NINETEEN
To befriend the Devil’s friend does not maketh thee also the Devil’s friend.
Julius Mann, Reflections, ch. 5
As Roy drove his car he tapped out a number on his car phone, and prayed it would be answered.
“Hello?” Lenny’s voice was resolute and strong. At first Roy did not think it was him.
“This is Roy. Don’t close the call.”
“I won’t close. I’m pleased you’ve called, actually.”
“Lenny, I have to warn you. They came after me and Suzanne. Men, with face masks, and weapons.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve got away from them. I think Suzanne has too, but I’m not sure. But I don’t think you’re safe, Lenny.”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know; nothing but hired thugs, I would guess. They’re working for someone, some secret organisation; we don’t know who. They’ve got money, weapons, manpower. I think they got the Carters too, and perhaps my neighbour Bern.”
“No kidding?”
“Lenny, I don’t think I was right about what I said about the rapture. I think there’s only one, and I think we missed it. As for Wuting and Jian, I don’t know. Maybe they’re part of the 144,000 and they don’t realise.”
“So now you see I was right? People are being attacked by the Beast?”
“I must admit, it looks that way. Whatever it is, I know they’re coming after us. You’re not safe, Lenny.”
“Don’t worry about me, Reverend. I’m not scared now.”
“That’s good. I’m pleased for you. But I want you to get out of there. Suzanne has organised a place for us to go. Ida and Shari-Anne and her girls will be there. It’s at a safe place across the river. Do you understand what I mean? I don’t want to say any more than that. Anyone could be listening. I didn’t get it myself, when Suzanne said it to me, but now it’s clear. I’m surprised Suzanne was able to go there, or wanted to. But she says she’s a changed person now; a forgiving person, and I have to trust that.”
“Yeah, Suzanne stopped by and told me all about that too. I know what you mean. Say no more.”
“Good, I’ll see you there. I’m driving there myself, right now. Do you want me to drop by your place to pick you up?”
“Reverend, I’m sorry, but I’m not going. I’ve got my own plans.”
“You’re not still thinking you can make it through the Great Tribulation, are you? Of course you can, but with me, and the others to help. We’ll go through it together. If there’s anything Wuting and Jian taught me, it’s the benefit of praying together for spiritual strength, encouraging each other.”
“I know, Reverend. They helped me too. I just don’t think it’s right for me to go with you.”
“Of course it’s right, Lenny.”
“No, I don’t think it is.”
“Tell me why not. Just tell me why. What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything now. I’ve done some soul-searching, you know? I’ve sought God and his direction for my life.”
“Yes, and your direction is with me and the others.”
“Let me finish, Reverend. This is difficult for me to say. I thought it’d be easy, but it isn’t coming out too well.”
Roy pulled his car over to the side of the road and stopped. He realised that he was treating Lenny like a child, and not giving consideration to what me might want to do, and he felt awful for it. He wondered if he had always tried to control him in such a manner; and everyone else the same. He told himself to remain silent while Lenny explained himself and said what he wanted to say.
“I sought the Lord’s voice, like Wuting told me to. I waited on him for hours, until I heard this gentle, soft voice; just an impression, you know?”
“I’m listening, Lenny. Go on.”
“It was God; I’m sure. He told me all this wonderful stuff about what he wanted me to do. He said to go back to my family. He said they would now accept me back, and be glad that I am still alive, and that they are now prepared to hear about Jesus. He said it would just be a stepping-stone for me to go to India and preach to the Hindus there, and teach them about Christ. Since he told me that, I’ve got no fear of anything that might happen. It’s amazing. I don’t care about any Beasts or plagues that might come along. Wuting and Jian weren’t worried about them, so why should I be? What do you think, Reverend?”
“I think what you’re saying is wonderful. But I have to ask, are you sure you have the faith to do what you say?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I agree with you, about facing whatever might come along. We’ve got no reason to worry, if we have God on our side. Were Wuting and Jian worried? Of course they weren’t. We didn’t even get to discuss the subject.”
“Can you see why I can’t go with you and Suzanne and the others to that safe place of hers?”
