Overthrown Book 13

[day late]

Overthrown, The Death of America

Book Thirteen

By

Travis O. Dean

Chapter One

The overhead lights in the barracks flashed to life, followed by the grating voice of the Platoon Sergeant.

“ALL RIGHT LADIES! Roll out of those sacks. Gear up, saddle up, lock and load!”

Dean looked at his watch. It was two-thirty in the morning. His head was just starting to hurt from his celebrations of just a few hours ago. He had reached his twenty-second birthday yesterday and had partied well into the night. Why, oh why did the higher command always plan these raids for the dead of night? Couldn’t they just plan to grab those Christians at a more decent hour? That’s what he would do. Even soldiers needed their sleep. At least in the daylight they could see any of them that tried to escape and stop them. But no, command thought hitting them in the dark was the way to go. Even if some of them got away, they
would be captured later. In another dead of night raid, which he would be awakened for at another inconvenient time. These raids always came at a time when he really wanted to sleep.

“Hey Dean, come on, roll out and hit the street man. We don’t want the Sarge coming back here just for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving.”

“Move a little faster. The Sarge doesn’t like to be kept waiting you know.”

“I know, I know. Give me a minute, will you? I’m still half in the bag.”

Dean managed to climb out of his bunk, even if somewhat unsteadily, and opened his wall locker to get his uniform. He noticed that, even in his condition, he wasn’t the last one out of bed. Willie, who slept in the next bunk over was just starting to rise. By the time Dean had pulled his pants on Willie had finally managed to become vertical and opened his wall locker. But instead of pulling out his uniform he reached for a gallon sized bottle of booze. He spun the cap off, with practiced ease, upended the bottle for three large gulps and returned it to the locker. He then went out of the sleeping bay, headed for the latrine. Dean continued to dress while his head began to pound and was just finishing tying his first boot by the time Willie returned. He stuffed his other foot into the second boot and was
tying it as Willie took three more hits from the bottle, put the cap back on and then began to dress himself.

Dean worried about Willie’s drinking. He wasn’t concerned about what it was doing to Willie that was his problem. He was more concerned with what might happen if Willie was really looped when they went on one of these raids. If he wasn’t in shape to do his duty, someone might get killed. Maybe HE would get killed. But it wasn’t his worry that belonged to the Sergeant. If the Sergeant said nothing about it, then he couldn’t. All he had to do was make sure Willie didn’t get him killed. Since, they didn’t serve in the same squad that wasn’t a problem for the most part. It would only be a problem if Willie’s squad was covering their flank. But even then, if Willie was too bombed to do his job there were others who would catch up the slack. Or at least he hoped they would. You never knew. Maybe Willie would stop a bullet with his back and it would be reported that he was killed in action. Which would be true, the report just wouldn’t say which side the bullet came from.

Dean pushed his concerns from his mind as he shrugged into his web-gear, buckled the belt around his waist, checked his canteen to insure it was full and headed for the arm’s room to get his weapon. Along the way he pulled a couple of aspirin from his pocket and washed them down with a sip from the canteen. He didn’t bother looking at the pack that was attached to the pistol belt. He already knew it contained at least two meals, two pairs of dry, clean socks and an assortment of things he might need, either in a fight or just to stay alive. And staying alive was THE most important thing on his mind. After getting his weapon, Dean drew the standard basic load of five hundred rounds of
ammunition for his rifle. He really didn’t want to take on the extra load. It was just more weight for him to carry. After all, most of these Christians never raised a hand against them. They just marched into the vans and busses waiting for them, all the time praying to Jesus to come and rescue them. It was his observation that Jesus never showed up. He just could not understand how anyone could put their faith in something or someone that never did anything for them, except ignore their pleas. He would never understand such blind faith in something that did no good for anyone.

Dean, in full kit with weapon, fell out into the street and got into formation. He stood in the dark, slightly chilled by the night air and waited for the Platoon Sergeant to show up. The coolness of the night actually helped ease his suffering. When he finally did, Dean was somewhat angry. The Sergeant was in a sharply creased uniform, his chin shaved clean, his demeanor the same as always and he was clearly bright eyed and bushy tailed. Because of his birthday celebrations, Dean felt only a little better than death slightly warmed over. Still, he snapped to attention when the order came and waited for the usual berating treatment from the Sergeant.

The Sergeant walked up and down the lines of men, inspecting them all by eye. Twice he climbed all over men for not having their boots polished to his satisfaction. Once he spent quite some time addressing the shortcomings of one man. Shortcomings which were physical, mental, genetic and ancestral because of a weapon that wasn’t clean enough for him.

“I suppose you’re going to not only kill yourself with a weapon this filthy, but the men on your right and left as well when it blows up. FALL OUT, clean that thing and get back into formation. You have three minutes.”

“But Sergeant, the arms room Sergeant said it was okay.”

“Do you see him here? I thought not. Fall out and clean that thing. You now have two minutes and forty-five seconds.”

The man did as he was told. He moved to the front steps of the barracks, sat down, broke out his cleaning kit and went to work. Dean was happy when his weapon passed the Sergeant’s critical eye. But the Sergeant leaned close and told him,

“You’re starting to look like a girl. When we get back I want your hair high and tight within an hour.”

“Yes Sergeant.” Was Dean’s only response, he knew his hair cut was well within regulations. But if the Sergeant wanted it shorter, it was best to please him. He would visit the post barber once they got back. The Sergeant finished his inspection of the men and moved to the front of the formation. He turned to face them and spoke of the mission ahead.

“All right, you ape’s. Listen up. This is a simple mission. You will be transported by truck to the disembarkation point. From there
you will be led to the place of operations. Once there, you will surround the building and capture everyone inside. You will go room to room in your search and miss no one and nothing. We know how many people are inside. If the count comes up short one or more of you will take their places. So don’t screw up. You aren’t worth what you are paid, but it costs the government a lot to get you trained to the barely acceptable level you have reached. If we have to train replacements, that is going to make the government upset. They will want me to explain why that happened. That will make me upset with you. Trust me you don’t want that to happen. Now, fall out and fall in on the trucks.”

The platoon turned as one man and began to move in an orderly fashion to the waiting trucks. This drill had been done countless times before and each man moved according to well practiced routine. Dean climbed aboard the truck waiting for him. As always he was the third man from the tailgate on the right hand side of the truck. He thought how he could so easily do this in his sleep he had done it so often. Still, he sat there and waited as the other trucks loaded up with men and weapons. In less than five minutes each truck was filled and they began their journey. Dean leaned back against the side of the truck, hoping that he might be able to get a few more winks of sleep, to ease his pounding head, before he had to go into action.

Action! That was a joke. There was never any real action. This wasn’t like it had been during the war. All they had to do was surround the building, order the Christians out, load them into the waiting vans and busses, or cattle cars as they were called and ship them off to the re-education camps. Okay, sometimes some of them would make a break for it and be shot down. But
that wasn’t like combat. It was more like target practice. Those sheep never fired back. They just ran like the cowards they were. He almost wished for some real action. The kind where you either won or it didn’t matter anymore. That kind of thing made a man feel alive. But that kind of action went away when the war had ended and the ‘space brothers’ had arrived.

While he rode along in the truck Dean’s mind began to question the entire situation. He wasn’t stupid, but some things were beyond him. One for example was, why did the ‘brothers’ seem to hate the Christians and Jews so much? True they had wanted to ban all forms of religion, but they really seemed to have a passion about wiping out the Christians and Jew completely. But at the same time they seemed to be the most harmless of them all. Whenever they raided one of their hideouts, the Christians or Jews would, for the most part, meekly submit and get on the busses. Some few would always try to run for it. Sometimes they actually managed to escape, but that number couldn’t be more than ten percent of the total. Maybe the ‘brothers’ didn’t like them because of their passiveness. That was possible he supposed.

A short time later the truck slowed and turned into a parking lot for them to disembark. Dean put his questions out of his mind to concentrate on the raid. After all, it was the old poem said, ‘Theirs was not to reason why, theirs was but to do or die.’ He was just happy that the ‘die’ part hadn’t yet to find him. Now as long as Willie didn’t do anything to change that, all would be good and maybe he could get back to bed by four A.M. before he had to get up again at five-thirty to start the regular duty day. He was grateful that the aspirin had started to kick in and the pounding
in his head was easing a bit. He hoped tonight was going to be an easy raid, but prepared himself for the worst.

Heather and Margret her sister, ‘Mags’ to her friends, stepped out of the safe house they had been sheltered in. It was getting close to three in the morning, yet neither of the young women could sleep. Speaking quietly so as to not wake anyone else, they agreed to step out into the night for some fresh air. It really wasn’t a house, it was a warehouse. It had the benefit of multiple rooms that could be used as sleeping bays by multiple people. Girls and women were placed together in some of them, men and boys in others. Occasionally there were families that would occupy rooms with other families. It was all quite crowded and hopefully only a short stop until a safe place could be found for them to hide on a more permanent basis.

“What is it, Mags?” Heather asked her sister. “Usually neither of us has trouble sleeping. But tonight, here we are wide awake and walking around outside.”

“I don’t know about you, but I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen. It doesn’t matter how much I pray or how hard I try, I just can’t find peace on the matter. It’s like The Lord wants us out of here. But where would we go?” Mags answered.

“I’m sorry to hear you say that. I have the same feeling. You’re right. I feel like everything is about to change, and not for the better.”


“That still leaves the questions. Where do we go and how do we get there?”

“I think we need to pray about it.”

“I have been.”

“Then one more won’t hurt. Come on, I’ll start.”

Before the sisters could even begin to pray, a large rock thumped into the ground near them and rolled towards their feet. Looking in the direction it had come from they saw a young man, halfway hidden by bushes signaling them to come to him.

“Aaron, what are you doing?” Heather demanded.

“Shh, come here, quietly and quickly.” He almost whispered.

“Why?” Mags wanted to know.

“Look.” Aaron pointed down the street. The girls looked and could plainly see a group of soldiers headed right for the warehouse. It
was obvious, their secret was out and the government was moving in on them.

The girls half ducked and ran as quickly as they could to Aaron. He pulled them into the brush and quietly herded them further away from the warehouse. They had moved about twenty yards into the brush when Aaron called a halt to their flight.

“Get down and be quiet. If we make any noise they are going to find us.”

“Then we should keep running.” Heather said.

“They’re too close. They’ll hear us. Just stay down, stay quiet and pray like you never have before.”

The girls followed his directions, and were soon glad they did. Several soldiers were spotted moving through the woods between them and the way they had been moving. If they had continued on, they would have been caught. The soldiers passed them and moved to the back of the warehouse. They took up positions just inside the line of brush and aimed their weapons at the building. Soon several vehicles pulled into the parking lot around the building and searchlights came on, turning the night into almost daytime brightness. A loud speaker sounded.

“You in the building, you are surrounded. Drop any weapons you have and come out with your hands up. Anyone surrendering will not be harmed. Anyone resisting will be shot on sight. Come out now, or we WILL come in and find you.”

Silence was the only answer at first. Then a man’s voice came out of the building.

“Give us time. We have some old folks in here. They don’t move to fast and a couple of them have to be carried. We have children too.”

“Then carry the old ones out here right now, or we will come in and make sure there is no resistance.”

“For the love of God, you wouldn’t shoot unarmed civilians.”

“You stupid Christians, I’ve done it before. What makes you special? Now get out here RIGHT NOW, or we will fire.”

“We’re coming, we’re coming. Hold your fire.”

The door to the warehouse slowly swung open. A white flag on a pole was the first thing to appear. It was followed by a middle aged man holding it.


“Don’t shoot. We surrender.”

“Get your sorry butts out here where we can see you.”

The man waved at the group behind him and slowly they began to emerge from the door.

“Put anyone over fifty-five on the left. The rest of you, move to the right.” Was the command given.

Soon the division was completed and a head count begun. The Sergeant was expecting to find thirty seven people. He wasn’t pleased when the count found only thirty two.

“It looks like we have a few resistors inside, men. Go find them and bring their bodies here.”

The order was clear. Anyone found inside the building now was a target, not a prisoner. Dean moved in with his squad. Methodically they went from room to room, checking each one as well as the floors for trap doors and the walls for hidden compartments. They were almost halfway done when Dean and Willis entered a room to find an old man on a bed. He looked at them and said,

“Have mercy. I can’t walk. I will do what you ask, but I need help.”

“Don’t worry about it old man.” Willie responded. “You don’t have to move no more.”

With that, Willie shot him twice in the head. He grinned at Dean.

“Shoot man, taking out these resistors is getting easier and easier.”

He then moved to the next room. Dean moved to the body of the old man. Cradled in his hands was a Bible. For some reason he picked it up and opened it to the presentation page. The writing there read;

‘To Mags, on your conformation day. May The Lord always watch over you and keep you from harm.’

Dean looked again at the old man. He hadn’t been afraid. He only wanted a chance to comply, given his infirmity. What was it in this stupid book that made people act like that?

“Time to go.” Aaron whispered.

The girls started to follow when Mags spoke up.

“I can’t believe it.”

“What?” Heather asked.

“I lost my Bible.”

“Then let’s hope whoever finds it needs it more than you do. Let’s go.”

[day late]

Chapter Two

It had been an easy night as Dean had hoped. Command had told them that there were thirty seven Christians in the warehouse. Thirty two had surrendered and two more had been shot for resisting arrest. That meant only three had escaped somehow. It was possible that they had left before the unit had arrived. If that were true then they couldn’t be held accountable for that. These places always had people coming and going. Getting an exact count was nearly impossible. But most importantly, nobody in his unit had even been shot at, let alone injured or killed. Still the loss of three people bothered him. He didn’t want to be selected to take the place of one of them. He went to the Platoon Sergeant.

“Sergeant, we were supposed to get thirty seven people tonight. Now I know that no one got by my squad, but what about the other three?”

“The other two, you mean.”

“Sergeant?”

“Soldier, do you really think that the government is going to waste time, money and personnel to chase after shadows? Yes the count was thirty seven, but one of them was ours. We aren’t going to detain that person. That means only two got out. That is an acceptable loss, considering that our agent went with them to
find another safe house. Don’t concern yourself with that. Your squad did well tonight and I will report that to higher. Right now you need to get your gear squared away and grab some rack time. We may need you early. If not, do something about that hair.”

“Yes Sergeant.”

Dean returned to his bunk, stripped off his web gear and got out his weapons cleaning kit. True he hadn’t used the rifle, but simple exposure to the elements was bound to have caused dust to settle in the barrel and his sweat could cause rust on the outside of the rifle if not properly cleaned and oiled. As he worked on the weapon, twice he felt a bump on his arm from something in his pocket. Bothered by the disturbance he checked to see what it was. Dean was shocked when he found Mag’s small Bible there. He didn’t remember putting it in his pocket. He was certain he didn’t want anyone else to see what was there. The simple possession of that book could get him into deep trouble. He quickly closed the flap on the pocket and continued with his cleaning. He hoped that nobody had seen that book. He wondered when and why he had picked it up. But what was more important was what was he going to do with it now?

He certainly couldn’t keep it. Not that he wanted to keep it. This book would do nothing but get him into trouble and possibly shot. But he couldn’t just walk over to the garbage can and throw it in. In the barracks like this someone was bound to see him do it. If he waited until ‘lights out’ it was still likely someone would notice. If they checked to see what he was doing, he’d be caught. He
could try to hide it in his wall locker until he was off duty and dispose of it then. But what if there was an inspection? It would be found and he would have to explain it, which he couldn’t. Dean slept in an upper bunk, so hiding the book under his mattress was out. Maybe under his pillow, but then there was the same danger of an unannounced inspection. It began to look as if his best option was to leave the book in his pocket and when he undressed put the clothes in the laundry bag tied to the end of his bunk. There were a number of places between his bunk and the washing machines and dryers where he could quietly get rid of the troublesome thing. That was his best course of action, but it would have to wait until morning. Nobody did laundry at four A.M. Dean finished cleaning his weapon and returned it to the arms room. He returned to the barracks, undressed then stuffed his clothes in the laundry bag along with their disturbing contents and crawled into his bunk. Try as he might, he couldn’t get more than a couple of minutes of sleep at a time for the rest of the night. Knowing that he could be discovered at any moment ruined his sleep.

Five thirty and ‘first call’ came far too soon. Dean groaned and climbed out of his bunk. He opened his wall locker, pulled out a fresh uniform and began to dress. Willie, who was still very much under the influence of alcohol looked at him strangely.

“Hey man, why are you putting on a clean uniform? You know we have PT first thing in the morning.”

“I brushed up against something with thorns in the dark last night. I’m not going to spend the rest of the day being eaten up by those things.” Dean lied.

“Oh yeah man. I know what you mean. Did I ever tell you about the time I stepped on a cactus?”

Willie had told him, of course. Every time he told the story he had more and more thorns in his foot and had to walk further and further distances to get help. Dean was sure that one day he would be told how the foot had to be amputated. Still in order not to raise suspicions he let Willie tell the story once more with no comment. By five forty-five they were on the street in front of the barracks doing their morning exercises followed by the usual two mile jog. Shortly after six forty-five, they returned to their starting point and were released to clean up and get breakfast. They had done their exercises in t-shirts which were not soaking wet with sweat. The men went inside, changed them and put on the shirt to the uniform of the day. Then one by one they made their way to the mess hall to get their morning meal.

With the worries Dean had on his mind, he didn’t feel much like eating. But he decided that the last thing he wanted was for anyone to notice he was in any way different. He got his usual scrambled eggs and bacon with toast and a large mug of coffee. As always the eggs were a little runny, the bacon not nearly crisp enough and greasy, the toast was burnt, but the coffee was hot, strong and black. He added some sugar to it and sat down to eat. He tried to join in the chatter around the table about the previous night’s raid but actually said very little.


“Hey Dean, why are you so quiet? Didn’t you have any fun last night?”

“Not really. I was on the flank and nobody came out anywhere near me. The only excitement I had was when the Sergeant sent me and Willis in to clean the place and Willie was the one who capped the resistors.”

“What, are you getting slow in your old age, letting a juicer like him pop those guys?”

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. He just was the first one in the rooms where they were hiding, that’s all. It could happen to anyone.”

The other soldier nodded in understanding.

“I know what you mean. We had a raid about three weeks before you transferred in. None of them wanted to surrender. When we were clearing the building there was this one really fine looking babe. I mean FINE looking, boy. But I was the last one in the room so the other guys got to her first. Then you know what happened? When the guy in front of me got finished he somehow let her get his sidearm. The girl shot herself, right there in front of me. I didn’t even get a chance to drop my drawers. Such a waste, boy I’m telling you. She would have been really good for us during R&R.”


Dean nodded in agreement with him and went back to his meal. With his mouth full he didn’t have to speak. He listened to the other men both joke and complain about the mission. He heard them laugh and joke about how the men were beaten into the busses, some with broken bones and all with bruises. The noise got louder as they commented on how the women and girls had screamed and cried as they were sent to different busses and were separated from the men. They also complained about how it was unfair that if the women were outside, they were immediately herded onto the buss, but if they were inside the higher command didn’t care what happened to them as long as they didn’t escape. Dean was almost finished eating when the orderly for the companies First Sergeant walked up to him and spoke.

“Hey, Top wants to see you right after formation. Don’t keep him waiting.”

Dean said he would be at Top’s office as soon as he was dismissed, as a chill ran up and down his spine. Had they found the book? Was he going to be arrested and maybe executed? He didn’t know and had no way to tell. If the Platoon Sergeant had found it, it was likely he would drag Dean to the Top Kick’s office by himself. That way he would get the credit for a job well done. But who knew? Maybe Top had given orders that Top was to be the first one to ‘have a talk’ with any resistors. That had happened before with other units. Dean did his best not to shake as he thought about how to explain having that hated book in his possession.


After breakfast the company formed up in front of the barracks to get their orders for the morning, as always. Dean was singled out as someone that was needed in headquarters and relieved of duty for this morning. Once dismissed, Dean headed for his appointment with dread on his mind. He was surprised when the Platoon Sergeant caught up with him and spoke.

“Soldier, Top has some very serious things to talk with you about. You’d be best advised to just keep your mouth shut and answer him only when asked too.” He said gruffly.

Dean was certain. They had found the book. Now he was going to pay for his mistake and it was such an innocent one. Maybe he could get off light if he could convince them that he was just trying to gather intelligence while on the raid. It wasn’t until later that he realized what he had picked up. Maybe that would work. He hoped so. The two men entered the headquarters building and when straight to the First Sergeants office. The Platoon Sergeant knocked on the door and was told, “Come in.”

“First Sergeant, this is the man you wanted to see.”

“He doesn’t look like much. Are you sure he can do the job?”

“I am First Sergeant. He’s the closest thing I have to those resistors. He doesn’t curse much, only drinks occasionally and at
this time, with him looking more and more like a girl, it should only be a couple of weeks before his hair is long enough.”

“I’ll take your word for it Sergeant. Soldier, take a seat. I want to talk to you about a very special mission.”

Relief flooded through every part of Dean’s body. They hadn’t found the book. But then what was this all about? Dean sat in the nearest chair and waited.

“Soldier, higher command has run into a problem. It seems that our infiltrators into these resistance groups are becoming a little too well known. Four of them were spotted as they tried to join one or another of these groups. Three of them were killed and the fourth is in a coma. We need fresh faces to find these groups, infiltrate them, then report back their location so they can be rounded up and dealt with. Higher wants it and the ‘space brothers’ demand it.

I won’t lie to you. This is a risky business at best. If you get caught, there won’t be any rescue mission to get you out. You will most likely die. But it is an important job and one that has to be done if we are going to convince the ‘brothers’ that we are worthy of their help in rebuilding this nation. We NEED their help in rebuilding, I’m sure you know. Because of the nature of the mission, I can’t order you to accept it. But I can promise you that successfully completing a mission brings with it certain rewards. For every group you infiltrate and turn in you will receive promotion, which brings increased pay and privileges. If you
complete fifteen missions you will have the right to retire with full benefits and high rank at an early age. What do you say?”

“I’m stunned First Sergeant. Don’t get me wrong but I mean why me? I’ve been told by former girl friends that I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Don’t you think that will give me away?”

“Not necessarily. Those Christians act the same way. And we aren’t going to send you in cold. You heard the Sergeant say that your hair will be long enough that you won’t look military in a few weeks. You will use that time in training for the mission. By the time you are sent out, you will be ready. You may even want to start a beard to help your cover. So what do you say? Will you volunteer?”

Dean’s head was swimming. He had gone from being arrested to being handpicked for secret missions in a matter of moments.

“First Sergeant, I really don’t want to leave the platoon. We’ve been together for so long. But I realize how important this job is. It’s a lot to think about. Can I have an hour to think it over?”

The First Sergeant leaned back in his chair. “Of course. If you had jumped at it, I would have wondered if you WERE the right man for the job. After all, like I told you, if anything goes wrong, you are on your own. That’s risking a lot, I would expect you to think about it first. Very well, you have one hour and then report back to me. Dismissed.”


Dean stood and he and the Platoon Sergeant left together. They had just left the building when the Sergeant spoke to him.

“I don’t know how much it means to you, but right now you are a specialist fourth class. If you complete four missions you will outrank me.” He clapped Dean on the back and grinned at him. A very unnatural look for him, Dean thought. “Son, if you make it back from ten missions, I’ll probably have to salute you. That’s just something to think about.”

“I will think about it Sergeant. If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend this time in the barracks for some peace and quiet while I make up my mind.”

“Of course, of course, you go right ahead. You’re on detached duty anyway. Just make sure you don’t keep Top waiting. He isn’t a patient man.”

“I won’t Sergeant, and thank you.”

Dean’s boot steps echoed very loudly he thought as he walked through the empty barracks. He returned to the bay where he slept and carefully inspected the laundry bag. It hadn’t been touched. They hadn’t found his secret. Instead of automatically getting to book out and getting rid of it while he had the chance, he sat on the bunk below his and considered things. Somehow, it
seemed he had gotten away with it. He would be transferred to another unit for special training, which meant that nobody there would know him. Surely during the transfer he would find some way, somehow to dump that book. He could achieve rank quickly as long as he was caught and retire early with a full pension. He would have most of the rest of his life to do what he wanted and be answerable to no one, IF he lived through it all. But he wasn’t too concerned about that. He was young, strong, fast on his feet, good in a fight and a good talker. There wasn’t any reason that he could see not to take the job. The thought of his Platoon Sergeant saluting him caused a smile to cross his face. This job was nothing but benefits as far as he could see. And if he died, well the possibility of death was a part of every soldier’s world. You just learned to live with it. But not everyone got a chance like this.

Then there was the matter of the ‘space brothers’. If they learned about what he had done, surely they would provide him with rewards of their own. Who knew or could even guess what they might be? He had heard stories about such rewards. Usually he considered them to be just tall tales. But what if there was truth to them? After nearly an hour, Dean stood, straightened the bed he had been sitting on and began to pack his duffel bag. He got the book out of his laundry bag and returned it to his pocket. From long practice the packing went quickly and he was soon on his way back to Top’s office. For a day that had started so questionably, it was turning out to be one of the best days of his life.

“Mags, why are you so upset? We can find you another Bible someplace.” Heather asked.


“That was my conformation Bible. It’s special to me. On my conformation day I could have sworn that God showed me that it would always be mine, and now I’ve lost it.”

“Listen girls let’s keep that kind of talk quiet, okay?” Aaron said to them. “Having someone overhear you is the last thing we want. Heather, are you sure the next safe house is this way?”

“No, but our contact point is. Nobody wants to give away the addresses. That’s why we send a message first, then they contact us.”

[day late]

Chapter Three

“Margret, I know the book was special to you. But it is just a Bible. They all have the same words printed in them. Can’t you make do with another one?” Aaron asked.

“Well, mine is a King James, not one of the more modern versions and I know, and you’re right. But it meant something special to me. By the way, call me Mags.”

“Okay, Mags, I understand it was special. But we have to keep moving. A lost Bible is sad, but a lost life is worse. And remember what The Bible says,

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

If you lost that Bible, then someone who needs it will find it. Of that I’m sure. Heather, how do we make contact with the safe house?”

“As I said, we don’t. They make contact with us.”

“How do they do that?”


“You go to the rest room in that gas station.” She pointed across the street.

“What are you talking about?”

“You get into the first stall, then you write 123 Oak Street on the upper right hand side of the wall and you write three behind the address. That lets them know how many to expect. After that, you leave. In a couple of hours you go back and see what someone else has written. THAT’S the address we go to.”

“And that will be the safe house?”

“No. That will be the place they check us out to see if we are for real or just imposters.”

“Why wouldn’t we be real?”

“There are a lot of spies out there who would like nothing better than to find out who and where we are.”

‘Yeah, that makes sense. You’re sure it’s this gas station?”

“As sure as I can be all I know is that’s what I was told. You better get moving, have you got a pen or something?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one. But why don’t you go since you know all about this?”

“Because, people might think it a little strange seeing a woman go into a men’s rest room.”

“What if I wasn’t here?”

“Then I would do something else. Aaron are you going or not?”

“I’m on my way. No need to get like that.”

Aaron moved away from the sisters towards the gas station rest room. As he did Mags leaned towards her sister and said,

“You were a little harsh with him, don’t you think?”

“Mags, before we got separated from Mom and Dad I promised them to do everything I could to keep us safe. Aaron was just being a pain and asking too many questions at exactly the wrong time. We don’t need to be seen standing here in the street. People will get curious and start asking questions that we don’t
want to answer. Either that or they will just call the cops to check us out. We don’t want that to happen for sure. We needed him to get moving fast. So I had to push him a bit, that’s all.”

“I guess so, but I think you could have been nicer about it. He’s kind of cute.”

“You think every single guy is cute.”

“Not all of them, just the ones that are.”

“Mags I can’t remember the last time you told me a guy was ugly.”

“I told you that about a month ago. Don’t you remember Cecil?”

“Cecil wasn’t ugly. He was disfigured when he got burned during the war. I can overlook something like that.”

“I’ll bet you wouldn’t kiss him.”

“How could I? Half of his mouth was messed up by the burn. I don’t think he could have puckered up if his life depended on it.”

“Well, maybe not but you have to admit that Aaron is kind of cute.”

“I’ll admit he isn’t ugly, but he isn’t my type.”

“You’re just too picky.”

“Maybe, but you could stand to be a little more picky yourself. Come on, let’s go over to that coffee shop and get a cup. Just standing here is going to make people notice us.”

“What about Aaron?”

“When he comes back we can call him over. There is nothing strange about that.”

The girls walked over to the store and ordered two small cups of coffee. The shop was almost empty. With the way prices were most people couldn’t afford anything more. But with the way prices were the people working at the shop were happy for even that small amount of business. The coffee was delivered to their outside table and paid for. After the waiter had gone back inside Heather told her sister,

“Sip it slowly. We don’t know how long this is going to take Aaron.”


“What do you mean? All he has to do is write on the wall.”

“What if somebody is in the first stall when he gets there? He has to wait until they leave and not look suspicious while he is doing it.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

“That’s okay now let’s talk about something that won’t make us look suspicious.”

“All right, how did Mom and Dad die? You were there, and I wasn’t.”

