It was agreed that the Storm Breaker would not fly into the quarantined airspace over Allentown unless it was necessary, but LeBeau and Bandjough had decided to head for their helicopter to make preparations. If they needed to be in the air, they were going to be ready. After they had left their quarters, Erin found herself alone with the Crazy Man, who was still working his talents with his fingers dancing on the keyboard.
She watched him for a moment. She loved to see him at work, doing what he did best. His face was a mask of anticipation and concentration. He was like a little boy trapped inside a candy store. He was completely in his element and clearly didn’t want to leave it. It was one of the many qualities she loved about William Fronk. As she continued to watch him, she wondered not for the first time if he even suspected how she felt about him.
“Do I have hair growing out of my ears?” he suddenly asked her.
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m kind-a hoping that - being as young as I am - I have yet to reach that ripe old age where weeds of a different color begin to sprout from my ears and my nose. But judging from the way you’re staring at me, I believe that hope has just been eradicated.”
Erin blushed. “Oh…No. No, William, you’re not…sprouting.”
“Ah.” He nodded once. Then, he wiped a hand across his forehead. “Whew! That was a close one. Man, I thought I was a goner for sure!” He glanced at her. “So…if you weren’t staring at me for being gross…then there was another purpose behind it.”
She paused. “Uhm…How do you know I was even looking at you?”
Fronk tapped his finger on the right side of the monitor screen on his laptop. “You have a reflection.”
She blushed again. “I’m sorry. I…I thought you were involved in what you were doing to notice something like that.”
He winked at her. “I am keenly observant.”
“Yeah. I can see that.”
He continued his research in a window on the lower part of the screen as in the upper left side continued to display what was happening inside the Quarantine Mobile Unit. He could also still see Erin’s reflection as she leaned over for a better view of the monitor. It was apparent to him that she was paying more attention to him than to what he was doing.
There was a pause.
“It must be my rugged good looks,” he finally said.
She shook her head. “No, William, it’s not.”
Fronk blinked. His fingers stopped above the keyboard as he turned to regard her. “It’s not?”
She smiled wryly. “You’re not rugged…but you are good looking.”
He looked at her for a moment. “You are, too,” he said softly. “Only gooder.”
“That’s not a word.”
“Oh, it doesn’t have to be, but it fit’s the occasion.”
She smiled. “Hey…you’re not calling me rugged, are you?”
“Oh, no. No, no, no! Absolutely not! How could you possibly even consider that I would dare to think such a thing? You are as lovely as a rose! As refreshing as a gentle waterfall falling down from a brook into a stream! As breathtaking as a sunrise over the ocean!”
“Aren’t you laying that on a bit thick?”
Fronk paused. “Maybe I am…but I believe that you’re worth it.” He paused again, hesitating. “Erin…if you’re interested - because I know I am - would you care to go out on a date when we get back?”
Erin nodded her head without hesitation. “That interests me very much. Yes.”
“Yes…You said ‘yes’. Uhm…can you just look the other way for one second?”
Erin looked at him, puzzled by the request. “Oh…okay,” she said. She turned around and looked toward the door.
Fronk raised his hands heavenward and mouthed the words, “Thank You, Lord!” Then, he lowered his hands and cleared his throat. “Okay. You can turn back now.”
She turned, grinning as she regarded him. “You were thanking Him for me, weren’t you?”
“Huh? Oh, well, you know…I do thank Him for everything. ‘In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1’ Concerning us all, really.”
She nodded knowingly. “Um hm.” She looked at the monitor. There was an article with a photo of a woman at a charity event taken from a Chicago Tribune newspaper. According to the article, the woman had come from London, France to participate in raising funds for children with cancer. The article was twenty-four years old. Erin looked closer. “Hey…she looks like the woman Carr has trapped in quarantine…only older. Who is she?” She squinted, trying to read the article.
“That…is Katherine Allison Dozois. She’s Danielle’s mother.” Fronk paused. “I knew I recognized something familiar about her.”
Erin looked at him. “But…how did you know about this woman?”
Fronk paused. Then, he opened his mouth to speak, but the doors to their assigned quarters crashed open, causing him and Erin to jump. Shiva strode purposefully into their quarters and focused intently on Fronk. The ex-wrestler didn’t seem to notice that he had startled them. Without another word, he handed a small, handheld video cam to Fronk.
