Times of Turmoil: Christian End Times Thriller (Book 1)

by Cliff Ball

  Chapter 6

  Six years later….

  “Gianni, I trust you know what you’re doing. If you disappoint me, there will be consequences,” Gregory said to the short Italian man in front of him.

  “I make my living doing this, Mr. Evans, so you need not worry that I mess this up. You have my word that it’ll be taken care of. Just say when,”

  “The ‘when’ will be next week. You will have the flight plan and where I’d like it to happen, the ‘how’ is up to you. In the meantime, I will discuss the travel plans with my family, while I’ll make some excuse as to why I can’t go with them. I have some important business to take care of in Washington in the meantime, so I’ll leave you to your work, Gianni.”

  Gregory went to the Capital to watch Senate hearings about the threat of Communism in the United States. The Senator leading the charge when it came to exposing this threat was the Republican from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who was doing his best to expose Soviet spies and sympathizers to Communism that he claimed had infiltrated the United States, specifically the State Department.

  Gregory thought McCarthy had the right idea, but the wrong target, and if McCarthy continued on this path, he would eventually stumble onto what was really happening. So, McCarthy needed to be discredited. Earlier, Gregory had Edward R. Murrow go on television to expose McCarthy’s methods to make him look like he was a nutcase, which effectively made public opinion of McCarthy plummet. Now, Gregory was looking for the coup de grace that would finally finish off the Senator, and he believed he had found it. McCarthy was going after the United States Army and Gregory knew that even the most ardent supporters of McCarthy wouldn’t dare to back him up.

  Gregory was sitting behind the Army’s chief legal representative, Joseph Welch, as he was getting into a heated exchange with McCarthy. McCarthy was attacking the reputation of a man named Fred Fisher, a lawyer who he thought was a Communist and was working for Welch, but had been replaced in these hearings because of his association with the left-leaning National Lawyers Guild. When McCarthy suggested that Welsh fire Fisher, Fisher replied, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me,”

  “But, what about….”

  Welsh interrupted the Senator. “Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir?”

  “Is he or is he not a member of the Communist Party?”

  “Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further.”

  “You need to answer my questions, Mr. Welsh,”

  “I’m done here. Why don’t you call your next witness?”

  Then the audience in the gallery erupted into applause.

  Gregory nodded to one of the Senator’s that he had bought, who said, “I think now would be a good time for a recess. We’ll reconvene some other time when it’s deemed appropriate.” then he banged the gavel and dismissed the committee.

  Gregory went to meet with a few Senators he had in his pockets, to convince them to finally do something about this McCarthy character. He told them, “You need to bring disciplinary action against McCarthy, if you don’t, he’ll discover the truth about you and about what I’m doing. I’m sure that you gentlemen wouldn’t want to be exposed for the charlatans that you are. Am I correct?”

  They looked at each other, and the Senator from Vermont spoke up, “I’m afraid you’re right. He needs to be contained. Senator Watkins, would you like to chair the Censure Committee?”

  “Of course, I would be honored. I’ll begin to lay the groundwork and I think we’ll open hearings in August. Would this be suitable to you, Mr. Evans?”

  “I believe so. Just don’t dawdle too long, because Senator McCarthy needs to be stopped as soon as possible. I’m counting on this happening, don’t disappoint me,”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Evans.” the Senators answered at the same time.

  “Excellent. To re-emphasize what I’ve told all of you before: As long as you do what I want, you will continue to be United States Senators and enjoy all the accoutrements that come with being one. If any of you cross me once, your lives will be ruined. Am I understood?” The Senators nodded their heads that they understood, so Gregory said, “Now that I’ve made myself perfectly clear, I will take my leave of you. Good day, gentlemen.” Gregory exited with his shoulders back and his back stiff.

  A day later, Gregory found his wife dictating to their gardener what she wanted in the yard, “Jorge, you will put a Weeping Willow over there, by the pond. I think it will look nice. When can you get to it?”

  “Señora, I will plant one tomorrow. I will go to the nursery and pick one up.”

  “Gracias, Jorge.” Then she saw her husband, and said, “Hi Gregory, what’s up?”

