled. “I'm sure I sound on the enthusiastic side, but I can't find anything wrong with what they're teaching.” Matt
stretched out his legs and leaned back in his chair. “In the dorm, people are afraid terrorists will blow up the university
or shoot us in the streets. I see nothing but kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Guys are sleeping
with girls like there's no tomorrow. The place is wild and crazy. I don't find any help around here.”

Graham nodded. “I know what you mean. It's the same way in my office.”

“But when I'm with my New Seekers friends, it's different world. These people are sane, sensible, balanced. They believe God
is working behind all the mess and they trust Him.”

G
RAHAM LEANED BACK
in his chair and scratched his head. “I think that's the part I don't understand,” he said to Matthew. “What does it
really
mean to trust God? Sitting here in your dormitory cafeteria at this moment how can I have confidence in Him?”

Matthew rubbed his chin and for a few moments looked thoughtfully out the window. “Dad, you drove up here in a taxi. Right?”

Graham nodded.

“You trusted that a car you know nothing about would get you here through some very uncertain circumstances. You had fears
about what had happened and could occur again, but still you chose to ride in that car and believed it would get you through
any obstacles along the way.”

“Yes,” Graham agreed.

“Trust is the same confidence that what you can't prove to be true will be able to guide and take you through hard times on
to the place where you want to be. When I trust God, I know that He's going to do the same thing with my entire life.”

Graham listened intently. He had thought about these issues in some way or another nearly every waking moment since Maria
was killed in their garage. Sometimes he almost accepted what the New Seekers group taught and then later retreated. Then
again, he found that what they taught about the Bible made more sense out of these unexpected struggles than anything he had
learned in his entire life.

“You've worried about death,” Matthew continued. “Grammy's death just about did all of us in, but trusting in God has given
me peace even about death. I'm not afraid anymore.”

Graham studied his son's face. Matthew looked confident and he truly believed what he was saying. Although Matt was hardly
more than a boy, this young man was standing on firm ground and Graham felt he could trust what he was saying.

“Adah showed me what Bible says about death, Dad. The first letter of Saint John says that God has given us eternal life and
that this life is in Jesus Christ, His son. When you trust Jesus, He's the one who opens the door into an eternal tomorrow.
Jesus Christ is the answer to our fears about death. When you trust God, you can let go of worrying about dying.”

Graham took a deep breath. “That's quite a statement, son.”

“But it's true, Dad. When you trust God, you don't have to be frightened about what's ahead.”

“Son, I came up here for something different from what you've said so far, but this one tidbit made the trip totally worthwhile.
I wanted to ask you about what you think is going on in the world today. Have you been able to make any sense out of these
attacks, wars, the Anti-Christ, the totally unexpected earthquake? It runs together in a blur in my mind.”

“That's because of how you think.” Matt grinned with a sly twist. “We all grew up that way. Mary's the worst of all.”

“What do you mean, son?”

“When you look at the world, you only see one dimension. It's no more than a cause and effect place for you. What you see
is what you get.” Matt gently pointed his finger in his father's face. “You don't take into account
what you can't see.”

Graham grimaced. “What?” He shook his head. “You're not making any sense.”

“Oh, but I am! Dad, you don't take into account the world that you can't see.”

“Can't see?” Graham rubbed his chin. “Now you are talking nonsense.”

“Far from it! I'm talking about the supernatural world that is always out there around us, but just beyond us. There is a
spiritual world we must also confront. While we can't see it, the supersensual world is the place where evil and good do ultimate
battle. Our world is only a pale reflection of that realm where the supernormal, the numinous exists.”