The Crazy Man took it. “What’s this?”
“Can you film yourself on it, talking about the truth of what’s happening here?” Shiva asked.
Fronk nodded. “Sure, I could, but…”
“Just do it. When you’re done, give it back to me.”
“When do you want it?”
“Before we’re done here.” With that, he turned and hurried back out.
Fronk and Erin looked at each other.
She smiled and held out her hand. “Hand it over and I’ll help you.”
He gave her the video cam. “I always wanted to be in pictures!”
“Well, now here’s your chance.”
Staci and Barrington each put on an environmental suit as Alyson, Lenox, Fuller, and Carr stood off to the side. The FEMA agent helped Staci and Barrington. Unknown to Carr, he showed them how to use the suits communications devices to talk to each other without anyone else eavesdropping. While they were suiting up, Fuller had a brief and private conversation with Shiva on his cell phone. He was watching Danielle through the barrier as he spoke. He was on only for a short time and when he was done, he snapped the phone shut and returned it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Alyson watched everything as closely as she could. She glared toward the sealed door. Averill and the two Justice agents who had been there had backed out of the unit, closing the door behind them. This had prevented Meers from continuing to film the inside of the unit. For his sake, she hoped he had caught enough on film that would be of use for her Pulitzer prize story.
Lenox had put his gun back into its holster. He looked into the chamber and saw Danielle, still huddled in the corner. She was on the other side of the bed so she was unable to see what was left of the FEMA agent who had entered without a suit.
“So, Carr…what’s her story?” he wanted to know.
Fuller stood beside Lenox with his arms folded across his chest. He also watched Danielle, concerned for her.
Carr shrugged casually. “Oh, what can I tell you that you don’t already know? It’s the same old story you hear every day. Quite typical actually when you consider the number of identity thefts across the United States. She steals identities and leads lives that aren’t hers. This one here -” He tapped on the window and pointed at the huddled form of Danielle. “- claimed a name of a wife married to a lawyer from the Case ‘N’ Point Law Firm based out of New York City. It’s a very big Law Firm, mind you, so why she would be so stupid as to pretend she was married to one of its lawyers is beyond me. But she lived the good life for a while until the truth finally caught up with her. Now, we have her and the man she pretended to be married to is at this moment compiling a very strong case against her.” He let out a chuckle and shook his head. “I imagine that when he’s through with her, she’ll wish she had never been born.”
Fuller turned his head and regarded him. He narrowed his eyes. Something about that last comment angered him, but he didn’t address it. Instead, he said, “What’s this lawyers name?”
Carr glanced at him. “I’m really not at liberty to say.”
Fuller leaned closer. “Say it anyway.”
Lenox looked at Carr. “Just tell us. You know we’re going to look into this and find out anyway. You might as well bite the bullet and come out with it now.”
Alyson continued to hang back, listening to their conversation.
Carr let out a sigh. “Fine. The lawyer’s name, if you must know, is Andrew Anderson.”
“And the woman here…?” Lenox inquired.
“She said her name was Danielle Marie Anderson…but it’s really only one of her many alias’. In time, we’ll discover her real name.”
Fuller glared. “That doesn’t give you the right to use her as a lab rat.”
Carr looked at him. “She’s a criminal.”
“So you say,” Lenox said.
“Why do you doubt my word?”
Lenox nodded his head toward Staci, who was stepping through the first doorway of the chamber behind Barrington. “Because you told me that Staci Cohen was a criminal until I checked it out for myself. You know what I found out? She was telling the truth. Dr. Richard Manning had set her up to take the fall because he didn’t want to be held liable for Ishmael Musad’s death. You didn’t even bother to check into her story. You just called her guilty without any evidence and thought you could get her out of the way.”
Carr cleared his throat. “Well, perhaps a more thorough investigation can be done. I’ll see to it -”
“The investigation is done. I just got through telling you that I was the one who conducted it. What I want you to do is to help with getting her license back for her.”
Carr hesitated. “Certainly. Anything else?”
Fuller nodded his head. “Yes, there is something else. When that chamber is cleared of the toxin, we’re taking Danielle into our custody.”
Alyson remained silent as she continued to watch them. Did these guys forget I was here? She grinned mischievously.
