Chapter 29
Final Countdown
Hayden and Riley never saw the girls until the next morning. They called over to their room; and when they answered, it was only long enough to let them know they'd meet them at the Jesus Temple after it was all over.
Hayden commented, "They said that they'd meet us over there. My part doesn't come up until after the high council has its meeting about two hours from now. Star couldn't be talking about both of them going in at once. She must be talking about Caleb and his friends."
He was right, Day went to the Archive building just as Star entered the Jesus Temple. As Day entered, the librarian, an elderly lady with hair pinned up in a knot behind her head, asked her briskly, "May I have your identification, please?"
Day looked around, not seeing anyone in yet, but she heard the rustle of brittle manuscripts from a vault in the back. She knew it must be Adam. She bent down in front of the lady, stared directly into her eyes, and changed into her likeness. The librarian gasped in surprise and fell off her high stool in a dead faint. Day jumped over the counter, picked her up, threw her over her shoulder, and hurriedly carried her to the women's bathroom. She tied and gagged her, then put her securely on a toilet, and with a long bungee cord anchored her to the john. She knew that she wouldn't be a problem. Even if she came to, she'd be unable to get help unless she could do Morse Code with the toilet handle.
Day went out and sat in her place. She watched as Adam scurried around and pretended he was getting things ready to take to the temple. He had already placed his nuke under a conference table in a reading room and looked nervously at his timer.
"Please, no foul ups, please!" he kept saying to himself.
Star walked through the security scanners, then noticed Bob staring at her again. He stepped in front of the guards and waved her through. Behind her were Titus and Barnabas, this time. She looked back to see if Bob would check their cases, but he didn't. She noticed that Paul was carrying two. Bob noticed it at the last minute and started to stop him, since it was unusual, but changed his mind and went back to his office.
Titus and Barnabas got on the elevator with Star, and she could see that Titus was sweating profusely. They felt those extra alarms going off but pushed them out of their minds. They had more important things than feelings to deal with.
"Where's hubby this morning?" Titus asked casually, just trying to make conversation.
"He'll be here soon enough. Going over his speech a hundred more times," she said smiling.
"I heard that you and Jesus spent some time together. What did Jesus have to say?" Barnabas asked, a little curious, but still, just making conversation.
"Oh, not much. Something about a Judas. Does that make sense to you?" she asked and knew she was prodding them a little to see their reaction.
They didn't know what to say and both kept thinking, "How could Jesus know about Judas, but why hasn't He done something about it if He did?"
"I don't know. Maybe we have a new priest coming named Judas. I'd change my name," he replied but was getting unnerved by it.
"Yes, you're probably right," she answered.
"You getting off?" they asked together as they reached the temple level.
"No, going to get some fresh air on top this morning. Clear my head," she answered and she closed the door in their faces.
"Paul is going to have a visitor. I told her yesterday that he would be too busy. Do you think he can still pull it off? He won't like having her around with what we have to do," replied Barnabas while seeing Titus nodding in agreement.
"Not our problem, remember. We need to get our stuff done and get out of here, right? I'm glad we all agreed to place them early. They're set to go no matter what. It just gives us all extra time," whispered Titus directly into Barnabas' ear. Barnabas approached the angel guards dismissing them as usual, and they both felt better now without them around.
"You got that right, come on!" Titus said as he lugged the cases to the Glory Throne.
With help, Barnabas lifted one end of the Glory Throne and slid a case under the high back. He took a piece of decorative cloth and pinned it expertly around the bottom of the chair that covered the chair to the floor. They went to the baptismal font and opened the cabinet underneath, but this time the case wouldn't fit. They looked at each other disappointedly, and then Titus pulled the whole mechanism from the case and slid it into place, a perfect fit.
One more to go. They looked around, and Barnabas moved to the freight elevator and locked it open. He pushed the ceiling out, shoved the other case through the opening, and slid the panel back. He pushed the buttons to the basement and sent it down with its door partially open. It wasn't enough to stop it from going down, but enough to stop it from coming back up and put it almost offline. He ran back to the private elevator and met Titus, just getting ready to head down.
