Chapter 5 - Trouble in the Pit
“Hoards of wicked ones have left their dark abode. Commander Deobolas is amassing troops throughout the beloved city,” reported Eli. “The Watchers record his troops are now in full control of the hospital construction site, as well as Amir and his people. Wicked ones are at this moment attempting to secure territory around the entire Massad family, having been spotted as far as Tel Aviv. What are your orders, Sir?”
“Lieutenant Galen understands the threat. He knows what is at stake. The Healers will respond accordingly when the time is right,” was Papa’s confident edict.
“Assemble the legions as instructed,” commanded Deobolas. “Our orders are not to strike until all troops have arrived and target is ready. Until then, avoid direct confrontation with the Warriors of Light. Make certain all are in place my brethren, then let us await our moment.”
Thousands of hellish warriors responded in one accord, “As you have spoken, oh Dark One, let it be written.”
“Captain Lyar, you have your assignment and know exactly where to position your forces. I know I can depend upon your skillful weapons of war to extinguish all opposition.
“Your desires are my delight.” replied the wicked Captain. “So shall it be done!”
Much had happened in the two short weeks since Micah had arrived in Jerusalem. He could not fully explain it but he knew his presence on this project was no accident. The voices, the visions and Peter’s accident were hardly random events. Micah was convinced something big was happening. He just wished those two unicorns had been more specific.
It had been a week since dinner at the Massad’s. Micah thought it might be helpful to give Peter some time and space to put behind him the personal confrontation which had previously occurred between the two men. So for the time being, Micah decided to send any business correspondence for Peter through Zuriel’s office. Micah concentrated his efforts on reviewing the final designs for the above ground facilities and on some newly identified utility coordination problems with Massad’s electrical engineers.
Monday morning of the third week, Peter informed Zuriel the city inspectors would be on site Tuesday morning. Peter was confident there would be no concerns and the site would be ready to begin compaction the following day.
“Motor graders and watering trucks will be arriving Tuesday afternoon,” Peter told Zuriel. “They’ll be ready to roll bright and early Wednesday morning. If all goes well, Amir and Associates will begin pouring concrete this time next week. All three levels of the parking garage should be completed by July 15th. That puts us right on schedule to begin above ground construction.”
Zuriel called Micah with the update. “Excellent!” replied Micah. “Dad will be pleased to hear the news.”
Tuesday morning, Micah and Zuriel met with Peter and the inspectors on site. Everything was in order and the city gave CEI a green light to begin ground compaction.
“Give Amir’s company the go ahead and make sure those concrete pump trucks are ready to roll next week,” Micah instructed Peter.
Micah and Zuriel went back to the office to review the budget and some legal agreements. Zuriel also had a stack of invoices he wanted Micah to review.
“And last but not least,” Zuriel concluded, “We received a bill today from Amir and Associates for the concrete. Check out the total amount of the invoice.”
“That’s twice as much as the original bid!” Micah said loudly. “What’s their problem?”
“I’m not sure but I wanted to make you aware of the situation,” replied Zuriel. “They haven’t delivered an ounce of concrete yet and they’re already asking for payment in full within 10 days. I tried to reach Peter but his phone went to voice mail. I told him to call me as soon as possible. If I don’t hear from him soon, I’ll drive back out to the job site. He’s going to stick around out there until all the compacting equipment has been delivered. I’ll call you as soon as I have an answer.”
Around two o’clock that afternoon, the caterpillar graders, rollers, and watering trucks arrived. Peter directed the trucks to park in the vehicle yard at the southwest corner of the lot. Peter had not eaten anything since breakfast and was starving. He decided to grab a quick hamburger and stop for gas before returning for his on-site meeting with Tobias Amir later that evening. While the gas was pumping, Peter called Zuriel.
“What is it?” he said hurriedly.
“Can you explain why Amir and Associates has already submitted an invoice for twice their original bid?” quizzed Zuriel.
“Mr. Amir and I discussed some minor increases but nothing significant. I’m meeting with him and his foreman this evening in the hole. Just some routine issues to review. I’ll discuss the invoice with him and call you back,” promised Peter.
When Peter’s tank was full, he went to the ATM machine and inserted his credit card. As the payment transaction was being authorized, a message scrolled across the LCD screen which read, “Buy truth and do not sell it. Get wisdom, instruction and understanding and live.”
“What kind of crazy advertisement is that?” Peter wondered.
As he was driving back to the construction site, Peter turned on the radio. At first he was listening to classical music. But suddenly the music was interrupted by a male voice saying, “I love you. Give your heart to me, my son and walk in the ways of good men.”
“That sounds like some kind of religious station,” Peter thought. He reached over and turned the dial until he could hear classical music once again. “Now that is what I like to hear.”
Peter was totally unaware of the Healing Ones escorting him back to the job site. He was also unaware of the unholy forces dispatched to torment him. But keeping their distance for fear of Galen’s troops, all hell could do for the moment was jeer and sneer at their prey as they followed high above. Winged warriors of light successfully kept the Dark Ones at bay until Peter arrived.
Peter drove through the main security gates at the construction site around 5:30pm. He had a few minutes to kill before Tobias arrived, so he picked up a mystery novel he had been reading. Turning to Chapter Seven he read the first sentence. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Only a fool despises instruction.”
Peter threw the book down on the seat beside him. He shook both hands violently in the air as if trying to shake off some kind of invisible ink that had stained his hands. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen!” he said.
After a few moments, he cautiously picked up the book again and turned to Page132. “When Susan returned home after the movie, the house was dark…”
“That’s more like it! For a moment, I thought I was losing my mind!” Peter said to himself. “Man, this project has really gotten under my skin.”