“That is not proper procedure,” Carr argued. “This woman is in our custody because we apprehended her.”
Lenox glared at him.
Carr swallowed. “Okay. Fine. I…I release her into your custody, then.”
Alyson’s eyes widened in surprise as she regarded Carr.
“That’s all we ask,” Fuller said. He watched with the others as Barrington and Staci entered the toxin-filled chamber.
Staci wasn’t concerned about the red ashes with the skeletal remains laying in it. She was more concerned about the living. The suit was bulky and heavy, but she somehow made it around Barrington and approached the woman huddled in the corner.
Looking up at Staci, she shook her head. “No…please …just leave me alone.”
Staci stopped. She tried to look at Barrington, but the helmet didn’t turn with her head. She gave up and focused on the woman. “I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but…we’re here to help you.”
Danielle glared at her. “You’re right. I don’t believe you.”
“We’re not with these men who put you in here,” Barrington told her.
“You’re in the suits,” she pointed out, “and the men who put me in here are watching from the outside. Don’t tell me you’re not with them!”
Staci shook her head. “Please…we’re not with them. My name is Staci Cohen.”
“I don’t care.”
“I’m a Medical Doctor, and -”
“I don’t care! I don’t care who you are! Get out of here and leave me alone!”
Staci took a deep breath. “You will care! We’re here to help you whether you like it or not. We’ve lost a lot, just like you have.”
Danielle glared at her. “You don’t know what I’ve lost.”
“I’ve lost a son in the vanishings. Albert here has lost a wife and a daughter. They…they were caught up in what we call the rapture.”
Danielle regarded them differently. “Rapture?”
Barrington nodded. “Yes. Look, we’re not your enemy. What’s happening to you is wrong and we’ll do what we can to get you out of here. We know we can’t just ask you to trust us, but -”
“I lost family and friends in the rapture, too,” she said, interrupting him. “I-I accepted Jesus as my Lord, and-and then my husband kicked me out of our home. I went for a drive, saw some kind of…of strange wavering or something in the air…and passed out. I woke up here. I-I don’t even know what’s going on. What do these people want with me?”
“You’re a Christian?” Staci asked, smiling reassuringly.
Danielle nodded her head.
“So are we.”
She closed her eyes. “Oh, please don’t be messing with me. You’re not making that up, are you?”
“No, we’re not,” Barrington assured her. “We don’t know all the facts yet about what’s happening here, but we do have some ideas. A toxin was released in Allentown and it killed everyone there just like it did to this FEMA agent. We don’t know who released the toxin. What we do know is that Ed Carr, the man who is responsible for you being in here, is trying to prove that the rapture didn’t happen. He wants to convince the world that the vanishings were caused by this toxin.”
Danielle shook her head. “That’s insane! Who’s going to believe that? This toxin killed everyone it touched.”
“It didn’t kill you,” Staci pointed out.
Danielle leaned her head back against the wall. “No. I guess it didn’t.”
“I guess in a way, you would be proof that the toxin doesn’t affect everyone. Just certain people. Maybe it has something to do with DNA…a certain gene. Blood type.” Staci shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Wait…you don’t believe that, do you?”
Staci shook her head. “No. I-I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate here because Ed Carr and others like him will believe that.”
“Some people would rather believe the lie,” Barrington said, “then to know the truth.”
“And we know that they don’t want to believe the rapture, or they don’t believe it because it sounds like Science Fiction to them. When news of this toxin gets out, people are going to listen to it. Many of them are going to be deceived into believing that it’s true.”
Danielle paused. “Why didn’t it do anything to me?”
Barrington considered his words carefully. “I don’t really know. There is only one plausible answer, but I hesitate to say.”
“We think God prevented the toxin from affecting you,” Staci replied without hesitation, “because He wants this lie to fail.”
“We don’t know that for certain, Staci.”
“Albert, how can it not be the answer? Danielle is a Christian like us. She was the only one not affected by this toxin. Why would it be hard to believe that God spared her to reveal the truth?”
Barrington let out a sigh. “Look, I’m not trying to put a hole in your theory…”
“It’s not a theory.”
“We can’t know the mind of God. We don’t have proof that God even spared Danielle. What if it is because of her DNA, or blood type…or genes?”
“Oh, you don’t believe that any more than I don’t.”