  “How would you like to spend the whole month of July in the Bahamas?”

  “I love the idea. Would it be me and you?”

  “How about we take your parents along too? I’m sure your father could use some well-deserved time off. Do you think he’d do it?”

  “I’m sure my parents would love it. But, what’s the catch, Gregory?”

  “Catch? There’s no catch. I think we deserve a vacation is all,”

  “Ok, I’ll believe you. But, what are we going to do about Jason?” asked Evelyn, who was referring to their five-year-old son.

  “Jason will stay here with the Nanny. This’ll be an adults-only vacation, but he’ll be able to go on plenty of vacations in the future, I promise,”

  “He’ll be disappointed that he can’t go,”

  “Disappointments are a part of life, the more he has now, the less it’ll bother him in the future. I’ll make arrangements and then we’ll go at the beginning of next month,”

  “I think that’s kind of harsh, Gregory,” Evelyn attempted to scold Gregory.

  “Well, that’s life. Better to know it now than later. Anyway, why don’t you go tell your parents about the trip, I’m sure they’ll be just as excited as you are.”

  Evelyn shrugged, knowing Gregory would never change his attitude or inflexibility when it came to life in general. She thought something might be up with this surprise announcement about going to the Bahamas, but she wasn’t sure if she was just paranoid. Instead of arguing with her husband, she replied, “I hope they will be excited. I don’t think my parents have ever been to the Bahamas. I’ll go call them and ask them if they’d like to come with us.” then she went to the house to call her parents.

  Two weeks later, the trip to the Bahamas was all set-up. The Thompson’s agreed to go with Gregory and Evelyn, and it took Evelyn very little convincing for her parents to agree to come. Gregory told Gianni when the flight would take place, so Gianni went to work on the next phase of the plan.

  The day before the trip, Gregory pasted a sad look on his face while they were eating dinner. “Dear, I have some bad news about me being able to go on the trip,”

  Evelyn’s eyebrows shot up, she suspected something might happen to prevent him from going, now she’d be able to hear from the horses’ mouth what excuse he had to weasel out of the trip. “Ok, what’s your excuse?”

  “E
xcuse? I am going to the Bahamas, but it’ll have to be later in the day. A problem with a couple of Senators regarding Joe McCarthy has popped up and I have to take care of it,”

  “Can’t you get one of your minions to do that?”

  “I wish I could, but these particular Senators need some personal persuasion from me. My minions would only mess everything up without me thinking for them. Don’t you worry, Hon, I’ll be in the Bahamas tomorrow night,”

  “You better be, because if you don’t, you’ll never hear the end of it from me. I wish there was a way to get a hold of you every hour or so, like some kind of portable phone, that way I know where you are at all times. Unfortunately, nothing like that exists. Oh well.” then Evelyn shrugged, went back to eating, and thought about the excuses Gregory always seems to find when something family-related came up.

  The next day, around noon, Evelyn and her parents boarded the private plane Gregory owned for their trip to the Bahamas. Meanwhile, Gregory went to the Capital so he would have a legitimate alibi when the time came for the Police to come looking for him in case they had questions about what he might’ve been up to during the time in question.

  Thirty minutes after takeoff, the engine on the plane malfunctioned and stopped working. The pilot worked to get them re-started, but to no avail. He radioed the nearest airport, which was over a hundred miles away, and informed them of his emergency. They radioed back that if the plane could make it back, there would be clearance to land. The pilot attempted to turn the plane, but the flight controls wouldn’t respond. The plane was starting to lose speed and altitude.

  Wayne Thompson stormed into the cockpit, “What the blazes is going on?”

  “I’m not sure, sir. The engines have failed and the flight controls have frozen. I’m attempting to restore both, but nothing seems to work. I would suggest you and your family strap yourselves in, because the flight is going to get rather bumpy and looks like we’ll make a crash landing,”

  “Over water?” Thompson was skeptical.

  “I’m afraid so, sir. If I can get the flight controls to begin to respond again, we could glide in for a rough sea landing, but I’m not sure the plane has enough speed left in it to make it to land. Please, tell your family to strap in so they won’t be severely injured,”

  “This has got to be Gregory’s fault. If we make it through this, he’ll pay!”