Heather gazed into her cup for a few moments before answering.

“Are you sure you want to know this? It isn’t pleasant and you might feel bad about Dad.”

“Heather, you’ve never told me what happened and I want to know. I have a right to know. They were my parents too. So what happened?”

Heather sighed and with a heavy heart began the tale.

“The Russians dropped some paratroopers behind the American lines. They landed very close to our house. There weren’t any of our soldiers anywhere near us. All we had were the local cops, and they were outnumbered by at least fifty to one. They didn’t last long. The Russians moved into town and started going from house to house. They killed a lot of people just because they were there. Dad saw them coming down the street and got that M-16 that the Army gave him. He told Mom and me to stay inside and went out onto the front porch by that brick wall we had. He knelt down behind it and started shooting. I think he was hoping that our neighbors would do the same thing, but they were too scared. They just tried to hide or run away. Dad was out there by himself.

After a little while, Dad came back inside and told us,

“I can’t stop them. There are too many. Joyce, Heather, I can’t let them take you.”

It was weird. Mom looked at Dad and said,

“I know Lloyd. Just do it.”

“I love you Joyce. Please forgive me.”


“There’s nothing to forgive. I love you too.”

Mags, Dad shot Mom right in the head. He looked at me and said,

“Heather, please understand this is a better way than letting them take you.”

Dad pointed the rifle at me and I knew he was right, but I couldn’t help it. I ducked into my bedroom before he could shoot. Just at that time the Russians reached our house. One of them threw a grenade into the living room and it killed Dad. I don’t remember much after that. I hid and prayed. Somehow they didn’t find me and left for the next house. I hid for a long time after that. I didn’t come out until after dark. Then I made my way into town and found you. You know everything that has happened after that.”

Margret remained quiet for a long time after hearing the story. She slowly sipped her coffee and thought about it. After several minutes she spoke.

“You’re wrong Heather. I don’t feel bad about Dad. I guess he did the only thing he could to keep something worse from happening. I wish the three of you had run for it. Maybe if you had we would all be together right now. But Dad wasn’t like that. He always said he would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. Dad
did everything he could to protect our home, Mom and you. That’s nothing to feel bad about.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. I was so worried that you would hate Dad for what he did. Oh look, here comes Aaron.”

The girls put down their cups and waited for him to get to their side of the street. When he had, they called to him and waved him over to them.

“Girls, it isn’t wise to attract so much attention.”

“Aaron, what we did shows we have nothing to hide. It’s exactly the kind of thing everyone else does. Relax a little. Do you want a sip of my coffee?” Heather said to him.

“Do you take cream?”

“No.”

“Then no thanks, I do.”

“Aaron, take a sip. Or at least pretend too. That’s what normal people do.”


“Okay.” Aaron picked up the cup and sipped it. Then he got a look on his face of absolute disgust. “How much sugar did you put in that thing?”

“Just two teaspoons.”

“In a small cup? It’s a wonder you don’t have diabetes.”

“Oh hush. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it. How did things go over there?”

“I had to wait for a guy to get out of the first stall. I swear my hands have never been this clean. I spent several minutes just washing them so I wouldn’t attract attention.”

“But you left the message.”

“Yeah I did. So what do we do now? You said we would need to wait for a few hours.”

“We are going to finish our coffee and then we will all go window shopping.”

“Window shopping, are you serious? We need to get off the street, not parade up and down it.”

“Aaron when people try to hide they attract attention. But if we just walk around like everyone else does, we look just like everyone else. Window shopping has become the national past time since nobody has the money to do anything more. Didn’t you know that?”

“Don’t get me wrong, but walking up and down the block with two blondes that they are looking for doesn’t seem real smart to me.”

“If what you said was true, you would be right. But you’re wrong.” Heather told him.

“What do you mean?”

“Mags and I are natural brunettes. When they started looking for us we dyed our hair. It makes a world of difference in our appearance.” Heather reached into her handbag, pulled out her wallet and flipped it open to a picture of the two of them during happier times. “Don’t you think?”

Aaron looked at the picture and at the girls. They seemed to be different people.


“I’ll say you look different. You don’t look like the same girls at all. What made you think of that?”

“It’s called ‘hide in plain sight’. If you have to move around, then you don’t try to completely change the way you look. You do things that will make people say that you kind of look like yourself, but obviously it can’t be you. Everyone who knew us before knew us as brunettes. Now they see two blondes walking down the street and they say ’Don’t they look like Heather and Mags? It’s not them of course but they sure do look like them.’ They become so sure that we are not us, they never even question it.”

“I’ll be. I would have never thought of that. Can you think of a way to make myself look different?”

“You could start by getting rid of that mustache.”

“What about using a false nose or something?”

“I wouldn’t suggest that. A false nose looks like a false nose unless it is done by a professional makeup artist. You don’t have to do anything major, just do enough to make people doubt what they are seeing. For example, you tend to have bad posture, you sort of hunch over at the shoulders. We need to find a back brace that you can wear under your shirt. That will make you stand
upright. People will say it looks like you, but that guy doesn’t have a mustache and he stands up straight, so it can’t be you.”

“It looks like I have a lot to learn.”

Dean arrived at the training facility with four other men and a woman. He had his duffle bag over his shoulder. The first thing he heard was a command he thought he would never hear.

“All right people drop those bags and strip off those uniforms. If you have any personal items you have to keep, grab them now. From this point on you will dress, act, think and speak like civilians.”

“Sir, I don’t have any civilian clothing.” A man at the end of the line said.

The man who had given the order was dressed as a civilian, so his rank couldn’t be determined. He walked over to the man who had spoken.

“What’s your name?”

“Corporal Dunsten, Sir.”

“First name?”

“Charles.”

The man then reached out and hit Dunsten as hard as he could in the face, knocking him to the floor.

“I TOLD YOU! You will dress, act, think and speak like civilians. Civilians don’t have ranks, Charles. I am John. You will address me as such. Make that mistake again and you will pay for it. All right, everybody strip to your shorts. Clothing will be provided later. Behind you are small ditty bags. All personal items will be placed in there and carried with you at all times. If you lose them, I don’t care. So don’t come crying to me. Now strip.”

Dean grabbed one of the ditty bags and placed his personal items into it, to include the undiscovered Bible. He then joined the others in removing his clothing and remained in line for inspection. ‘John’ walked down the line of volunteers looking them over carefully. Stepping behind them he walked the other direction, checking the labels on the underwear each of them were wearing. He stopped with Dean.

“Strip off those jockey shorts.”

“Si…I mean, why John?”


“They have a military issue label in them. Get rid of them right now.”

“Okay, John.”

Dean did as he was told, and felt terribly exposed standing there nude from the waist down. John looked at the label and called to another man standing nearby.

“We need size 30 jockeys for this man.”

The other man reached behind a counter and pulled out a pair of underwear. He tossed it to John.

“Put these on.” He told Dean. “We don’t need you walking around showing off what Mother Nature gave you.”

Happily, Dean ripped open the package and put on the garment. As he did so, John walked back out in front of the group.

“Lady and gentlemen, from the moment you walked in here there is no longer any rank. I am John. I know Charles and I will learn the names of the rest of you as we go along. I AM NOT your superior officer, I am your boss. You will forget every military
custom and courtesy you ever learned. YOU WILL become just like the people out there walking the streets right now. People, you have volunteered for a very dangerous assignment. I will tell you now that only twelve percent of our volunteers ever get to the retirement stage. Of the five of you, I expect that four of you will make a mistake somewhere along the line and you will die. So let us be clear. If any of you think that you cannot carry out this mission, say so now. You will be returned to your unit with no marks against your name. You may return to the same duty that you have preformed up to date. If you chose to continue, you will run the risk of detection and elimination every day you serve in this assignment. Is there anyone here who wants to opt out?”

Dean stood mute, as did the other four. John waited a full two minutes before speaking again.

“Very well. We have five volunteers. All of you are already screwing up. We are civilians. We do not stand at attention. That’s what soldiers do. Fix it.”

Dean slid his right foot to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. The others made similar adjustments to their posture.

“That’s better.” said John. “But YOU.” He pointed at Dean. “You’re fine from the waist up but the lower half of your body looks like you are at ‘Parade Rest’. Don’t be so stiff. Put all of your weight on one foot or the other and relax the one without the weight.”

Dean did so and realized that unlearning all of the forms of military procedure were going to be more difficult than he thought. He raised his right hand.

“John, can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you really think that people are going to notice something so trivial?”

“Name?”

“I’m Dean.”

“Let me tell you something Dean. When this outfit was started we went out in teams. My partner and I infiltrated a group like the ones you will infiltrate. We were at a meeting one night when Mark made the mistake of standing just like you were. He was spotted and detained for questioning. During that questioning the label on his underwear was checked. Like you, he was wearing military issue. They killed him and went looking for me, since we had infiltrated together. I took a bullet in my left leg escaping from them and barely managed to get out of there with my life.
All of you must remember. The people you will be hunting KNOW they are being hunted. That makes them very cautious and very
alert to the smallest detain. One mistake is all it takes and you will never get the chance to retire. Now, all of you go through that door and we will get started on your training. And DON’T march!

[day late]

Chapter Four

Dean was more correct in his assumption than he knew. After having been in the Army for years all of the marching, training in customs and courtesies and all the rest of it had been ingrained so deeply they were second nature to him by now. Even with that in mind as he turned to go to the door the ever sharp eye of John was on him and the rest of them.

“Hold it, hold it. All of you get back over here. Don’t you people listen? I said don’t march.”

“But John, we aren’t in step.”

“Name?”

“Molly.”

“Molly you may not be in step, but every one of you is using the standard military thirty inch stride. You might as well be on parade. And when I told you to go to that door all but one of you executed a ‘right face’ movement. Mistakes like that will get you dead. Civilians take whatever length stride they feel like. They scuff their feet as they walk. They are relaxed because nobody is watching them to make sure they do it right. They stick their hands in their pockets as they move along. They will pick their noses or scratch some part of their body. And they don’t do ‘right
face, left face’ turns. Now all of you try it again. You are civilians now. You have nothing to do and not a thought in your head. Be that way. Now go through that door.”

Suitably embarrassed and chastised the group turned more casually and headed for the door. Passing into the next room they found five tables stacked with neatly folded civilian clothing. There was one table for each of them. Next to the tables was an assortment of back packs or small suitcases. John once again spoke.

“That was better, but you all need to work on it some more. That’s okay I’ve got you for the next six to eight weeks. When you leave here you will blend in so well with the rest of the population that you’ll never be noticed. You, Dean isn’t it?”

“Yes John.”

“This is your first test. What is wrong with what is in front of you and how do you fix it? Remember you’re a civilian now.”

Dean thought carefully about the question as he looked at the clothes. He thought about the civilians he had dealt with on the raids he had been on. Then it hit him. He reached out and began to wad up the clothes in front of him, getting rid of the sharp creases and wrinkling them badly.

“WHAT do you call yourself doing?” John demanded.

“John, every time we went on a raid there was not a single civilian in ironed clothes. Every one of them was wearing wrinkled clothing. Irons use electricity and that’s expensive these days. The most people will do is hang their clothes to dry after washing and hope the wind will blow out most of the wrinkles. These are too clean and well ironed to pass on the street.”

John smiled at him.

“What do you know? There is some intelligence in that skull of yours. Lady, gentlemen Dean here is exactly right. If you go walking down the street in those clothes the way they are, you will be spotted before you reach the end of the block. I want every one of you to follow his example. Tell me Dean, which of these bags would you chose to carry your clothes?”

“Today a lot of people are migratory. They might have been displaced by the war, or assigned to war production in some other place. Now they are trying to just get home. Most of the civilians I have seen use back packs and travel light.”

“Very good, there is hope for you. You keep that up and you might last four missions. Select what you are going to take with you and put it in the pack.”

Dean thought about it and picked up the ditty bag. He opened it and dumped the contents into the bottom of the pack. But he wasn’t quick enough. John stopped him.

“What was that book?”

Without waiting for an answer or permission he reached into the pack and pulled out The Bible.

“What are you doing with this?”

Dean answered at once and lied as convincingly as he could.

“John I was sent on one last raid after I volunteered for this mission. While I was clearing the building I found this. I thought that if I’m going to be infiltrating Christian groups it would be a good idea to know how they think and why they think that way. I mean, come on, no reasonable person can doubt that the ‘brothers’ created us. Not with everything they’ve shown us. So I thought that book could explain a few things. It could show me why they are so badly deceived and help me get inside their heads, so to speak.”

John looked at him for a moment before speaking. When he did, he nodded his head in agreement.

“Dean, you DO think ahead. I like that. You just might make it to ten missions. As a matter of fact each of you is going to be given one of these things for those very reasons. We will be studying various passages so that you can give the right answer to any question they ask. For example, have you ever wondered why they don’t just lie about their faith?”

“I did. It seems to me that would be the best way to avoid arrest.”

“To normal people like us that would be correct. But those people are anything but normal. They honestly believe that this book is the real true Word of God. When we start that class I’ll show you something but for now just remember this. This book teaches them;

Mat 10:32 ¶Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

So you see, they can’t deny their God. They believe they will go to Hell if they do. That’s why they never deny being Christian.”

“I never knew that.”


“Well you know it now. So tell me, are you a Christian?”

“Oh no way John, I always thought those people were just too narrow-minded.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. Now, back to your packing, what are you going to take?”

“I will wear one pair of jeans and pack another. I’ll also carry two light shirts for warm weather and a heavier long sleeve shirt for cold weather. None of them will be new, but have that well worn look to them. But I’ll be wearing one of them so there will be only two of them in the pack. After that, I’ll put in a light jacket, a blanket, some socks and an extra pair of underwear. Any remaining space will be taken up with food.”

“Why not take any weapons or ammunition?”

“The war is over and there isn’t a real need to carry them now. Besides, if I’m supposed to be a Christian I should be depending on God to look out for me. I would be expected to turn the other cheek and all that kind of thing. Not carrying a weapon proves I’m peaceful and not a threat to anyone.”

“That’s very good reasoning, but many Christians carry a small handgun with just a few rounds of ammo. Most of the time they move through the wilderness and there are still snakes out there. Don’t worry, you will be provided with one. Why have you selected those clothes?”

“The jeans are the most common type of pants out there today. They are tough and last a long time. The type of shirts and jacket I chose I believe are self-explanatory.”

So it went for the next several weeks. John drilled his infiltrators much like a drill sergeant drills the new recruits he gets in basic training. Yet at the same time it was the exact opposite of what the military taught. The service taught their people to stand erect and speak clearly. John taught them it was expected for them to stoop their shoulders a little bit. Instead of walking with precision, they learned to occasionally drag their feet. They learned not to look a person in the eye all the time they were talking or listening, but to glance around or look down from time to time. One of the hardest things for Dean to remember it was permitted for him to have one or both of his hands in his pockets from time to time. Before long Dean found himself beginning to change. He no longer sat erect in his chair, but leaned back and made himself as comfortable as possible. Instead of the straight line marching with a precise stride, he stooped his shoulders a bit and sort of wandered in a generally straight line, pausing now and then to gaze in a window or look at something lying in the street.

After two weeks of this training he was beginning to become quite sure of himself. Until the day came when John showed him he still
wasn’t ready. The five infiltrators had been called to one of the rooms on the base. Dean was leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on another one. The other four were acting just as relaxed and unconcerned as he was. They looked around as the door opened and John stepped in. With him was one of the ‘brothers’. John didn’t even pause.

“Group, ATTENTION.”

At the sight of the alien, all of them reverted to their former lives and snapped to attention. John looked disgusted.

“IDIOTS! I need spies and they send me idiots. When are you people going to learn that civilians don’t obey orders like that?”

“But John, surely with your guest we would be expected to show respect.” Charles said.

John shook his head and spoke to the ‘brother’.

“I apologize. They have only been here a short time and still have much to learn.”

The alien casually waved his hand. “Think nothing of it. We made you creatures of habit so that those things that help in your survival would be repeated. The things that don’t help with it
would be eliminated. These people are simply performing as they were created to do.”

John turned back to Charles. “You are a Christian civilian now. You believe the ‘brothers’ are evil. You do not stand and show respect. If at all possible you run away.”

Dean noticed that at the mention of the name Christian, the alien had flinched as if he had been hit. It made him wonder why, but John was still talking.

“This ‘brother’ came here today to see the newest group of infiltrators and how you are progressing in your training. I only wish I could have shown him people who were ready to go, or nearly so. Instead I have to show him you. Trust me, I will remember this embarrassment.”

“Speak softly John.” The ‘brother’ advised. “As you said they still have much to learn.” He turned his attention to the group. “Are there any questions that I might be able to help you with?”

Charles spoke up. “Sir, why is it that the Christians hate you so much?”

Again Dean noticed the very name had a physical affect on the ‘brother’ but said nothing.


“What is your name?”

“Charles.”

“Very well, Charles let me explain some things to you. First we have chosen names from among you since in many cases you couldn’t pronounce our real names. I have chosen the name Mitchell, please use it. The next thing is that name you used for those people is offensive to us. Since the one they follow came from Nazareth, we prefer the title Nazarenes. Use that went you speak to one of us. To answer your question, they do not hate us, they fear us. We are proof that everything they believe in is a lie. That threatens them. They think that if we created them then there is no Heaven for them to go to when they die. And if there is no Heaven, then they have wasted their lives for nothing. Does that answer your question?”

“Almost, Mitchell, but can you tell me what it is in this book that makes them think you are evil?”

Charles pulled out the Bible he had been given to study. Dean saw that this time the ‘brother’ actually took half a step back to get away from the book.

“Charles, put that book on the table behind you and come here. Then I will show you why they think us to be evil.”


Charles turned set The Bible on the table and casually strolled over to the alien, and stood before him. Mitchell turned to John.

“I understand that not all of your volunteers survive their training. Is that true?”

Puzzled John answered, “Yes that’s true.”

“I see.” He turned back to Charles. “The reason they believe we are evil is that we require strict obedience to our ways and laws.”

With that he suddenly and with savage strength back handed Charles in the head so hard that his neck was instantly broken. He fell like a sack of potatoes. Mitchell looked up from the body to the remaining four.

“Never, EVER bring one of those books with all of its lies and fairy tales into the presence of one of us. We are offended by it.” He again spoke to John. “Are these others any less thick in the brain than this one was?”

“They all are. Charles was close to being washed out anyway. This is no loss.”



“I certainly hope they are better. We need to have all of the Nazarenes rounded up as quickly as possible.”

“It will be done, Mitchell.”

“Good, carry on with their training.”

Mitchell left them alone. John spoke to them.

“What Charles just did was stupid. He knew as you all do that the ‘brothers’ are easily upset by anything to do with those people. Don’t make his mistake. Now, each of you grab an arm or leg, pick him up and follow me.”

They did as required and followed John to a large hatchway located in a little used hallway. John opened the hatch and lifted it upwards.

“Put him in there.”

As the four slid the body of Charles into the hatch, Dean heard a low growling noise coming up from somewhere below them.

“What’s down there, John?” He asked.

“Guard dogs. They have to be fed and it’s good if they know what human flesh tastes like.”

Stunned by the implication Dean and the others made their way back to the classroom where they would continue to learn the art of infiltration. Each of them convinced that they would not fail in their studies. The price was too high. One other thing was on Dean’s mind. He didn’t know if the others had seen it, but he saw fear in the eyes of the ‘brother’ when The Bible had been brought into view. What was it in that book that could cause this alien race to be afraid? And his reaction to the book could have been caused by nothing but mindless fear, it was so extreme. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as he slumped into a chair and began to learn more of what he had to unlearn.

“So was there an answer?” Heather asked Aaron once he had returned to the sisters after checking the men’s room.

“Yes, but it doesn’t make much sense.”

“What did it say?”

“It said; Library, N-F, A-C 3, 7 P.M.”

“That makes perfect sense.” Heather told him.

“I don’t get it.”

“It means we are to go to the non-fiction section of the library at seven o’clock and wait in the row with authors whose names begin with the letters A to C. The number three was to show that’s how many people they are expecting. You see?”

“But, why the library? I mean even in good times not many people spent a lot of time there.”

“These aren’t good times. Even though those creatures are slowly getting the power back to something fairly reliable, the only things on TV and radio is what the government wants us to hear. If people want any real entertainment, the library is just about the only thing left. It is also a very public place. That means they can make contact with us and nothing will seem out of the ordinary.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. But how will they make contact? It’s not like they can walk up and ask us if we are the Christians they are looking for.”

“That’s true. So we have to be open to anyone who talks to us. We have to really listen to what they say.”


“But what will they say?”

“I have no idea. But whoever it is will say something that will get our attention. Then we need to talk with them and be careful not to say too much because they might not be the people we want to meet.”

“So what do we do now?”

“It’s almost six. I suggest we start for the library right now and make sure we are in the right place at the right time.”

The three of them made it to the library right on time and went to the section indicated and waited. After half an hour a young woman walked up to Aaron and asked him.

“Can you help me?”

“I can try. What’s the problem?”

My friend found a piece of a puzzle in the men’s room at the gas station. I came here to find the answer for it. Maybe you know what it is.”

“Let me see it.”

She held out a card, on it was drawn an arch.

“That’s all I have.”

Aaron looked at it, pulled his pen from a pocket and drew another arch. Together they made the sign of a fish.

“Do you think that is the answer?”

[day late]

Chapter Five

“That’s an interesting answer.”

“Where did your friend find the puzzle piece?”

“I was in the rest room of a gas station.”

“I think I know the place. Isn’t it across the street from a coffee shop?”

“Yes it is.”

“So what do you think of my answer?”

“I think it sounds pretty good. By the way, I’m Mary.” She held out her hand to him.

“I’m pleased to meet you Mary. I’m Aaron, and I have some friends I’d like you to meet.”

“How many friends?”

“Only two of them, and they are sisters and both women like you.”

“I’d love to meet them.”

Aaron led Mary back to the place where Heather and Mags were seated.

“Ladies, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. This is Mary. She is interested in puzzles that people find in all kinds of places, like gas stations. Mary, this is Heather and her sister Margret.”

“I’m pleased to meet you both.” Mary said. “Tell me, are you interested in puzzles like the one I showed to Aaron?”

“Well, we haven’t seen the one you showed to Aaron, but we do like that kind of thing.” Mags told her.

“Let me show it to you.” Mary answered. She pulled a card from her pocket and drew an arch on it. Then she handed it to the sisters. “Can you complete the puzzle?”

The young women looked at it, and then at each other without a word being said. Mags addressed Mary.

“Can I borrow your pen?”

Mary handed it over and like Aaron she completed the puzzle and gave it back. She then asked,

“What do you think of that?”

“I think it is the right answer, but you have to tell me something.” Mary leaned closer to the women and quietly asked, “Who is Jesus Christ?”

Mags carefully glanced around to be certain they would not be overheard.

“He is the only begotten Son of The Father, He was born of a virgin, …”

Mary stopped her with a wave of her hand. Turning to Aaron she said,

“You continue this.”

“He lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our salvation. He was raised on the third day and ascended into Heaven where He waits for the day of His return.”


Again Mary waved her hand. She looked at Heather.

“You finish it.”

“On His return we will reign with Him as kings and priests. What is this all about?”

“We have to be sure about you. If there had been only one of you that person would have given the entire answer. Since you are together, I had to get each of you to give me part of it. Now I feel more comfortable.”

Heather looked surprised but said,

“I guess the makes sense. So what happens now? Do we go to a safe house or something?”

“It’s ‘or something’. When we leave here I’m taking you to a place where you can be checked out a little better.”

“Why? Didn’t we give the right answer?”

“I think you did, but I could be mistaken. The last perfect person to walk this Earth rode a colt into Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. All right, this is how we have to work it. I’m sure you’ve noticed groups of more than three people attract attention. So we are going to break up into two groups. Since you two are obviously sisters it’s only natural that you would walk together. Aaron and I will pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend and leave together. The two of you will follow us about twenty feet or so behind us.

This next part is important. If anything happens, like the military or police stopping us, you two just keep on walking. Act like you’ve never seen us before. Then get out of sight as soon as you can. If you can, go back to the station and leave a message in the last stall in the women’s restroom. We’ll do what we can to get to you. If it happens the other way around, Aaron and I will have to just walk away and leave you. Understand?”

The sisters nodded. Mary looked at Aaron, smiled and said,

“The war may be over, but there is still a nine o’clock curfew. So my handsome boyfriend, we had better get going.”

“As you wish, my lovely lady.” He answered and gallantly held out his arm for her. Mary took it, snuggled close to him and they started to leave the library. Mags looked at Heather.

“That sure seems well planned out.”


“I’m sure she’s had to do it before. Come on, we don’t want to lose sight of them.”

When the sisters reached the front door of the building, Heather thought they might be a little too close for comfort. She stopped for a moment and casually stretched as if she had been seated inside for a long time. Glancing around she saw no sign they were being watched. She signaled Mags and they walked down the steps, turning at the bottom to follow the other couple. The girls couldn’t help but see that Mary was making it obvious, she and Aaron were in love and out for an evening stroll. She stayed close to him and would occasionally laugh at something he had said. She then snuggled closer and slipped her arm around his waist. Aaron did the same and they kept on slowly moving down the street.

For reasons unknown to her, Heather actually began to feel a little jealous. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she and Aaron had ever meant anything to one another. They had barely gotten a chance to know each other before the raid that put them out on the street. Mags commented on the performance, which didn’t help at all. Eventually she decided that even though she knew it was nothing but a show, Mary was acting like she had something Heather hadn’t had for quite some time. Namely a man of her own to hold her like Aaron was holding Mary. Her last boyfriend had gotten caught in another raid some six months ago. She still missed him and felt slightly resentful over what she was watching.

The only eventful thing that happened during the walk was when a police car slowed and pulled alongside Aaron and Mary. One of the officers in the car was heard to say,

“Okay you lovebirds, it’s eight-thirty. You need to get this off the street in the next half an hour.”

Mary turned to him, answering.

“That’s exactly what we are doing Sir. We are going back to Michael’s house right now.” Her smile was quite genuine.

“Alright, just don’t get distracted and take too long about it. I know how it is. I was young once too. I don’t want to see you spending the night in separate cells.”

The car then increased speed and headed down the street.

“That was close.” Mags said.

“I know. There for a minute I thought we were going to have to spend the night in that restroom.”

They continued walking for another five minutes before Mary guided Aaron to the front door of a house. She calmly walked up
to the door, turned the knob and entered with him right behind her.

“What do we do?” Mags asked. “Do you think we should knock or just walk in?”

“I say do like they did. Just walk in like we own the place. After all, we are expected.”

The girls weren’t prepared for what they found as they entered the home. Mary was laying on a couch with Aaron standing over her, gently patting her hand.

“What happened?” Heather wanted to know.

“As soon as we got inside she said she’d thought we had, had it and then just passed out. It’s a good thing I was close by otherwise she would have hit the floor. Can one of you look around for some water for her?”

The sisters looked around, found the kitchen and got a glass of water. Aaron took it and poured a few drops into his hand. After setting the glass down, he dipped his fingertips into it and sprinkled them on Mary’s face and her eyes fluttered open.

“What happened?” she asked Aaron.


“You fainted. Are you all right? Can you sit up?”

“I think so.”

“Let me help you.”

Taking her hand he gently lifted her into a sitting position.

“Here, take this but sip it slowly until you are sure you’re all right.”

“Thank you.” She said.

“It’s what Jesus would do.” Aaron told her smiling.

Behind them there was a small sound. Only Mags heard it.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Heather wanted to know.

“I thought I heard something.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mary told her. “This is an old house and it makes all kinds of noises. Why don’t all of you have a seat so we can talk a little more?”

Still concerned about Mary, Aaron seated himself beside her on the couch. Heather and Mags took chairs that were nearby. Mary began to ask questions about where they had come from and how they had known how to contact the group she was with. Soon the four were deep in conversation. Three of them were completely unaware of the two men standing behind the two way mirror hanging on the wall.

“Boy Cliff, that Mary sure is good. They really believe her. And it looks like we have at least one winner out there.” Martin whispered to the other man.

“What makes you so sure?”

“You heard that guy. Giving Mary the water is what Jesus would do. Remember what He said about that?

Mar 9:41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.


That kid wouldn’t have said that unless he knew The Bible.”

“Maybe, but that’s a little thin and we can’t afford to make mistakes. I’m going to reserve judgment until I’ve heard some more from them. Now let’s be quiet and listen.”

“You’re a fine one to talk. You’re the one who scuffed his foot and almost gave us away.”

“Just be quiet, okay?”

Dean sat on his bed as he thought about the day’s events. There was much to think about. If he wanted to continue in this mission he still had to learn how to speak like a civilian. It the service things were short and to the point. Civilians tended to ramble on before getting to it. He needed to overcome that shortcoming. Suddenly the image of Charles lying dead on the floor came to him again. Was that to be his fate if he didn’t measure up to expectations? Why was that ‘brother’ so frightened and violently disturbed by that book? He looked at The Bible in his hands, and wondered how it could cause such a reaction if it were just fairy tales as he had been told. He opened the book at random and his eye fell on one verse.

Luk 10:17 ¶And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.