“Maybe not…but we still don’t have all of the answers.”
“You say we don’t have proof…”
Barrington nodded. “Right.”
Staci regarded Danielle. “What if it isn’t proof we need? What if all it takes is just a little faith?”
Barrington narrowed his eyes. “Staci…what are you thinking?”
Staci stood up and reached for her helmet. “God brought us here to reveal the truth, Albert, and the truth is…the lie will be revealed for what it is. The lie. But His Truth will always shine through no matter how big the lie becomes.” She began to work on taking the helmet off.
After the prayer session, Yeomans followed Saint and Chase through the small shelter and back up the ladder out through the hatch. Chris and Faye stayed below with Donna and Amber to help prepare the stew they were creating. Rumor had it that Amber Eastwood made the best stews around. Just thinking about it made Yeomans salivate with hunger. He intentionally began to think of something else.
Like the sleeping arrangements at the shelter.
What he saw from the shelter underground, it had originally been designed for a family of eight, possibly one or two more. But there were more than that cramming themselves in there to sleep at night. Everyone else who couldn’t fit in the shelter were either sleeping in their cars or in the barn. Or in tents erected on the lawn in the fields.
It was beginning to look like a campground.
Yeomans had an idea about that and he wanted to share it, but Saint made him wait until they could meet up with David King.
“David’s around here somewhere,” Saint replied as he stood away from the hatch, searching the grounds for King. “I’ll take you to meet him.”
Chase glanced at him.
Saint recognized the look. He knew what was on Chase’s mind. Making a decision, he turned to Yeomans. “You’re going to meet a man who is doing a great work for the Lord, Larry,” he began, watching the man for a reaction. “He’s helped to put this thing together. In fact, he started this Gatherers thing with an FBI agent named Albert Barrington. David is a great leader amongst us, even though he has the tendency to keep away from the role.”
Yeomans nodded, smiling. “Sounds like a great man. When do I meet him?”
“Right now,” said a voice from behind him with an accent.
Yeomans turned and saw a man with dark skin approaching. Another man walked beside him.
Saint and Chase exchanged looks. “Well,” Saint said as he clapped one of them on the shoulder, “welcome to the world outside the loft, Jim.”
Bollinger nodded. “Thanks, John. I guess it was getting a little stuffy in there.”
“Larry, this is Jim…I don’t know his last name.”
“It’s Bollinger.” He reached over and shook Yeomans hand. “I’m…kind of new here.”
Yeomans grinned. “So am I. I’m Larry Yeomans.”
Saint indicated the dark-skinned man. “This is David King.”
“Hello,” Yeomans greeted, extending his hand toward him. “It’s great to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you since I’ve been here.”
King shook his hand. “Have you now?”
“Yeah. These guys have been telling me how you and Albert Barrington are forming this…Gatherers thing. It sounds really great, and I’d like to get involved.”
King regarded him with a smile. “Is that all you’ve heard?”
Yeomans nodded. “Well, yeah. So far.”
“Then…” He glanced at Bollinger. “…you haven’t heard the one about me being a terrorist before I came to Christ?”
“Terrorist?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Chase clapped Yeomans on the back. “David has an astounding testimony. Wait until you hear it. It’ll knock your socks off.”
Yeomans nodded. “I’d love to hear about it. I also have an idea I’d like to share if you’re interested.”
Saint glanced at Bollinger.
Bollinger noticed. “Hey, if you guys don’t mind, I’m just going to walk around and get to know people.”
King nodded. “Perhaps later tonight, you would like to share your testimony in our fellowship meeting.”
He hesitated. “Yeah. Sure. Maybe I will.” He walked away from them.
Chase shook his head. “Wasn’t he the guy hiding out up in the loft, stirring things up?”
“He was,” King agreed. “But he has assured me that he won’t do it again.” He turned to Yeomans. “What is your idea?”
Before Yeomans could reply, Morris approached them, running from the barn. “David,” he called out.
The others turned and they waited for his approach.
When Morris got there, he said, “Can I speak with you privately for a moment?”
King regarded him for a moment. “You can tell me here, in front of the others.”
Morris shrugged. “Okay…Then, I’ll just come out and tell you. Sheriff Hoag is in the barn and he wants to talk with you. Alone.”
1 - I Thessalonians 5:18
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