“Lenny, you do what God tells you, not what I might tell you.”
“I might not ever see you again. At least, not this side of the pearly gates, you know?”
“If you’re doing what God wants you to do, then that is all that is important,” Roy said as he wiped a tear from his eye. His voice was beginning to quiver with emotion, which made Lenny’s do the same. “If that means we won’t see you again, then that’s the way it will have to be.”
“You take care of the others, Reverend. They’ll need a good leader.”
“You know what, Lenny? I’ll be praying that the Leader in heaven will take care of all of us. I’ve had about enough of trying to lead people. I just let everyone down.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not giving up?”
“No, I’m not giving up, not this time. It’s a personal thing I’m trying to work out. Perhaps I’ve already worked it out and broken free from it, just by talking like this.”
“I’ll be praying for you, Reverend.”
“And I’ll be praying for you, too. But just one thing: How about calling me Roy? I don’t know I like the term ‘Reverend’ anymore.”
“You asked me that once before. You mean you never want to be called that again?”
“That’s right. Never call me ‘Reverend’ again.”
“I thought it was being respectful to call you that.”
“It was, but I’ve had enough of the Kingdomite church. It doesn’t seem relevant to me now. They did nothing to help us prepare for these times. From what I’ve heard of the Chichester leadership, it’s all gone; ruined, like our church here in Carlow. And I don’t know if it isn’t for the better.”
“For the better?”
“I mean for the better regarding our faith. I don’t know if Christianity was ever meant to be governed by officials and men supposedly superior in the faith, but in reality are weak, and are there because of who they happened to be related to. From what I saw, Wuting and Jian were head and shoulders above anyone I’ve ever known. Their faith was simple, uncluttered by religious heritage, but they were strong and bold; I can’t really explain it.”
“They were led by the Spirit, not men.”
“Yes, that’s what it was. That’s exactly what it was, what set them apart.”
“I guess it’s a time of change for all of us, Reverend. I’m sorry, I mean, Roy.”
“Thanks,” Roy laughed gently.
“That sounds strange, to call you Roy. How about Brother, instead?”
“I have no problem with that, Brother. And I think what we’re going through is growth. Spiritual growth.”
“Yeah.”
They both fell into silence and Roy knew it was time to give their final farewells. He knew he should be getting to his destination as soon as possible, that Suzanne was probably waiting for him, and sitting in his car on a busy street meant that he could easily be spotted by those out to get him.
When he said good-bye and heard the sound of the dial tone he realised how blessed he really was that Lenny had been his friend, and that they had both missed the rapture. He remembered a
verse from St Paul, the promise that God works everything out for good, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Whatever reason they missed being taken to heaven, he knew that it would certainly be turned around and used for good. As he drove on his way Roy marvelled at how good it had been. He had never felt more assured in his life that, like Lenny, he was doing the right thing.
A group of tourists from the mainland were standing on the bridge over the sprawling Semele River. They were not far from their waiting coach, and most were either taking photos or posing with their backs to the monastery. A few had ignored the sign and knocked at the door and inquired through the speaker system; the tourists always tried.
Roy parked his car next to the coach and politely manoeuvred his way to the door. The tourists watched in amazement as he gave his name, waited, and was then allowed inside. He gave them a shrug as if to say he was sorry that he was unable to help them.
At the main door he again said who he was and that he wished to see Jamieson Laturette. Soon a monk opened the door for him and told him that Jamieson was notified and would be down from his office.
“Are the others left?” Roy asked, hoping to find out from someone other than Jamieson. Seeing that the monk did not understand, Roy said, “I mean the people from my church. Are they here? I was told they would be.”
The monk kept silent and acted like Roy was not there. After a few minutes Roy looked up to see that Jamieson had appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Are the others here?” Roy asked as he walked up to him.
Jamieson stopped and looked at Roy without a word, and then ushered him through to his office, and shut the door. Roy sat on the chair he always took and Jamieson sat at his desk.
“You knew for a long time, didn’t you?” Jamieson said to Roy with a quivering grin, like he was uncertain how to react.