  “Sir?”

  “Uh, never mind. Fine, I’ll tell my family to get buckled in. Good luck.”

  Thompson made his way back into the cabin, and said, “I think this plane’s been sabotaged, but I can’t prove it at the moment,”

  “What gives you that idea, Daddy?” asked Evelyn.

  “The engine has stopped working and the flight controls won’t respond, which makes me think someone sabotaged the plane,”

  “Wayne, I think you know who did it, don’t you?” screamed Brenda, Wayne’s wife.

  “Calm down. I’m suspecting it was Gregory, or one of his lackeys, but I don’t really know that for sure. I probably won’t be able to find out because we’re starting to fall out of the sky, and since we’re over water, I’m pretty sure we won’t survive the landing,”

  Evelyn’s face lost all of its color. “I knew something was up, but I wasn’t sure what. Sometimes, I have a hard time believing that Gregory could be such an evil man, but he is. What do we do now?” asked Evelyn, through gritted teeth, with tears running down her cheeks.

  “Straighten up you two.” Thompson said, as he buckled his seatbelt. “We will face our impending deaths with dignity.”

  His wife screeched, “Oh shut up! I don’t want to die, and I don’t care about your lousy dignity.”

  Evelyn cried louder, “Father, do something!”

  But her father was seeing his past with its evil deeds and was fused to his seat with unseeing eyes and unhearing ears.

  The shrieks and gasps didn’t stop, as in less than ten minutes, the private plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, fifty miles off of the coast of Delaware.

  The nearest major airport, in Philadelphia, sent out an alert to the United States Coast Guard informing them of a plane going down off of the coast. A Coast Guard Cutter was sent to the last known location of the plane, and found a debris field a mile long. Within an hour, they found the plane underwater, and began preparations for a rescue operation in case anyone had survived. When they discovered no one had, the Coast Guard called for a salvage ship to bring up the downed plane.

  After establishing who the dead were, Gregory Evans was informed. They found him in the Capital Building, talking to an aide to one of the Senators.

  “Mr. Evans?”

  “Yes? Can I help you, Officer?”

  “I’m sorry I have to tell you this, but your wife and her parents died in a plane crash off of the coast of Delaware a few hours ago. We’d like for you to come to Philadelphia to confirm their identities,”

  Gregory stood in place for a moment, pleased that Gianni did what he said he was going to do, but he also realized that he needed to act the part of grieving husband. “What? How did it happen? Are you sure there are no survivors? I don’t think I can live without Evelyn, she was my heart and soul,”

  “I’m sorry, sir, for the tremendous loss you’ve suffered. The plane crashed due to some malfunctions with the engines and flight controls, but that’s all I know. By the time you get to Philadelphia, I’m sure they’ll have more answers for you.”

  “Ok, thank you, Officer. I’ll get there right away.” Then, acting a little bit more grieved, “What will Jason do without his mother? He was the only child, you know, and Evelyn and he were almost inseparable. Oh what will I do without her?” Gregory brushed his face, pretended to dab at his eyes with his handkerchief, and swallowed hard. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath before leaving the Capital with the Officer to be taken to the airport where they flew to Philadelphia.

  In Philadelphia, Gregory went to the morgue to identify the bodies. He made sure to show his grief and then he asked about the investigation of what happened to the plane. He was told to ask the Civil Aeronautics Board about it. Instead, he decided to make an anonymous phone call to them instead of visiting their office. Afterwards, he would call the NYPD.

  “Hello? I’m calling to report what I think might be sabotage to a plane that went down off of the coast a couple days ago. I think it involved the Evans and Thompson families,”

  “Yes, we know about that and we are currently looking into it. What do you know?” asked the Civil Aeronautics Board representative who took Gregory’s call.

  “I think I saw a man, who I don’t think was part of the flight maintenance crew, messing with the aircraft a couple of hours before it took off. When I heard about the crash, I knew I had to call someone,”

  “We appreciate you taking the time to call. Can we get your name?”

  “I would prefer to remain anonymous. Is that all right?”

  “Yes, of course. Is there anything else you need to tell us?”

