James on the other hand really likes Lauren, and doesn’t want to offend, thus he welcomes the silence to allow things to cool; but he can’t help feeling there’s something going on inside of her, something that if she let him, he could help soothe. He attempts a smooth transition from the prior topic and moving on, says, “Yep, Dad the minister, Mom the Sunday school teacher—Hey, there you go again, how’d you guess my dad was a minister?”
Ooops! Lauren had definitely slipped! Her annoyance had gotten the best of her and caused her to divulge information he had not told her! Caught, she needed a quick fix, but the young agent’s mind was a blank! She would have to gloss over it with charm. “Well, anyone as well raised as you with such faith, and, um—you said that he was teaching Sunday school, so …”
James accepts her reasoning and continues, “You’re right, my dad is a minister and yes, we were definitely raised to believe that God is love and good. They didn’t force religion on us, we just grew to accept that it all made sense. As Joe would say, You either believe or you don’t. He either is or he isn’t. Makes no sense for him to be one way and take all this time to tell us about another way that he isn’t.”
Lauren, “What?”
“I know. It’s hard to understand the way he put it, but that’s my brother for you. It’s like this, you may believe God exists, as most people do; but they just don’t believe he’s like it says in the Bible. But why would we have a Bible that tells us he’s good if he’s not actually good? Why would he risk us finding out that he’s bad? Wouldn’t he just create us to like whatever way he actually was, and have us believe that that is good?”
Lauren, “Wow, okay, okay. I think I get it … you know I’m really beginning to believe you.”
James, with tremendous surprise, “Really!”
“Yes, your brother is a little nutty.”
Realizing what she meant James laughs and adds, “Yeah, he’s without a doubt the best brother I know of—in his own nutty little way!”
Lauren says with a serious tone, “I want to tell you I really think your folks have done an excellent job with you two. I hardly know you, and have never met Joe, but you strike me as terrific people. I can’t necessarily agree with all of your beliefs, but I can see that you have a great peace in what you believe, and that’s great.”
“Well, thank you.”
“PHEW!” He thinks to himself, “seems like we got out of that one unscathed.” He cannot figure out how they keep talking about these sensitive things. Everybody knows you don’t talk religion or politics with someone you just met!
Just when he thought it was over, Lauren says, “It’s unfortunate that Joe’s theory doesn’t hold water though, not really.”
James, who can’t help but defend what he believes says, “Oh?”
“Well, as our career path would indicate,” motioning her hand to indicate the two of them, “lots and lots and lots of people don’t seem to like God’s way, so they must not like the way he is, and therefore the Bible doesn’t tell them of a God who is as most people would like. In fact, it would appear they’d prefer a god who could appreciate their craftiness or one who punishes people who think they’re better than they are!”
James slips in an incredulous, “Nooooo.”
“Else how do you explain the popularity of bumper stickers that say, My kid beat up your honor roll student?”
“I hate that bumper sticker.”
“Me too, I was on the honor roll, but how do you explain that?”
James takes a moment. “Okay, first, of all, of the millions—what is it, a hundred and fifty million?—of that or more U.S. automobiles, that bumper sticker is on only a small, small percentage of cars, so it isn’t as bad as it seems. But the reason it exists at all, I think, is more an indicator of our need to say or do something that shocks people; along with some misplaced resentment.”
Lauren thinks a second and says, “I suppose you’re right. But I still believe that lots of people would prefer a god who is more like them.”
“As much as I hate to differ with the pilot of my plane here, I think people think they would prefer that, but most of us recognize our own failings and if we were truly honest with ourselves would not want the Supreme Being to be as flawed as we are. It would be disastrous.”
“I don’t know, I can think of a couple of criminals that I would have liked God to sock it to!”
“Even if it meant that someone you loved would get socked for something wrong they did?”
Lauren says, with some firmness, “No, I’d want the bad guys who do bad things to get it, but the good people who occasionally might do something bad to get a pardon.”
“Don’t you think that if good people always got a pardon for their occasional bad behavior that they wouldn’t become increasingly bad and the behavior less occasional?”
Totally frustrated, Lauren let’s lose for a moment, “Oh, I don’t know all of that. God! You really are into this! Maybe they would, but there’s got to be a way to get the bastards that kill thousands of innocent people!”
James thinks to himself, “Wow! Looks like I really struck a nerve! Me and my big mouth! I hope I haven’t ruined everything.” Though he could debate this point further, he certainly he didn’t want to prod what was obviously a sore spot! After half a minute and a deep sigh he simply says, “Yeah, I know how you feel; seems God’s system isn’t designed for balance here. I think it’s more designed for balance between here and eternity.”
And on that comment, Lauren is done. Not due to anger, but she sees that this is getting her nowhere, and the potential for yet another deep tangent was developing. James apparently could talk about God all day long! And she has neither the time nor the experience to navigate those waters. She has already let one outburst slip out, and was on the brink of letting another one fly! She cannot herself figure why he’s affecting her this way, but it doesn’t matter. She thinks to herself, “This has been all quite interesting, but it isn’t exactly the information I’m after!” On top of that, she needs to get to a stopping point to connect with Hinton and the team and deliver what she has. By this point they are cordial enough that she feels can float a more direct almost-question to get them back on subject. “James, I won’t argue your point, and I still find your brothers episodes super interesting. Tell me this, does everyone in your family believe as you do … about where Joe was getting his insights?”