He knew that Christians considered the ‘brothers’ to be supernatural. They even called them demons or fallen angels. But that was nonsense, wasn’t it? He continued in the passage.

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Now THAT proved that this was just a book. Nobody had been able to stop him from hurting them when wanted too. Dean relaxed at bit at the thought and The Bible slipped from his hand. Confident he would find more to prove this was just another piece of fiction, he picked it up and decided to read whatever passage it had opened too.

Mat 7:21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

He paused after reading it. That would mean not everyone who said they were a Christian really was. It was kind of like Willie. He said he was a soldier and had everything he needed to prove it. But in truth he was just a drunk who had found a way to earn a living and nobody really cared what he did as long as he didn’t fail when it was important. And then there were always some of those people they just couldn’t seem to catch no matter how hard they tried. Were they the ones that were REAL Christians? He stared at The Bible for a long moment. He had heard that some people called it a ‘living’ book that could talk to him if he simply read and studied it. It certainly seemed to be talking to him at that moment.

Dean drew back and hurled the book across the room. It hit the wall and fell open to the floor. He lay down on his bed, resting his head in the palms of his hands. This was just too much. It was a BOOK! How could it talk to him? This was ridiculous. He again thought about Martins reaction to the book. That was ridiculous as well, wasn’t it? After all, the ‘brothers’ traveled through space. Their technology was so vastly superior to that of mankind. Why would a book cause them any concern when they could probably wipe out the entire planet in a day if they wanted? But it had gotten Martin mad and frightened enough to kill Charles.
Something here just didn’t measure up. The ‘brothers’ claimed to be the creators of man and now after the war, man’s salvation. But they hated that book with a passion. Why? Dean got up and retrieved The Bible, determined to find something that would prove it wasn’t real. He once more looked at where it had fallen open.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

His jaw dropped open. It was known by all that the ‘brothers’ seemed to have a faint glow around them at all times. It couldn’t be that this thing was really trying to tell him something. That just didn’t happen.

“Okay book, I know what people say about you.” Dean said aloud. “If you want to talk to me you’re going to have to prove it. Everything up to now has been coincidence. Now you are going to show me what I’ve heard is real or its nothing but stupid bad luck.”

He closed it and flipping its pages with his right hand he stopped at random. Looking down he read.

Rom 10:14 ¶ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

He stood there for a long time almost burning a hole in the pages with his eyes. Eventually, he closed the book and set it gently on the desk. Turning off the light Dean made his way to his bed. He undressed and lay down on it. Words and images churned in his mind. It was a long time before he finally drifted off to sleep, still not willing to believe what had happened. The morning came much too soon.

“Dean, what’s the matter? You look like you haven’t slept.” John said as he joined the remaining four at breakfast.

“Honestly, after yesterday I did have some trouble sleeping.”


“Listen Dean, you just put Charles out of your mind. He was the kind who wouldn’t make it through his first mission.”

“Oh I know he was a little slow, but that isn’t it.”

“Then what is?”

“It’s Martin and the way he reacted. I mean I know that what the ‘brothers’ tell us is true. So why was he so off the wall?”

“I see. It’s like this Dean. The ‘brothers’ are here for peaceful purposes. But they know our history. It is the Christians and the Jews who have started more wars and other troubles than any other religion. Take America for example. They had two groups of Christians one was English and the other colonists fighting for control. Many people died. During the Westward expansion, Christian whites butchered lots of Indians. In both World Wars, the same thing happened again. So you see Dean, the ‘brothers recognize Christians and Jews as the greatest threat to our world. They are also the most stubborn when it comes to accepting the truth. The ‘brothers’ would love to have them wake up and smell the coffee. They don’t WANT to kill them, just to convert them to the truth.”

“That makes sense.” Dean said. “So that’s why we capture them instead of just burning down the building they are in.”


John clapped him on the back.

“Now you’ve got it. I knew my faith wasn’t misplaced in you.”

Smiling, John left Dean to his breakfast.

[day late]

Chapter Six

John might have been sure that his faith wasn’t misplaced in Dean, but Dean wasn’t. As strange as it seemed, that book did appear to be talking to him. John had said the ‘brothers’ were on Earth for peaceful reasons. At one point while in class, he had mentioned that the ‘brothers’ were there to elevate mankind, to take them to the next step in their evolutionary process. To take them to a place where they would almost be like the gods their forefathers had worshipped. It all sounded so wonderful. But at the same time they were far less than peaceful with the Christians and Jews. The news broadcasts were constantly filled with stories and video’s of them being rounded up and put on busses, often with beatings to encourage them to move faster. There had to be a hundred or more people a week taken away. Yet, it was only rarely that any of them were ever heard from again. Even more rarely was actual armed resistance, although that was beginning to happen more often. Those ones were just killed, when they could find them after the fight, but what had happened to the rest of them? Were they still locked away in some prison camp? If they were, how long could they be held if they refused to see the light?

During his time helping with the round-up’s Dean had heard stories about what had happened to the long term prisoners. Some of the stories he could believe. Execution was the logical end of a prisoner that wouldn’t change his ways. But there was one man who told him a story he didn’t believe at the time and still couldn’t believe that such peaceful creatures as the ‘brothers’ could actually do.

Ricky had been handed a great honor. He had been chosen from the men in Dean’s outfit to actually serve on one of the ‘brothers’ space ships. True, he was only going to be working in the galley helping to prepare meals for them and washing the dishes afterwards, but he would be on one of their ships. His every desire could be instantly met. To hear him tell the story there was no shortage of women on the ships. Any one of them that he wanted was provided for him in his off duty hours. Ricky said he had taken advantage of the privilege, more than once. Still he had only lasted for about a month before requesting transfer back to his unit. In a private conversation he had told Dean everything.

“Man, you had everything from what I’ve heard. You had light duty, even if it was K.P. All you could eat, comfortable bed, women, and I’ve even heard that when you weren’t on duty they didn’t care how much you drank. So why did you give it all up to come back here?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t like their eating habits.”

“What, did they eat with their mouths open?”

“It’s not how they ate. It was their choice in food.”

“Are you going to tell me they are all vegetarians?”

“No, they are cannibals.”

“What?”

“They eat US. Don’t you get it? They won’t touch a vegetable. But they like human flesh, raw and bloody. Haven’t you ever noticed their teeth? They have two sets of them. But that isn’t the worst part.”

“It’s not? Then what is?”

“About twice a week sometimes more they want their meat still breathing when it is brought to them. You wouldn’t believe their screams and the way they beg, first to be let go and then to be killed.”

“You’re saying they will eat us alive?”

“So far they are only eating the Christians and Jews. But, I have to wonder, what happens when they run out of them?”

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know that’s why I haven’t told anyone but you. And if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll call you a liar.”

Dean thought about the story now, in light of what had happened to Charles. The Christians claimed the ‘brothers’ were evil incarnate. He remembered stories he’d heard as a child about how such creatures were supposed to have a violent temper. Martin had certainly showed himself to have one and all over a book. He had been downright pleasant until Charles made that mistake and then it was like someone had turned on a switch. How could anyone change so much, so quickly? He didn’t understand. As he had been thinking about it, Dean had been flipping through the pages of The Bible. He looked down and read what was before him.

Jhn 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

He shook his head. How was it possible for this book to be coming up with the answers to his questions each time he had them. He knew there could only be one answer, but didn’t want to admit it. That answer meant everything he had been taught to believe in was a lie. But then how could there be some kind of all knowing and all seeing God who would allow things such as what were happening now and during the war, to happen? It made no sense. And it certainly seemed that the Christians didn’t know how to be normal.

They didn’t drink or get close and cuddly with the opposite sex. They didn’t know how to take advantage of situations for their own benefit. Dean wasn’t all that bad. He didn’t steal, unless you wanted to count helping himself to whatever he could grab during a raid. After all the Christian former owners weren’t going to complain. It was more like salvage. If he didn’t get it while he could, somebody else would take it. Then there was that time he had found Willie passed out while on duty. He had done the right thing. He got Willie out of sight and took his place for a while. Of course Willie did pay for his kindness for the next couple of months in the way of doing things for Dean whenever asked. But everyone did that. As the old saying went, ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. If Dean was smart enough to come out on the better end of the deal, that wasn’t his fault. All in all, he felt that he was doing pretty well for himself. He had things tucked away here and there that were worth a pretty penny, and now he had this cushy job that would let him retire early with high rank and full benefits. And it had been made clear to him that one of those benefits was that he would never suffer from a lack of female company, without the burden of getting married. He could even trade a woman in when he got tired of her. What did these Christians and their God have to offer him? Unthinkingly, he had been turning the pages to his Bible this way and that. He stopped and with some amount of fear read what he saw.

1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Dean dropped The Bible. This COULD NOT be happening. It didn’t matter if those people called it ‘The Living Word’ or not, it was just a book. John had given him a red letter edition of The Bible. That meant everything that Jesus was supposed to have said was printed in red. Dean thought that since this Jesus was at the center of it all, he would look at what He had to say. If there was anything to Him and this book actually WAS talking to him, then Jesus would have to be the one to tell him so.

“Okay book, this is your last chance, and you only get one chance. You show me what Jesus has to say about all of this, IF He is really there.”

Angrily Dean thumbed through the pages until he found the first section printed in red. He closed his eyes and stabbed a finger down onto the page before him, wondering what he would do if the book spoke to him again. Looking down, he read the words.

Mat 7:7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Mat 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Dean stared at the book for a long time. This was just impossible. There was no Jesus, and this book was full of myths and stories. There couldn’t be any truth in it. He had to think about this. This could not be happening, but it was. He set the book down with the decision that he wouldn’t look at it again except for in his class. He wasn’t ready to give up everything he believed in just because of a strange set of coincidences.

In was a few days later when John once again walked in with Martin. This time there was no command of attention and the four simply continued with the final stages of their training.

“What is happening now and how are they doing?” Martin asked.

“A long time ago it was discovered that the best way to use a soldier was to find out what he was best at, give him that job and never ask for more than that. In this case we have taken that idea and applied it to our people. Molly here was raised in New York City. So it follows that she will be most effective in working in the larger cities and towns we have left after the war. Now Dean was something of a country boy. He wasn’t raised on a farm, but his family wasn’t living in the city. Naturally he will be most comfortable in dealing with those kinds of environments.”

“I see. That is very wise of you John. How is their training coming along?”

“Dean is our most promising student. In testing, so far, he has continually done better than everyone else and has always asked the most important questions. But the rest of them aren’t that far behind him.” John was beaming with pride.

“Very good, may I speak with him personally?”

“Certainly.” John said cheerily. “Dean, the ‘brother’ would like to have a word with you.”

Dean stood and ambled over to the two with a gate that reminded John of someone walking down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. He looked at them casually, then looked down and began to dig the toe of his shoe into the nonexistent dirt.

“Ya’ll wanted to say something to me?”

Martin looked at John. “Is this behavior consistent with what you call a country boy?”

“Yes it is. They are very casual, but at the same time very proud.”

“If he is that proud, why doesn’t he look at me?”

Dean glanced up and answered for himself. “I don’t need to look at you to hear what you’re thinking, by the way you speak. Besides if you look at a man the wrong way he just might get the wrong idea and try to start something.”

“I see. Your people have some strange ideas about what is appropriate.”

Dean noticed that Martin seemed to be uncomfortable in talking with him, but continued on. “There’s nothing inappropriate about it. If you are meeting a man for the first or second time, he might think you are a bit too proud and take offense. If you act respectful, he’s more likely to deal with you than fight with you. In the south respect is everything.”

Martin spoke to John. “There is something about this man that makes me uncomfortable. Are you certain about him?”

“Very certain. What is disturbing you, if I may ask?”

“I sense him to be one of the Nazarenes. Yet at the same time he isn’t. I can’t figure it out.”

“I think I know what the problem is. Let me put your mind to rest.” John looked at Dean. “Are you a follower of the Nazarene?”

“No John, I’m not.”

“What were you doing just before we came in here?”

“I was reading that book they use.”

John looked back at Martin. “That is your answer. Dean is a very intense student. You must be sensing his studies. You just heard him say he’s not one of them, and if he was you know he would have to confess it.”

“What were you reading?” Martin asked him.

“I was just trying to figure out why those people don’t do what they say that book tells them to do.”

“In what way?”

“The book tells them to obey governmental authority, but they don’t do that. If they did, they would have to give up their beliefs and recognize that you ‘brothers’ are the ones who created us. It’s a contradiction that I’m trying to make sense of.” Dean knew better that to quote the actual scripture which read;

1Ti 2:1 ¶ I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

“Perhaps you are right, John.” Martin said. Then turning back to Dean he asked, “It may help you to understand that those people recognize two governments. The first type are the ones on Earth and the second is in what they believe comes in the afterlife. They believe the one that is supposed to come later is the one to be obeyed. Study that and you will find your answer. Are there any other questions you have about the Nazarene’s?”

“There is one. They are always talking about love, love, love. But they don’t seem to have a lot of love for you. Why is that?”

Martin smiled. “That is one of the reasons we must find a way to make them believe the truth. You see, after your race took root and began to grow we left certain instructions with them. One of them was that everyone should love their fellow man. But those people have twisted it into saying they should only love others like themselves. We are not like them, so they do not love us. Have you ever noticed how most of the violence of this world has been caused by the Nazarenes?”

“John set me straight on that one. And after looking into it, it is easy to see how right he is.”

“Very good, I see now that John was correct in his estimation of you. Please return to your studies. And remember, if you ever have a question about anything, ask John. He has received personal instruction from us.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Dean left Martin and John to their discussions. He noticed that none of the others had been called over to talk with Martin and it gave him a sense of pride to have been singled out in that way. Shortly Martin left and John came to him.

“Dean, my boy you have made a new friend. Martin was favorably impressed by you. You keep it up and when your missions are done I’m sure you will get the highest upgrade on your chip.”

“What chip?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Once you retire you will be implanted with a microchip, in your right hand. That chip will tell anyone with a scanner who you are and what benefits you will receive. Everything will be taken care of by the government. And I mean everything. Housing, cars, food and even women will be provided in recognition of your service. Eventually everyone will have a chip, but yours will be above almost everyone else.”

“Thank you, I’ll make sure not to let you down.”

“I’m sure you won’t.”

Later that evening, Dean returned to his room. The Bible was just where he had left it. He sneered at it, certain that he now had a question it could not answer.

“Okay book, what do you have to say about this? I’m being offered everything a man could want in exchange for my service. They will put a chip in my hand and anything I want is mine. So what do you have to say about that?”

Dean decided to err on the side of caution. He opened The Bible to just the last few pages in it. Blindly pointing to a passage he looked down and read,

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Right hand? Wasn’t that what John had said? He briefly thought about how Martin had questioned him earlier and how uncomfortable he seemed to be. It was true, Dean wasn’t a believer, but everything was pushing him in that direction. He undressed and went to bed. As he laid there he considered everything. Finally, he decided that tomorrow was soon enough to decide. Maybe he would find a test the book wouldn’t pass. But if it did, then the choice was obvious.

[day late]

Chapter Seven

Unwilling to believe the “Living Word” was exactly that, Dean read as little as possible during his last two weeks of training. The things he had read continued to go round and round in his mind, as if they were demanding both his attention and a decision. During his class on how to refute the scriptures his distraction was noticed by John who questioned him on it.

“Dean, you don’t seem to be all here today. Is something troubling you?”

“Honestly yes. I’m sure we will find Nazarenes that are on the fence. It will only take a nudge to bring them over to our side and they can provide information we can use to find more of them. But, after all we’ve learned I’m still looking for something that I can use to prove to any of those kinds of Nazarenes that this book is nothing but fables. But for every single thing I come up with, there always is another something that can give them an answer. It’s like trying to grab a greased pig. Just when you think you have them, they slip away.”

“In truth that is a good analogy. The way they have written the book gives them an out for any question. I’m sure you’ve heard the old question about ‘if God is all powerful, can he create a rock that is too heavy for Him to lift?’. They know that if they say yes, then God isn’t all powerful, He has limitations. If they say no then he isn’t all powerful because He can’t create a rock that big. So what do they say? They will tell you that the question is wrong, because God is a spirit and spirits walk through rocks, they don’t pick them up.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. With answers like that, you just can’t pin them down and make them see the truth.”

“It’s also why you shouldn’t even try. If you try to make them see the truth the ‘brothers’ have shown us, you will give yourself away, I guarantee it. Then we will have nothing and you might well wind up dead. But there is a way to guide them to the truth. Don’t attempt to convince them, but plant seeds of doubt instead. Then let them convince themselves.”

“How do I do that?”

“You’ve been on a number of raids. I’m sure you’ve noticed that we never get them all. There are always a few who get away. At least one of those people is going to be our agent. The others will be ones the agent believes can lead him or her to the next group. Once the escape has happened the agent will say something like they don’t understand how God could allow such good people to be captured or something like that. Even if that Nazarene has an answer, the question is going to linger in their minds. Before long they will begin to wonder if maybe they haven’t believed a lie.”

“And then I can convince them?”

“Not necessarily. They might view it as what they call a crisis of faith and eventually return to their old ways. That is why you have to let them do their own thinking and guide them to the answer you want them to have. You never tell them the truth that we know. You always deny the ‘brothers’ and everything they want to do for us. You behave as a good and faithful follower of the Nazarene, but one with questions. One thing they all have in common is the belief that only God has all the answers. So you questioning His reasons will pass un-noticed, as long as you don’t question Him, since they all do it. By asking the right questions at the right time you can get some of them to finally see reality. Not many, but some of them, and they will lead us to more of them.”

“So, you are saying I lie to them.”

“Not at all, I’m saying their own self doubt will do more for you than anything the ‘brothers’ could ever do. They reject everything our friends have to offer, believing it to be evil. So don’t offer it, even by suggestion. You don’t lie to them just make them think in different ways, by asking these questions, so that they will change their own minds. Have you got it?”

“I think I do, thank you John.”

Clapping Dean on the shoulder, John said, “Good man. Oh, by the way. I want you to know that as of about a week ago I became convinced that you are going to be one of the few who actually complete fifteen missions and get to retire. Then I’ll be saluting you.”

As John turned to leave, Dean called to him. “John, what was your rank before you started doing this?”

John smiled. “I was a Staff Sergeant and a drill instructor.”

With the way John had given his all in the instruction of the four of them, Dean had no trouble believing it.

It only took half an hour for Aaron to realize that he, Heather and Mags were being put through a most gentle but very complete examination. Mary’s questions begged for answers and were asked in such a way that they seemed perfectly normal. Yet at the same time were quite probing. For example she had asked him where he had come from. Without thinking he had told her the truth. He had come from Georgia. Mary then said that she knew some people down Atlanta way, and asked if he might have known them. He instinctively answered that he was further south than Atlanta. Mary had then smiled and said he must be from the farm lands down that way. He had answered that no, he wasn’t a farm boy. He had been raised near Macon. It was at that point he understood what was going on and made the rest of his answers and comments very noncommittal. And he began to truly listen to what Mary was saying and how she said it. Unknown to him, the change in his actions and words were being noted.

“Mark, I think that young guy is on to Mary.” Cliff said as they watched through the mirror.

“Why do you say that?”

“At first he was trusting and honest. Now he is being evasive. Mary must have made him suspicious somehow.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Neither do I, but he is acting differently.”

“Do you think he is a plant?”

“No. I don’t think he was sent by the government. But he just might be thinking that Mary was. If that’s true, we may have to break in and keep her from getting hurt.”

“We aren’t supposed to do that.”

“I know. But I’m not going to let him hurt Mary. She is just too valuable to us.”

Aaron spoke to Mary in a polite, but stern way, trying to find out if they had indeed reached a safe place or were just being strung along until the authorities could arrive. “Tell me Mary, when do we get to meet up with the rest of the church members around here?”

Mary looked at him. “You don’t.”

“What do you mean? I thought we were being taken to a place with fellow believers, a place of safety and refuge.”

“You are and you aren’t. We will do everything we can to see to it you are as safe as any of us, but the reason we are still active and free is because of our security measures. We operate using the cell system.”

“What does that mean?” Heather asked.

“It means that we don’t hold services. But by passing the word between cells, we all pray for the same thing at the same time. No matter where we are. We don’t sit and listen to the pastor preach, but we read transcripts of his sermon.”

“I don’t get it.” Mags said. “How can you call yourselves a church if there is no fellowship?”

“There is fellowship of a sort, we just don’t gather in one place to do it. Let me explain. All of you have admitted to being in one or more groups that got raided. Then you made your way into another group. The thing that probably got your groups caught is someone noticed unusual numbers of people coming and going from the same place. So we don’t do that. Messages asking for prayer or help are passed from one cell to the next. If say, prayer is needed, on a certain day and time, that information is included in the message.”

“Aren’t you worried that the message might be intercepted and read?” Aaron asked.

“Not really. All of our messages are coded. Say, Michelle wants some potatoes delivered to number 100 East Street, the real meaning is that Michael needs hand grenades delivered to 200 West Street.”

“How do you get hand grenades from potatoes?” Heather wanted to know.

“Think about it. Doesn’t a grenade look something like a potato?”

“But this town doesn’t have an East or West street.” Mags said.

“That’s right. And we don’t usually deal in things like hand grenades. That was simply an example. You must understand that if the need isn’t prayer but some physical need instead, that information is passed on in code. But most of the really important things aren’t written down at all. They are memorized by the person carrying the message.”

“But if the person carrying the message is caught, then they learn everything.” said Aaron.

“No they don’t. The messenger knows the message, not the code. That means they get nothing but meaningless phrases and no way to understand what they are all about.”

“Wait a minute.” Heather interrupted. “You said we won’t get to meet anyone else because of secrecy. So how do the messengers know who to contact?”

“It works like a pyramid. At the top is one cell of say three people. Each of those people starts a cell of their own. So you have gone from three to nine people. The people in the top cell know each other and the people in the cells they’ve started, but they don’t know the members of the other cells. Let’s call the first cell Adam and Tom, Dick and Harry are its members. Now Tom starts cell Baker. In Baker are Mike, Sam and Clifford. Dick and Harry don’t know those three, and vice versa. Now if Dick hears something that could be trouble for Baker he tells Tom. Tom tells the Baker cell and they do what they have to do. Now turn it around. Mike has problems getting food, so he tells Tom. Tom takes the problem to cell Adam and they find an answer. This way, things get done, but nobody knows who did what. So if anyone in any cell is captured they can only turn in a limited number of people. We do keep in contact by various means, so if someone falls out of contact the people they know go into hiding to avoid capture.”

“It sounds kind of complicated.” Mags said.

“Not after you get used to it. Let’s bring it closer to home. There are three of you. That’s just the right number for a cell. Some cells are larger but none smaller. You will be cell Karl. The only one you know outside your cell is me. If any of you is caught you can only be forced to identify three other people. But once you drop out of contact, we will know it and make sure the cells above and below us know it. That way we can be on the lookout for anyone who is watching for us and do what we have to do to avoid being seen. But if you aren’t found out, then each of you starts a cell of your own. You will know each other, and the members of the cells you create, but not the members of the other people’s cells. See how easy it is?”

John walked into the room. He was pleased to see the casual way in which he was treated. No one snapped to attention. All four of the infiltrators simply glanced at him in a bored fashion and then went back to doing whatever it was that they had been. That pleased John as he walked over to the group to address them.

“Lady, gentlemen, I am pleased to announce your training is almost at an end. You have only two weeks to go. But there is one problem we must overcome. Dean, you are our most promising student. You tell me why we shouldn’t put all of you out on the street right this moment.”

Dean glanced at the others, his eye missing nothing. Their attitude was right. They were wearing just average clothes, so they should have no problem blending in. But the suspicious part of his mind made him look again. He spotted it. Looking at John he said,

“We’re too clean and well fed. Most of the people on the street are hungry and have been for some time now. They are not too concerned with their appearance. They are more concerned with filling their bellies.”

“Exactly right, on both counts. With most people wearing dirty clothes, we can’t send you out all clean and polished. You’d be spotted in an instant. And your bodies have a healthy look to them. There are many, many people out there getting by on one meal a day or less. You four have obviously been eating quite well.”

“What do we do about it John?” Molly asked.

“Ah, now that is the question. Fortunately we have an answer. As we speak, your rooms are having the beds taken out of them. A small amount of dirt is being put on the floor and you will sleep on that floor for the next two weeks. You will use different clothing each night, until all of it is a bit soiled. There will be no more use of the washing machine and dryer. If your clothing becomes too dirty, you will wash them by hand in the bath room sink and hang them up to dry. Showers will be restricted to once a week, and that will be in cold water.

This next part is the one you are not going to like. Starting right now, you are restricted to two meals a day and those will be at half rations. After four days, to adjust to fewer calories, you will receive one meal a day at half rations. In two weeks we will have you well on your way to looking and smelling like those people out there. Not only that, your body will be accustomed to operating with less food. On the outside, that is the norm. Are there any questions?”

Dean felt an odd twinge on being informed that there was someone in his room. IF there was anything to this “Living Word” concept, what would happen if his Bible started talking to the person or persons in his room? Then he decided that wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t as if the book were actually using verbal communication. For it to speak to you, you had to read it. What was that verse he read?

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

He knew that everyone who worked in this place had been strictly taught not to even touch The Bible, for fear of its corrupting influence. There was little chance that anything would happen. He smiled to himself and found it oddly comforting knowing that the last thing anyone would steal from him was his Bible. The thought brought him up short. Was that book getting to him? Why should he be comforted by the knowledge that nobody would take it? The smile faded as John continued.

“We are proud of the four of you. You have all done well in training. Please don’t think of this as any kind of punishment. It isn’t. What you will have to live through for the next two weeks is only being done to provide you with a deep cover. So that no one looking at you will think you are anything but what you claim to be. During the day, your quarters will be much too hot. At night they will be far too cold. You will have to look after yourselves the best way you can. That is what these resistors do, so you must do it as well. If any of you want to shave, then you better find a really sharp rock. One last thing, you will no longer have each other to confide in or to complain to. Resistors spend a lot of time alone. For that reason, from this moment on you will be isolated from each other. My friends, you must learn how to act on your own without any chance of outside help.”

The following two weeks were miserable. Dean was always too hot, too cold and always too hungry. And John hadn’t mentioned the physical labor that they were put through. It wasn’t bad enough that they had to go day to day in dirty clothes. John had them working in the yard of the compound, doing hard physical labor. He pointlessly had them each move a very large and heavy stone from one end of the yard to the other. He did allow them to make anything that might help them in their work, but the job had to be done. Dean recalled a show he had once seen that showed people moving large stone blocks on logs, used as rollers. He did the same now and had his stone at the other end of the yard before the others were even halfway.

On his graduation day, Dean was half starved, dirty, tired and not in a very good mood. He was given an assignment and sent into a nearby town. John advised him.

“Try the soup kitchens and places like that. Those Nazarenes are always trying to help others less fortunate than themselves. That would be a good place to start.”

Dean began walking down the road towards his assignment.

[day late]

Chapter Eight

As Dean wandered down the road he thought about where he should go and who he should be looking for.

“I want all of you to remember. These Nazarenes are always doing the goody-goody kind of thing.” John had told them. “When you go out, you should try any kind of ‘soup kitchen’ or other place that is taking care of refugees. Like places that will offer refugees a bed for the night so they don’t get arrested for violating curfew. Now you must realize that most, if not all, of the people you will meet there are going to be just plain citizens doing what they can to help out the less fortunate. But those are the same places that attract our enemies. Their religion requires them to do what they can to help others, so those are good places to start.”

“John, how do we determine which ones are Nazarenes and which aren’t?” Molly had asked.

“There is no sure way. However, those people usually pray before they eat. You need to watch for that.”

“Wait a minute.” Dean had said. “They know they are being hunted. You surely can’t expect them to fold their hands and bow their heads before they eat.”

“No, we don’t expect that. But if you notice someone who gets their food and sits at the table looking at it for a few moments before beginning, then there is a good chance they are praying silently over their meal. It’s not a guarantee, but it is a good sign that this is a person you want to make contact with in order to find the rest of them. Another good sign, on the servers’ side, is someone who is a soft touch and gives out more food to an individual than they are supposed to give.”

Dean decided to head to the nearest place of public assistance. They would be feeding those who were moving from place to place after the war. Nobody ever asked too many questions at those places because everyone had a tragic story to tell. After a while the servers just got burned out on all the tales of woe and stopped asking. He had no doubt that he could pass as a refugee due to the treatment he had endured the last two weeks of his training. His clothes were dirty and wrinkled from sleeping on the floor. And he knew he had that certain kind of hungry look, just because he was hungry because of the restricted diet that had been forced on him. He made his way to a ‘soup kitchen/shelter’ that easy to find. The line of people outside waiting for something to eat went around the block.

It took him more than two hours just to get within sight of the door. Dean used his time wisely. He spent the hours observing those around him, listening to their conversations, such as they were, while avoiding being engaged in them himself. Even with his experience as a soldier, he was shocked at just how far these people had slipped during the war. All of them, like himself could stand to have a shower. Even a cold one if that was all they could get, which was quite likely given the still sporadic nature of electrical power. Clearly many of them had been in the same clothes for days and possibly even weeks. Dean was surprised at the number of children in the line. What didn’t surprise him was the way parents and especially mothers kept their children close while making sure that the children were in line in front of them. The parents knew there could well be a shortage of food, and if that happened they wanted the children to eat before they did. Besides, what might make a decent meal for a man or woman would at least make almost a meal for two small children. As he reflected on his days of training where the food was both hot and plentiful, Dean truly felt sorry for these miserable refugees. They struggled from day to day to find enough just to stay alive, and it seemed to him that most of the parents in the line hadn’t eaten as well as their children for a very long time.