Barnabas asked while heaving out of breath, "You weren't leaving without me, were you?"
"Yes, I was. Timing is everything. If you're late, I won't be," he remarked sarcastically.
On the second floor, the elevator stopped. They looked at each other strangely. No one ever was on this floor except an occasional altar guild lady, but it was too early for them. Jesus would be here in about an hour for his high council meeting.
In the meantime, Goliath was in the parking garage of the Jesus Priest facility. He placed his bomb under a large air conditioning unit. He brushed his hands off briskly and walked towards the parking lot. He wasn't about to be left behind.
Star walked out onto the dome level just as Paul placed his case into the rain gear equipment trunk. He didn't have it quite in place when she appeared. He slammed down the trunk lid quickly, and actually, heard it smack the top of the bomb case smartly. He squinted up his face and rolled his eyes upward, thankful he was still alive. A smack that hard could easily mess up the timer. He didn't think that Star noticed, but he was wrong.
Star wondered if everyone else was in place. They suspected that these Nephilims were too cowardly to stick around. Day heard from Paul and Titus that they would be racing away the minute they were placed. Star heard multiple high-pitched sounds now. They were like homing signals. She didn't think they would be hard to locate.
"Hey, what are you doing up here?" he protested.
"Relax, just trying to get some air, that's all. Do you mind?" she replied.
"Yes, I do. I have a lot of things that need to be done before Jesus arrives," he whined and knew that as long as she was there, he'd have to stay. That's something he definitely didn't want to do. "In fact, I need to go down to check on another part for the dome controls. I can't leave you here by yourself."
"Why, do you think I'll jump off?" she asked. "If you really do have something to do, I'll take care of this stuff up here for you. Just show me how."
"You're kidding," he laughed. All he wanted to do was get away. "Sure, let me show you."
"Okay, and tell me when to do it," she replied as she acted completely naive.
"You have to pull this lever when you see heaven open up, and that opens the dome by the time Jesus gets here," he instructed.
She couldn't believe he was such a coward. He just wanted to run as far from this place as possible. He had images of everyone else racing for the airport by now. She had barely said, "I see," with understanding, when he turned and ran to the elevator.
Caleb and Aaron dressed in guard uniforms got on at the second floor and rode down with Barnabas and Titus. It made them terribly nervous. Neither of them said more than a grunt at them when they got on. They were horribly intimidated by their size, but it made them relish getting out of these morphed Jesus Priest forms all the more.
Adam and David met each other minutes later and got in their own car to leave. They all were celebrating their success. This was better than anything they expected. They now had about 90 minutes before the bombs were to go off, and they were only five minutes from the airport. They still didn't have a
flight out, but they weren't going to wait on the Judas' plane to get there. They had enough money between them that they could buy a plane if they needed to.
"Now!" shouted Star. "Go, go, go!" she shouted again.
Everyone heard her yelling on their communicators. Star and Day listened for the high-pitched signals. Star easily found the dome nuke, put it on the elevator, and rode down with it. She locked the elevator open in place and ran towards the Glory Throne. She clearly heard both the sounds. She ran to the Glory Throne, pushed it over on its side, and saw the shiny case. She kept listening and followed the sound to the baptismal font, but this time, no case. How would she get it out of the building without causing a panic? She figured, she'd wing it somehow.
She called for Aaron, "Aaron, I have three. There's one missing. Between them, they came up with four. It's somewhere else. I need help with these. Come on guys!" she commanded.
Day called Star, "I got one. Where's that bus? There it is."
Outside, Irish drove a large bus and parked it in front of the archives. She flung the doors open and waited. She saw Day lugging the case from the archive building a block away. Irish drove the bus, jumping over curbs and medians. She braked beside Day with the tire rubber smoking. Day shook her head in disbelief at Irish's driving style.
"Remind me to drive," Day remarked and watched Irish grab the case and put it under the bus storage area as easily as picking up a piece of paper.
"How many do we have?" Irish asked.
"Four, we're missing two. Aaron is helping Star take the other three out now. We can't find the other ones."
"Irish, drive into the parking garage at the facility. Drop me off. I'll start at the bottom and work my way up. It has to be where David was working. It has to be."