“Well, I think so. We honestly haven’t even talked about it in years and years. Pretty much since the last one, which was about our church fire.”
“BINGO! WHO’S YOUR DADDY!” Shouts Lauren on the inside! She’d done it, she’d finally gotten on the topic she needed! Inside she’s dancing, but outside she’s calm and collected. The only problem now is she doesn’t know what’s more important, intel on what other family members believed about Joseph, or intel on the church fire Hinton asked about! “Okay,” she thinks, “let’s stay the course, the fire can wait, the source is the key to the whole mystery of how to protect the president.” She leans towards him and says:
“So, let me ask it another way. I never told anyone about my apprehension about fire, ’cause I didn’t really have a clue where it was coming from; I couldn’t explain it. So, when James–”
“I’m James,” he interrupts.
She scrunches up her face and says, “I meant Joe, sorry. So when Joe told you guys what he was hearing from God, how did you all respond?”
“Hmm. That’s actually harder to explain. Really it’s my mom who got it out of him. He just kept saying that he heard it said in church.”
Lauren thinks, “In church, Oh, God! That could be any of a couple of hundred people! If we’re gonna save the president this case has got to wrap in the next twenty-four hours!”
James, seeing her facial expression drop, asks, “Lauren, are you okay? You just got pale.”
Lauren, recollecting herself, “Uh, no … I’m okay. I’m sorry, I just remembered something I forgot
to do.”
“You were suppose to call your mom back, do you want to pull over and have me drive?”
Lauren, thinking quick on her feet says, “I’ll call her when we next stop which I’ll make soon. You can take over some driving duties then.”
“Sounds like a plan. So where was I?”
Lauren reminds him, “You were saying that Joe was hearing premonitions in church.”
“Yeah, that’s what my mom told us he told her at first. What happened was, Joe said something after church one day and my mom asked him where did he hear that? He said that he heard it in church. But then she asked him some questions about who said it, and that led her to think he was really hearing from God.”
Lauren unable to contain herself, “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Who did he say said it?”
“You’ll have to ask my mom or dad, but they came away believing that it was actually God … which really puts a whole new light on what he’d written in his journal. My dad checked to see if there was any person telling Joe anything, and when none could be found he figured it was legitimate.”
Lauren interjects, “Since he’s a minister though, he was probably a little predisposed to believe him.”
James, shakes his head. “No, actually the opposite. First of all, my dad is a bit of a skeptic himself, he was the last to accept what seemed to be going on, and as a minister, he didn’t want anyone to even know about it unless he could verify that it wasn’t a hoax.”
Lauren, with real pondering, “Hmm, you know, that makes sense … Interesting.”
“So now you know our deep dark family secret, and you are sworn to secrecy.”
“I know.” She leans towards him playfully and says with a thick mock accent, “I’ll take it to my grave!”
This puts a big smile on James Market’s face. He is quite pleased that the conversation and their new friendship seem to have rebounded so well. It had withstood its first disagreement.
Agent Coles is also happy. Not only did the conversation return to pleasantries, but, it netted some good information; and she is eager to pass it on to the team. She doesn’t have the goods on the church fire yet, but as timing would have it, a cluster of fast food restaurants was rapidly approaching. She says, “please don’t think me a cheapskate, but there happens to be another McDonald’s up there and we could do the switch there.”
“Sure, like I said, I love Chez Donald’s.”
Lauren thinks to herself, “I cannot indiscreetly disappear into the ladies room for fifteen minutes again.” So, handing him a ten dollar bill to pay for their meals, she provides the excuse, “James, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna take the opportunity to talk to my mom and privately straighten out a matter with Kevin.”
“With who? Oh, is that the guy that called?”
“Yes.”
• • •
Meanwhile, Agent Hinton has completed his scans, and using a cable to connect his scanner to his cell phone he has uploaded them to the rest of the team. He places his hand scanner back in his briefcase of personal supplies and then begins to wonder what else he might have in his arsenal. He goes to the trunk of the rental car to investigate the supplies courtesy of Deputy Director Danning and finds two large black umbrellas, a battery-powered bull horn, a rifle case, and a set of very high power binoculars. He smiles a very slight smile and says, “Boy this guy IS some sort of freakin’ genius.”
He settles back into the driver’s seat and positions the car where he can keep a look on the house from his location several blocks away. At that moment his cell phone rings and he answers with a simple, “Hinton.”
“Hi, it’s Agent Coles. My apologies, sir, I’ve got several phone calls to make so I’ve got to talk fast. Are you clear?”