“Knew what? That the others are here? I only just found out.”
“From whom?”
“This is the safe place, isn’t it?”
Roy saw that something was not right with Jamieson. He looked different. Gone was that friendly sympathetic smile. The man before him had a face without expression; as cold as stone. Regardless of that, Roy felt at total peace, that he knew it was right for him to be there.
“Perhaps we should start with those whom you expected to find here,” Jamieson said as he read from his private computer screen, out of Roy’s sight. “I believe Ida Zarman was one?”
“Ida? What about her?”
“Where is she?”
“She’s not here?”
“Where is she?” Jamieson asked again, this time demanding.
“Last I heard, she was safe,” Roy said as he began to realise that his friends were not in the monastery, as he assumed they must be. It occurred to him that Suzanne would not have been granted access, and then he realised there was no reason for him to think she would be there. And yet, it still felt right to be there.
“Safe where?”
“At a safe place. Obviously not here.”
“Shari-Anne Wendell and her two daughters Kathy Berzonsky and Veronica Rhoades?”
“Safe too.”
“Where!”
“What concern is it of yours? What are you doing, Jamieson. What’s this all about?”
Jamieson leaned back and grinned. It was a grin that Roy had never see from him, and it made him all the more convinced that this man before him was a stranger.
“You’re sly, aren’t you,” Jamieson said slowly. “The man I once called a friend. But if you think you can fool me and gain precious information for your fellow apostates, think again. For you are now with us, and there is no escape from here. I’m sure you must be fully aware of that?”
“Escape?”
Everything about the situation told Roy that he should panic and run for the door. But the peace that was overwhelming him made him sure that he was where God wanted him.
Is this the wolves’ lair?
“There is no way to get into this fortress and no way to get out unless we allow it.”
“It was you?” Roy asked, standing up and showing that he was not afraid. It all came together at once; the highly organised religious group, the supposed friendship, the abductions, Jamieson’s interest in his lounge-meetings. But one thing did not add up: the motive. Roy looked for any sign in Jamieson’s face, and he saw only satisfaction.
“You couldn’t have done it,” said Roy, still searching for an answer. “Why would you?”
“We can do all things through the Blessed Virgin,” Jamieson said, not bothering to stand up as Roy did, “who prays for us to the Son who strengthens us. Nothing can stand in our way. The Earth is out domain and we will rule over it as we wish.”
“You’re behind the missing people? They were abducted? You back the thugs who did it? You had them come after me and the others?”
“We do what we must to cleanse this world of all corruption.”
“Corruption? What corruption?
“Heretics. Protestants, in any form.”
“Protestants? But you were working with the Protestants.”
“All heretics must die.”
“Why? Tell me that.”
“It is our high calling. You are so ignorant, and you think you are so bold. As I expect from your sort?”
“My sort? Jamieson, I thought we were friends.”
“Friends!” he snapped back with anger, like he could not stand to head the word. “I was obeying holy orders from my superiors. They sent me to get close to you, and I did so without hesitation even though I detested being in the same room with you.”
“You were lying to me? All this time? How many hours did we spend discussing theology? You inspired me in so many sermon ideas. I trusted you. You were my friend.”
Jamieson abruptly lost his angry demeanour and beamed with pride. He looked up to his large TCS screen behind Roy and said, “This assignment has now found its end.”
At once the door swung open and the room was filled with monks, angry and violent. Two roughly took hold of Roy’s arms and exerted more force than was needed to hold him.
“What is there to lose now we have you?” Jamieson asked with a wide smile, now looking delirious with self-satisfaction. “If I will boast, I will boast in my Saviour and my Pope and my holy office. You see, Roy Hoyle, we are Judaits, slaves in the service of the Pope to destroy the work of the evil ones; all heretics and Protestants. We do anything to accomplish that task. We excel at intrigue, as you now see. Ours is a secret army, one designed to convert the unsuspecting without lifting a hand in force, unless absolutely necessary, against those who are too simple to even know there is a war going on.”