Most of the conversation he heard was of the type he expected. People complained about the long lines and how much time it was taking. He noted one old man who made no secret of his displeasure.

“Back in the day, when I was in the Army, they could feed a crowd like this in no time. You just got in, got your food, ate and got out to make room for the next guy. Why can’t they do that here?”

“What are you talking about old man?” Another line waiting man had asked. “You don’t know what’s going on inside there.”

“That’s what you think. I’ve been in this line three times in the past two days. I’ve seen what happens inside. Folks get in, but they take their time about eating and then they sit around talking for half an hour before getting out. THAT’S what is taking this line so long to move. They ought to run those people out of there as soon as they finish so the rest of us can get something.”

The comment sparked other conversations along the line, some of which Dean gave his full attention, whenever he could hear them. One such conversation invited him to pay a little more attention than the others did.

“I don’t get it.” A man a little in front of him said. “If these so called ‘space brothers’ are so all powerful, high and mighty then why are we still living like this? It makes me wonder about everything they claim to be.”

“Now you sound like one of them Christians. Are you saying that they DIDN’T create us? For that matter are you one of those Christians that caused all of this?”

“I’m no Christian, but let’s face it. If those aliens were everything they claimed to be, if they are as concerned for us as they say they are, then why aren’t they doing more to help people? Think about it. It has to take a lot of power to move those ships through space. Why can’t they just hook up some lines to the power plants that are here and shoot the juice down the line? If they would supply power to the farms and the cities, we wouldn’t be half as bad off as we are now. People could have a warm and comfortable place to sleep at night. Farmers could get back into production and we would have more food. Supermarkets could open again, and with power there would be a lot more jobs so a man could work and take care of his own.”

“So what makes you think that the power they use to fly around the stars would work in an electrical generator?”

“I don’t know that it will. But if they are so smart they should be able to figure out a way to do it.”

“Give it up, sorehead. They are here doing a lot of things for us and asking for nothing in return. Don’t you think if they could do more they would?”

“I’m not so sure they would.”

“Oh, just shut up. You don’t know nothing about them. They are here and they are helping. What are you doing?”

“I’m just like you. I’m doing everything I can. I’m just saying they could do more and they aren’t. It makes me wonder why.”

“Just shut up before we make you shut up. You’re doing nothing but trying to start trouble and we already have enough of that.”

If the man hadn’t openly denied being a Christian, Dean would have been interested in learning more about him. But he had. Still Dean was interested to see if anyone even looked like they agreed with him. Anyone who might deny the ‘brothers’ was a potential Christian, and those were the people he wanted to find. Unfortunately except for the one man, everyone else was convinced that the ‘brothers’ were doing their best to help mankind. Many of them then went on to rant about how if things were really going to improve all of the Christians and Jews simply had to be gotten rid of. After all, the ‘brothers’ had stated that there was only so much they could do as long as there were those who didn’t admit that they were their creators. That started a whole new round of debate about the best way to find and eliminate the threat the religious people represented to the rest of humanity. This almost caused a fist fight to break out when certain line standers complained that the government wasn’t working hard enough on the problem.

“Come on man.” One man stated loudly. “It isn’t like those people walk around trying to convert everyone in sight. They are hiding so they won’t get killed. What do you expect the government to do? Are they supposed to ask everyone in the country about what they believe? They don’t have the manpower for anything like that. And even if they could, what is there to keep those people from lying about it?”

Dean knew the answer to that question, but decided to keep it to himself.

“They may not be able to do that, but what’s to stop them from checking the records of every church they can find. That would give them a lot of names, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, right and after all the moving around that people did during the war where do you suppose the government should start looking? I know for a fact that over half the people in the place where I used to live left to be with family members. If those families had to move to stay out of the line of fire, they could be anywhere by now. That is IF they are still alive.”

“Well at least they would have their names. They could check those at places like this. Or any place that keeps public records for that matter.”

“Man you take the prize of being an idiot. Listen to me. Before the war I was a counselor for troubled kids. I tried to help them get their lives straightened out. Do you have any idea how many of them had one or more phony names and an I.D. to go along with it? Don’t bother guessing, I’ll tell you. Over forty percent of them had fake I.D.’s. And back then it was a lot harder to get one than it is now. All they have to do is walk into any police station or post office, give a false name and claim they came from an area that had been over run and captured and BOOM, they get a brand new I.D. with a brand new name and just disappear into the wood work.”

“Well, what about fingerprints? That would tell the government who they really are.”

“Like I said, you get the prize. That would only work if the government had to take their fingerprints for some reason, like getting arrested or a top secret clearance. But if they were never arrested or worked for the government, nobody ever took their prints.”

As Dean listened to the arguing he realized that several of the line standers could be arrested for their disrespectful and even hateful comments about the ‘brothers’. But that wasn’t what he was assigned to do. Still it was known that people of like minds often gathered together, even if they didn’t agree on everything. That thought made him decide that getting a little closer to the men who had spoken out against the brothers might not be a bad idea. It could well lead somewhere. His thoughts were interrupted by the man guarding the front door to the soup kitchen.

“Alright the next five, it’s your turn. Try to get out as fast as you can and make room for others.”

“Why didn’t you say that to the hundred or so people in front of us?” the complainer asked loudly.

“Friend I’ve been saying that all day long. It’s not my fault if people don’t listen. I can’t help what happens inside, my job is here. So if you want to eat, shut your trap and get inside. Otherwise you can go to the back of the line and think about it.”

The complainer glared at the door guard for a moment, but said nothing and entered the building. Dean was the last of the five to make it through the door before it closed behind him. Picking up a tray, plate and some plastic silverware he made his way slowly down the serving line. He was careful to notice that the servers behind the counter all wore badges that identified them as government employees. To a person they looked tired, sweaty and seemed to be wishing they were someplace else, but this was their assigned duty and even this job was better than no job. He directed his attention to the food that was doled out to the men in line. Some of it was actually hot, but most of it simply warm or warmed over. It wasn’t as much as he would have liked to have had, but it was more than he had been getting during his last weeks of training, and hopefully a little more nutritious. He satisfied himself with that. The one thing that did please him was the coffee was hot, strong and black. Oddly enough there was also sugar to go with it, but no cream.

Dean shuffled down the row between some of the tables. He was looking for the complainer, trying his best to look like he wasn’t singling the man out. Dean soon spotted him and had the perfect reason to sit down nearby. It was one of the few seats available. Dean noticed the man sat just looking at his food for a moment. That was one of the clues John had told him to watch for. Yet this was the man who flatly denied he was a Christian. He sat opposite from him and opened the conversation casually and noncommittally.

“What’s the matter? Did you find something in this slop I show know about?”

The man glanced up, smiled slightly and said, “No, I was just trying to remember the last time I had this much food all to myself.”

Dean looked at his own plate. It was half of an old fashioned mess kit, which was divided into two compartments. One side held a brownish looking food, while the other much to his surprise held corn. The portions were small, but adequate. Yet this guy couldn’t remember the last time he had, had this much all at one time. As a soldier Dean had complained as loudly and often as anyone else about the quality of their chow. In training, meals had been much better, until the final two weeks. Now this man was surprised at how much he was getting. That was when Dean realized that things really were bad outside government service.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to get this too. I’m Dean, by the way.” He held out his hand.

The other man took it and they shook briefly. “I’m Vince. Come on, we’d better chow down before someone either tries to take it or they throw us out of here.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Dean shoveled in the thin lukewarm stew, or that is what he thought it was, and took small bites out of a thin stale piece of bread he had been given. He thought he saw a greenish spot of mold on the bread, but with as hungry as he was he paid it no mind and bit down anyway. After swallowing the mouthful Dean spoke softly to his companion for the meal.

“I heard what you were saying outside.”

Vince looked at him suspiciously. “What about it?”

“Oh, nothing except I think you’re right. If these ‘brothers’ are so grand and glorious, and so very concerned about our well being, why aren’t they doing more to help us?”

“If you think that, why didn’t you say so outside?”

“Because I’m hungry and I’m not stupid. I could see how many people were standing up for the ‘brothers’. You were on the losing end of that argument before you ever started. You know what I mean? You almost got sent to the end of the line just because you said what a lot of people think.”

“That’s true. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?”

“Well, if you ask the government we still have freedom of speech. We can say anything we like, as long as it isn’t against the ‘brothers’ then it is hate speech and that’s illegal.”

“Dean my friend, you just said a mouthful. We can say whatever we want as long as it is what they want us to say. I have to admit I miss the days when a man could speak his mind and not worry about what others might think about it.”

“You’re not the only one. But these days you can only do that with people you can trust.”

“So who do you trust?”

“Me? I’m not from around here. I was helping out up near Fargo during the war, and now I’m trying to make my way back down to the Atlanta area. That’s home.”

“I’ll tell you what. You seem to be a man with his head on right. After we finish why don’t you come with me? I think we can work out something that will help us both out.”

“Why not? I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Soon the men finished and headed towards the stack of empty trays and dishes to leave theirs for cleaning. On the way out, Dean did notice one thing that he wanted to look into. There were two blond girls sitting together and a young man nearby. Clearly they were trying hard to look as if they didn’t know each other. It made him curious.

[day late]

Chapter Nine

“So, where are we going, Vince?” Dean asked.

“Some folks I know are having a little get-together this afternoon. We are always on the lookout for others to join us. I thought it would be a good idea for you to meet them and them to meet you.”

“I thought that all public meetings were banned under martial law.”

“Yes and no. Any kind of political meeting is banned. Churches have been banned, but the powers that be know they can’t have a total lockdown. People need a release for their frustrations. So think about it. What kind of thing is there where you can have large numbers of people get together and vent their frustrations in a way that is harmless?”

Dean did think about it. This was something John had never covered. Then it came to him.

“We’re going to a high school football game.”

“Right on the first try. The government figures nobody is going to do anything that will endanger their children. Not only that but the parents of the players aren’t going to let anyone endanger their kids.”

“But they hold those games at night. That would mean a whole lot of people violating curfew.”

“I guess you’ve never been a father. They used to hold them at night. These days since they don’t know if there will be power for the lights, they let school out early and have the game before sun down.”

“Well you’re right about that. I never found a woman that I wanted to marry. So this is something of a surprise to me. But don’t people get suspicious of a bunch of men talking instead of watching the game?”

“We’ve figured ways around that. It’s not like we are having some kind of board meeting. We break up into small groups and talk to each other. Then after a while a person will leave his group and go sit with another. One person from that group leaves and heads somewhere else. That way each group knows what the others are talking about.”

“And what do you talk about?”

“Pretty much the same things you and I were talking about.” Vince paused in thought before he continued. “Dean, I have to ask you something, even though I’m fairly sure of the answer now. Tell me, what do you think about how things are going right now?”

“It’s like the old saying. Things are tough all over. Especially with all the damage we got during the war.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean with the way the government is doing things and the way they bow and scrape to the aliens.”

“Let’s just say I liked the way things were before the war. Back then I man could speak his mind, he could go where he wanted when he wanted, stay as long as he wanted and nobody had the right to say a thing about it.”

“That’s pretty much how all of us feel. Nobody likes being told where they can and can’t go, what they can or can’t do or what they can or can’t believe.”

Dean spoke softly to Vince “Does that mean you really are a Christian?”

“No, I’m an atheist. But to tell you the truth, I don’t have anything against Christians. Before all of this I knew quite a few of them. They always treated me right, and never did anybody any harm as far as I know. Shoot, the ones I knew didn’t even cheat on their taxes. I don’t know why the ‘brothers’ have it in for them, but it seems to me that they are taking things a little too far. Live and let live is the way I see it.”

“What about the others in your group?”

“I never ask and they don’t tell.”

“So what do you guys figure on doing about things?”

Vince again paused before answering. “Dean you seem alright and I like you, but we just met. Some questions will have to wait for answers. For all I know you could be some kind of government spy trying to find out what my friends and I are doing or not doing. Don’t ask too much too soon, you’ll only get disappointed.”

Dean realized that he couldn’t try to get too much information too quickly and fell silent as the men made their way to the high school stadium. It wasn’t much as stadiums go. Seats were on the east and west sides of the field, while the north end was completely open and the south end was taken up with locker rooms, a small broadcast booth and concession stands. The game would be starting in about twenty minutes, Vince told him and they made their way to the bleachers on the west side. Vince explained to him,

“We sit over here so it’s harder for the people on the other side to see what we are doing with the sun in their eyes. That way we just have to keep a lookout for the people on this side.”

It was a simple and reasonable precaution Dean thought but he knew that if this group was being watched the precaution was just about useless. At the very least there would be others, like him mixing in with the crowds on both sides of the stadium. The two moved to a central place in the bleachers near the fifty yard line for the best view of the game, just as most people would do. While not being crowded, the seats held a respectable number of people in separate groups. Clearly many of them were family groups that were there to watch a son or brother play that day. Dean saw that while there were law enforcement officers there, they seemed to be ignoring the ban of groups larger than three when it came to the families. Shortly before the game began a man walked over to Vince, slapped him on the shoulder and said,

“Vince, I’m glad you could make it to the game.”

“Oh you know me. Any excuse to get out of the house and watch a game.”

The man chuckled and became very serious as he looked at Dean.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Paul.” He held out his hand.

Dean closely looked at the man. He obviously had seen some hard times, judging by the scars on his arms and the burn mark on the side of his face. Dean shook the hand and simply replied.

“I’m Dean. Nice to meet you.”

“Have you known our friend Vince very long?”

“Not very long, we met at the soup kitchen a little while ago.”

“THAT place? Most of the people that eat there are either down on their luck or refugees. Which one are you?”

Paul’s brashness was something Dean could easily become offended by, but he decided to use the question to try to get the man on his side.

“A little of both I’m afraid. I was serving near Fargo during the war. Now I’m just trying to back home down Atlanta way.”

Unconsciously, Paul rubbed the burn scar on his head.

“You were in Fargo, huh. I heard there was some pretty tough fighting going on up there. You seem to have survived it pretty well untouched.”

“I said I was near Fargo. Actually I’ve got a bit of a back problem, so they didn’t put in on the line. The doctors said I couldn’t carry all of the gear I would need. So I was driving supply trucks out of Lisbon to bases along the eastern half of the Dakotas.”

“Did you ever transport any of the wounded out of the front line areas?”

“That’s something I don’t talk about.”

Dean was amazed at how easily the lies rolled off his tongue. The contained just enough truth to be believable, but not enough facts for anyone to pin him down on something. Just as John had taught him to do. He carefully watched Paul for his reaction. That would tell him if he had been successful or not. Paul absently rubbed the burn scar again, and then his face split into a grin.

“I don’t remember you, but I remember those trucks. Before I got hit they kept us from being overrun more than once. And a lot of our guys wouldn’t have made it if you guys didn’t become makeshift ambulances. Thank you.”

“If it weren’t for you guys on the line we wouldn’t be talking right now, so thank you.”

Paul clapped him on the shoulder and spoke to Vince.

“He seems alright. What have you told him?”

“Just that he isn’t the only one who prefers this country the way it was before the war. And that there are other folks that don’t believe everything they say about the aliens.”

“That’s enough for now. Let’s get to know him a little better. Dean have you got a place to sleep tonight?”

“I was going to try to get a bunk at the shelter. Then see about getting some kind of work tomorrow. I need to earn some money so I can keep making my way south.”

“You don’t want to sleep there. Those people will steal everything you’ve got just because you have it and they don’t. I’ll tell you what, after the game you come back to my place for the night. I’ll have the wife throw something together and we can talk some more.”

“I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wouldn’t be the first time. I’ll meet you after the game. Vince talk with him, I’ll make sure others do during the game. The two of you stay here, I’ll send them over.”

Paul was as good as his word. During the game Dean met several men and women who would come by, sit down and chat for a while and then move on. The entire thing was done quite casually. It didn’t take long for dean to understand that each person he met was asking questions about different aspects of his life. It was all done politely but the questioning was very detailed. It was no wonder these people had managed to remain undetected by the government, they were unassuming but very cautious. Dean found that between questionings he actually had time to enjoy the game and root for the home team. He still didn’t know if they were just malcontents who cried on each other’s shoulder or if they might just be the beginnings of a resistance group that could cause trouble. Either way, none of them showed any sign of being Christian. That would mean he was wasting his time with them. But it was only his second day after leaving training. John would not be disappointed.

Surprisingly the game was over all too soon and Dean was making his way out of the stadium with Vince when Paul came up to them.

“There you two are, I was afraid I was going to miss you. Dean, take a walk with me. I have to tell you that the people I spoke with are very favorably impressed with you.”

Dean accepted the invitation, said good bye to Vince and began walking with Paul towards his home. The men chatted along the way and again Paul was favorably impressed with what he heard. Once they had reached his home, Paul ushered Dean into the home and announced loudly.

“Honey, we have company for the night.”

“AGAIN?”

“It’s important.”

“It always is.” A woman of middle age came out of another room. She looked at Dean briefly and turning to Paul and said, “Well, at least he looks nice.” She turned to Dean and said, “I’m Venice. Welcome to our home, even if my husband forgot to tell me you were coming.”

“It’s not his fault, Ma’am. I am a friend of Vince and your husband thought it would be better for me not to spend the night in the shelter.”

“I can’t argue with him about that. The shelter is no place for decent people to spend the night. Are you hungry?”

“I could use a bite or two, but I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s all right. We usually have enough for one or two extra. That’s why I keep this guy around. He’s a good provider.”

Without waiting for Dean’s reply Venice started back for the kitchen. She commented over her shoulder,

“It’s not fancy, but you will have your fill.”

Then she was gone. Paul smiled.

“Don’t let her nature fool you. My wife loves company and she really is a great cook. That’s why I keep her.”

“I get the feeling there is more to it than that.”

Supper was on the table almost before Dean could get comfortable in the home. As promised it wasn’t fancy, but it was filling and tasted good. Being a soldier, Dean had no idea that anything could be done to improve the flavor of Spam. But he found out it could be improved, with the addition of a few spices grown in the family garden. The vegetables were also grown in Paul’s back yard and were tasty. Somehow iced tea was provided, surprisingly with just enough sugar to take off the bitter edge. He asked about that.

“How did you get sugar for the tea?”

“It’s not sugar. I know a guy who is a bee keeper. I trade my services for his honey.”

“Not to be nosy but what services?”

“I’m a carpenter. I’m sure you can imagine that a lot of people would love to get their hands on his honey. So I build fences to keep people out and enclosures to store the honey in. He is more than happy to give me some of the honey, because he makes a lot of money selling the rest. So tell me Dean, what do you do?”

“Honestly, I was trying to figure out what school I could get into and what my major would be when the war started. Since then I’ve driven trucks and that’s about all.”

“Do you have any skills, besides driving, that might be employable? I know a few people and while decent jobs are hard to come by, I might be able to get you in somewhere.”

“Not really. Before the war my folks wanted me to concentrate on getting an education. They didn’t want me working and taking my mind off of that. I did have an old motorcycle that I used to get around on. And when I say old, I mean OLD. That thing had points and a distributor. I used to tune it up myself, to save money.”

“That might be more useful than you think. After we got hit with the EMP bombs, those kinds of vehicles are the only ones that work anymore. Let me check around and see what I can scare up.”

“You know I’m just passing through.”

“I also know that traveling costs money and you don’t have any. Is there any reason for you not to stay here for a while, make a few bucks and then move on?”

“No, I guess not. I have no idea if my family is still alive or not.”

“Then it is settled. Dean I mean no offense, but after you finish eating, well you could stand a shower.”

“Believe me, I know. No offense taken. But everything is in short supply these days. Are you sure you don’t mind me using your soap?”

“The question is can you stand to use our soap? It’s homemade and won’t leave you smelling like roses, but you won’t smell like you do now.”

“I’ll take it.”

Dean was shown a room where he would spend the night and then shown the bathroom. He enjoyed his shower. True the water was only lukewarm and Paul told him the supply was limited so he didn’t take any longer than he needed. But by the time he was done, he felt better than he had in quite some time. After dressing in his cleanest dirty clothes Dean went to the room where he was told he would sleep that night. He found Paul sitting there with Dean’s Bible in one of his hands, and his snub nosed pistol in the other. He looked at Dean strangely.

“Dean, I want you to know I’m not a nosy individual. A man has a right to privacy.” Paul said. “Venice thought she would do you a favor and see about cleaning some of your clothes. She found these. You realize that I should have turned you over to the government before you got out of the shower, don’t you?”

Dean had been given a hand signal to identify himself as a government agent before he had been sent out. He used it now as he crossed his arms across his chest. The signal was not returned.

“I know. Why haven’t you?”

“You already know. We don’t like the way this country is going. Now I don’t care what you do or don’t believe. But having a Christian in our ranks is an unacceptable risk. The government may or may not know about us, but they know about you. If you get caught, it is only a matter of time before you turn over the rest of us. I will not take that risk.”

“So, what are you going to do? Are you going to kick me out of here after curfew?”

“No. I’ll give you a bed and breakfast, but then you are on your way and on your own. If you ever mention me or anyone you’ve met, we will call you a liar. Understand me?”

“Yes I do, and thank you.”

As soon as curfew was lifted in the morning, Dean was on his way to the soup kitchen. That early the line was short and he quickly got in and got something to eat. Looking for a place to sit, he noticed the same two girls and guy he had seen the day before. He decided to sit near them. He placed his tray on the table and paused for a moment before eating, as if he was praying. From the corner of his eye he saw his action noticed by the girls. One of them nodded to the young man.

[day late]

Chapter Ten

Aaron looked at Mags and mouthed the words, ‘Are you sure?’ She nodded at him and mouthed ‘We’ve got to start somewhere’. Mary had explained to the trio that they would be expected to begin their own cells, and do what they could to help other Christians and Jews to avoid the government work camps. Her experience had taught her that in these days of widespread hunger, the only people who paused before eating were those who were praying. The man she had seen was a little older than she, Heather and even Aaron, but appeared to be praying before he began his meal. Most people would simply dive in and eat as much as they could as quickly as they could. She, Heather and Aaron had found a way to avoid the tale tell marker by praying as they were being given the food.

Aaron got up from the table to deposit his now empty plate and used silverware on a conveyor belt that took they into the dish room for cleaning and eventual reuse. He then got a cup of very weak coffee, added a little sugar and returned to the table. This time he walked over to where Dean was seated.

“Mind if I have a seat?” he asked.

“Not at all, I could stand a little company. I’m Dean.”

“Nice to meet you Dean, I’m Aaron. Have you been around here very long?” he said as he seated himself.

“No, I just walked in and got my breakfast.”

“I meant have you been in this area very long. You see I’m like everyone else I guess. I’m looking for work and I hoped you might know a good place to start.”

“I’m afraid not. I just got into town a couple of days ago and I’m in the same boat as you. I need to work so I can make enough money to get back to Georgia. Hopefully my folks are still alive and I can find them.”

Aaron nodded his head, knowingly. “I understand. My family is, or at least was, in South Carolina. I haven’t heard from them in a long time. I don’t know if it is because of poor communications or the Russians did something to them. I’m trying to head that way myself but have the same problem. A lack of money.”

“Well, I wish I could be more help, but maybe there is something I can do. Obviously the people who are doing the most hiring are the ones working on rebuilding after the war. If you have a trade they can use, you might want to start there. What do you do?”

“I’ve done a little bit of a lot of things. I’ve washed dishes, bagged groceries, driven trucks delivering different things. I even worked as a janitor in a church for a while.”

Aaron waited to see what kind of a reaction the statement would cause. Dean lowered his voice and spoke softly.

“That might not be a good thing to advertise these days.”

Aaron also lowered his voice. “I think you’re right. But I noticed you seemed to be doing a little spiritual stuff before you began to eat earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“Were you praying before you started eating?”

Dean looked at Aaron, with surprise on his face. To his amazement the emotion wasn’t faked, as he realized he actually had said a brief prayer before eating. He didn’t know if it was because of his training or if that book, HIS Bible, was beginning to have an effect on him. He was suddenly shocked to understand that HIS Bible had somehow become important to him. He wasn’t really a believer, but there could be no doubt that The Bible WAS talking to him.

“What if I was? Are you going to make trouble for me? I’m not a pacifist.” Dean’s meaning was clear.

“I won’t make trouble for you. In fact we might just have some things in common.”

“Such as?”

“I pray before eating my meals as well.”

“I see. Are there any more people like us around here? It would be nice to know some kindred spirits.”

“Let’s just say that this conversation should be held in a less public place. You never know who might be listening.”

Dean’s stomach churned as he realized that Aaron was talking about him.

“You’re right. Well I’m about done here. Maybe we can find someplace where we can talk. And who knows, maybe we can find a job as well.”

“I think both of those would be good. And I know a place where we can talk privately.”

Mary had given Heather, Mags and Aaron an address to go to when they had left her that morning. They hadn’t been there yet, but it was an address they knew was in a ‘good’ area of town. There wasn’t too much crime and people tended to mind their own business. Even if the neighbors questioned them, Mary had provided proof that Heather and Mags were related to the previous owner of the home.

“That sounds good.” said Dean. “I’m done here, why don’t we go now?”

“There is one small problem. Well it really isn’t a problem. It’s more of a concern. I’m here with two friends. If we all leave together the cops might have questions. After all, groups of more than three are forbidden. But if we leave first and they follow us, then there is no problem for the cops to check out.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t want you to get nervous when you notice two young ladies following us.”

Dean smiled. “I’ve never had a woman, young or old, follow me down the street. But that doesn’t sound like something to get upset about. I’m ready when you are.”

“Then let’s go.”

Dean and Aaron got up and made their way out of the soup kitchen and into the street. Because of Aaron’s warning Dean used the windshields of cars parked on the street to look behind him and eventually identified the sisters. It took nearly an hour, but the men finally made it to the address that had been given to the trio by Mary. Like many areas, many of the homes had no occupants. They had moved out during the war to be closer to family, drafted to fight or maybe even killed during the war. Their homes stood, usually fully furnished yet empty and available.

In this case the home was a small two story house with the windows covered from the inside. By some miracle all of the outside glass had remained intact, meaning there would be no damage from the weather done to the inside. Aaron had expected the door to be open and was dismayed when he found it locked. He made a quick search of the area near the door looking for a key. If there was one there, it was hidden better than he could find. He stood there thinking about what to do when Heather and Mags showed up.

“What’s the problem?” Heather asked.

“The door is locked and I can’t find a key.” Aaron answered.

“Maybe we should look for one.” Mags said.

“Mags, that wouldn’t be a bright idea.” Aaron told her. “I’ve already looked. If the people around here see all of us searching for one, it is bound to raise suspicions.”

“Then what do we do?” she wanted to know.

“We fake it. Do either of you have a couple of bobby pins in your purse?”

“I do.” Mags answered.

“Then make it look like you are giving me a key and hand them over.”

The young woman went into her purse, grabbed the pins and handed them to Aaron. Dean watched him keenly over his shoulder to see what he was up too. Aaron straightened out one of the pins, stripped off the plastic blob on the end of it and bent about a quarter of an inch of the pin to a forty-five degree angle, upward. This he quickly stuck into the lock and quickly raked the keys that actually do the locking a couple of times. He then put the other pin into the bottom side of the lock and bent it almost ninety degrees. With the second pin he applied a light rotating pressure to the lock. With the first pin he reached all the way to the back of the lock and began to feel for the pins one at a time. He pushed them up and into their unlocked position. He could feel them click into place and would move from one to the next. It took a couple of attempts, but the tumbler finally began to turn under the light rotating pressure he had placed on the other bobby pin. He used that pin to completely turn and open the lock. He turned the door knob and with a flourish, waved the sisters inside the home. Once they were inside he prompted Dean to follow them. He again used the lower bobby pin to rotate the key slot to its original place, entered the house and finally closed the door and locked it again, behind them. Once the door had closed Mags turned to Aaron.

“WHAT did you just do?”

“I picked the lock.”

“You did that with bobby pins? What are you some kind of government agent or super-spy?” Heather demanded.

“I’m neither of those. Can we agree that I haven’t always been a Christian and leave it at that? I’m not too proud of some of the things I’ve done.”

That brought Heather and Mags up short. They both knew that they had been forced to do things in the recent past that they were not happy about either. Things like leaving the last shelter they had been in without warning the people inside what was about to happen was the first thing to come to mind. Dean interrupted their dark thoughts.

“Honestly, that looks like a handy skill to have. Is there any way you can teach me?”

“To be truthful, I thank God that wasn’t a more modern lock. Some of them are designed to be unpickable. But that was an older lock so I could do it.”

“What’s the difference and how can you tell?”

“Some locks have a small vertical slot next to the key hole. When you see that, you know you are not going to pick it. If that slot isn’t there then you have a chance. With enough practice you have a good chance.”

