I Got A Dragonfly
When I Asked For A Bird
“A horrible day has begun to dawn as the sun rises upon the White House,” reported Alyson Moore as she stood on the grounds of the White House with Rick Meers, her cameraman capturing the entire scene. Behind her, smoke from the West Wing rose into the sky as firemen fought to contain the fire which had begun to spread out. “There is yet no word as to the demise of President Walter J. Ballou, but officials believe hope is lost. This attack came when the Secret Service agents who normally surround the President have been decreased in number due to the vanishings and the terrorist attacks upon the United States of America. Even now, it is spreading throughout the entire world like a plague. America the great has fallen into ruin. America has been brought to her knees and people want to know…Will this nation that was once one of the world’s greatest superpowers ever rise from the ashes?”
The sounds of a helicopter flying overhead caught her attention. She turned her head and looked up, catching sight of a black helicopter moving in closer toward the White House.
She turned to face Meers. “This is Alyson Moore, on the DEN, reporting live from the White House.”
Meers turned the camera off and lowered it as he looked at the helicopter. It was heading for a clearing.
As the sun began to rise, the Storm Breaker settled itself down onto a clearing of the lawn behind the White House. Even before the skids touched down on the grass, the door was pulled open and two men and one woman exited from within. They were dressed in black and wore the light windbreakers with the bold letters of ATD on the back.
Albert Barrington led the charge across the grounds. Marc Shiva and Erin Greye followed behind. They had already been given clearance to be present, but that was about to be challenged as two agents from Justice went up to meet with them.
“I don’t care how you got clearance,” Ed Carr snapped as he placed himself directly into Barrington’s path. “But you can just save yourselves some trouble by turning back now.”
Barrington regarded Carr for a moment. He turned his head to look at Carr’s ever-present sidekick, Jerry Averill. Finally, he turned to his own. “Let’s keep moving. I don’t feel like wasting any time on these clowns today.” He sidestepped Carr and began to walk around him.
Averill became indignant and stepped into Shiva’s path. Then, he immediately wished he hadn’t as he tipped his head back to look into the stern disapproving eyes of an ex-wrestler who was still quite capable of demonstrating many of his old wrestling moves. Shiva didn’t even stop. All he had to do was keep walking. Averill moved out of the man’s way faster than he had when he stepped into it.
Erin smiled at the Justice agents sweetly before falling into step with her friends.
“That was fun,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
Shiva just grinned.
But Carr, unfortunately, wasn’t about to take any form of humiliation. He withdrew his gun and aimed it above his head. He fired into the sky, causing the ATD agents to come to an abrupt halt and also causing several agents and law enforcement officers to come running. Barrington had his hand on his gun, but didn’t withdraw it from its shoulder holster. Shiva and Erin also spun around to face Carr and Averill but they froze in astonishment when they saw the new scene before them.
Carr was standing very still. In fact, he was beginning to perspire quite heavily as the man behind him kept a gun pressed right at the back of his head. This man used his free hand to take the gun from Carr’s raised hand.
“Michael…?” Barrington began, incredulous. He had wondered if he would ever see his friend again.
Yet there Michael Lenox was, with a gun to Ed Carr’s head.
“It’s not very wise to discharge your weapon on the grounds of the White House, just to get attention,” Lenox told Carr as he backed away from him. “Especially in light of what happened here last night.” He returned his own weapon to his holster as he waited for the head of the Justice Agency to turn and face him.
Barrington, Shiva, and Erin exchanged looks. It had not escaped their notice that Lenox had not even acknowledged them yet.
Carr turned to face him finally. “I should have known you’d be here if your pals are.” He clenched his jaw and held out his hand. “Return to me my weapon.”
“Only if you promise not to discharge it again,” Lenox told him.
Carr clamped his mouth shut and kept his hand extended for his weapon.
Lenox remained where he was and waited.
Carr sighed. “There’s no time for this foolishness, Lenox! The President has been attacked and the more time we waste, the farther the perpetrators get.”
Lenox looked at his watch, but still made no move to hand him his weapon back.
Carr glanced at Averill.
Averill took a menacing step toward Lenox only to find the weapon leveled right at his head. The Justice agent stopped and looked into the barrel of the weapon. Then, he looked into the cold eyes of Michael Lenox.
“This is between me and your boss,” Lenox told him. “Don’t ever step in where you have no place to. I don’t care if he does order it. Do you got that?”
Averill backed away, nodding.
Lenox lowered the weapon and looked at Carr. Once more, he waited.