Irish and Day jumped back into the bus with Day driving this time. She didn't jump over any medians, but her speed made up for Irish's recklessness. They pulled into the parking garage, turned off the engine, and got out. Day stood listening for several minutes, then started slowly walking with her hand pointed out in front of her.
"I hear something!" she yelled.
"I do too! But, where is it?" Irish shouted back.
"I don't know. The ventilation system is too loud. It's blocking it," replied Day while running over to a power box. She opened it and started flipping switches. Lights started going out, elevators stopped, electric razors quit, and hot water heaters stopped working, then finally the air conditioning unit shut off.
"Over there! It's over there!" yelled Day.
They both ran for the unit, and Day scooted on her stomach, then looked under it. She could clearly hear it but couldn't see it. She groped around blindly until she felt the outside of the shiny case.
"Got it!" she yelled triumphantly.
Irish grabbed it from her as she pulled it out, and they both ran for the bus. "Aaron, have you found the last one? Five down and one to go."
"No, we don't know where it is. We'll have to evacuate the whole town if we can't find it," replied Aaron.
Caleb and Aaron spread their wings, and exposed their long swords draped in their back-sheaths. Star saw them as they changed into their true angel form and proudly pulled her contacts off. She walked between them as they exited the elevator. Bob saw them coming with the cases in hand, and he saw Star carrying a visibly marked bomb out of its case. He passed out, and Star noticed that the maintenance men were fussing over what was wrong with the elevator.
"I'm telling you that it's a fuse!" yelled one man.
"You're an idiot. Someone has it stuck on the bottom with the door open!" the other yelled back.
They both looked up and saw Caleb, Aaron, and Star staring at them. They moved back towards the elevator shaft like they were going to jump.
Aaron commented, "Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yes," they said together.
Star ran to the elevator shaft and pushed the frightened men aside. They still didn't run but just looked at her bomb.
One of them got brave enough to say," Ma'am, I'm ex-military. I think I know what you have in your hands."
"You're right. It's a nuke. And so are those in those cases. We're here to find one more. Are you sure that it's just an open door?" she asked him.
"Lady, I can't figure out why I'm not running my butt out that door; but if they're nukes, I'd have to run a lot farther than to the house."
"Are you sure the door is stuck open? Maybe, to keep it on the bottom?" she asked while peering down the shaft.
"Lady, I've been around elevators all my adult life. It's just an open door. I can tell by the way the lights are acting, and I've checked for short circuits. I know elevators. It's a stuck door. That's it. I'd bet my life on it!"
"Well, you are. You're still here, and I have a nuke in my hands," she commented, amused at his professional arrogance. The man was watching Caleb and Aaron carefully, already figuring they were the good guys, the white wings being the first give away.
"Dad," replied Star. "I think that our problem is in or around that elevator. Got any suggestions?"
Caleb put down his case and shrugged. He ran for the open shaft and dived into it head first. It surprised Star, especially with the thought of all the cables around him, but he artfully dodged and avoided them and came to a feathered landing on the top of the elevator a story below them.
From the darkness of the shaft, Star heard him, "I'm here, safe and sound, with another bright, shiny case."
For some reason, Caleb thought he heard the timer beating twice fast as the others. He opened the case and peered in. He said coldly, "I got it. It's on top. Something's wrong with it. The timer is messed up. It looks like its set to go off at ten.
Star went pale, but not as pale as the elevator men. Bob was now coming up behind them, but still, watching from a distance. He spoke to Star nervously, "Star, I hope those aren't what I think they are."
The elevator man fell back against a far wall while getting out of breath from the excitement, then said, "Bob, does ground zero mean anything to you?"
"You've got to be kidding, Ralph," replied Bob, aghast at the thought.
"Come on, Dad. Let's get these things out of here," Star replied,
"Dad, your dad is an angel?" asked Bob, his eyes wide in amazement. "You're a Nephilim?"
"Yes, Caleb is my Dad. Now shut up and let us alone! Oh, go outside and ask my sister in the bus to get it ready. Tell her we have four coming their way."
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