Year One
Episode # 4 -
The Darkest Day
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And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
and I heard as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four beasts saying,
Come and see.
And I saw,
and behold a white horse:
and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering,
and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal,
I heard the second beast say,
Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red:
and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another:
and there was given unto him a great sword.
And when he had opened the third seal,
I heard the third beast say,
Come and see.
And I beheld,
and lo a black horse;
and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say,
A measure of wheat for a penny,
and three measures of barley for a penny;
and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
And when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say,
Come and see.
And I looked,
and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them
over the fourth part of the earth,
to kill with sword,
and with hunger,
and with death,
and with the beasts of the earth.
- Revelation 6:1 - 8
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
- Jonah 1:17
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“Then, there will be no peace.”
- Michael Lenox
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Prologue
The Storm
“Why are you running?
I am not chasing you.”
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He wouldn’t open his eyes. In fact, he preferred it if he didn’t have to open them ever again. He didn’t care if the world turned or it didn’t. He didn’t care if the boat sailed onward or sank into the deepest depths. He didn’t care if God wanted to save him or not. All he wanted to do was lay there and let that be the end of it.
But the ship began to be tossed about on the waves. As he lay there with his eyes closed, he could feel the rocky motion of the ship. It seemed to be getting worse. Still, he didn’t care. Let the ship disappear beneath a wave of retribution. It was less than he deserved. Why should he care one way or the other whether this was the end of his life? Perhaps it was as it should be.
Waiting for the end - if the end were near - only seemed to make it worst. He wanted it to happen, yet he found himself taking one more deep breath. Life was supposed to be precious. He didn’t believe it was. Maybe it was supposed to be. Somewhere in his travels, he had missed the mark completely and now he had to live with the guilt and pain of his own makings.
Sometimes it was just too much for one to bear.
Yet he bore it. At times, he even embraced the rage it forced upon him, for without that rage, he would not have been able to function. At a young age, he had to rely on that rage just to be able to make it through the pain. The pain he had caused his family. The pain he had brought upon himself. It had all been his doing and he wanted to drown in it so it would finally take him.
It never did.
And because it didn’t, he was able to draw upon more rage.
So the ship rocked from the angry waves and he didn’t care.
Even when the door to the cabin slammed open to allow two men, soaking wet to the bone, to gain entrance, he continued to lay there. He didn’t even bother to open his eyes.
The ship’s captain stared in astonishment at the man, who appeared to be sleeping. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded as he began to shake the man desperately. “How can it be that you’re asleep? Please, sir…you must awaken and call upon your God to save us or we will perish in the deep!”
He opened his eyes and looked into the captain’s face, but he was without expression. Slowly, he sat up. “I have no God.”
“Did you not hear me?” the captain demanded. “The sea is angry! It will tear us apart and devour us unless we appease the God we have angered.” He glanced nervously at the other men. “We’ve all cast lots. The lot has fallen upon you.” He couldn’t bring himself to look the man in the eye. “Our gods are not angry with us. It’s your God who is angry with you. It is because of you we’re about to die.”
The man let out a weary sigh. “I’ve already told you. I have no God. I serve no God. Let me sleep in peace.”
“There will be no peace unless you turn to Your God.”
He looked at him. The rage was still deep within. He said softly, “Then, there will be no peace.”
“The sea will take us,” the captain replied, pleading. “I don’t know why you run from your God, but because of your transgression, we are doomed. Please…tell us what must be done! We’ve tossed all of our cargo into the sea. We’ve been trying to return to dry land but cannot for it is folly. What can you do to save us?”
He let out a deep sigh. Finally, he rose to his feet, but he didn’t answer the man. Instead, he went past the two men and hurried into the tiny corridor beyond his cabin. He pulled himself up the ladder to the top deck and pushed open the trap door. Immediately, he was drenched in water from the heavy downpour of rain. The waves struck at the ship seemingly without ceasing and he was drenched all the more.
He struggled his way across the deck and came to the rail. He grasped a line from the mast above him and used his other hand to keep his balance against the railing. He glared out at the angry sea.
The captain joined him at his side. “What shall we do?!” he shouted to be heard above the storm.
Michael Lenox didn’t respond. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and silently challenged the storm raging within him. That is when he would awaken from a restless sleep only to discover he had been dreaming again. He knew what it meant. God wanted to save him. God wanted to forgive him.
Yet that was the problem.
He couldn’t forgive himself.
“What are you doing?!” Staci Cohen exclaimed, staring in horror at the man lying on the floor in a spreading pool of his own blood. The bullet hole in his forehead was the only evidence visible from the shot Lenox had fired and that bullet had exited through the back of the man‘s head.
Lenox wasn’t through with what he intended. He had the barrel of his .357 Magnum pressed against Hank Sumter’s forehead. “The clock is ticking, Sumter,” he told him. “I don’t hear you talking.”
“Michael…” Albert Barrington began as he slowly made his approach, “if you have any reason to doubt these men, then--”
“Doubt them?” Lenox interrupted him angrily. “That man I just killed was a North Korean agent! I heard him tell this man ‘Silence’ when he made the pretense of sneezing.”
Staci was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. She decided to combat against her frayed nerves by demanding for answers. “Oh, so somebody sneezes, and that makes him a terrorist?”
Lenox glanced at Barrington. “Look at his back.”
“What?”
Barrington didn’t move.
“Look at his back!”
Barrington nodded to Craig Moore, who joined him and together, they rolled the dead oriental man onto his stomach. Moore blanched at the gory sight of the wound and forced his eyes to look at the man’s back. He noticed what Barrington noticed. Two holes in the back of the jacket. There were dark stains around the holes.
“Bullet holes,” Barrington said. He looked up at his friend.
Lenox nodded. “That’s right. The doctor and I found a body missing his jacket, shirt and tie. He had two bullet holes in his back.” He pressed the gun harder against Sumter’s head, forcing the man to lean back. “My money says it was you who pulled the trigger. Shot one of your own right in the back.”
“I’m not a traitor!” Sumter shouted.
Erin Greye moved around the table to join Staci. She was gripping her gun.
Barrington was concerned by that. He was fully aware that she had never fired a weapon at another human being. He was hoping she wouldn’t have to.
“You told me you didn’t know how to get down inside this bunker,” Lenox said to Sumter, “yet moments later, you punched in the code without a problem. Now, here we are. So the question has to be asked, why did you lie?”
Sumter glanced nervously at Barrington. “Your partner’s crazy. Tell him to put his weapon down and we’ll straighten this out.”
Barrington hesitated. He slowly rose to his full height and looked at Lenox. “We don’t know all that’s happened here, Michael. We can take him back with us and--”
Lenox shook his head. “That’s not happening! The President is unaccounted for, so if you think I’m leaving without finding him, you’re out of your ever loving mind.” He pulled back the hammer. “For the last time, where is the President?”
Sumter swallowed. “I told you, I don’t know!”
Lenox lowered his arm and fired. Staci put her hands to her mouth in shock and Erin tensed, but somehow she didn’t raise her own weapon up. Moore took a few steps back. He wanted to make certain he wasn’t in Lenox’ way at all. Barrington remained still as well.
Sumter, however, went to the floor howling in pain from taking a bullet, which nearly tore his right leg off. The bullet had passed through his knee. He writhed on the floor in agony. When he managed to look up again, his world only got darker. The barrel of Lenox’ weapon stared down at him like a judge ready to pronounce judgment.
Lenox glared at him. “Are you ready to tell me where the President is?”
Sumter was ready.
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