The words struck Roy and he knew that they would have mentally crushed him had it not been for the strength that was welling up inside him. It was a strength he had never experienced before and he felt that he could resist anything. It must have been what drove Wuting and Jian!
“We will befriend any enemy in order to destroy it,” Jamieson continued, self-absorbed. “We will be a Methodist to a Methodist, a Baptist to a Baptist, an Evangelical to an Evangelical, a Charismatic to a Charismatic, a Pentecostal to a Pentecostal; and yes Roy, even a Kingdomite to a Kingdomite. For that reason I forced myself to read through all of your heinous commentaries and expositions. I endured like a good soldier your pitiful Julius Mann and all his blatant heresy and blasphemy against Rome. In turn, I gained access to your files and knowledge of the deluded souls under your domain, to rescue them and put them under our holy domain.”
“But how? What have you done with them? You took the Carters? You took Bernard Thompson? What about Doug Paull? What about his family!”
“I will answer your questions for you, since it will glorify our holy work. It is good to glory in our holy work, for the sake of our brotherhood. Your first question, how, brings the answer: Years of planning. Details upon details of facts. Perfect enactment and enforcement. Near perfe
ct, should I say, as some, a few, slipped through and remained in their darkness. So, tell, me at last, where you went. That night, that Saturday night, the night we chose and built up to over two years. You changed your routine. After two years of spending every Saturday night dutifully preparing your heretical sermons, you changed. You left your house. You were absent all night. Where did you go?”
The realisation that he was wrong about the rapture was slow to come to Roy. He tried to convince himself that Jamieson was lying, or exaggerating. He could accept that they could have abducted a few, but not thousands.
“Yes,” Jamieson continued, “we knew you would be a stubborn one once we got you. No matter. We will have plenty of time to extract the truth out of you. You see, we have long planned to keep you for observance. You have a place in your heart for us, I know that, and we intend to help you bring that to the surface, for your own spiritual perfection, to help your soul in purgatory. Your death will be long in coming and difficult for your flesh, but the journey to it worthwhile.”
“What have you done with them; my church, my brothers and sisters?”
“We are very thorough and competent in our actions. No trace is left of those annulled.”
“Annulled? What do you mean?”
“And of those who remain, they will not be heard from again.”
“But you didn’t take everyone? You’re not saying that? Not 87,000? Tell me you didn’t. You couldn’t have!”
“My, my, you surprise me, Roy. Why do you give us so little a place in your estimation? Our achievement is far greater. It is world-wide, don’t you know?”
“How could you possibly—”
“We have been operating for centuries for such a deployment of our skill. It was so easy here on St Antipas, we needed only help from the lower castes of society to rid us of all who hindered our path to restoration. My brothers in other countries were forced to enlist those of other religions, and various anti-religious organisations, all of which are so much easier to control than you Protestants who still want to hold to your protest.”
“Chichester too? That was you? You removed Timotheus Taylor, and his family? And all the church elders? You destroyed the church leadership? They’re suffering there—we’re all suffering!”
“You took a long time to discover the fate of your church, but yes, it was all part of our assignment, enacted by our fellow monks-in-arms in England.”
“But why?”
“To answer to the second question: why. You, a Kingdomite, would have no idea of the truth and how corrupted you have made our holy religion. Those who we deemed as standing in our way were targeted and removed. Those who remain we deem agreeable to our next phase.”
“Your next phase?”
“To draw you all back to Rome, of course. Why do you think our Society exists? Don’t you know anything about us, you who enjoyed visiting us, not knowing who we were? We are here to defeat the Protestants and with them all those of false and corrupted religions who blaspheme and refuse to bow the knee to our Pope, the Holy Vicar of Christ, he who is the bodily representative of Christ in our midst. Most can be coaxed back through gentle persuasion. But the others, the stubborn heretics, deserve to die, and it is just to kill them.”
“You’ve killed them?”
“We must annihilate all heretics, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
“No, you couldn’t have killed them. It isn’t possible. It isn’t humanly possible!”
“Those are our holy orders!”
“I’ve heard the Pope saying he wants everyone to live in peace and unity. Not just with Protestants, but with all faiths.”