“Fine,” Carr growled. “I won’t discharge my weapon again. Does that satisfy you?”
“And you will also agree to drop this petty business about jurisdiction. We both want who did this so why can’t we work together?”
Carr regarded him. “You want to work together?”
Lenox shrugged. “Why not?”
“Because I expect your buddy Barrington to make that request. Not you.” Carr paused as he regarded Lenox for a moment. “Why would you be willing to work with us when you’ve always protested our presence?”
“Times change.” He held out Carr’s weapon.
Carr took it and re-holstered it. Then, he looked at the others. “Fine. Let’s put aside our differences and work together.” With that, he nodded to Averill, and the two agents from Justice walked away.
Barrington, Shiva, and Erin approached Lenox.
Erin slapped Lenox on his arm. “Where have you been for the past month?” she demanded. “You gave us all a scare.”
Lenox looked at her, but he didn’t respond.
“It’s good to see you again, Knox,” Shiva said with a grin.
Barrington didn’t like the way Lenox remained distant. “Well, say something to us, Michael. You’ve been gone a long time and when we see you, it’s right here at the White House in the aftermath of an attack. Are you going to say something?”
“Sure,” Lenox said with a shrug. “Let’s go find out who did this and bring him to justice.”
Barrington paused as he looked at the man he had known since High School. If he was unwilling to be open about where he was and what had happened, then Barrington would respect his privacy. For now. Instead of barraging him with more questions, he said, “Fine. Can you confirm to us about the President’s condition?”
Lenox regarded them. “You…don’t really know?”
“We heard only about the attack and arrived a few moments ago.”
“Well…then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…the President is dead. Whoever did this waited until they were certain that President Ballou was in the Oval Office.” He paused. “Then, they made their move.”
Shiva suddenly looked pale as he swallowed. “Come on, man…Not the President. He…he didn’t deserve it.”
Lenox turned his head. “Someone thought he did.”
Shiva frowned. He leaned forward and glared at Lenox. “What’s wrong with you, man? How can you be so cold? Someone just killed the President of the United States and you seem awful callous about it.”
“I’m just doing my job. Isn’t that what you’re here to do?” With that, he turned and walked away, intent on finding answers and completing his mission.
William Fronk typed like a madman onto the keyboard in front of his computer and then clicked ENTER. His response appeared in the IM box on his monitor, right after the Gilligan avatar which he used when online.
The response was immediate.
gaffer256: some crow is trying to eat up the seed before it is planted
Fronk considered what he was reading. Whoever gaffer256 was, he was a Christian attempting to make preparations for other believers as the Great Tribulation drew closer. They were using code as they spoke, and it was even biblical code. The planting of the fields represented going out and spreading the Word. The seed was the word. And the crow…was either the Devil at work trying to hinder them…or it was an actual person who was being used by the Devil to hinder the work.
gaffer256: lol
sillygilly: plenty of crows around
sillygilly: nasty boogers
sillygilly: gatherers unite!!
gaffer256: amen, bro
gaffer256: got to go
gaffer256: sent you email
gaffer256: try to visit
sillygilly: roger dodger
gaffer256: later gater
sillygilly: toodles!
gaffer256 has logged off
Fronk sat back as he checked onto the L.A.M.B. website to see the progress his brother in the Lord was making. According to the website, gaffer256 was making a lot of progress in gathering lost souls to Jesus. The man had an update on his site where other believers logged on and gave their testimonies. gaffer256 was even bold enough to place a photo of himself and the name beneath the photo was Daryl Mix.
Fronk made a face.
Daryl Mix had a website.
Fronk had started one, but he hadn’t had time to do much more with it than he wanted to. He made a vow to get that site of his up and running soon.
Hopefully sooner.
Staci Cohen was spiritually drained. Since Hank Sumter’s knee operation and since the removal of the implant in his sinus cavity, he had been in an unexplained coma. After the AIM agents had left the Belgrade Hospital, Staci placed Sumter into a private room with the help of Dr. Timothy Shrenko. Sumter had become comatose. He could not be awakened. He failed to respond normally to pain or light. He didn’t have any sleep-wake cycles, and did not take voluntary actions.
The sudden coma could not be explained. Coma’s usually resulted from a variety of conditions, including intoxication, metabolic abnormalities, central nervous system diseases, acute neuralgic injuries such as stroke, and hypoxia. Some coma’s were also deliberately induced by pharmaceutical agents in order to preserve higher brain function following another form of brain trauma.