But Peter knew his anxiety was more than work-related stress. After a moment’s silence, Peter put down the book and whispered, “It was a year ago today.”
Peter closed his eyes. He could still see the images of the medical attendants as they lifted the covered, lifeless body of his wife into the ambulance, shut the steel doors and drove away.
“I should have died that day, not her.” He wiped a lone tear running down his cheek and stared blankly out the window as he waited for Tobias to arrive.
About this time, Dark Ones who had accompanied Peter into the hole joined forces with Captain Lyar’s troops already in control of the territory inside the pit. Embolden by their combined strength, Lyar’s troops moved swiftly against Galen’s warriors.
Lunging towards their holy opponents, unholy horns clashed, hooves stomped and hind legs kicked wildly. The forces of Light managed to inflict some damage on their dark enemies, but were quickly chased out of the pit, off the construction site, and north through the city. Confident they had thoroughly routed the holy warriors, Lyar’s soldiers returned to the pit to continue executing their devilish plans.
Now miles from the future hospital, Lieutenant Galen’s troops regrouped as ordered.
; Amir and crew pulled onto the lot around 6:00pm. The sun was just setting when all three trucks drove down into the pit. With all the flood lights turned on, the three-story hole was almost as bright as the ground hundreds of feet above. The group did a quick walk around the perimeter of the hole then Tobias dismissed his employees.
“You have your orders. Get going,” he said. “Mr. Massad and I have some personal business to discuss.”
“What about our money?” shouted one of the men as he slid behind the steering wheel of his truck.
“I already told you. I’ll be in touch! Now get out of here before I change my mind!” Tobias yelled back.
When the two men were alone Peter said, “Tobias, my boss called. They’re concerned about your bill.”
“I expected such a response. But you and I know how quickly the cost of labor and materials can rise, especially in this city. Assure your boss the price increase is reasonable and necessary. And remind them payment in full is required before delivery. If they don’t pay, there will be nothing underneath this hospital except a loose pile of dirt,” Tobias said defiantly.
“First, explain to me the meaning of your additional charges for ‘Professional Services,’” pressed Peter.
“Hey, a man’s got to make a living somehow doesn’t he?” Tobias laughed without the slightest twinge of guilt regarding his deceptive demands.
“And what about the cement? Is it top-grade, or is it from the same source used to build that parking garage in Tel Aviv which collapsed last year?” Peter asked.
“Just what do you mean by that?” replied Tobias in a threatening tone.
“You know exactly what I mean. How much money did you and your partners make on that catastrophe?” demanded Peter.
“That’s a pretty serious accusation, Mr. Massad. But you know, since we’re already such close business partners and all...what the heck. We split the insurance money with the owners,” confessed Tobias freely.
“But people almost died when that three-story garage collapsed. Those parking levels fell on top of each other like pancakes! Cars parked inside were squashed like flies. People were trapped for hours under mounds of dirt and chunks of concrete. I brought with me a copy of the newspaper article just in case you forgot,” Peter said pulling the folded newspaper out of his inside coat pocket.
Tobias just shrugged his shoulders unconcerned as Peter continued his emotional cross-examination.
“Water came spilling out of broken pipes in the bottom of the hole. Investigators said the concrete foundations crumbled like sand. So tell me, how did you manage to collapse a structure less than a year old without any evidence of foul play?”
Tobias winked at Peter and grinned slyly. “Trade secrets!” he said sarcastically.
Peter could not believe what he was hearing. “But we’re building a children’s hospital you fool! If this garage collapses, innocent children could be killed,” Peter shouted.
“Don’t worry. You do your part. We’ll do ours. You just convince your bosses to pay our fee and then keep your mouth shut. If anybody at CEI starts poking around, you make sure they don’t find anything,” Tobias instructed his worried partner.
“We’ll fix it so that garage collapses long before any kids are inside. The insurance will pay and we’ll split the money fifty/fifty. You get half and we get half. I’m talking about millions of dollars, Massad.”
Reluctant, Peter shook his head slowly and said, “What you’re asking me to do is illegal. I could go to jail for a very long time if anyone finds out what we’re doing.”
Tobias continued his intimidation and greedy persuasions. “But they won’t find out so stop worrying! Just think about that blind son of yours. With all that money, you’ll be able to pay for those expensive reconstructive eye surgeries you tried to get for him last year. Remember? Imagine being able to give your only son back his eyesight…or…leave him blind for the rest of his life if you go to the police. But I don’t think that will be a problem. I knew we would see eye-to-eye on this deal the first time we met.”
As he listened to Amir’s plan, Peter heard a still, small voice inside his head saying, “Remember what your wife said? What would Jason think? What would God want you to do?”
But Peter replied to the inner voice of his own conscious saying, “My wife is dead! When Jason can see again, he’ll thank me. And who cares what God thinks! What has he ever done for me?”
Divinely shielded from the view of Peter and the demons now controlling the site, Lieutenant Galen stood beside Peter. Like a tape recording which is rewound and replayed over and over again, Galen continued to whisper words of truth into Peter’s ear.
But looking down at the dirt under his feet, Peter finally put both his index fingers inside his ears and wiggled them wildly, as if trying to dislodge the unwanted internal tape recording. He succeeded. The voice of truth was silenced.
Peter then raised his eyes, extended his hand and said, “Alright Amir, you win. It’s a deal.” The two men shook hands and Tobias drove away leaving Peter alone in the pit.
Invisible to those around him, Lieutenant Galen then extended his mighty wings, and flew straight up out of the hole to rejoin his expectant brethren.
Victorious, a horde of wicked warriors flew alongside Tobias’ vehicle as he drove out of the hole. With the Healers having been successfully driven from the area, Commander Deobolas and Captain Lyar were now free to do what demons do best.