“Their time will come! They will either bow the knee to the Vicar of Christ or be crushed under out feet! We will eventually destroy all apostates, either through confusion or confiscation. We have confiscated all those who show no willingness to obey our Pope.”
“Confiscation? Is that what you call abduction, and murder?”
“We are not murderers! It is just and right to annihilate heretics!”
Jamieson was now red in the face, his eyes bulging, far from the man Roy thought he knew. Then Roy remembered the one last piece of evidence that told him that the rapture was true and must have happened. Now it made no sense to him.
“What about the graves? My church graveyard, all the bodies were missing. It was the rapture, not you.”
“Rapture? You never believed that.”
“I believe it now! I believe it’s happened!”
“It has served its purposely beautifully, and made multitudes of apostates weak by dreaming of a fanciful ride to heaven. As if they are confirmed saints? Such are the dreams of heretics.”
“But the graves? Surely it wasn’t you? It makes no sense. How can it be you? Are you going to tell me you desecrated the graves to make us believe the rapture?”
“Our orders extend to all heretics, even those in graves.”
“What do you mean? What did you do to them?”
“We put each body on trial as a heretic and burned them. Our holy fathers did the same centuries ago, but since you Protestants have risen up, this practice was suppressed. No longer is it suppressed. We will remove all heretics from this Earth, no matter those buried, will not escape our justice. With their departure we will be free to draw back the lost sheep to the Holy Shepherd of Rome.”
“I’ve never heard of such wickedness.”
“As you are far from understanding the manifold true ways of righteousness.”
“They were only dead bodies! They should rest in peace!”
“They were heretics and deserve nothing but a heretic’s trial!”
The oldest of the Judaits entered the room, with the other monks making way for him. Jamieson quickly stood, out of respect. The senior monk stood as close as he could to Roy. His thin hair was white and his wrinkles deep.
“Tell us where are Wuting and Jian,” his voice a soft growl, and heavily accented. His wide eyes bored into Roy.
“They scared you, did they?” Roy returned, paying him none of the reverence given by the others. Roy was too angry to worry about giving them further reason to hate him.
“Tell us where they are!”
Roy was about to tell them their home-towns in China but then wondered if they might be able to reach them even there. “They came from China, and that’s where they’ve gone back to.”
“Where in China?”
“You have your monks there too, have you?”
“Tell us now or later, but you will tell us.”
“Why would you want to meet them? Those guys are so full of God’s light that if they were here they would blind you all!”
The superior Judait ignored Roy’s remark and read from a clipboard that was handed to him by a lesser monk. “The following people were in your domain: Suzanne Gibbs. Lenny Sharma. Shari-Anne Wendell. Kathy Berzonsky. Veronica Rhoades. Ida Zarman. Tell us where they are.”
The names were a delight for Roy to hear. Suzanne was still free, wherever she was. She must have truly escaped them. Ida, Shari and the girls, all free. And Lenny too.
“They got away from you, did they?” Roy nearly shouted at the superior monk. “Jesus be praised!”
Roy had never dreamed speaking in such a way but his spirit had never felt so enlivened. He realised that Suzanne must have meant the mainland; she knew a safe place “over the river” as it was commonly called. As if she would come here!
“Tell us!”
“There are some things you can’t have; God won’t let you. You think you can do what you want? Let me tell you, you will have to answer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob about your murderous ways, and don’t think you can rely on your Mary to help you!”
“Silence!” shouted the superior monk, his face red with anger.
“No, you will never silence me now. None of you. Now I see where the true God resides; in the hearts of his people. You think you’ve caught me? I’ve neve
r been more free, for now I see through the lies you have blinded me with. All this religion that I’ve been around all my life, it will eventually lead men to become what you are—nothing but blind murderers; savage wolves devouring the sheep. But the sheep are stronger than you think!”
“Purge his soul,” the superior monk angrily ordered two monks closest to Roy.
“God has set me free from you, right in your midst!” Roy shouted as they dragged him away, down narrow and twisting stairs, into a vast subterranean complex of dark and damp cells.