“But doesn’t that take lock picks and things like that?” Mags asked.

“Using those is the easiest way, but it actually can be done with those pins. It just isn’t easy.”

“It looked pretty easy to me.” Heather commented. “You didn’t work on that lock for thirty seconds.”

“All I can say is that The Lord was with us, not just me. He wanted us off the street, so the lock was easy. That tells me we need to be careful and keep a sharp lookout for a while.”

“Let’s see if we can get these blinds and curtains open and have some sun light in this place.” Heather said.

“Don’t do that.” Aaron countered. “We don’t want to be attracting attention to ourselves right away.”

“I hardly think anyone is going to notice the blinds going up.” Heather countered.

“Aaron is right.” Dean offered. “Do you know how a rabbit stays alive?”

“I never thought about it. By running away I guess.”

“Not quite. Running is its way of escaping danger. A rabbit stays alive by noticing every little change in its environment. The only time it isn’t alert is when it is asleep. After the war, the gangs, the food riots and everything else that has happened, the people outside this door are just as scared as rabbits. The people inside this door are that scared as well. Think about how closely we watched for anyone that might even look at us funny. They know what every house on this street looks like. Changes to the way they look attract attention.”

“What if they saw us come in just now? They are going to know we are here.” Mags said.

“Maybe a few saw us, but with Aaron using a ‘key’, that gives us some cover. It made us look normal. But people who didn’t see us get in and are just passing by every day will think it is strange that someone is here. They will be the ones to report us to the cops. It’s best if we just sort of let the neighbors get used to seeing us and then make changes.”

“How do we do that?”

“By going outside for short periods of time and doing normal stuff. This place hasn’t been occupied for some time by the looks of it. So what we need to do is find something that will give us the names of the former owners. When one or two of us go out to do yard work or pick up the trash in the yard, we wait for the neighbors to ask who we are and what we are doing here. Then we tell them something like we are relatives of the owners who have been displaced by the war and that say, you two ladies are cousins of the owners. You were displaced by the war and you came here looking for help. Once the neighbors get to know us, they will swear to the authorities that we are just normal folks.”

“That might work.” Aaron said. “What made you think of that?”

“You’d be surprised how much you can get away with if you misdirect the attention of people. That’s what this will do.”

“Why do you think it WILL work?” Heather demanded.

“Let me just say that Aaron isn’t the only one with things in his past he doesn’t want to talk about.” Dean couldn’t help but notice the confrontational way Heather spoke to him. He wondered if she were looking for a flaw in his story.

“Well if we aren’t going to open the windows, we really should do something about all of this dirt and dust.” She said to everyone.

“No, don’t. Not just yet.”

“Why not?”

“The trick to making a story believable is to live it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our story is that we have just finished a long trip to get here. Now if we had, would you dive right into cleaning or would you settle into a bed room first? And maybe get some rest.”

“When you put it that way, I’d rest first.” Mags said.

“Then let’s see what can be done about sleeping arrangements. In a place like this, the bed rooms are usually on the second floor.”

The four of them went upstairs and found there were four bed rooms. One had a queen sized mattress and the other three had single sized mattresses. It was quickly decided that the sisters would share the larger bed, while Aaron and Dean would each claim one of the smaller rooms. Dean took one of the rooms facing the street and Aaron took one on the back side of the house. Dean dropped his pack on the floor and fell into the bed. It was so comfortable compared with what he had been sleeping on recently. He could have stayed there all day. As he laid there Dean thought about his new companions. They seemed like decent people. He couldn’t see why anyone would blame them for the state of the world. He knew he had to make a choice about what he was going to do, so pulled his ‘talking’ book from his pack and flipped it open.

“Okay, God. I have to make a choice. I’m supposed to turn these people over, but I can’t see why I should. If this book really is talking to me, show me now.”

Dean glanced at the page open before him.

Exo 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

“So, You are wanting me to decide which way I’m going to go with this. Is that it?”

Dean turned a few pages and read again.

Jos 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Dean closed The Bible and set it aside. He wanted to seriously consider what he had read. Both passages had a sense of urgency to them. Well, there was nothing urgent pressing them now. He could take a day or two. Or so he thought.

All four of the group were startled to hear sounds of some kind of a commotion out on the street. There was a window in the hall between the rooms that looked out to the street below. Heather went to it, only to be sharply called back by Dean.

“STAND BACK! Never put your face in a window unless you WANT to be found.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you stand in front of the window, you can see, but you can also be seen. Stand back in the shadows and whoever is down there won’t see you, but you can see them.”

Heather backed away, but clearly didn’t like the way Dean had spoken to her. At this point, he didn’t care. Heather’s carelessness could have gotten them caught. He did everything he could to see what was happening. Then he saw. There was a group of men going house to house, pounding on doors and demanding answers from whoever answered. On their arms they wore a band with a cross inside a red circle with a slash going across it. They bore the letters C.E.T. Dean knew what that meant. He had heard about them in training. Christian Extraction Team. They had the authority to go anywhere and do anything in their search for Christians.

[day late]

Chapter Eleven

The last thing Dean wanted to see right at that moment was the C.E.T.’s or anyone like them. If he was to do his duty, he needed more time to find more of the Christians. If he were to make the choice of abandoning his duty and following Jesus Christ, he certainly didn’t want to be found by them. A verse he had read once before came to mind and seemed to validate the ones he had just read.

Joe 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Silently he seriously prayed for the first time. ‘Okay God, You win. There is no way this can all be coincidence. Just do me a favor and give me a break. I’m new at this. Amen’

“Who are those people?” Mags whispered.

“Do you see those arm bands that say C.E.T.? That stands for Christian Extraction Team. The can go anywhere and do anything to hunt down Christians. Sort of like the Nazi death squads that hunted down Jews during WW II. And anyone that resists can consider themselves lucky if they just get beaten half to death.” Dean replied. “They are bounty hunters for the ‘brothers’ and get paid for every Christian they bring in, especially if they are alive. In fact live ones pay more.”

“How do you know all of this?” Heather questioned.

“I heard about them while I was still in the Army. They are civilians, so the military has no control over them and they are authorized by the government, so local law enforcement has no control either.”

“What do we do?”

Dean looked at Aaron. “Did you lock the front door after we got in?”

“Of course.”

“Then we sit tight and don’t make a sound. When they bang on the door, nobody answers it. With the way this place looks maybe they will believe it is still empty and go away.” Dean looked at Heather. “This is why we didn’t need to open the blinds right away.”

“We couldn’t know that they would show up.”

“And we couldn’t know they wouldn’t. If you are going to be secure, you have to maintain security at all times. Quiet now, they’re getting close.”

Dean noticed a look of almost frustration on Heathers face. He could understand that, nobody liked to be proven wrong. What was more, it was clear that she had been the one making decisions for the other two. She had to see Dean as a threat to that authority, even if on a subconscious level. The four of them waited silently upstairs for the knock on the door. They heard the team reach the house next door and pound on the door. Clearly the knock was answered. They could tell that much by the sound of angry voices. The conversation went on for a few minutes until they heard the volume of a man’s voice rise higher as he answered.

“I’m telling you there aren’t any of those kinds of people in this house. We DON’T believe in Jesus what’s-his-name but we aren’t too sure about the ‘brothers’ either. With them acting like they are God and everything when everybody knows there isn’t any God. But that’s no crime and you know it. Now get off my property.”

The voices quieted and the sound of footsteps was heard coming towards the house the four were hiding in. That was followed by the sound of loud pounding on the front door. Then there was a rattling of the door knob as someone tried it to see if it was open. Again the man’s voice from next door reached them.


“You guys are wasting your time over there. The McMasters moved out six months ago.”

“We still have to check it.”

“Are you blind or something? Look at that front yard. Would YOU let trash pile up like that at your place? I’m telling you there isn’t anybody home.”

“I SAID we still have to check it. Are you looking for trouble?”

“No. If you want to wear out you knuckles on the door of an empty house, that’s your business. I’m just telling you what’s what.”

“Thanks now get back inside and let us do our job.”

The four heard the neighbor say something and his door slam. Then from below they heard,

“Okay, the door is locked. Look through the window and tell me what you see.”

There was movement on the porch and a voice called out.

“There ain’t anybody here. The dust on the floor hasn’t even been disturbed.”

“Alright, mark it off as empty and let’s get to the next one.”

The foursome breathed a collective sigh of relief as the men moved on to the next house. Heather looked at Dean.

“How do you know so much about what those people will do?”

“I told you. I was in the Army. The Army teaches you how to do all kinds of things and most of them are very unpleasant or deadly. That doesn’t mean I agreed with them, just that I learned how to do them.”

“You mean kind of like how I learned how to pick locks.” Aaron said.

“Exactly so, it’s amazing what you can learn if you put your mind to it, or you have to learn. The Army taught me all kinds of things. But EVERYTHING they taught me had one of two purposes, to take life or to save it.”

“What do you mean save life? I thought soldiers only killed the enemy.”


“They do more than that. Think about it. Say a guy gets hit, who is the first responder? It’s not a medic or an E.M.T. It’s the guy who is next to him. That is the guy who stops the bleeding and tries to keep the other guy alive until the medic can get there. You protect the man next to you, because he is the one who is going to protect you. That’s one of the reasons soldiers grow such strong bonds between them. They’ve spilled blood together. That affects you. I can’t explain it any better than that. It’s one of those things where you had to be there to understand.”

“I’m sure that is all well and good, but that doesn’t help us right now.” Heather interrupted she seemed to be almost challenging Dean. “We could use a friend or six like that right now. But they aren’t here. We have to figure out how we can live here without anyone asking too many questions. Do you have any ideas about that?”

“Yes I do. Thanks to the loud mouth guy next door, we know the people who used to live here were the McMasters. Now we need to find something, anything that will give us their first names. Then we can claim that you ladies are their relatives and have a right to be here.”

“But what about meeting the neighbors? With those C.E.T. guys roaming the street we can’t afford to clean up the front yard without attracting attention.”

“That’s simple. We start with the back yard. Let the people on each side of the house see us, answer their questions in the broadest possible terms, help them whenever we can and in a short time we will be their friends. Then they will be unlikely to turn us in. After all, it wouldn’t be in their best interests. Once we have them on our side, they will swear we have been here for a long time to any government types that happen to come by.”

“That sounds pretty iffy to me.” Heather asserted.

“Trust me, it will work. I’ve seen it happen before. During the war when the Russians took over an area and we infiltrated it for a counter attack, we did the exact same thing and it always worked. People don’t want to give up someone that they think can help them. So that is what we must become. We must be helpers to the people on each side of us and as many more as we can reach as time and opportunity allows.”

“Okay, okay, I understand all of that.” Mags said. “But where do we start?”

“We start by getting things ready for spending the night. We don’t want to turn on lights and cook a meal, so we have to think about either a cold supper or going back to the shelter for our evening meal.”

“I don’t want to go back there.”Mags said.

“I think it’s a place we should stay away from as well.” Aaron agreed. “There are just too many people asking too many questions. All it takes is one slip and we’re on our way to an internment camp.”

“I think you’re right.” Dean told them. “What about you, Heather?”

“It seems reasonable to me for right now, but we don’t have a lot of food and we are going to need more, sooner or later. For now, why don’t we find the kitchen and see what we have? I doubt the people who used to live here left much, if anything, behind.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe we can also find something to tell us who they were.”

The four of them descended the stairs and soon found the kitchen. As Heather had supposed there wasn’t much in the way of food left. The refrigerator was virtually empty, which was a good thing since the power had been off for such a long time. It held an old jar of pickles, with a lid pushing upward from the gases contained inside. Nobody gave a thought to opening it. There were also bottles of ketchup and mustard, long since solidified and darkened with age. They joined the pickles on a counter near the back door. Happily there was a five pound bag of rice which showed no signs of insect infestation or of being spoiled. There were also several bags of dried spices which could be used to improve the flavor of whatever they decided to cook. Both Dean and Heather knew the dried items could last for very long periods of time without refrigeration and remain still usable. The pantry was the next thing searched. Again very little remained and all of the canned items shared the appearance of the pickles, ketchup and mustard. They when to the back counter as well. There were a couple bags of dried beans, both green Lima and white, and a bag of yellow split peas. That made Dean happy.

“So what can you do with that?” Heather wanted to know.

“That’s easy. We soak some of the split peas until they are soft. Then we make a pot of rice. Just before the rice is finished, we add the peas and a tablespoon or so of the Dill Weed spice. Mix it all together and let the rice finish cooking. It’s filling, at least somewhat nutritious and it doesn’t taste too bad. It’s better if you have meat or chicken to go with it, and salt and pepper of course. But even by its self it tastes pretty good.”

“So how do you know so much about cooking?” Heather asked.

Dean smiled. “Army rations are filling and give your body everything it needs, but nobody ever said they were gourmet food. But it’s amazing what you can do with a few spices and a little time. Some of the guys in my outfit actually became pretty good cooks. One of them even said he was thinking of opening a restaurant when he got out. Too bad he didn’t get the chance.”

“Why didn’t he?” Mags asked.

“He wound up on the wrong end of a snipers rifle.” Dean paused and then as cheerfully as he could, he said “Let’s see what these cabinets have, shall we?”

The cabinets had much the same result as the refrigerator and the pantry. The McMaster family had taken everything that they deemed useful with them when they left. However the foursome did find a one pound box of salt and a couple of small cans of black pepper. While the search was going on, Aaron had been looking through old bills, left on the counter and other paper items in an effort to learn the names of the former owners of the house. Turning to the others with old unpaid bills in hand he told them,

“It seems our hosts are named Martin and Alexis. At least that’s who these bills are addressed too. I haven’t found anything that tells the names, or anything else about their children.”

“We should be able to find something in their bedrooms. There has got to be something like report cards, awards or something with their names on them.” Heather said. “Why don’t you take a look while we finish going through things down here?”

“You’ve got it.” Aaron replied and left them to return upstairs.”

“You know it wouldn’t hurt to see if we can find some old photo albums.” Dean told the girls. “That would give us a better idea of what they look like and maybe which of them you ladies are going to be related too.”

“A lot of people keep those on book shelves in either the living room or a den. Mags, we’re almost done in here, why don’t you see if you can find something?” Heather directed.

“Okay.” She answered, and left Dean and her sister alone.

Heather waited for Mags to get out of easy ear shot and turned to Dean.

“Dean, I don’t know if you feel it, but I sense a little tension between us.”

“I didn’t want to make a point of it in case I was wrong.” He answered. “But I also don’t understand why there should be any friction. We’re all in this together. We are going to have to work together if we are going to have any chance of making it.”

“I can tell you at least my part of it. Mags is my younger sister and I have to look out for her, most of the time that hasn’t been a problem. But we recently got hooked up with Aaron and the two of them have been making cow eyes at each other for the last couple of weeks or so. That’s bad enough, but in the short time you’ve been with us it seems to me that you are trying to take over and tell everyone what to do.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. In the Army you learn to give complete reports and add any advice you might have as a standard practice. I’ve just been trying to help not ‘take over’ anything.”

“Maybe that’s true, but I’m telling you that those two listen to me. They know I’m not going to endanger them. So I don’t want you telling everyone what they should do. It’s not right.”

“Again, I’m not trying to run the show, but you have to admit that you came close to making a big mistake when you wanted to open the curtains. I said not to do that and as it turns out I was right. Heather, nobody knows it all. Is there any harm in taking advice from someone who has done things that you haven’t?”

That brought her up short. Dean was right when he advised not opening the curtains. If they had, they might all be well on their way to a camp, or at least most of them.

“Okay, you have a point. I’ll make you a deal. When it comes to anything military, I’ll ask your advice. But for everything else, I make the decisions. Agreed?”

“I’m the new guy here. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Good. Now let’s see what else we can find that might be of use and get rid of things like that spoiled food.”

“Will you take some ‘military’ advice right now?”

“Maybe, what is it?”

“We need to secretly bury all of the spoiled food. If we just throw it out, people are going to wonder where it came from. That could make them look at this place before we are ready.”

“That makes sense. Okay we’ll do that. Now let’s get back to work.”

Dean and Heather continued their search of the kitchen and pantry areas for items that could be of use. Very little was found. They happened across a package of paper plates, some paper towels, but did find a couple bottles of dish soap which they could use for washing anything from plates to clothes and even if necessary themselves. One thing Dean found in a closet just off the kitchen was a solar shower. If they could find water to fill it, they could take turns getting clean. It might only be one or two persons a day, but it was better than nothing. Soon Aaron came back from his trip upstairs.

“Well, I have some answers. There were two girls and a boy. The girls are, Chelsea and Miranda. Chelsea was older, possibly in junior high and was good at spelling judging from awards I found in her room. Miranda is still in middle school and seems to be a musician. She has certificates for that on the wall. The boy is the youngest, but also in middle school and is a soccer player. He seems to have talent, but hasn’t quiet gotten there yet. How are you guys doing?”

“We found a few things, but not much.” Heather answered. “Where’s Mags?”

“I’m here.” She said as she entered the room. “Aaron I’m glad you found out something, but I think it’s all for nothing. We aren’t going to be able to pull this off with the plan we have.”

“Why not? It sounds workable to me.” Heather said.

“Mainly because we have a problem we can’t get around.”

“What’s that?”

“None of us are black. The photo albums show an African-American family just like Aaron described a mother, father, two girls and a boy.”

“That is a problem. Any ideas, Mr. Military man?” Heather looked at Dean.

Before he could answer they all jumped at the sound of someone knocking at the back door and a voice calling softly to them.

“We know you are in there. Let’s talk.”

[day late]

Chapter Twelve

Dean looked at Heather.

“Do you want to get that or should I?”

“It seems like a military thing to me. Go ahead.”

As Dean moved towards the door, John’s advice came back to him.

“If you have to lie do it the right way. Tell the truth just don’t tell all of it. Tell enough truth to make your story believable but don’t give every last detail. By telling mostly truth you are far less likely to get discovered in your own lies.”

Dean reached out and opened the door. He found the loud mouthed man from next door looking back at him.

“Can I help you?”

“Not really, but I think maybe I can help you. Who are you people? We saw you get into the house a little while ago. And please don’t tell me you are related to the McMasters. I can see that you and those two girls are white. That guy behind you is dark skinned but he isn’t black either. So who are you?”

Aaron spoke up.

“My family came to the states from Puerto Rico before my father was born.”

“And how do I know you aren’t a Cuban soldier that has managed to survive after the war?”

“I was born just outside of Atlanta. I’m as American as you are.”

“Settle down there son, there isn’t any call to be getting all uppity with me. You sure sound like an American and you don’t have an accent. Now, I could have turned you all in to those Christian hunters, but I didn’t. The McMasters were good neighbors. When they left they asked me to keep an eye on their place. So I just want to know who you are and what you’re doing here.”

It was Dean who answered.

“We’re kind of refugees. We all got displaced during the war and we all come from the Atlanta area. We just want to get back home. We found this place and could see that it hasn’t been lived in for some time. We thought we could stay here a while, rest up, and maybe find some work to pay for the rest of our trip back home. But why would you want to help us?”

“Yeah, I can see how that could happen.” The man answered, avoiding Dean’s question. “So how did you get displaced?”

“I served with the Army up in the Dakota’s. Aaron here was drafted to work in a warehouse. This is Heather and Margret and they just got pushed out and have been traveling ever since. We found each other on a bulletin board. You know, people put up signs looking for others like themselves. That’s how we got together. We all come from the same area so we decided to travel together to get home.”

“That’s a good idea. You can watch each other’s backs.”

“Listen Mister, we don’t mean any harm. We just need a place to stay for a short time and then we’ll be on our way. If you have a problem with that, then all we ask is that you give us a chance to get out before you call anybody about us.”

“Settle down, settle down. You may just have a friend and not know it.” He looked at Aaron. “So you worked in a warehouse. Are you any good with a forklift?”

“I can pick them up and put them down as needed.”

“Then you may just have a few days honest labor waiting for you. Are you interested?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Alright, I just might have a job for you if you can do what you say. I’ll be by about six in the morning. If you want the job, be ready to work. And I mean be ready to work hard all day. Are you up for that?”

“I’ll be ready at five-thirty.”

“Then you’ll have to wait half an hour. I’m not doing nothing before my coffee.” The man looked at Dean. “What about you? Were a grunt or did you do something else?”

“The doctors said my back wasn’t strong enough for the front lines. I drove a truck.”

“Standard or automatic?”

“Both.”

“Well then, I just might have something for you as well. Be ready at six. Good workers are hard to come by these days. It seems that everybody wants to be a victim of the war that has to be taken care of or think the country owes them a living just because they are still alive. If you two are for real and not afraid of hard work, we just may become friends. If you are just trying to put the shine on me, those government guys will be back here before you know it. Do we understand each other?”

“We do, Sir. And thank you for the chance.”

“You’re not going to ask what the work is or how much it pays?”

“Sir, at this point we will take whatever we can get. All we ask is for a chance and you’ve just given us that.”

“We may become friends after all. Remember, I’ll be back at six.”

“We’ll be waiting. But tell me, why do you want to help us?”

“Mainly, because I don’t like those nosy government people coming around and disturbing things. I run a warehouse shipping things here and there for the reconstruction effort. It’s hard enough to get by these days, without them sticking their noses into everything. That just isn’t American. When they come by and disrupt work it slows everything down and I lose money.”

“We’ll be ready in the morning and thank you again.”

“Don’t thank me yet. If you work out, I’m going to work you hard. I’ll pay you what the work is worth, but you WILL earn it. I got a lot of lost time to make up because of those government people.” He looked at the ground and spat. “And if those ‘space brothers’ were all that they claim to be then they should be doing more to help an honest man just make a living. Be ready by six and wear some stout comfortable shoes.”

“Count on it.”

With that Dean closed the door as the man turned to leave. Aaron looked at him strangely.

“How did you know I worked in a warehouse before this?”

“I didn’t. It just seemed like an occupation that anyone could do and so I chose it. I figured you would pick up on the hint and follow along.”

“It must have been The Lord who told you to choose that job. My Dad ran a warehouse since before I was born. I was driving a forklift before I could drive a car.”

Dean stared at Aaron and as he was beginning to expect, a verse from The Bible came to him.

Mar 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

“I think you are right. So what does everybody say? Shall we start settling in for the night?”

“What are you talking about?” Heather asked. “It can’t even be noon yet.”

“Very true, but you tell me. How long have those sheets been on those beds and what’s living in them now?”

“Oh, I see your point. Okay everybody, let’s see about our beds for tonight and figure out what we are going to be having for dinner.” She said.

With that the group broke up and went about doing what they could to prepare for the rest of the day and the following night. Clean and neatly folded sheets were found in an upstairs closet and the sisters set about the job of changing the beds. As they worked Heather called out to Dean and Aaron.

“Hey you guys, see if you can find some rope or something.”

“What for?” Aaron asked.

“We need to wash these sheets. Then we have to have a place to hang them so they will dry. I need you two to rig up a clothesline of some kind in the back yard.”

“How are you going to wash them? This place doesn’t have any power for the washing machine.”

“We’ll do it the old fashioned way. In a tub, which is something else you need to find and make it a large one. Then after washing we can hang them up. So see if you can find anything we can use for clothes pins while you’re at it.”

Aaron looked at Heather. “What am I supposed to do with the other hand?”

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out. Come on, get moving. Mags and I can’t do it all.”

“Come on, Aaron. It’s best we do what she says before she finds something else for us to do.” Dean told him as he gently grabbed him by the arm and led him back down stairs.

After the men left, Mags turned to her sister.

“So what’s up with you? Have you suddenly stopped liking guys or what?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on Heather, you know what I mean. I can understand that you might want to keep Aaron and me apart. You have always been a little over-protective. But you aren’t even giving Dean a chance.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like? I mean I think Aaron is kind of cute, even if he is from a Puerto Rican family. He’s smart and polite. He’s a strong Christian, and I can’t believe you could be a racist. Mom and Dad didn’t raise us that way. So what’s the problem?”

Heather sighed. “You’re right and you’re wrong. I don’t care what Aaron’s background is, but he is still a guy and you know how guys think. Mom and Dad would expect me to watch out for you and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Well, you’re doing a little too much. Everybody here is over eighteen and if there is something starting between Aaron and me that’s our business, not yours. But that doesn’t explain why you are so hard on Dean.”

“What makes you say I’m being hard on him?”

“This place has thin walls and I was only in the next room. I heard every word you two said.”

“Oh. Look Mags, we only just met Dean and I don’t trust him, yet. He’s been trying to run the whole show ever since we met. Haven’t I done a good job so far? I mean three times we managed to get out of what were supposed to be safe houses just before the soldiers showed up. Doesn’t that prove anything to you?”

“It proves that God is watching out for us. Heather, Dean was right. Nobody knows it all, except God. And you’re not Him. There really isn’t a problem with accepting help when you run into something that you don’t know anything about. I think you should give him a break. He seems nice and who knows you might start to like him after a while, if you give him a chance.”

“I think you are being a little too trusting.”

“I think you should remember what Mom and Dad always taught us.

Jhn 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

You have been judging Dean by what you see and not by what he has done. Heather that is just wrong and you know it.”

Again Heather sighed as her sisters words struck home.

“Maybe you’re right. But he still has to prove himself to me before I’ll really trust him.”

“What about Aaron?”

“Okay, I promise. I’ll back off on him. He is a nice guy and you two do look good together. But if I ever see him hurt you in any way, all bets are off. You ARE still my little sister.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear, but it’s an improvement. Come on let’s see about getting these sheets washed.

As promised, Dean and Aaron were waiting for their neighbor and hopefully their new employer at ten minutes to six the next morning. They spoke quietly as they waited.

“What do you think, Dean? If this guy finds out we are Christians is he going to turn us in?”

“I couldn’t say, but I don’t think so. It sounded to me like his god is money. As long as we are profitable to him, he is going to watch our backs. Of course, the moment we don’t make him money, he will turn on us in a heartbeat.”

“Then I guess we’d better make sure his pockets are as full as we can make them.”

“I think you’re right. Heads up, here he comes.”

The neighbor walked up to the back door and found the two of them waiting.

“Good. At least you’re on time. That’s more than I can say for a lot of people these days. I guess you two don’t have transportation to the warehouse.”

“We walked to get here.” Dean told him.

“Well, come around front and get in my truck. I’ll take you to work. If you work out I’ll give you a ride home. If not, you can walk.”

“We’d expect nothing less.” Aaron said.

“Let’s go.”

The three of them walked to the front of the neighbor’s house. There he opened and climbed into a pickup truck and waited on them to get in the passenger’s side. He then started the truck and pulled out of the driveway. They drove about a mile before Dean spoke up.

“Excuse me, but we never got your name. I’m Dean and this is Aaron.”

“I’m John to my friend’s you can call me Mr. Miller.” He paused for a moment and then went on. “Look fella’s, I don’t care who you are or where you came from or anything else about you. I care about running a business. You do what you are told, when you are told and we’ll get along just fine. Those government people have got me way behind on everything from deliveries to stocking. I HAVE GOT to make up time. That’s why you are getting a chance. You don’t bother me with details of your life and I won’t bother you with mine. You do a good job and I’ll make sure those government types don’t draft you for reclamation work. Slack off and I’ll show them where you are at. Do we understand each other?”

“We do, Mr. Miller. We will do our best not to disappoint you.” Dean said.

“Make sure you don’t.”

When they arrived at the warehouse they found the place in complete disarray. Pallets with various materials where stacked without any regard to their contents. Aaron took one look and asked John,

“Do you have any kind of plan of how everything is supposed to be stocked?”

“I bought this place from its former owner about two weeks ago. I don’t know how he was stocking things. I’ve got stuff everywhere.”

“It looks to me like he couldn’t make up his mind about stocking by material or manufacturer. Everything is mixed up.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Like what are you going to do about it?”

“Mr. Miller, with your permission, I’d like to start with the plumbing supplies. They seem to be somewhat organized and I can clear out everything around them and put anything related to it in that area. Then we can go from there.”

“Can you give me a layout of what you are doing?”

“With your permission, I’ll stack them and write down where everything I handle is at, at the end of the day.”

“Give me a write up of what you’ve done by that time at lunch.”

“Yes Sir.”

Aaron walked over to a nearby forklift, climbed in and began to rearrange the warehouse. John turned to Dean.

“You said you were a trucker. Can you fix them?”

“Simple maintenance yes, but I’m no mechanic.”

John pulled some keys off of a nearby board. He handed them to Dean.

“Those three trucks over there,” He pointed. “They should be working but they aren’t. See what you can do about it.”

With that John turned and went to his office.

Dean and Aaron were sitting next to each other having lunch when John walked up behind them.

“What are you two doing here? I expect you to work.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Miller. What do you expect us to do?” Dean asked.

“I told you I wanted those three trucks gone over and working. Why are you sitting here?”

“Sir, two of those trucks are working now. One just had a dirty air filter, so the engine wasn’t getting enough oxygen to run. I replaced it and now she runs fine. The second ran but was really rough. I checked the spark plugs. Half of them were fouled, so I cleaned them. The other half were burned up, so I replaced them. That truck purrs like a kitten now. The third one needs a new water pump. I haven’t been able to find one but I’m still looking in the madhouse you have here.” Dean told him.