Sumter had not been intoxicated. He had been shot in the knee. That and the combination of the implant could have been enough to cause trauma, but Staci didn’t believe it was enough cause for a coma. Shrenko concurred with her. Unfortunately, it did not explain why Hank Sumter was in a coma.
She prayed for Sumter every day, but when each day passed and there was no change in her patient’s condition, it began to weigh heavily on her. She was discouraged and wanted to know why God wasn’t answering any of her prayers. Shrenko was no help. He at first appeared to be a man who wanted to help in the beginning, but when she became a member of the staff, he kept to himself and only showed up in the Emergency Room when help was needed. When she wanted to talk to him, he made excuses and abruptly left.
Staci had been staying at the hospital in an office Shrenko had assigned for her. The name on the door said; Dr. Staci Austin. She recognized the need to use the name she had been given when she had been married…but she didn’t approve of it. The name rekindled memories she had hoped were buried.
In the early morning as the sun continued to rise, Staci brought her Bible out to a large weeping willow on the grounds behind the hospital. She sat with her back to the tree as the weeping willow shaded her from the sun like an umbrella over her. She had her Bible open on her lap but all she could do was look at it. She felt so disconnected she didn’t know how to get into His Word. God had never felt so far away from her as He did just then.
The words in the printed pages of her Bible simply looked like words with no meaning. She sought for some kind of message, something that would give her hope… but there was nothing. She closed her eyes and tried to find God.
“God, are you there?”
There was no response. She expected as much, but waited anyway.
“I’m struggling today, Father…I really am. Why aren’t You answering my prayers? Why can’t you show Yourself? I need You to because I can’t do this any more. It’s so hard. Why can’t You help me?”
She stopped and listened.
For what, she didn’t know. She knew in her heart she would never hear God speak audibly to her. But it was the End Times and God worked in mysterious ways. He had revealed Himself to Darwyn Musad in a dream and changed him to David King. God was still working miracles.
Staci wanted a miracle in her own life.
“God…if You are there, please…I love birds. Could You please send me a bird? It would so encourage my heart. Please, Father…send me a bird.”
She opened her eyes and looked.
But there was no bird.
She turned her head to the left…and discovered no bird. She turned her head to the right, and found the exact same thing.
No bird.
Feeling like she was just a tiny speck in the sand, she leaned back and let out a weary sigh. She put her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes. Then, she just looked up at the tree branches above her.
“I don’t understand,” she said softly. “I…I just don’t understand.”
Then, out of the corner of her eye, something moved. She turned her head again, but there was nothing there. She looked down at her Bible in her lap and froze as her mouth opened in astonishment. A large dragonfly with bright blue wings had landed on her Bible and it remained there for a moment as if watching Staci. She was so amazed at such a beautiful site that she was speechless as all she could do was stare. The dragonfly’s wings were constantly flicking, but it didn’t take off.
Staci suddenly found herself smiling.
Until she heard the unmistakable sound of a crunching noise. She leaned forward, making another astonishing discovery.
The dragonfly was in the process of eating its breakfast.
Staci frowned. “Eww.”
But then something came to her realization. The dragonfly was receiving its nourishment in much the same way her soul needed to be nourished by the Word of God. God was with her. He was showing her that He loved her and had not left her, but that she needed to study His Word. He showed her this through the visit of the dragonfly, even though she asked for a bird. It was enough for her to find strength to go on. It was more than enough.
Staci raised her hands up toward heaven and thanked God for His goodness. As she did this, the dragonfly darted off in another direction. Perhaps to find someone else who needed the same message from God as Staci had just received.
It had been there toward the back of the parking lot behind Belgrade Hospital since the vanishings. Craig Moore had spotted it that first day he had arrived at the hospital with the others as they had brought Hank Sumter in for help. He had been out to see it every day afterwards, but today, he made his first approach.
It was a black Lexus. It was brand new, or at least looked to be. As Pa got closer to the vehicle, he knew in his heart that it was in fact brand new. He could smell how new it was. As to why it was in the parking lot, he could only imagine. It was possible that the owner of the vehicle was among the missing.
As he found himself at the drivers side of the Lexus, he looked inside and discovered clothes in the seat behind the steering wheel. Hesitantly, he put his hand toward the door handle and opened it. He slowly pulled the door all the way open and peered inside. He took a deep whiff, closed his eyes and nodded.
“Uhm hmm,” he said softly to himself. “Yes, sirree. This here is definitely new.”