Hinton smiles and appreciates her slight slip of protocol “Yes, go ahead”
“Here’s what I know. This is a highly religious family. The older brother definitely has at least one—perhaps a set of journals also. The family is very close-knit. In fact the reason he’s heading home is to support Mom after the fire. I’d describe him as a caring son. Doesn’t seem to be a girlfriend in the picture. Apparently Joe’s premonitions only lasted a short while when he was five to six years old. I don’t know what the total count is yet; I’d say at least three. They were taken in stride ’til he successfully predicted Arlene or Agnes Freed’s death—there’s some confusion on the name. James and the father were skeptical at one time, but there’s no indication that either ever suspected anyone else’s involvement. Mom seems to have the best intel on who, if anyone, said anything to the son with regard to the predictions. The last one was definitely the church fire. Uh. Let’s see, the boys both knew the FBI Agent, Phelps, who sent us the journal page. His death hit them pretty hard. That’s about it.”
Hinton follows, “Good work, any detail on the church fire at all?”
“No. We’re just getting to that … the bad news here is, either this was actually the kid hearing from God as they all seem to believe, or we’re looking at any of two hundred plus congregants at their church.”
Hinton looks at his watch and says, “That’s the nightmare isn’t it? We’re coming up on thirty, thirty-one hours ’til this whole thing either happens or doesn’t, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Well, I found James’ journals. If you check the uplink you should have scans of all of the pages dated from before the first incident ’til after the last.”
“That’s great, but it cannot be ’til after the last ’cause he started keeping his journal on the computer. We’ve got an email that confirms that.”
“Oh, so what’s the end date?”
At that moment a black sedan with tinted windows pulls next to Hinton’s. Surprisingly they caught him off-guard, as they seem to have come out of nowhere and stop directly beside him. At first he thinks it’s local police, but for some reason they look a little scary. Hinton decides to go for the badge, raising it to the window he shows his ID. FBI.
Looking over, the younger of the two, on the passenger side, powers down the tinted window to show a badge of his own. NSA.
Hinton’s expression shows a tinge of disappointment. He says to Lauren, “Miss Coles, we seem to have some babysitters on site. National Security. So I can’t do a real debrief. Here’s the three-sentence version: Everything from James’ journal is online. Church fire was investigated by the locals and cleared the Market family beyond doubt. There is no evidence indicating anything odd; unless you’re like me, and find God is my source a hard pill to swallow. And by the way, I’ve been asked to check out the administrative assistant to the father. Your research assistants have all my notes.”
Lauren says quickly, “Why do you think NSA is involved?”
Hinton, “I dunno, but I guess I’m about to find out.” He hangs up and turns to the NSA agents, “Sorry guys. So, what’s your story? I mean, what brings your noses to the little town of Middletown this nice Saturday morning?”
Coldly the agent at the wheel, who looks to be about thirty-two, responds, “Good afternoon Agent Hinton.” Handing him their business cards he continues, “My name is Clarkson, this is Pratt. The case you are on, which we are now calling NS2100A-Economic Safety, has been granted oversight by your office to our office. If you call your bosses in Washington, you’ll see that from this point forward, nothing will proceed without being cleared through a joint task force between the three departments, headed by the National Security Administration. Our man on the case is Al Wheaton, who will be directly overseeing Deputy Director, Danning, and one Assistant Director of Field Operatives, Guillermo William Ramirez.”
Hinton, with a certain air of contempt, “Is that right?”
The NSA agent looks at him and says sternly, “Agent Albert Warren Hinton, this is not a TV movie, sir; we are not going to waste time arguing; drop the attitude or resign from the case. We have six agents rushing to Middletown at this moment. There are two agents on the father’s office in New York; t
wo agents reviewing the family of deceased agent, Carl Phelps; six agents covering every overseas connection of the Phone-Tools company Inc.; and I’m not sure how many more checking every church member who attended the Middletown Christian Fellowship from 1996 to 1997. There is no time for amateurs or nonsense. Your new assignment, if you are electing to stay on the case, is solely to protect the Market family with your life until which time additional agent or agents from your office come on the scene. My partner and I are on our way to locate and assist in the safe arrival of Agent Coles and the son, and the Service is sending two more men down to be one-to-one with your protectees.”
Hinton, impressed but still getting his mind around all they have said, just sits there a moment, prompting NSA Agent Clarkson, to add:
“That is all, sir.”
“Understood. I um, so I can assume you are on top of administrative assistant–”
“You may leave Miss Brayson to us.”
Humbled, Hinton agrees to the new terms and calls his boss, Bill Ramirez, to confirm what the NSA agents told him. As he dials, NSA Agent Clarkson powers up the tinted window and the sedan slips quietly away. After learning the scoop from Ramirez he text messages Lauren a note that says, “Case NSA now, cntct HD for dtails.”
Lauren is talking to her mom when the message comes in. She glances at it, frowns a little, then gets back to her conversation.
Mrs. Coles asks, “So how old is he, what’s he like?”
Lauren, “Mom, I really can’t. I’m on a case and I just wanted you to know that everything is going well. He is just someone I’m giving a ride as I go to a wedding as a part of the assignment, and that’s all I can say.”
With a very knowing smile, Mrs. Coles says, “Laurie, who do you think you’re kidding, you would never have bothered to call me from work just to say that! What’s going on?”
Lauren drops her shoulders and says in whispered tones, “Ugh, okay, Mom I need to ask you a question, and don’t freak out on me or anything.”
The Journal: A Prophecy, A President & Death Page 12