“Mr. Miller, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get everything sorted out yet, but about a third of the warehouse is now orderly. You can find what you want in those areas. It will take time to sort the rest of it out. I’m working on it.”

John looked at Dean.

“You’ve got two trucks working?”

“Yes Sir. But one of them is low on fuel. It will need a fill up before it goes on a haul.”

“What do you have sorted out?” John asked Aaron.

“The plumbing fixtures were generally grouped together, so I started there. I have all of them I could find stacked. Next to them I have supplies. Things like pipes, connectors and other stuff. Drywall sheets are next. I was planning on getting that stuff together and going on from there.” He pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to John. “This is what I’ve done so far, I’ll add to it later.”

John looked at the two men.

“What do you guys do with your other hand?”

[day late]

Chapter Thirteen

By the end of the day, Aaron had nearly half of the warehouse organized in such a way the anything he had moved could be easily found using the diagrams he had drawn. There was still a lot of organizing to do, but he was well on the way. While Dean hadn’t driven a single mile, four trucks that had been waiting for service were now ready to hit the road. But he still hadn’t found the water pump he needed to get the fifth one of them rolling. John told him,

“Don’t you worry about that, I’ve got people who can find that pump. As far as I’m concerned you’ve done a lot to get me back on schedule. With those four trucks moving instead of sitting there I can get things where they need to go. My bid to the government was based on three trucks running. You have improved on that number, as long as I can get drivers.”

“Well, I am a driver.”

“Not anymore you aren’t. There are lots of people willing to be drivers. You are now in charge of making sure those trucks keep rolling. I’ve had five people in here that couldn’t get the job done. And I’ve fired all five of them after the first day. I’ll find drivers you just keep those things moving.”

“I’m still no mechanic. You’re going to need one or three.”

“Mechanics I can find, someone who knows how to do the job you’re doing is something harder to find. I need someone who can think for himself, figure out what’s wrong and see about getting it fixed. That’s what you did. From here on out the longest distance you’re going to drive is from one side of this lot to the other. I need you here, not on the road.”

“You’re the boss.”

Dean and Aaron stepped into the house after Mr. Miller had dropped them off at the end of the day. One whiff of the air had them both hungry. They didn’t know what the sisters had been doing, but the smell of the food was wonderful. Aaron called out.

“Ladies, whatever that is, it smells great.”

Heather and Mags came into the room. At first they started to greet the men, but they suddenly stopped. Heather wrinkled her nose and said,

“That’s more than I can say for the two of you. You guys need to get cleaned up before you spoil everyone’s dinner. Go on. There are a couple of wash tubs in the back yard. I’ll bring you some soap.”

“And I’ll get some clean clothes.” Mags joined in. She looked at Aaron. “Especially for you, a girl can’t get close to you right now.”

He smiled at her. “It’s nice to know you want to get close.”

“Not now, I don’t. Both of you get outside right now.”

The men complied with their orders and were soon stripped to the waist. One of the odd things about the world they now lived in was that while power could be easily shut off to the home, water was a different matter. By simply finding the water meter in the front yard and opening the valve there, water flowed freely into the house, which also meant that the toilets were working much to the relief of them all. Since there wasn’t supposed to be anyone living there the meter was never checked. Using a faucet in the back yard the two tubs were filled. One was used for washing and the other for rinsing. Both were cold.

“So why are we out here when we have a tub in the house?” Aaron asked.

“I would guess it’s because the ladies don’t want us getting the tub they are going to be using dirty.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” He paused briefly and smiling continued. “You know, we are starting to sound like married couples. Next thing you know there will be nylons hanging in the bathroom.”

“Not much of a marriage if you ask me. You and Mags seem to be getting along alright, but Heather doesn’t have the time of day for me.”

“I guess that makes you two the older married couple. You know the ones that have been together so long they may as well have been born into the marriage.”

“That’s not funny. I know why she doesn’t like me. We had a little talk yesterday and she thinks I’m trying to ‘run the show’ as she put it. But somehow I get a feeling there is more to it. As for you, well anyone can see that you and her sister are attracted to each other and Heather has a strong maternal instinct. She’s just watching out for her baby sister.”

“Her sister isn’t a baby anymore.”

“I know but that kind of thing runs deep. It’s just something you are going to have to deal with.”

“You’re right. But Heather will come around sooner or later. I’m not worried about that. But what did you mean about you think there is something more too why she is so against you?”

“I can’t say right now. I just don’t know. But I just get this feeling about her that I can’t explain or shake.”

“Hey, you guys. Put these on and get the bottom half of your bodies. We don’t want stinky feet bothering us while we eat.” Mags threw a couple pairs of swim trunks to the men.

Dean picked them up and handed one pair to Aaron.

“You heard the lady. Let’s get this done, I’m hungry.”

Soon after that the foursome was seated at the dining table getting ready to eat. Mindful of how Heather had spoken to him Dean asked,

“Heather, would you like to say grace?”

“Honestly Dean, I would like it if you did.”

Dean looked at her. It seemed strange to him that this young lady who wanted to control everything would pass that responsibility to him. Then he considered that she was still testing him and was not entirely trustful of him and accepted the duty.

“As you wish. Let’s bow our heads.” He then began his second heartfelt prayer.

“Heavenly Father, we thank you for this bounty You have set before us. We thank You Lord for the jobs that You have provided for Aaron and myself. We thank You Lord for this place in which we live. We ask Lord that You continue to watch over us and keep us from all harm that we might serve You in the days ahead. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“That was a nice prayer.”Heather told him. “Guys, I’m sorry that nothing is really hot, but maybe we can do better as time goes by. Tea anyone?”

“How did you make tea without heat?” Aaron asked.

“It’s what is called sun tea. You just fill a pitcher with water, add sugar and tea bags and let it sit in the sun. After a while the sun heats the water and the tea blends into it. I wish we had ice, but after we took it out of the sun we found the coolest dark place we could find and let it sit there until now. It isn’t ice tea, but it isn’t bad. Try it.”

“I will thank you.”

The meal was mostly canned goods that had been slowly warmed over a couple cans of Sterno that had been left behind by the McMasters. Surprisingly there were also fresh biscuits that were wonderful. Dean had to ask about them.

“How in the world did you make these without power?”

“Have you ever heard of a ‘Dutch oven’?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

“Basically it is a box lined with tinfoil with one side open towards the sun. The foil reflects the heat of the sun into the center and will bake just about anything you want. Mags and I found some flour that seemed to still be good, so we made biscuits for you guys.”

“We sure could have used you on the line when the Russians were invading. As I’ve said, some of the guys became pretty good cooks, but this beats them all. Can I have another one?”

“Help yourself, we have plenty.”

The meal was simple with cold food, but due to the sisters efforts it tasted good and the sun tea was a welcome addition. Heather and Mags told of how they had spent the day going through the house finding things that would be useful and generally cleaning up. Dean and Aaron spoke of how pleased their new employer seemed to be with their work and their hopes for continued employment. It wasn’t long before they were chatting and laughing as if they had known each other for years. It was at the high point of the meal there came a knock at the back door. Looking around, Heather said to Dean,

“It looks like another military thing.”

Dean nodded and got up to answer the door. When he opened it he found Mr. Miller standing there, looking a little embarrassed and holding a cloth covered platter. He spoke to Dean.

“I was telling my wife what a good job you guys did for me today and she decided that we needed to say thank you. I told her you are just doing what I’m paying you for, but she insisted. We know you don’t have power, but we have a house that runs on gas. She made this and said that she wanted me to bring it over. She also said she looks forward to meeting the two young ladies you have here. Anyway, it’s hot and my wife isn’t a bad cook. We hope you like it. And I need you guys to be ready to go first thing in the morning.”

“Mr. Miller, Aaron and I will be waiting for you, and tell your wife we said thank you for her thoughtfulness.”

“Yeah, well I guess you two kind of earned it today. But I’m going to be expecting that same kind of performance every day you are working for me.”

“You’ll get it.”

“So how long are you people going to be around?”

“We haven’t decided yet. But we’ll be here at least until we make enough to finish our trip and have enough to live on for a while once we get back home. Why do you ask?”

“Because of those C.E.T. government types. They come through about once a month. I told you that if you do a good job for me, I’ll keep them off your back. But they aren’t stupid. They probably know the McMasters are black. When they find white people living in their home there are going to be a lot questions that I can’t answer. You people need to think about that now, before they come back.”

“Mr. Miller, I’ve spent the day thinking about that.” Aaron said. “I think I have an answer, but we may need your help.”

“What kind of help?”

“As you said, I’m not dark enough to pass as a black man. But I am dark enough to possibly pass as half black and half white. If the question ever comes up maybe you could give the C.E.T.’s that idea.”

“So you want me to lie for you.”

“No, not exactly, just say something to make them believe it.”

“What about the other three of you?”

“I can get one of the ladies to say she is my girlfriend, actually she sort of is now, and the other is obviously her sister. Dean here can just be my best friend or something like that.”

“That’s not a bad plan. It’s simple and believable I like it. But you better understand one thing up front. I’m not risking my backside to save yours. I’ll go as far as I can with that story, but if things get too close I’m going to have to give you up.”

Dean spoke up. “Mr. Miller, we aren’t your family. We wouldn’t expect you to take any unnecessary risks. And we do appreciate what you have already done for us. If this story means you have to stick your neck out, then please just forget all about it.”

“Family!” Mr. Miller scoffed. “I’d turn most of my family over in a heartbeat. Would you believe that most of them showed up here looking for a handout when things started to go bad? They just showed up with no notice they were coming and empty bellies. Not a one of them was willing to do anything to help out either. I had to force them off the property. At least you guys know how the world works and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty. Look it’s getting late and I need to get home. You guys be ready in the morning and warn the ladies that my wife just might drop by tomorrow to meet them.”

“We will. And thanks again for the food.”

“Like I said, you earned it today. You guys keep working like you did today and I’ll be able to get things back on track. Have a good night.”

After closing the door, Dean lifted the clothe to fine a dozen or so pieces of fried chicken. Their aroma quickly filled the room.

“Where did that come from?” Heather asked.

“Our neighbors, it seems Mr. Miller was talking about Aaron and I to his wife. For some reason she decided that we could use a hot meal.” Dean inhaled deeply. “And it smells like Mr. Miller is right. His wife IS a good cook.”

“Did I hear you say something about being black?” Mags asked Aaron. “What is it, are you ashamed of being Puerto Rican?”

“I’m an American, born and raised. And no I’m not ashamed of anything. But I thought I could pass for a half black man in case those C.E.T.’s show up again. I can make them think I’m a nephew of the McMasters or something.”

“How are you going to do that without lying about it?”

“I can answer that one.” Dean told her. “You lie by not lying. If or when they show up and ask Aaron why he doesn’t look black he asks them if they have something against interracial marriages. He doesn’t admit to being something he isn’t, but he will give them just enough to make them think what he wants them to think.”

“How can you believe that?” Heather demanded.

“It was a method they taught us in the Army to confuse our interrogators if we were ever taken prisoner.”

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m all for finishing that chicken before it gets cold.” Aaron said.

The agreement was rapid and mutual. As she started on her second piece of chicken, a troubling thought came to Heather.

“You know, with all of the food shortages chicken is pretty expensive and really hard to find at any price. How do you think Mr. Miller got this?”

“I noticed he keeps a cooler in the back of his car. He’s probably skimming a little off of the supplies in the warehouse. I noticed he didn’t say a word about me using some of those supplies to get the trucks running.”

“Wouldn’t food go bad in a warehouse?”

“Part of it is refrigerated. The food is stored there until it is shipped.”

Before the third week was out, Aaron had most of the warehouse organized, but found he was going more and more slowly because of his efficiency. With most of the warehouse now running smoothly, more trucks were able to offload pallets of supplies and return to where they came from. The pallets had to be stored by Aaron which left him less time to finish his organization. He brought the matter up apologetically to Mr. Miller on the way home late that week. He was surprised with the reaction he got.

Mr. Miller actually laughed and told him, “Don’t worry about it. That place has never run as smoothly as it has since you two came to work for me. As a matter of fact with you driving the forklift and Dean handling the loading dock, I’m doing more business now than I ever thought that place could handle.”

“I noticed we’ve been getting in more trucks than before.” Dean said. “I thought it was just getting into a busy season.”

Again Mr. Miller laughed. “Not a chance. We’ve been getting a reputation as miracle workers. I got a letter from central planning board for the reconstruction that my warehouse is turning around supplies so fast that they wanted me to take on the overflow from other warehouses that aren’t doing as well. Of course I agreed, at a higher rate of payment. It’s only fair that if we are doing more work we should be paid more money. I know you said you were just passing through the area, but I hope you two plan on sticking around for a while longer. At least long enough for me to find some more people who work like you do.”

“Mr. Miller, we will stay as long as we can. But we will have to get back on the road again one day. We all still have family to find.”

“Why don’t you two just call me John from now on? Dean, I don’t want to be unpleasant but are you sure you still have family down near Atlanta? Some of the worst fighting in the southeast happened there.”

“We have to find out what happened to them.” Aaron told him.

“I understand. Well at least try to stay here until next week. Central planning wants to send some people here to learn from you two.”

The thought of people coming to inspect them and their methods didn’t sit well with any of them once the men told the sisters. But there was little they could do. They still needed money to make it to Atlanta. The next Tuesday morning, Dean became even more concerned when John walked up behind him and made an introduction.

“Dean, this lady is here to learn from you. Teach her everything you know.”

Turning he was shocked. Before him stood Molly from his training school.

[day late]

Chapter Fourteen

Dean recovered from his surprise quickly. As he had been trained to do, he showed no sign of recognizing Molly.

“Hello Miss, My name is Dean. I hear you want to learn how to run a loading dock.”

“Hi Dean, call me Molly. And yes, that’s why my boss sent me here. We are having problems getting things out on time.” She answered, taking his cue. “Your warehouse has the best turnaround time of any warehouse in the district. Ours is a mess. Sometimes it takes us two or three days to get an order out. How do you do it?”

“Mostly by organization, you see we have a man here who has gotten everything organized inside the warehouse so that when an order comes in we know exactly where to look for what has been ordered. All I do is make sure the right orders get on the right trucks. Then I make sure the drivers have good directions to the place they need to go.”

“That’s what I need to know. How do you do that? Our warehouse people just put things wherever there is room. Then when we have to find something, we have to search everywhere to find it. That’s what is taking so much time.”

“It looks to me like you two have a lot to talk about, so I’ll leave you alone.” John said. “Dean, make sure you teach her everything. Our reputation depends on it.”

“I’ll do that Mr. Miller.”

After John had left them Molly turned serious.

“What are you doing here? We are supposed to be operating alone.”

“I can ask you the same question. I’m trying to find the people we are looking for. I have a line on a few of them and getting a job here was the best way to get in tight with them. What are you doing here?”

“Like you, I found that some of those people have jobs doing this kind of thing. Nobody asks questions except when will the job be done. It’s a great place to hide in plain sight. My problem is that my warehouse is a mess. The powers that be found out this one is doing a great job and sent me here to find out how. So do you have a line on any of them?”

Dean considered his answer before speaking. As a newly born Christian, he didn’t want to lie.

“I’ve met a few of them. I’m trying to get into their group. But the leader of that group is suspicious of me. I have to move slowly and prove myself.”

“Maybe we should work together. You can tell them I’m your long lost sister or girlfriend.”

“That wouldn’t work. They believe my family is near Atlanta. And they know I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Then maybe I should be your new girlfriend.”

“We are supposed to work alone. Bringing you in could mess things up for me. Besides, I’m trying to get close to the leader. She’s about my age and there have been a few moments between us.”

Dean decided not to mention what kind of moments.

“Okay, I understand. But if you need back up or anything else, let me know.”

“Trust me if things don’t go the way I want, you’ll be the first to hear of it. Now let’s keep up our front.”

“Lead on and I will follow.”

Dean led Molly through the warehouse pointing out how things were organized.

“It’s really quite simple. We can’t control what order numbers the manufacturer puts on his product. You can have anything from toilets to kitchen sinks with the same order number. So we sort them out according to what they are. Plumbing products are in one place, inside fixtures are in another. Lumber used for construction is in another place. Food stuffs are located in the freezer we have and sorted according to what they are rather than the order number. Then when an order comes in we check to see what is required, instead of what the number is. Once we’ve found the product, we match the order number with that product and ship it out.”

“THAT’S the problem we’ve been having. We send out things according to order number, not according to product. We’ve sent doors to someone who wanted frozen chicken. The order numbers were the same so we sent them out. So this is how you do it?”

“It is, but we have help in keeping everything straight. Aaron is the man who sorted out this mess and got everything running smoothly.”

“Can I meet him?”

Dean realized at once he had said too much. He should have never mentioned Aaron’s name. Their risk of being exposed had just doubled.

“You stay here. Let me go look for him and bring him to you.”

Without waiting for an answer, Dean turned and walked away from Molly. He had a good idea of where Aaron was. A new shipment had arrived and was being unloaded. No doubt Aaron was there. His mind raced about how he was going to explain this situation to Aaron. How could he tell him about Molly without exposing his own past? He found Aaron just setting down a pallet and called out to him.

“Aaron, we need to talk. RIGHT NOW!”

Puzzled by Dean’s words he turned off the forklift, climbed out and went to meet him.

“What’s going on, man?”

“I don’t have much time to explain. There is someone here who wants to talk to you about what we do. Aaron, I know she is a spy for the government. Don’t ask how, but I do. She wants to see you and I can’t stop it from happening. Just don’t let on about what we believe. You got me?”

“That sounds like everyday life to me. Let’s go see her.”

Molly held out her hand as Aaron came near.

“Hear you are at least partially responsible for how well this place is doing.”

“All I did was move things around so that people could find them.”

“Well you seem to have done a wonderful job.” she paused as she realized that Aaron wasn’t what she expected. “Tell me, are you an American?”

“What makes you ask something like that? Lady, I was born and raised near Atlanta. I’m as American as you are, maybe more. My folks were immigrants and they made sure I read and understood the Constitution before I was twelve years old.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that…”

Aaron took the hint that Dean had given out earlier. “It’s just what? Is it because I’m not as white as you are? Or is it because I’m not as black as some people are? You started this lady. Now you have to give me an answer.”

Being put on the defensive was something Molly wasn’t used to. She back peddled.

“I’m sorry it’s just that after the invasion there are a lot of Cuban survivors still around trying to blend in to our society.”

“CUBAN? Do I look Cuban to you? My parents came from Puerto Rico. I’m no Cuban.”

“I apologize. I guess it’s just war jitters. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Well you sure have a natural talent for it then. I’ve known people like you all my life. People who think I’m not as good as them, just because my family comes from a different part of the world.”

Now Molly was really on the defensive.

“I didn’t say anything like that. It fact I just complimented your work.”

“Sure you did. I know your kind, talking out of both sides of their mouth. Always saying one thing but meaning another. Let me tell you something lady. The Native Americans feel the same way about you AND me. If I don’t have a right to be here than neither do you.” Aaron turned slightly towards Dean so that only he could see the right side of his face. Aaron winked at him with his right eye. “Dean, you’ve never treated me like this. Why’d you bring this racist down here?”

“Take it easy Aaron. I’m sure the lady didn’t mean anything.”

“Sure she didn’t. Why I…”

At that moment Mr. Miller showed up to find out what all the noise was about.

“Dean, Aaron, what’s going on? Why aren’t you helping Molly see how we do things?

Aaron dropped his jaw in mock surprise. “You want me to show her how we run this place while stands there and insults me? Come on Mr. Miller. You are a fair man. Would you help out someone who treated YOU like that? I mean maybe if you were one of those ‘turn-the-other-cheek’ Christian types you would, but I’m not.”

Puzzled, John Miller looked at Dean. “Will you please tell me what he’s talking about?”

“Molly asked if Aaron was an American.”

Miller somehow managed to look stunned and in a way, very pleased at the same time. He turned to Molly, his voice flat, cold and very hard.

“You did WHAT? What kind of an operation do you think I’m running here? These two men are my best workers. Don’t you think I checked them out before I hired them? Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m sick and tired of you government types coming here and stirring things up for me. Every time you do the only thing that happens is I get further and further behind. Now, mostly because of these two I’m not only on track but I’m handling overflow from warehouses like yours. I don’t need this kind of trouble lady. Pack your things and get out of my warehouse.”

Molly started to speak, but Miller cut her off. “I SAID OUT. I don’t want to hear a thing you have to say. You know the regulations. Anyone that disrupts the flow of services can be ordered off the property at any time. That means YOU, now get out.”

Molly was aware of the regulations and had always done her best to stay inside them. At a loss for anything else to do, she turned and headed for the nearest exit. Once the door closed behind her, Miller looked at Dean and Aaron. His face split into a wide grin.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that to one of those interfering government types? Oh boys, you just made my month. That felt so good and for the first time I had a good reason to do it. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank us she was the one with the big mouth.” Aaron said.

“Maybe so but you two knew just how to play it. I’ll tell you what. When we leave at the end of the shift I want both of you to grab something from the freezer to take home with you. Come on, let’s get back to work.”

Miller shook both of their hands and headed for his office. It was the first time either of them could remember hearing him whistling. Dean wasn’t sure but it sounded like he was whistling ‘Peter and the Wolf’.

“That’s as close as I ever want to come to being caught.” Aaron said to Dean. “So how did you know she was a government agent?”

“I’ll tell you later, after we get home. But we may just have to leave town sooner than expected.”

“It’s THAT serious?”

“It is. As the man said, come on and let’s get back to work.”

Dean spent the rest of that day thinking about how he was going to explain himself after he and Aaron returned home that afternoon. Over and over again the same verse came to his mind.

Pro 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Dean didn’t see how that was possible. He was supposed to be hunting Christians, not becoming one of them. And when he had to reveal what he was supposed to be, how could these people ever trust him? Late in the day Dean found a place to be alone and he prayed.

“Lord, I don’t know how this is going to work out. But I know that I can’t hide it any longer. I ask for Your mercy and grace for what is going to happen today. May it be according to Your will, Amen.”

Not surprisingly the same verse of scripture came to mind.

Pro 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Dean suddenly realized he was beginning to find real comfort in his study of The Word.

Aaron had all kinds of questions for Dean, but the work day did not bring them together for the questions to be answered. He bided his time, until they could talk privately. At the end of the day, John came to them and insisted that they both get a chicken or something from the freezer. Aaron got one, but Dean on the other hand picked up a couple bags of flour. Oddly the thought of the unleavened bread eaten during the Exodus came to mind. He wondered if that was some kind of sign.

Once they had gotten out of John’s car and headed for the house, Aaron voiced the first and obvious question.

“Dean how did you know she is a government agent?”

“Can we wait until we get inside? I don’t want to have to go through this twice and you know Heather and Mags are going to want to know.”

“Okay.”

Dean heard Heather speak to someone as he got to the back door.

“It sounds like they are here now.”

Dean figured that she must be talking with Mrs. Miller, since she and the girls had become friends over the time they had been at this place. That is why he was so unprepared when he walked in and found Molly sitting at the kitchen table.

“Dean, I’d like you to meet a new friend of ours. This is Molly.” Heather said to him. “She gave Mrs. Miller and us a ride home from shopping earlier today.”

“I don’t believe this.” Was all Dean could say.

“YOU!” Was Aarons comment as he entered behind Dean, “What are you doing here?”

“What is wrong with you guys?” Mags asked.

“Ladies, are you aware that this woman works for the government?” Dean questioned.

“She does?” Mags was surprised. “She never said what she does and we didn’t ask her.”

“Not everyone who works for the government is a bad person, you know.” Heather joined in. Dean noticed that Molly looked at Heather and seemed to do something, but her back was to him and he couldn’t be sure. What he was sure of was that Heather seemed to be pleased.

“I know that.” Dean said. “But not all of them are good people either. That’s how we got into this mess. The people of America just let the officials in Washington do what they wanted and because they trusted them we wound up in a war the almost destroyed us.” Dean told her.

“I still want to know why she is here.” Aaron was no longer acting, he was becoming angry. “Do you know what this woman said about me today? She’s anti-immigrant at best and a racist at worst.”

That got Mags attention.

“What did you say about my boyfriend?”

“I didn’t know he is your boyfriend.”

Under his breath Aaron said to himself, ‘Neither did I’.

“Well, he is and that’s not an answer, it’s an evasion. What did you say about him?”

“I just asked him if he was an American. I mean look at him. He could be a Cuban survivor trying to hide out among us.”

“How stupid can you be?” Mags retorted. “After everything this country has been through, do you really believe that a non-American could stand a chance of getting a job? And just listen to him speak. He sounds just the same as any of us. Look, I appreciate the ride you gave us, but I don’t think this is a good place for you to spend the night. You better get out.”

Molly was beside herself. At first she thought that she had been making good inroads with a Christian group. Then she found out that one of them was actually like her, an agent for the government. And then Dean showed up and seemed to be doing everything he could to drive her out, almost blowing her cover. She didn’t know what to think. But in a case like this, it was better to back off than ruin everything. After all, Dean was certainly on the job and would bring these people in when the time was right. No doubt he already knew that the other agent was there ready to help him. All he had to do was ask.

“Look, I’m sorry if my words were misunderstood. I’m not trying to say anything about anybody. I made a mistake, I admit that. I will be more careful in the future. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll leave and let you folks spend the rest of the night in peace.” She told them. Then Molly gathered her things and quietly walked out the front door going to her car, leaving the four young people alone.


“What just happened?” Mags asked of nobody in particular.

“She’s a government agent, looking for Christians.” Dean answered.

“How do you know that?”

Dean knew his moment had come. He drew a deep breath and let it all out.

“I trained with her.”

“WHAT!” Was Aarons reply.

“It’s true. I trained with her to find and turn in Christians. But something changed.”

“What changed?”

Dean reached into his back pack and pulled out his Bible.

“This changed me. I found it on the last raid I went on.”

Mags jaw dropped. “That’s MY Bible.”

“I thought it might be after I read the dedication page. Here, take it back.”

“That means you were on the raid that almost caught Mags, Aaron and I.” Heather declared. “How can we trust you now?”

“If I was going to turn you in, I would have done it by now.”

[day late]

Chapter Fifteen

“Or maybe you want to find more Christians so you can get a bigger bonus or whatever they give you for betraying us.” Mags said.

“I’m not going to lie to you. The government ALWAYS rewards the larger catches with bigger rewards. That’s how they encourage people to try harder.”

“Man, you are not helping your case.” Aaron told him.

“I know. But again, all I can say is that while I started out as an infiltrator, that Bible changed me. It has an answer for every question I had. There is no other book that can do that. Yes, I started out hunting people like you, but I feel like I’ve been knocked off of my horse while on the road to Damascus.”

The reference to the Apostle Paul startled all of the others. If Dean was telling the truth, the similarities were obvious. But how could they know for sure? Things did not go well for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Aaron and Mags tended to avoid speaking with Dean. Strangely enough, Heather seemed to thaw towards him. Mags did exchange the Bible that she had found in a garbage can and rescued and had been reading with Dean, for the one he had picked up on that last raid. And she did mellow a slight amount when he told her how her Bible had been literally speaking to him and made him see the light.

“Well, if God can use a donkey to talk to Balaam, I guess He can use my Bible to talk to you.”

“He has. I only hope I can prove that to you and the others.”

“We’ll see. Maybe you are being truthful, but maybe this is all just a lie to win our confidence so you can turn us in.”

“This wouldn’t be the first time this has happened.” Dean told her as he remembered,

Act 9:26 ¶ And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

Act 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Act 9:28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

Now all he needed was a Barnabas, or some way to prove that he was telling them the truth about the change in him.

“Mags, I didn’t have to tell everyone about Molly. I didn’t have to tell you about me. You guys had no clue. I could have kept it a secret and you would have never known. But I just can’t act that way anymore. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

“We’ll see.”

Aaron had little to say to Dean, but did speak about him to Mags later that evening as they sat on the back porch together.

“I just don’t know. I mean he’s right. He could have turned us in at any time, but he didn’t. Remember that first day here when he kept Heather from opening the blinds and letting the C.E.T.’s know we were here? All he had to do was keep his mouth shut and we would already be in the camps, and he would be out finding more of us. And if he is trying to score a larger count of Christians, people like Mary I mean, then saying that would be a pretty good cover. I don’t know if we can trust him or not.”

“I know what you mean. Dean is a nice guy, but is he being honest or deceitful? It’s hard to tell, if there was only some way to know. Maybe we should pray about it.”

“That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard. Do you want to start?”

The couple then began earnest prayer for an answer to the problem.

Dean was sitting in the darkened living room when Heather came to him. He was surprised that she would even speak to him after his confession.

“So what do we do now, Dean? You say you are supposed to track down Christians, but don’t want to do that anymore. Maybe you have had a change in heart. Maybe this is just what you say and do to get Christians to trust you. And we both know that trust is earned, and never given.”

“I know. What I don’t know is how to earn that trust.”

“Maybe you should have tried harder to learn that when you were being trained.”

Dean looked at Heather. “What do you mean?”

Instead of speaking to him, Heather gave him a hand sign. It was the same one that he was supposed to use to make himself known to any government troops or the C.E.T.’s should he be caught. Dean couldn’t believe his own eyes.