He leaned in further and saw that the keys to the Lexus were in the ignition. The owner must have put them in there just as the rapture occurred. Slowly, Pa reached in and took up the clothes. He carefully folded them up and placed them back into the car, but further along on the seat. He got in, closed the door, and just sat there for a moment, enjoying the feeling of sitting inside a new car.
He had never had a new car, and all of the cars he had seen that he had liked best was a Lexus. Just like this one.
He put his hands on the steering wheel and sighed.
“I’m just an old fool,” he said softly, shaking his head. With all of the talk he had heard about the rapture, and about salvation, he had made no decisions about accepting Christ as his own Lord and Savior.
But he could not deny the pricking of his heart.
He looked up. “I haven’t been much of a praying man, God. I don’t rightly know if you’re even listening to me right now. You see, there’s a lot of baggage I’ve been carrying around with me for most of my life and You and I both know it’s what’s been keeping me from coming to You in the first place. So here’s what I want to do. Now…I know that You know what’s in my heart. There’s nothing I can hide from You, is there? So if You will grant me this one thing, Lord…I will give You my baggage and my life and put You before all other things. I do desire to know You, God…like You know me. But I’m old and I’m stubborn. And I guess a little sentimental.” He paused. “I’ve never had anything like this in my life. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how I could make it mine…But let me have this car, and I’ll use it for You.”
And with that heartfelt prayer, Pa remained seated there for quite a while after.
Little did he know that God fully intended to answer his prayer and hold him to his promise.
The Willow Creek Bible Baptist Church was empty of people except for a handful of members who didn’t want to be any where else. David King, John Saint and his wife, Chris, and a man named Peter Chase were a part of that handful. While Chris was helping with cleaning chores inside the church, Saint, Chase, and King were having a discussion in the pastors office. The two believers had taken to sharing the office.
Saint knew Pastor Richard Worsham would not have minded. He glanced up at the family photograph on top of the book shelf against the wall to the left of the office. Pastor Worsham, his wife, his son, and his daughter all smiled at him from the family photo. A caption could be read at the bottom of the photo, etched into the frame.
then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. 1”
Saint couldn’t help but smile. He believed with all of his heart that Pastor Worsham and his family were at that very moment in the presence of the Lord. They had vanished in the blink of an eye when the Lord Jesus had come for His bride. He wished for a moment that he was up there with them. But then he realized that perhaps he and King had been left behind so they could receive the Gospel and share it with the lost.
Like Peter Chase.
Chase was the Deputy Sheriff for the small town of Willow Creek. With only a population of 500, where everyone knew each other, only two lawmen served to protect Willow Creek. Sheriff Robert Hoag and Deputy Sheriff Peter Chase.
Not much happened in the small town of Willow Creek that required them to go above and beyond the call of duty. Over the years, a few domestic disturbances, rebellious teenagers, a few brush fires, and several bar fights were what took most of their time. No major crisis had ever reared its ugly head…until the simultaneous events of the vanishings and the terrorist attacks upon the United States of America.
Since the two events, the lawmen hardly had any time to catch their breaths. Even though not many of the 500 were among the vanishing - except for the Worsham’s, the children of Willow Creek, and a scattered few - the results were devastating. People just started acting crazy. Some of them began to scream about aliens and UFO’s. Others were certain that the vanishings were due to the terrorist attacks. Fights broke out because of disagreements. Many people were gearing up for war and stocking up for the end. The two lawmen suddenly had their hands full.
Then, another problem crept in.
Saint had taken over the pastoral role of Willow Creek Bible Baptist Church and began to lead the small gathering in spreading the Gospel message more urgently than before. When King had arrived on the scene, he and Saint motivated the handful few to mobilize and evangelize all of Willow Creek. For several weeks, they went to door to door, bringing the Gospel out to the lost.
At first, no one really cared. But then a handful of Gatherers became two handfuls, and suddenly, there were thirty converts added. Then, the thirty new converts began to witness to the community of Willow Creek.
“That’s the problem,” Chase tried to explain to King and Saint. “You people have already spread out amongst the community, and told everybody their need for Christ. But you won’t stop, and I’m telling you, people are getting upset over this. You’ve got to stop pushing them or they will push back.”
“We’re simply proclaiming Jesus Christ,” King told him.
“They don’t care.”
Saint regarded King for a moment. “David, maybe Pete’s right.”
King turned to look at him, incredulous. “John, we can’t stop the message just because there are a few who don’t want to receive it.”
“That’s just it,” Chase replied in exasperation. “Nobody wants to receive it.”