“YOU?”

“How do you think Mags and I have made it this far?”

“Does she know?”

“No. I felt it was better for her to remain ignorant of the way the real world works. She’s my sister and I have to look out for her. Sometimes she’s a little too trusting.”

Dean now couldn’t believe his ears. Heather was someone like him? Or at least who he used to be. She spoke again.

“I don’t know if your conversion is real. Not with the way we’ve been trained. You could say anything and I wouldn’t know if it was the truth or not, but understand this. It doesn’t matter to me either way. Mags is my sister, and Aaron has been with us for a while now. After your confession, there is no way they would believe you, even if you told them what I’ve shown you. So do us both a favor and keep it to yourself, or I’ll ruin you. After what you’ve said they will never believe a thing you tell them.”

“How have you kept it a secret this long?”

“You already know. We’ve been trained how to lie very convincingly. I just said the right words at the right time and everyone believes me. Even YOU believed me, and you should have known better. Tell me how John and Martin ever let you pass the training course?”

“We’ve been trained how to lie convincingly, just like you’ve said.”

“Then you must be a really good liar. Even if you aren’t a Christian, I’m going to have to keep my eye on you. I can’t have you messing things up for Mags and me.”

“I think you have already done that.” Mags voice came from behind Heather. She spun and looked at her.

“How long have you been there?”

“Since you said, it was better for me to be ignorant. How could you do this?”

Heather looked as if she were on the brink of panic. Her secret now out in the open, she had to show her sister why it was so necessary for her to have done what she did.

“Mags, I did this to protect us. Don’t you see?”

“Oh I see how you protected us. I also see how you have condemned other believers just so you wouldn’t have to pay the price that Jesus says we have to pay. How could you turn your back on God like that?”

“You don’t know what they did to me. I had no choice.”

“What do you mean? We’ve been together since everything started. Nobody ever had a chance to make you do anything.”

Heather looked down and reminded her sister.

“No, we haven’t. Remember when Mom and Dad died how we were separated for a couple months?”

“That’s because we couldn’t find each other during the war. But you did find me.”

“Mags, they found me first.”

“But you said you hid when the Russians came to the house. Then you went looking for me.”

“It wasn’t the Russians. It was the C.E.T.’s looking for Christians. Dad fought them, just like I told you. He shot Mom and tried to shoot me, just like I said. But it was the C.E.T.’s that killed him, not the Russians. They found me and took me prisoner. They did things to me. They hurt me so bad, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Then they told me that they had found out where you were. They said that if I didn’t help them they would do more to you than they did to me. Mags, I couldn’t let that happen to you. I had to protect you. So I agreed to help them. That’s why you and I have been able to get away every time they raided the place we were hiding. I knew when they were coming and got us out of there just before they showed up. I didn’t want any of those people to get hurt, you have to believe me. But I had to protect you. You understand, don’t you? There was no other choice.”

Mags simply stood there looking at her sister as if she were a total stranger. She didn’t want to believe this woman that she had looked up to all of her life was capable of such treachery.

“Mags, say something.” Heather implored her.

“I don’t know what to say. You said there wasn’t any other choice, but there was. Remember what Jesus said?

Luk 9:23 ¶ And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luk 9:25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Heather, you haven’t just betrayed other believers, you have betrayed yourself. You have condemned yourself.”

“I DID IT FOR YOU.” Heather almost screamed at her.

“No, you did it for yourself. Jesus died for us, but you were unwilling to die for Him. So you lied and betrayed all of those people so you wouldn’t have to die. Heather, I’m sorry, but I don’t know who you are anymore.”

Mags buried her face in her hands and fled the room. Dean looked at Aaron.

“Go after her.”

Aaron nodded and left.

“This is all your fault.” Heather shouted at Dean. She reached out and picked up a large knife from the table and came at him with it. “If you hadn’t shown up she would have never known about it. I’ll kill you for this.”

Heather never had a chance. Being a veteran, Dean was very familiar with hand to hand fighting. As she struck downward with the blade, he easily blocked her killing stroke with his forearm. He then wrapped his arm around hers and stripped the knife from her with his other hand. He threw then it aside and then put Heather on the floor, violently. She landed face down and he sat on her back, twisting one of her arms behind her.

“Get off of me. I’ll kill you.” She screamed.

“Not today.” was his answer.

Soon he had both of her arms behind her back and securely held them there with one hand as he searched for something to tie them with. Heather stopped struggling and began to sob. Still looking for some way to tie Heather up he was surprised when a length of cord appeared over his shoulder.

“Use this.” he heard Mags say.

He took the cord and quickly tied Heather’s hand behind her back. He stood, looked at Mags and said,

“Thank you. She’s your sister, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think about that right now. I know what we should do, but I can’t say it.”

“I understand.” Dean answered. He then lifted Heather to her feet and forcefully seated her in a chair. Using an extra portion of the cord, he tied her hands to the chair back so that she couldn’t get up and run for it. He then grabbed a hand towel from near the stove and gagged her with it to keep her from crying out for help. He looked at Mags and Aaron.

“We have to do something and we don’t have much time to decide what it is.”

“Dean, you said earlier that we might have to leave here, because of that Molly woman. Maybe we should do what we have to do here and get out while we can.”

“What are you saying?” Mags asked. “You can’t mean kill her.”

“Mags, what do you think was going to happen to us in the end? She has already betrayed who knows how many people. It would only be a matter of time before she betrayed us as well. I can’t let that happen to you.”

“But she’s my sister.”

“I know, but she is also a traitor. She will see us dead before she will sacrifice herself.”

“Aaron, I think you have part of the idea.” Dean interrupted. “It is a matter of time, which we don’t have a lot of. Mags, Aaron is right, we should end this right now. But I understand how you can’t let that happen.”

“Then what do we do?” she asked him with a vague sense of hope in her eyes.

Dean looked at his watch. “It’s almost six-thirty. The sun will be down in an hour. Nobody is going to be looking for us before tomorrow morning, about twelve hours from now. We can leave Heather tied to that chair and cover a lot of distance in that amount of time.”

“What if nobody comes looking for us?”

“Mr. Miller will be here a little after six in the morning, so we can go to work. When we don’t show up, he will come looking for us. He will find Heather and let her loose. She will be tired and sore from being in that chair all night, but by that time we can be well on our way. What do you think?”

“I guess it’s our best option. Aaron what do you say?”

“I don’t know. What if Mr. Miller doesn’t come in looking for us?”

“I imagine that Mrs. Miller will be by later to chat with the ladies or go shopping with them. In that case she will find Heather.”

“Okay, I guess it’s the best we can do. But it still makes me uncomfortable leaving her here when she knows who we are and everything about us.”

Dean pulled his snub nosed pistol from his pocket and held it out.

“Are you ready to do it any other way?”

Aaron looked from the weapon to Mags and back again.

“Put it away. I’m not going to use it.”

“Then let’s get everything we can packed and get out of here as soon as we can.”

The three of them began to do just that as Heather quietly cried, while tied to the chair. In less than an hour the three of them had clothing, food and water packed into their back packs and were ready to leave. Dean stopped them for a short time because it wasn’t quite dusk yet. He went to Heather and spoke to her.

“You have betrayed every Christian you have come into contact with for who knows how long. It is certain that sooner or later you would have betrayed us as well, even your own sister, if it meant saving you own life. I want you to remember two things before we leave. You made your choice to save your own life. I’m sorry for you. Maybe there is still hope for you, if you repent. I hope so. The second thing is that you are receiving grace from us in God’s name. We should kill you and leave your body for the vultures and rats. But that wouldn’t be the Christian thing to do. So we are leaving you here. But understand, if you ever come after us, all bets are off. The next time we see you, you will die. Good bye Heather, may God forgive you for what you have done.”

Dean turned and walked to the back door. Aaron walked up to Heather and simply said,

“I’ll never understand how you could do that.”

Then he joined Dean. Mags was the last to step before Heather. The sister’s eyes locked onto one another. Heather was silently pleading for her sister to help her and forgive her. Mags said nothing, but the tears dropping from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks said more than enough. She joined the men.

“It’s time.” Dean told them.

Without a backward glance the three of them left the house and Heather behind. Dean knew what was happening was hard on Mags. He only hoped that she wouldn’t break down and begin crying openly at the wrong time. To her credit, while Mags did weep, it was silently. She didn’t cry out loud, nor did she sniff as her nose ran. She just used her sleeve to wipe her nose and walked on in silence. Aaron stepped up beside Dean and asked him,

“Why are we going this way? Atlanta is southeast of here. You’re leading us straight west.”

“Heather knows we were headed to Atlanta. That’s the last direction we want to go. When they find her and she is questioned, that’s where she will send people to look for us. We can’t just walk into a trap. We must go some other direction. If you know someplace better, I’m open to suggestions.”

“My family used to live about an hour’s drive to the south west of Atlanta. I still want to see if I can find them. What if we keep going west for a day or two and then turn south? Wouldn’t that throw them off of our trail?”

“It could. All right, that’s what we will do. Let’s hope you still have family to find down there.”

“Hope all you want, I’m praying about it.”

“Then I’ll join you in that prayer.”

[day late]

Chapter Sixteen

John Miller always knew the day would come when Dean and Aaron wouldn’t show up for work, but he had hoped for some kind of a warning before that day came. The next morning when he didn’t find them waiting between the houses for him as they had done for weeks, he hoped they were just running late. He walked to the back door and observed the house closely. There was no sound from inside, no lights were on and there were no signs of movement. After knocking a couple of times, he sighed and hoped he would be able to replace them quickly. They were the best workers he had ever hired. Still, he wasn’t in that much of a bind. Each of them had taught those under them a great deal and the way the warehouse was now organized it almost ran its self. He turned around and headed for his car to get to work for the day and try to figure out who he would be promoting.

Mrs. Miller stopped by the house at close to ten o’clock to collect ‘her girls’ as she thought of them, to do a little shopping. She too found the house dark and seemingly lifeless and assumed the ‘girls’ had headed out for the days shopping without her. She was running a little late after all. Perhaps she would be able to catch up with them. There weren’t many shops open these days, so there were only a limited number of places they could go. She also left the house without trying to enter, or even knocking.

Molly didn’t know why she felt compelled to return to the house that morning. She knew that by that time of the day, Dean and Aaron would certainly be at work, so there was no problem there. And with Heather on her side, she hoped that they could make Margret, or Mags as she was called, see reason and welcome her into their group. She knew that with both Dean and Heather working on this group they probably didn’t need her help, but since graduation this would be the seventh group she would have been able to penetrate and she really wanted to impress John and Martin. True, she could only get a partial credit for turning this group over, but who knew? Maybe if she did well enough she would be able to retire early. Molly remembered the way they had entered the house the day before, so after parking her car she walked around to the back of the house and knocked on the door. She heard no answer and waited a short time before trying again. Still with no answer she decided that this could be an opportunity to gain information about the group Dean and Heather were trying to infiltrate. She let herself into the house quietly, and was concentrating on her plan so intently she didn’t look left or right. She simply began to head for the living room. When Heather groaned from the chair she was tied to, Molly was quite startled. She quickly went to Heather and removed the gag.

“What happened?” she asked as she began to work on the cord which bound Heather’s hands.

“Water, I need water.” Heather rasped.

Molly filled a glass and returned to Heather. She took the glass, after her hands were free and drank deeply from it.

“What happened?” she repeated. “Where is Dean?”

“Dean tied me up. He threatened to kill me. He has gone over to their side.”

“I can’t believe that. He was the best we had in my class.”

“Believe it. He has become a Nazarene. We have to get him.”

“Wait a minute, let me talk to John.”

She pulled out her satellite phone from her bag, which didn’t depend on cell towers that had hit and miss coverage of electricity and made the call. After Molly’s report, it didn’t take long for C.E.T.’s to show up and take Heather into custody. She was taken at once to the training facility where Dean had gotten his training. Before she really knew what was going on, Heather was facing both John and Martin.

“Alright, tell me what happened.” John said. “You were one of our most promising agents in your class. You completed six operations. So what happened that blew your cover?”

“It was Dean. He has turned against us.” Heather noticed the look on Martin’s face. She desperately sought to avoid responsibly. “You trained him. You have to tell me what happened. He became one of them. He blew my cover and left me tied up and waiting for the rats to come eat me.”

Martin spoke quietly. “Don’t be concerned about that. The rats won’t be eating you.”

“What happened and what caused your cover to be blown?” John demanded.


“Molly happened. I mean really, questioning if someone was an American or not shouldn’t have gotten that kind of response, but it did. SHE made everyone suspicious of what was going on. Dean knew the sign she showed me because you trained him and he used that against me. The next thing I knew Dean had figured out that I was working with you and everything went bad from there. They tied me up because my sister didn’t want me killed and they left. I was tied to that chair for over fourteen hours.”

“Do you know where they have gone?” Martin’s question was still spoken quietly but was intense.

“We were going to Atlanta. I’d guess that they are still headed that way.”

“Your information is most helpful.” Martin said. He turned to John and spoke. “She’s helped us. Make sure that your new class knows the price of failure.”

“I will.” John promised.

“What does that mean?” Heather asked.

“You will learn.” John told her. “Take the girl to the chute.” He said to the guards.

The guards didn’t treat Heather roughly, but they did not accept any argument. Heather was taken to a hallway where there was a hatch in the wall. She didn’t understand why she had been brought to this place, but waited quietly for John to come so she could further explain things to him, in order to justify herself. She didn’t have to wait long. Soon John came around the corner of the hallway, with a group of four or five people behind him. He spoke to the group.

“In this line of work, failure is not an option.” He looked at the guards. “Open it.” He said. One of them opened the hatch that was fixed in the wall. A low growling was heard from below that frightened her. She recoiled from the sound, but the guards didn’t allow her to move more than half a step. They took hold of her and held her firmly.

“This woman was given an assignment, and she failed completely. The group she was attempting to penetrate has fled. That means we have to waste the time and energy to find them again. That is not acceptable.” Again he looked at the guards. “Do it.” he told them.

Without question the guards grabbed and lifted Heather by the arms and legs. They pushed her down the chute head first, to the place where the growling was coming from. Her screams were short lived as the guard dogs tore into her. Her life was soon over as John had promised Martin, and he had the benefit of an object lesson to impress his latest batch of students. That pleased him greatly, and the latest students were very impressed with the importance of their mission. Each of them decided that they would not and could not fail, no matter what.

Having spent time in the field as a soldier, Dean knew how quickly the problem of carrying too much water became self correcting. The more he drank, the lighter his load became. But that meant the sooner he would have to refill his water containers. That was a risk that had to be taken, but one that should be taken as seldom as possible. For that reason, he sipped his water sparingly. He took only enough to keep his mouth moist and avoided drinking large amounts. He also knew that drinking large amounts of water while moving like this could cause cramps and that would slow down their progress. He warned Aaron and Mags about it, and kept an eye on them to make sure they did as he advised. The result was that at the first nights camp, they all had at least some water left, and getting more was put off until the next morning. That night after eating, Dean decided to come clean about his past. The last thing he wanted was for his two traveling companions to have reservations about him. He needed their trust as much as they needed his.

“Most of what I’ve told you is true,” He told them. “but not all of it. As I told you, I was in the war. I wasn’t driving a truck. I was a front line soldier. I have seen and done things I hope you never learn about. Please don’t ask, it isn’t something I want to talk about. Let’s just say that things were very hard, at times very ugly, very unpleasant, and leave it at that. I want you to know this so that if I say we should do this or that, it isn’t based on opinion. I will say it because I’ve been there and I know what will work and what won’t. To start with, there is no doubt that by now the government knows what happened and they have started looking for us. With the equipment they have, it is very difficult to hide from them, but it can be done.”

Dean reached into his pack and pulled out three small packages. He gave one to each of the other two.

“These are Mylar blankets.” He told them. “They don’t look like much but they are designed to reflect your body heat back towards you. That means you won’t give off much of a heat signature for the government troops to find and they will keep you warm on a cold night. Look around and try to find a ditch or some kind of depression in the ground. Spread the blanket on the ground and when you lay down pull half of it over you. God willing the spot you find will be low enough that any heat signature from parts of you that aren’t covered won’t be noticed.”

“But if we have our head out so we can breathe they will see us no matter what, won’t they?” Aaron asked.

“Not necessarily. That kind of equipment works on line of sight. If you can’t see it around the corner or below ground level with your eyes, you won’t see it with the equipment either. Now they could see us if they flew over, if all of these trees didn’t block their view. So I think we are safe from that. Our biggest threat is being exposed to ground observation. So find a low spot and sleep there.”

“What if there aren’t any low spots?” Mags asked.

“Then you have two options. The first is to dig one. If you do that, don’t just throw the dirt wherever. Pile it up around you. That way you don’t have to dig as deep. The second is to pile up things like tree branches and logs around you. Use anything you can that doesn’t give off heat to block your heat signature from their equipment. Again, that means you don’t have to dig too deep.”

“And that’s how you did it in the Army?” Aaron asked.

“Only when we were on patrol. When you are patrolling you never stay in one place more than one night. So we made hasty shelters. But if we were on the line and knew we were going to be there for a while, we dug them as deeply as we could.”

The three young people soon found places to bed down for the night. Dean was not surprised when Aaron found a good spot for two people to sleep together, and he wasn’t invited. At first he was concerned that something might happen between them, but finally decided that with the government forces looking for them and him sleeping only a few feet away, things were safe enough. Besides, they would be rotating guard shifts between them all night long. He knew from experience that once your shift was over, sleeping was about the only thing on your mind. Dean took the first two hour shift and woke Aaron as gently as he could when his shift came, and handed him his watch to track the time. He tried not to disturb Mags, but knew it would happen anyway. When she woke she only asked,

“Is it my turn?”

“Not yet, Aaron is up.”

“Okay.” And with that reply she rolled over and went back to sleep. Aaron rose and began his shift which passed quietly. Two hours after he began, he crept over to Mags and gently awakened her. As before she asked,

“Is it my turn?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Okay. Let me have the watch.”

Aaron gave it to her and with a quick kiss, crawled into the warm spot she had just vacated. In almost no time he was fast asleep. Mags for her part, was alert and watching for any signs of intruders. She did get startled once early in her shift when an owl started calling from one of the tree branches above her. The sound was so loud and so close that at first she thought that someone had found them and was signaling for help. She then smiled at her own foolishness and redirected her efforts to ensuring nobody actually did find them. Without a fire or any kind of light, it was difficult for her to make out anything but shadows. However after a while she began to distinguish what the shadows were and that helped to ease her nervousness. She soon began to figure out what were normal night noises. The croaking of frogs and chirping of crickets were things she had heard before and they didn’t bother her. But when there was something that wasn’t what she expected, she became very alert and focused on the noise and the direction it came from. Soon she realized that even most of the unexpected noises were perfectly normal. But she was amazed at how loud something as simple as a pine cone falling from a tree could be in the night. She adjusted and stopped worrying about the occasional one time noises after she realized that something like footsteps would be both continuous and somewhat rhythmic.

It was when she did hear the rhythmic sounds of approaching footsteps that she became concerned. She listened carefully for a few minutes to make certain she was right, and then she made her way to where Dean was sleeping. Mags knelt down, placed her hand over his mouth in fear that he might say something and give them away, while at the same time gently shaking him awake. Dean woke at once and with a hand on his face briefly panicked. Then spotting Mags he calmed himself, removed her hand and looked at her questioningly.

“Someone is coming.” She answered the unasked question.

“Where?” he whispered.

“Down that way.” She pointed in the dark down the hill from where they were.

“Wake Aaron.” He told her. Dean reached into his pack and pulled his revolver. It only held five rounds and he had only another ten to reload it with. The situation could get very unhealthy very fast. But it was all he had. He would make the best of it and give Mags and Aaron the best chance he could to get away. He stayed in the low spot he had chosen for his bed, in hopes that it would provide some protection from return fire and placed his spare ammunition where it could be easily reached. He then focused his total attention on the approaching intruders. That is why he was startled when Aaron crawled up next to him with a large knife in his hand.

“What do you think you are doing? You and Mags need to get out of here. I’ll hold them off while you run. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Dean knew the last part was wishful thinking at best and a lie at worst, but he wasn’t about to tell his friends that.

“Dean, Mags and I have already talked about this. We stand together, or we go down together. And if you don’t like it, that’s just too bad.”

Dean looked at Aaron in the dark. He had known the fear of death from his years on the line. He had accepted that he would never die in his sleep. He was willing and more than willing to do what The Bible said.

Jhn 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

But Aaron and Mags didn’t have to stay here. Dean was about to protest when the verse came back to him again.

Jhn 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

He suddenly understood. They were living out the same scripture. He held his tongue and refocused on the people coming towards them.

“How many do you think there are?” Aaron whispered.

“From the sound, it can’t be more than three or four of them. They aren’t soldiers. Soldiers wouldn’t be making that much noise.”

“C.E.T.’s you think?”

“Could be, but it’s still a small group. Be quiet and wait for me to act.”

Aaron nodded, but said nothing. All too soon Dean could make out three forms moving towards them. They were trying to be quiet, but were unsuccessful. He waited until they were no more than ten feet away before making himself known.

“FREEZE.” He shouted at them.

The trio did so and a voice called out to him.

“Please don’t shoot us.”

Aaron looked startled when he heard it.

“Mary, is that you?”

[day late]

Chapter Seventeen

Aaron placed his hand on Dean’s gun hand, forcing his weapon down.

“I think I know her at least,” Aaron whispered to Dean as he looked up. “but I don’t know the guys with her.”

A young woman’s voice came back from the darkness.

“Who are you?”

“Mary if that is you, we need to know right now. If you are her, you have met me before. But if you’re not Mary, then I’m not saying anything more.”

“Why should I answer a voice in the dark?” she challenged him

“Because we see you, you don’t see us, and we have guns.” Dean answered. Aarons head snapped around when Dean spoke. Dean told him, “This ‘you show me first’ game could go on all night. It’s best to give them something to think about.”

Aaron didn’t like the answer, but understood its logic. Knowing his idea was a long shot, but figuring it had happened more than once, he spoke again.

“Alright, assuming you are Mary, you once showed me a part of a puzzle and asked if I could help you complete it. Do you remember where we were and what the answer was?”

Dean and Aaron heard a quiet but intense conversation being whispered below them. Mary’s voice came to them faintly.

“We’ve got to chance it. They’ve got us cold anyway.” She raised her voice a little louder. “It was in the library. The answer was a curved line. Who are you?”

“I’m Aaron. You might remember that when we met, there were two ladies with me. We went to a house and you fainted as soon as we got in the door.”

At once Mary remembered the incident. “Aaron, I have to tell you that was an act. I had to test you.”

“It was? I didn’t know that. Who is with you?”

“Can we come a little closer? All of this loud talking probably isn’t a good idea.”

Aaron looked at Dean, who nodded his head but whispered, “Not too close. Keep them about fifteen feet out.”

“Mary, you guys come closer, but stop when I tell you, okay?”

“All right.”

The three people moved closer to the other trio. At about twelve to fifteen feet, Dean said,

“Stop them.”

“That’s far enough for now.”

They stopped.

“I’m going to them. I’ve got to check on her first hand.” Aaron said and, without waiting for Deans answer, stood and moved towards them. Once he got close enough there was no doubt in his mind. It was Mary.

“Hello Mary, it’s good to see you again. What are you doing out here, and who are these guys?”

“Aaron, it IS you. I’m so glad to see you again. This is Cliff and the other guy is Mark. We had to run for it. The C.E.T.’s were going crazy for some reason. It was like it was back in the beginning. They just went wherever they wanted and anyone who argued with them got shot. I don’t know what happened but they were determined to find all of the Christians they could. They were taking people I know weren’t Christians, but were sympathetic to anyone that distrusts the ‘brothers’.”

Aarons mind went at once to Mr. Miller and he quickly prayed the man and his wife would survive this latest storm. They were good people in spite of their lack of faith.

“I have an idea of what might have happened.” he told her. “We have gotten a little insight into how they think and work.”

Aaron turned to Cliff and Mark.

“Who is Jesus Christ?”

Unaccustomed to having to answer questions, but fully aware their lives depended on their answer the two men almost stumbled over each other to answer the question.

“He is the only begotten Son of The Father.” Cliff answered first.

“Jesus Christ is The Savior. He died for our sins and was raised again from the dead.” Mark added.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. I really don’t like killing people, but we have to be sure. You understand, don’t you?”

Mary spoke up. “Yes, of course we understand. That’s the way we have had to operate for a long time now. Aaron what did you mean that you have gained insight into the C.E.T.’s? And where are Margret and Heather? Aren’t they with you?”

“I think you better come with me and I’ll let Mags explain it all.” Aaron started back towards Dean and Mags. Mary and her two friends followed after him. “By the way we have another guy with us now. You might want to tread lightly with him until he gets to know you.”

“I sort of figured that when he threatened us. Is there something wrong with him? You know PTSD or something? We all have a little of that after the war.”

“It’s best if I let you find out on your own. And Heather isn’t with us any longer.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. How did they catch her?”

“They didn’t.” Dean said as they got close. “She almost caught us.”

Mary looked at Dean. “What do you mean?”

“My sister was a C.E.T. undercover agent, is what he means. None of us knew that until recently.” Mags told her as she joined the group.

“She was?” Mary couldn’t believe it. “How did you find out about her?”

“Dean showed us. Once Heather was exposed she admitted the truth. I’m so ashamed I didn’t see it earlier. How many people could have been saved if I had only known?”

Mary placed her arm around her, and speaking gently said,

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. The C.E.T.’s are trained to lie. And remember what Jesus said.

Mar 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

Mar 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

That’s what happened. She was seduced and tried to betray every one of us she could find.” Mary looked back to Dean. “How did you know she was one of them?”

Dean sighed and decided not to sugar coat the truth.

“I used to be part of a special unit of infiltrators, trained by the C.E.T.’s to get into Christian groups and turn them over to the government.”

“WHAT!” Mary took an involuntary step backwards. She said to Mags and Aaron, “You two know that and you trust him?”

“He’s the one who exposed Heather.”Aaron told them. “He didn’t have to do that. He could have gotten deeper into the group and together they could have gotten a lot of us. Instead he stopped Heather from doing that.”

“And you haven’t heard his testimony.” Mags added. “I’m sure The Lord has something special in mind for him.”

“What is his testimony?”

“I’m right here. Ask me.” Dean said. “It started while I was in training. They give us a Bible to study so we can learn how to act like Christians and get you to trust us. To make you believe we are one of you. But for me something changed. It seemed like every time I had a question about Christians and Christianity, The Bible had an answer waiting for me. I would open it at random and read the first thing that my eyes fell on. It was always the right answer. Just after training I reached a point where I had to make a choice. I’ve seen how ‘loving’ the ‘brothers’ are. And I’ve learned how loving God is. The choice was long in coming, but once the time came it was easy to make. I remember reading,

Jhn 8:31 ¶ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Jhn 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Well, the truth is that the ‘brothers’ are nothing like what they claim to be and God is EVERYTHING He claims to be. After realizing that, it was just like Joshua said.

Jos 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

That’s the way it has been for me ever since. I will serve The Lord.”

Mary watched him closely as he was speaking. She could tell he was telling the truth.

“How did Heather give herself away?”

“Infiltrators are given certain hand signs that they use to identify each other. I was told they were supplied by the ‘brothers’ for their training. Like this one.”

Dean held up his hand with his index finger and pinky pointed up, the two middle fingers and thumb were crossed over the palm. Mary’s eyes grew wide.

“Do you know the meaning of that sign?” She asked.

“Only that it is for identification purposes.”

“It’s Satanic. It is used to represent the goats head.”

“I didn’t know that. The ‘brothers’ just said it is a sign they use for good luck amongst themselves. So they want the infiltrators to use it. That way they can be recognized during a raid, if they are caught inside the place being raided.”

“Trust me, that’s a sign you don’t want to use ever again. It shows you are in league with Satan himself. No wonder they use it for luck. When The Lord returns they are going to need all of the luck they can get.”

Dean changed the subject. “Speaking of luck, how are you set for passing the night?”

Cliff answered. “We have blankets and a little food, but not much else. We had to leave in a hurry. Speaking of that, you said that you might know why the C.E.T.’s are all going crazy. What is it?”

“I think it is because of my sister.” Mags told him. “We were together on the run for a long time. We would locate a safe house and stay for a while, but they always got raided.” She looked down in shame. “Now I know why. The thing is that with Heather exposed they have lost an agent who had turned in a lot of people. That has got to have them upset.”

“That would do it.” Mark finally spoke. “But what are we going to do about tonight?”

“We’re in a good spot.” Dean told him. “The ground here has a number of depressions we can use to hide from any search equipment like heat sensors. The tree cover should keep us from being spotted from the air. Do you have any weapons?”

“I’ve just got a .22 pistol and a box of those short rounds of ammo. They don’t make as much noise as the longer ones and they are good for small game and short range shots. Plus they are so small I can carry a lot of them.” Mark answered.

Mary and Cliff each had knives, but the weapons supply came up very short. Dean wondered how these people had managed to survive being so underprepared. He then remembered,

Luk 22:35 ¶ And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.

Luk 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

There was no doubt that they would probably be in need of those swords, soon. But that was for tomorrow. Tonight it was just a matter of resting for the next day’s journey, and finding out if Mary and the others had any place to go or would they all travel together. The one benefit he could see was that they now had extra eyes to keep watch so that he and the others would be able to get more sleep. That would enable them to move more rapidly in the morning. Assuming none of the newcomers were like Heather. He knew he would have to keep an eye on them until he was sure, and wished that there was so way to find out more quickly. One thing he did do was divide the groups up into watches for the rest of the night. Mary was on duty with Mags, Mark was sharing duty with Aaron and he would take Cliff on his shift. That way at minimum there would always be one member of his group on duty. Dean went back to bed but sleep eluded him for a while as many new concerns went around and round in his head. Finally he drifted off to sleep and slept soundly until about five A.M. That was when Aaron stirred him awake.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“We have company coming this way. It looks like a platoon of men. What do we do?”

“How far away are they?”

“I don’t know maybe a quarter of a mile or so.”

“Then we get out before they know we are here.”

“I think they already know we are close by.” Cliff said. “I could make out their leaders ordering everyone to be quiet.”

“Maybe, then again maybe not. When on patrol you have to be as quiet as you can. But when you are moving through the woods, in the dark and carrying seventy pounds of weapons and equipment it isn’t easy. The idea is to see your enemy before they see you.”

Dean considered his options. They were depressingly few. When the three newcomers had shown up the odds were even. But with a platoon of men coming at the six of them, in body armor and with fully automatic weapons, they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. They had to run, but by doing so they would leave unmistakable signs of their passage. The only real option was for him to remain behind and hold off the platoon as long as possible so that the others could escape.

“Get everyone up and moving, but do it QUIETLY. I’ll delay them as long as I can so you guys can run for it.”

Mark looked at Dean strangely and then said, “YOU get them up and moving. I’ll stay. They need you more than they do me.”

“Mark, the chances of survival are very, very low outside of God taking a hand in this.”

“I know. You guys go. If God wills it, I’ll meet up with you later. If He doesn’t, then I’ll introduce you to Jesus when we meet again.”

“Are you certain? You don’t have the training.”

“No I don’t. But I know the longer we talk about it the closer they get. You need to move.”

Dean knew that much was true.

“Trade pistols with me.”

Mark handed his over and accepted Dean’s weapon.

“Why? Didn’t you say you only have about ten rounds?”

“Yes, but a .38 special is a man stopper. But if you hit them with a .22 it is only going to make them madder at you. Listen carefully. Wait until they are within range then fire one shot. Hit or miss it doesn’t matter. They are going to dive for cover. When they do, you move to a different location before you fire again. Do that after every shot. Try to make each move at least ten yards every time. If you can do that fast enough and often enough they are going to believe there is more than one of you. That will make them very cautious and slow them down a lot. That will give Mary, Cliff and the rest of us a better chance. Understand?”

“Shoot, move, shoot, move and try not to die. I got it.”

Dean held out his hand.

“May The Lord be with you.”

“And with you, now get out of here.”

By this time Aaron had already awakened everyone else and explained the situation to them. When Mary found out Mark was the one who would buy them the time to escape, she was not pleased.

“We’ve been together so long. Why do you have to stay? You’ll die.”

“We all die, Mary. In this case I’m blessed. I get to choose the time, place and reason. Besides, only The Lord knows if it is my time. Maybe I’ll scare them off. But either way you guys need to go.”

Mary threw her arms around him.

“Don’t get stupid. Run for it as soon as you can.”

“As soon as they think I’m an army, I’m out of here.”

“Mary, it’s time to go.” Dean told her. He looked at Mark. “Try to always keep something between you and them. Stay as low as you can and move quietly.”

“Consider it done.”

They five people moved off into the darkness. Dean led the way not heading straight uphill, but moving at an angle back and forth across the slope. It would take longer to reach the top, he knew. But it would be less tiring for everyone than just plunging straight ahead. And there was a long way to go. They all stopped and looked back when the first shot rang out as they closed on the top of the hill. It seemed to take forever for the next shot to be fired. This time it was answered with a barrage of automatic weapons fire. Silence again took control of the night for a few minutes. Then the .38 barked again, followed by a cry of pain. Again automatic weapons unleashed a hail of fire. Dean clearly heard the .38 fire at least eight times before and after they crossed the hilltop. Each shot was answered with automatic fire. But he noticed that the amount of return fire seemed to be diminishing. Dean wished he had had a man like Mark in his squad when he was engaging the Russians during the war. Maybe it would have ended sooner.

[day late]

Chapter Eighteen

Dean and the rest of the group were a mile or more away by the time the firing ended. It was Mary who first noticed it.

“The shooting has stopped.” She said. “Do you think they got him?” She asked Dean.

“Only God knows. Let’s pray that they didn’t.” He answered. “But if they did, let’s not waste his sacrifice. We have to keep moving.”

“But did they get him?”

“All I can tell you is that a .38 sounds different from an assault rifle. Mark had ten rounds and I counted eight shots from the .38. Maybe he pulled out before he ran out of ammo. Maybe some C.E.T. now has a .38 in his pocket with two rounds left. I don’t know, but we have to keep moving.”

Everything in Mary wanted to turn around and go to help Mark in whatever way she could. But she knew that it would be pointless. If he had escaped, there was no way she could know which way he had gone or how to find him. If he hadn’t escaped, then he was most likely dead and the effort would be even more pointless. She turned and followed Dean and the others.

“Where are we going?” Mags whispered to Dean.

“I was looking at the map we brought with us before it got too dark to see. About a mile or so ahead there is a swamp. We can use that to lose anyone trailing us.”

“How?”

“Simple. You don’t leave footprints in water, and even tracking dogs will lose your scent. You just disappear.”

“Won’t they find our tracks when we come out on the other side?”

“They might, IF we come out on the other side of the swamp.”

“Meaning?”

“They will be expecting us to just go right through the swamp. So that is the first place they are going to look. But if we can find a little creek or something that feeds into the swamp we can follow that for a ways and throw them even further off the track that way. We did that during the war to lose the Russians. It usually works pretty well.”

Aaron stared at Dean’s back.

“Dean, do you ever stop and think about what you have done?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t it ever bother you?”

“It used to bother me a lot, before becoming a Christian. Now that I have, it doesn’t matter what I did. I’m forgiven and that’s enough for me.”

Mary was surprised by the exchange, and began to truly believe Dean had changed because of The Lord and Dean’s study of The Bible.

“So what’s the plan?” Cliff asked.

“First we lose them in the swamp. Then, if we can’t find that creek I was talking about, we wait for them to go past us and backtrack the way we came.”

“If they have dogs, won’t they pick up the scent when they come back this way?”

“They might, but it is dark. They probably won’t see our tracks, so their handlers are going to assume that they just picked up on the scent they were following at first. The chances are that they will pull the dogs off the scent and go looking for a new trail somewhere else, that doesn’t exist.”

“Are all soldiers trained like you?” Cliff wanted to know.

“Soldiers are people. Some are better than others. The thick skulled knuckle dragger types don’t last long unless they are very, very lucky. The smart ones last longer, but even they make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes cost them and they pay a price.”

“Have you paid a price?” Aaron asked.

“Let’s just say I have scars I will carry to my grave and leave it at that.”

“Is that why you limp on your left leg?” Mags questioned.

“I thought I was past that.”

“You are, mostly. But when you get tired, it shows. Is that what you meant?”

“It is. Now please leave it alone. That was a bad day and I don’t want to relive it.”

Dean was quite serious in his words and everyone knew it. They continued to travel in silence in a downhill direction for over an hour. With the blackness of the night it was hard to believe that Dean could actually tell where he was going for Mary and Cliff. Aaron and Mags simply trusted and followed. After nearly an hour and a half Dean suddenly stopped. He turned to the others and told them,

“We’re here. Stay close to each other and try to make as little noise as possible.”

“How do you know we’re ‘here’?” Mary asked.

“I know because I’m ankle deep in water. Come on. Move slowly and quietly. DON’T lose sight of each other. If you get turned around out here, we could be ten feet from you and you’d never know it on a night like this.”

“Should we hold hands or something?” Mags asked.

“If you want to, go ahead. At least then if you get lost you won’t be alone.”

It had been a long time since Dean had seen a night as black as this one. He prayed as they made their way into ever deepening water. He prayed when the water reached about mid-thigh.

“Lord, I know there is a stream or something out here somewhere. But I can’t even guess about which way to go. Please show me the way to get these people out of here alive and uncaptured. Amen.”

As he had become accustomed to having it happen, a scripture came to mind.

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

“Dean?” Mary spoke after a while.

“What is it?”

“You said you are looking for a creek or stream, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well I noticed that when we got into this swamp the water was still. Now I’m feeling a current against my right leg. Could that be it?”

Dean stopped and waited. He focused his powers of observation on his legs and the feeling of the water. Mary was right. It was ever so slight and gentle, but there was a current pushing against his legs as well.

“Everybody, head upstream, against the current. This is what we have been looking for.”

The group began moving to their right. From time to time Dean would stop and feel for the current on his legs and move in the direction it was coming from. He knew that no river, creek or stream runs constantly in a straight line and they were zigzagging through the swamp, but there was no other choice. It would take them longer to find the stream or creek that way, but they did have the advantage of being un-track able by either man or dog while they were in the water. They also had the advantage of being able to hear their pursuers long before they could catch up with them. It took about thirty minutes before they came across the stream they were looking for.

From his war time experience Dean knew that certain trees absolutely thrived in the water. However others, such as pine trees did poorly or died when their roots were covered with water. He soon noticed that pine trees were growing on each side of him, but were not close to him. Ahead of him were trees that like the water better. He visually followed the ‘channel’ between the pine trees to his left and right, in order to remain in the stream as long as possible.

“Listen to me everybody.” Dean said. “We are going to follow this stream for a quarter or maybe a half a mile before we get on dry ground again. Understand what I’m saying don’t even touch a tree branch for support as you are walking. That will leave your scent and the dogs will find it. If that means you fall down and get soaked, then you fall down and get soaked. Being wet and maybe getting sick is better than being dead because the dogs found you.”

They all nodded assent without speaking. Even they had noticed the dog’s howls were getting closer. None wanted to make a sound that might give away their location. By listening Dean knew the dogs had reached the edge of the swamp where they had entered. He expected the handlers to begin to skirt the swap in order to find the scent of the group as they left it. Soon after they had left the swamp Dean heard something that made him happy he had chosen this route. Dogs barking and howling could be heard behind them. What surprised him was the speed with which they were moving. He soon realized that the dogs and their handlers would cut them off before their escape could be made. He looked around in the dark for an answer. Then he saw it. Before him was a small pond with a number of trees growing out of it. They were cypress trees for the most part, but many of them had branches low enough to the ground that they could be climbed. Being in the water, their scent wouldn’t carry for the dogs to find.

“Everyone, pick a tree and climb. Get as high as you can and then don’t even breathe hard.” He ordered.

Dean splashed over to a tree and followed his own advice. It seemed to take no time for him to be between ten and twelve feet off the surface of the water. He held the position and checked on the others. Aaron, Mary and Cliff were almost as high as he was. It was Mags that was having a problem. He wanted to climb down and help her. But he knew that if he did there was the chance that they both would be caught. The dogs were getting closer by the second. With as much as he wanted to help her, Mags was on her own. He watched as she grasped again and again for a branch that would help her get higher and out of sight. Time after time she would either miss it or her hand would slip off of it when she did manage to touch it. Finally he saw her look down. She changed the position of one foot and pushed herself higher. At that height she could easily grab the elusive branch and quickly climbed the tree. It was just in time. Men carrying flashlights and the leashes of howling dogs broke through the brush and made their way to the stream.

“Dang it! We got another creek to cross. I’m wet enough already. I say we go back. Won’t be the first time we’ve lost them Christians in a swamp.”

“Billy-Joe, if you want to go back, go ahead. But this trail is still fresh and I’m going to be tracking them until I find them. The bounty on them Christians is a good one.”

“Now Cletus, I never said I was GOING to give up. I just meant that this is getting to be a bit much. You know as well as I do that we lost the scent as soon as them Christians hit the water. We ain’t got no idea where they came out at. A man has to know when to call it quits.”

“Well if you want to quit, quit. I’m headed after them. Those folks probably just went right through this swamp and we’ll pick them up again on the far side. You want to come fine, we’ll split the bounty. But if you’re leaving, let me borrow your dogs. They aren’t giving up and the more noses I have on the ground will make it more likely I’ll find them.”

“YOU handle MY dogs! I’d rather shoot them first. I’ve seen the way you beat those hounds of yours. I ain’t letting that happen to my dogs.”

“Then either keep looking for the trail or get out of my way. There’s good money to be made out here tonight and I aim to get it.”

“All right, all right, let’s get moving. They must have come out somewhere close by.”

With that the dog handlers crossed the stream along with an even half dozen soldiers and continued their search into the night. As the pursuers moved off, Dean wondered how someone could place a higher value on an animal than on a man or woman that had never done any harm to him or his dogs. It was beyond his understanding. Dean waited until the light from the flashlights was a good half a mile away before he told the others to climb down so that they could continue their escape. He couldn’t help but notice that Mags seemed to be the worse for wear because of their flight. He also wasn’t surprised to see Aaron go to her side at once.

“Mags, I have to know. Are you alright?” Dean asked.

“I’ll be okay.”

“That’s not an answer. Are you alright?”

“I’m feeling a little sick. It’s like I’m coming down with a cold or the flu. That’s why I had such a hard time climbing that tree. I’ll be alright after we get out of here and I can get warm and dry.”

“Hang in there Mags. We only have half a mile before we get to dry ground. Then we’ll find a place to hold up and get you next to a fire.”

“It won’t be soon enough for me.”

Dean once again set the pace for the group as they continued to move upstream. This time the pace was slower. From his time in the service Dean knew the fastest pace set by any unit was dependant on its weakest member. It actually worked out in their favor. The slower pace meant they made less noise while moving though the water. Less noise meant a lower likelihood that they would be found. Dean had promised Mags that it would only be about half a mile before the once again struck out for dry ground. He regretted that it turned out to be more than a mile. The stream they were following turned out to bleed from one swamp into another. Just as he thought they would be able to get dry, another swamp appeared in front of them. He figured the more distance he could put between them and the dogs intent on finding their trail, the better. Finally they reached the edge of a swamp and there was no stream left to follow. If he had missed the current in their flight or the stream simply went underground, he didn’t know. What he did know was that Mags was having a harder and harder time of it by the minute. They had to stop and find a way to get her warm and dry.

Again Dean prayed for a way to help Mags. He needed a place and a way to warm her up to help prevent her from getting worse. Again a scripture came to mind.

Psa 143:8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

Psa 143:9 Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

They continued into the night, heading slightly uphill until Dean found more of an overhanging piece of rock than a cave. He called a halt.

“Alright, we will spend the rest of the night here. Everybody find a place to bed down. Mary, I want you to find a place large enough for three people.”

“Three people, why?”

“Mags needs to be kept warm. I don’t think lighting a fire would be a good idea. I want you and Aaron to sleep on either side of her and help keep her warm with your body heat. Those Mylar blankets are good at reflecting heat. That’s about the best we can do for now.”

“I understand.” Was all Mary said.

Due to the overhanging rock, the ground was dry, which Dean was glad to see. Even though the night wasn’t that cold he knew that sleeping with nothing between your body and the ground was a bad idea. Bare earth would virtually sap the heat from your body, which could lead to hypothermia. If you had to sleep on the ground, dry was better than damp or wet. And with three people under a couple of Mylar blankets they should be warm enough.

“I guess that means you and I are going to be bedmates.” Cliff said.

“What makes you think that?”

“When I was younger, Dad and I spent some time camping, hunting and fishing. I know what you are doing with those three. And I know we don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. We sleep together or freeze separately.”

Dean smiled. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one with a clue.”

“Just be warned. I snore.”

“That’s okay, so do I.”

“Shouldn’t we post guards?”

“Maybe, but we left those guys with no idea of which way we went, and more than a mile behind us. It’s getting close to four-thirty, by now they are wet, tired and getting really short with dogs that are the same way. I’m guessing that by now they have given up for the night and will start fresh in the morning. I think we can get a couple of hours of shut-eye before they start again and we still have the advantage of them not being sure where we are. Let’s get some sleep.”

The five of them settled in for the night. While Mags wasn’t comfortable being sandwiched between two other people, the extra warm did her good. It was four hours later when Aaron shook Dean awake.

“Come on, we’ve got to get moving.”

“Take it easy Aaron. We’ll get to Atlanta and find your folks.”

“No, we won’t.”

“What are you talking about? That’s where we have been headed.”

“Last night, I had a visitor. We are going the wrong way. We have to go northwest.”

[day late]

Chapter Nineteen

“What are you talking about?” Dean asked. “We’ve always been headed towards Atlanta to try to find your parents.”

“We were. But like I told you, I had a visitor last night and he said we need to change direction to the northwest.”

“Who came to see you? I never heard or saw anyone.”

“It was Gabriel.”

“Do you mean THE Gabriel, the messenger of God?”

“One and the same.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m as sure as I can be. He attested that Jesus is THE Son of God and our Savior. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for us and rose from the dead so that we can join Him in Heaven.”

“That’s about as sure as you can be I guess.” Dean said. “Did he say where we are going?”

“Just that we need to head northwest, actually more north-northwest, and that we will be guided along the way.”

“Then I guess we’d better grab something we can eat while we’re on the way and get moving.”

“Dean, how can you be so sure which way is north? You don’t have a compass, do you?” Mary asked.

“I know from something I learned a long time ago. If the sun comes up on your right hand and goes down on your left, you are going north. Illiterate slaves used that as a means of navigation when they escaped and went north to freedom before and during the Civil War.”

“What if it is night?”

“The same is true for the moon.”

“What about cloudy days or nights?”

“Even if it is a cloudy day, your eyes can still detect the light from the sun. When you look up, the place where your eyes start to hurt is the approximate location of the sun. At night you look for the brightest area of the sky. It’s not perfect, but it gives you a good idea.”

Cliff looked at Dean and said, “I get the feeling there is a lot more about you than we know and we should know it.”

“No not about me. But there are things I can teach you that may be of help in the future.”

“Things like what?”

“I don’t know, there are so many things. But when we find a situation that no one else knows what to do about, listen to what I have to say. Come on, we need to grab that food and get moving. Aaron, you were the one that was spoken too, you lead the way.”

Soon after that the group was on the move again. It was later that day, on towards evening, before one of those situations came up. They came across a small slow river, which blocked their path. Aaron and Cliff at once started looking for some kind of boat they could use to cross the river. However it soon became obvious that while there were boats along the river, they either were occupied or were tied up some place, near people, which put them out of reach.

“Okay Dean, what do we do now?” Cliff asked.

“We float across, by swimming very slowly.”

“Don’t you think that someone is going to notice five people swimming this river?”

“If we just swam across it absolutely, but we aren’t going to do that.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“The first thing is to get a lot of brush. We will tie it together and make it look like deadfall in the water. We will be inside that deadfall, swimming for the other side.”

“Dean, anyone will notice deadfall going across the current instead of with it.”

“That’s right. But if we kick only once or twice every minute, it will take time to cross, but that movement will be slow enough that it won’t be noticed.”

“Dean, I can’t swim that well.” Mags told him. “I’m likely to drown, or give you guys away. Maybe you should cross without me.”

“Don’t worry I have a plan for that. We will all go together. Now everyone, start gathering brush and remember, not all deadfall is still green. Mix in some dead stuff. A little moss to break up your outline wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

Slowly but surely the pile of brush began to grow. Before half an hour was up, Dean called a halt to it.

“All right, that should do it. Each of you needs to tie enough of this together to hide your head and shoulders. The rest of you will be under water, so don’t worry about that. You don’t have to be completely out of sight, but you need to break up the outline of your upper body. And remember, when a tree or branch falls into the water. The branches still all point the same direction as they did when it was growing. Don’t have them pointing in different directions.”

“Dean I still can’t swim very well and I don’t think a few branches is going to do much to help.” Mags was worried.

“And you won’t have to swim.”

“What do you mean?”

“Make your deadfall bundle first and then I’ll show you.”

She began to do so, wondering how she could cross a river without swimming. Under Dean’s keen eye they all put together a bundle that look as if it had fallen into the water, somewhere upstream. When they finished he reached into his pack and pulled out a roll of heavy duty plastic garbage bags. He tore of two bags from the roll at a time and handed them to each member of the group, and then he spoke to them again.

“Okay, everyone listen to me. If you want to live, this is time and place that all modesty goes out the window. Each of us must strip down to their underwear. Your clothes, shoes, pack’s and all of the rest of it go into the first bag. Try to get as much air as you can into that bag, and then seal it as tightly as you can. After that, you turn the bag over and put it into the second bag. Again, get as much air in that bag as you can. Those bags will float like that. Think of how heavy a ship is, but the air inside the ship doesn’t let it sink. That’s the idea here.”

“Okay, the bags float, but how does that help me?” Mags asked.

“They will give you something to hold on to so you can keep your head above water. After that, you just kick your legs every so often to keep moving across the river. Can you do that?”

“I can do that, but won’t they see me?”

“That’s the reason for the bunches of deadfall. We cover ourselves with those and slowly make our way across. We will look just like debris in the water and nobody will give us a second glance. There are just two things you need to be careful of. First, don’t get a hole in the bags. If you do they will sink like a stone and if you make it to the other side, what you will have is what you are wearing. The second is to keep the opening of the outside bag above water at all times, for the same reasons.”

“Won’t it look strange for all of this deadfall to be going down river all together?” Aaron asked.

“It will if we do it that way. We will have to spread out over a wide area. That will reduce the chances that we will be spotted. All right everyone. It is time to strip down.”

Dean knew that a leader MUST lead. He at once began to remove his clothes and place them in the first bag. From the corner of his eye he noticed that the others were somewhat shy about doing this. Both of the ladies turned their backs and followed his example. Aaron and Cliff, being a bit less shy but being courteous of the women did turn their eyes to avoid looking at them. However they were unashamed by each witnessing the other undress. It took only a few minutes before the group was ready for the river crossing. Dean picked up his bag and his deadfall bundle and told them,

“Follow me and be quiet.”

In the thick brush by the river’s edge he laid down in the shallow water, pulled his bag close to him and covered them both with the deadfall. He gave one last set of instructions.

“Try to stay ten yards apart. And try to keep the thickest part of deadfall between you and anyone you see on the bank. But don’t be obvious about it. We don’t want to arouse suspicions. Just let the river do the work. When you get to the other side, find a place where you can get ashore without being seen. Then let your deadfall bundle go. It could be months before anyone finds them, if they ever do.”

With that he gently eased his way into the stream, trying to look like driftwood and for the most part allowed the current to carry him where it would. Once, twice sometimes three times a minute he would give a kick with his legs to move him closer to the far side, but never more than that. The fading daylight helped them pull off the ruse. The only problem any of them had was when a baseball pitcher want-to-be started throwing rocks at Dean’s deadfall. He wasn’t very good, but on the occasion a rock did hit it, Dean would give a sudden kick and move his deadfall a little closer to the far side of the river. As a result he was the first one to make it to the other side. He found a spot where the weeds were plentiful and eased his way onto shore, quickly hiding himself in the brush there.

Dean knew that the others would drift further down river, and so dried himself as well as he could, redressed and followed the river and the others as they made their way across. Mags was the first to make it. She had followed Dean in hopes that if anything went wrong he would be able to help. Fifty feet further along Aaron came ashore. He had followed Mags in case something happened to her, he wanted to be there to help. Mary was next, about one hundred feet away and Cliff another hundred feet beyond her. Soon all of them were as dry as they could be and were once again on the move. The one thing Dean knew he was happy about was dry shoes and socks. Walking in wet ones was a quick way to disable you. Aaron again took the lead and continued going to the north-northwest as he had been instructed.

Over the next couple of weeks, Dean continued to share his skills with his companions. At one point they saw a patrol coming towards them in a long narrow ravine. The patrol was about half a mile away. For most of the group the choice was obvious, run. Dean stopped them.

“Look we’ve already come a long way into this ravine. There are places where there is little to no cover at all. We will be sure to spotted if we go back the way we came. Then all they have to do is radio ahead and have us cut off. Our best chance is to hide.”

“How do we do that?” Aaron asked. “There aren’t any caves or anything big enough to hide behind.”

“We become plants on the slopes.”

“Are you talking about ghilly suits?” Cliff asked.

“It’s similar. Most people don’t look up unless there is a reason. As quickly and quietly as we can we work our way about ten or fifteen feet up the slopes on both sides. Break off braches and even pull up shrubs if you have too. Use those to cover yourself and then just don’t move. On your way up try to stay on the rocks. That way you don’t leave footprints.”

“So that’s why you had us climb those trees in the swamp.” Aaron said.

“That and to make sure the dogs didn’t pick up our scent. Let’s go we don’t have much time.”

Aaron and Mags went up one of the slopes while Dean, Mary and Cliff took the other. They were fortunate that while it was sparse there was some shrubbery to hide behind. Each of them got more undergrowth and after making themselves as small as they could, hid and stopped moving. It seemed to take forever for the approaching squad of men to reach them. Dean waited until he saw the last man go past them and over a ridge a quarter of a mile away and disappear before he signaled the others to break cover and move on. They moved on until close to nightfall when they spotted a long abandoned hunting cabin. With as isolated as it was Dean felt certain they could spend at least this night under a roof. The first thing he had every do was to cover all of the windows so that any light from inside wouldn’t be seen outside. He also felt that given the remoteness of the area they could afford to have a small fire in the fireplace. After eating what few supplies they had left Dean asked Aaron,

“Do you have any idea of how much further we have to go? If it is very far we are going to have to find some food.”

“I haven’t heard a word. But it can’t be far.”

“Let’s hope not.”

They made an early night of it and all of them were awake just after dawn. Each of them shouldered their now much too light packs and got ready to go. Mags had the same question as Dean, for Aaron as they stepped outside of the cabin.

“How much further is it to where we have to go, Aaron?”

“I really don’t know. I know we had to make it this far, but after that, well I’m waiting on The Lord to tell me.”

Being his usual observant self, Dean had an answer.

“For good or bad, we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Mary asked.

“There is a bush about ten feet behind you, and it is holding a rifle.”

As one the group turned to look. Only Dean saw what was there.

“I see you. Are you here to help us or to kill us?”

A bush then stood up and began walking towards them. The rifle wasn’t pointed at them but it was at the ready, stopping a few feet away it answered in a female voice.

“That depends. Who is Jesus Christ?”

“He is the only begotten Son of The Father, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead for our salvation.”

The rifle lowered. “Glad to hear it. Allen, come on in.”

Another bush rose and moved towards them.

“Cindy, I’ve warned you about being so trusting.”

“He already spotted me. No reason not to talk to them. Besides, you had my back.”

Allen removed his head covering and did the same with Cindy.

“What am I going to do with you woman?”

“Live with me for the rest of our lives.”

“Count on that.” He looked at Dean. “You seem to be the folks we were told to look for. You’re Dean, right?”

“I am.”

“Do you know someone named Mark?”

“I used to know someone by that name. He covered us as we had to run from C.E.T.’s. I think he is dead now.”

Allen turned his head and pointed at yet another bush and signaled. Another camouflaged person stood and moved to them. Mary was surprised when the man walked up to her and joyfully hugged her.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

Again a head covering came off.

“Yeah, you do.” It was Mark.

“I thought you were dead.”

“Close but not quite.” He turned to Dean and handed him a revolver. “This belongs to you.”

Dean took the weapon, pocketed it and returned Mark’s pistol to him and asked, “How did you get here? What happened that night?”

“Shoot, move, shoot, move and try not to die. That was the plan, remember? The only way I can explain it is that it was The Lord’s doing. I’ve never even heard of something like what happened.”

“So what happened?”

“It was just like you said, after the first shot they all ducked. I moved to another spot and waited. Soon they started to move again and I got a second shot. But here’s the weird thing. After that second shot, every time I fired a deer or some other animal would jump up and run. They shot at it, and not at me.”

“Didn’t they see the muzzle flash from the pistol?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they thought that after I fired I was running away and shot at whatever was moving. I know that there are eight of them that won’t shoot at anybody again, or if they do, it will be a long time before they can.”

“Then it WAS The Lord protecting you that night. Once the first shot is fired ALL animals scatter. The fact they remained could only be His work.”

As they spoke, one more bush walked over to the group.

“If you people are finished with the homecoming greetings, we need to get moving.”

Allen looked over at him. “Sorry Dad. We had to be sure.”

“I understand. Now let’s get this show on the road. We’ve got a few miles to put behind us so we can get to the shelter before nightfall.” The bush looked at Dean. “You seem to have understanding of these matters. What about your people?”

“They are learning and they catch on quick.”

“Good enough. Is there anything else you need from the cabin?”

“We already packed up.”

“Wait a minute. I forgot.” Mags said. She returned to the cabin and returned holding her Bible. “I was reading last night. I left it by my bed.”

“Well we can’t fault you for going back for that.”