Saint paused. “I suppose there comes a time when we just have to shake the dust from our feet and move on to the next place. The Word has been seeded here. Maybe it’ll bear fruit in time. Even if it doesn’t, we did what God wanted us to do.”
King sat back in the chair behind the desk and sighed. He seemed thoughtful. “So what do we do now?”
Before he could answer, a commotion could be heard outside the office. Saint moved toward the door to open it, but it swung open before he could get to it. Three people hurried in, one of them in tears. It was the Dell’s, Saint recognized. Jason and Sherry Dell with their older son, James. Sherry was crying so hard, she was close to hyperventilating.
King rose to his feet. “Oh, my dear sister, what has happened?” He came around the desk toward them.
Jason glanced at Chase, but he then focused his attention on Saint and King. “They burned our home.”
Chase frowned. “What?”
“Sometime in the middle of the night, the…” He stopped himself, struggling hard not to swear like he used to. He took a deep breath and tried again. “They came in the night and tossed bottles of gas at our house. There were quite a few of them…And I heard the Snyder brothers out there as clear as day! I know they were the ones who probably instigated this attack.”
“Bottles of gas?” Chase inquired. “You mean…Molotov cocktails?”
Molotov cocktails were mockingly named after Vyacheslav Molotov who was a leading figure in the Soviet Government in the 1920’s. He was the principal signatory of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939. The Molotov cocktail was a gasoline bomb commonly associated with guerilla forces and rioters since they were the only effective weapons available. Having such weapons being used to destroy a home in the community of Willow Creek was beginning to speak volumes.
“I don’t care what they’re called!” James shouted angrily before his father could respond. “They destroyed our home! They’re just lucky they didn’t stick around by the time we got out because I would have killed them myself!"
Jason put a reassuring hand on his sons shoulder. “Easy, Jim. We got out. We’re alive. That has to count for something.”
“Pa, they can’t get away with this!”
“They won’t,” Chase began to assure them. “I’ll see to it that - ”
“Ah, you won’t see to nothing!” James exclaimed. “You were probably in on it.”
Chase blinked. “What?” He looked from the son to the father. “How can you say that? If I had been there, it wouldn’t have happened. The Sheriff and I - ”
“Sheriff Hoag was there,” Sherry said between sobs. “I…I saw him.”
Chase shook his head. “No, he wasn’t. You must have seen - ”
“He was there!” she shouted angrily. “He-he was there, leaning against his car… watching those an-animals burn down my home!” She shook her head. “He-he didn’t do anything to stop them.”
Chase just looked at her. He was having a difficult time believing what he was hearing. When he looked at Jason and James, however, he saw the truth of what they said in their eyes. If the Sheriff didn’t stop what had happened, then matters were already worst than he had originally feared.
Chris had been standing in the doorway. She had come running when she had heard the commotion. There were tears in her eyes. The Saints had been living in Willow Creek for most of their lives and so they knew everyone in the community. Her heart went out to the Dell’s as she came in and put her arms around Sherry.
Chase took a deep breath. “I’m sorry this happened, but I assure you, no one is going to get away with it.”
He could tell from the expressions on their faces that they didn’t believe him.
King frowned, but he didn’t say what he had on his mind. Instead, he put his hands on the family…one hand on Sherry’s shoulder, and the other hand on James. He began to pray and everyone but Chase bowed their heads. King prayed for the Dells, he prayed for those responsible for their loss, and he asked for God to show them what had to be done presently and asked also for the courage to do what He asked of them. When he was done, Chris took the Dells out of the office to help set up a room for them to stay in.
When they were gone, King went back around the desk and said, “Clearly this is due to opposition against Jesus Christ.”
Chase shook his head. “What are you saying?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Saint asked. “The Dells have been out there witnessing with us. The Snyders used to be good friends with them, especially with Jim. They clearly got offended by the Word and because of it, they attacked the Dells. But they weren’t the only ones.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me they were assaulted because they were telling others about God. That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” King inquired. “The Bible does say ‘all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2’”
Chase shook his head. “You’re making this into something that it’s not. I don’t know why this happened, but I’m sure you’ve got the wrong idea.”
At that moment, another man appeared in the doorway of the office. It was Sheriff Robert Hoag, and before anyone could say or do anything, the Sheriff wordlessly withdrew his weapon from its holster, leveled it at King and fired a single round. King fell back against the wall and collapsed onto the floor behind the desk.
1 - Joshua 24:15
2 - II Timothy 3:12
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