  “No, that’s all. Thank you for taking my call. Goodbye.”

  Gregory then called the NYPD and also anonymously told them he had heard that Gianni Micelli had played a part in the plane crash, by sabotaging the aircraft. Since Gianni was always in trouble with the NYPD because of mob related activities, they knew exactly where he lived, and went to pick him up for suspicion of sabotaging an aircraft, manslaughter, and various other crimes they decided to accuse him of.

  As he was being led off, he tried to throw Gregory under the bus, “I was only the hatchet man, it was Gregory Evans who was the one who ordered me to do it. Why don’t you arrest him, put him on trial, and try him for all of those crimes you accuse me of?”

  “Gregory Evans? Why, he wouldn’t harm a fly. He donates his time and money to the City of New York, so why would he do such a heinous thing? Boys,” referring to the guards who were in custody of Gianni, “take this piece of trash away.” ordered the tria
l judge, who was also in Gregory’s pocket.

  For Gregory, everything finally fell into place, as he was now unencumbered by the Thompson family. He acted mournful at the funeral and made sure everyone knew how grieved he was. Jason, his son, would now be raised how Gregory wanted, while Gregory would continue to consolidate everything under his authority. There were rumors among the people in the know that Gregory did get rid of the Thompson’s, but no one could prove it, and no one wanted to get on Gregory’s bad side. The verdict from the Senate regarding Joe McCarthy even made Gregory happy.

  It took the Watkins Committee only two months to decide the fate of Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy had forty-six charges against him, but it was decided to only censure him on two. One was that he failed to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Rules and Administration and repeatedly abused the members who were trying to carry out assigned duties. The other was that he complained that the Committee was a lynch party and they were agents of the Communist Party. The Watkins Committee also said that McCarthy acted contrary to senatorial ethics and impaired the Senate’s dignity. The vote was sixty-seven to twenty-two for a vote of censure, but was re-worded as “condemn” instead.

  The only person who didn’t vote was John F. Kennedy, who was in the hospital due to back surgery, but hadn’t said either way whether he was for or against the Senator from Wisconsin. The Kennedy family irritated Gregory since they were new money, relatively speaking, and thought they could just do whatever they wanted. Someone would have to show them otherwise, thought Gregory.

  McCarthy continued on in the Senate until he died two and a half years later from alcohol poisoning. Gregory was pleased and continued with his plans.

  Meanwhile, Charles and Betty Atwood now had two children, Tom, who was seven years old, and Amy, who was five. Charles was a so-so farmer, so he spent a lot of time helping his father, who owned a feed store in Jonesville. Tom had asked Jesus into his heart when was six, and now Amy seemed to be interested in knowing more about Jesus.

  “Daddy, how do I know if Jesus is in my heart and if he saved me?” the red-headed five-year-old asked Charles.

  “Pumpkin, you know if you asked Him to come into your heart by praying for Him to save you from your sins. Have you done that?”

  “I don’t think so, Daddy,”

  “Would you like to?”

  “Yeah,”

  “You know you’ve sinned and that if you don’t ask Jesus into your heart that you’ll go to Hell?”

  “Mrs. Ball said that in Sunday school. She said to ask Jesus into your heart when you’re ready, and I’m ready. Daddy, can you help me ask?”

  “I would love to, sweetie. Repeat after me: Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to you that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins. I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins. With all of my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. At this very moment, I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me and giving me eternal life. Amen.”

  Amy repeated after Charles and then said, “Thank you for helping me, Daddy! I feel Jesus in my heart already.” then she hugged Charles.

  “You’re welcome. Now let’s go tell your Mom and Tommy what you did.”

  They told Betty and Tommy, and then they celebrated the good news by taking Amy for ice cream. The next Sunday, Amy and her parents went up to Pastor David during the invitation and Charles said to him, “Pastor, Amy here received Jesus into her heart a couple of days ago and now wants to get baptized.”

  “Wonderful! Amy, do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior now?”

  “Yes, Pastor David,”

  “Glory to God! Charles, when would you like to have her baptized?”

  “Whenever you think is best, Pastor,” Charles replied.

  “How about tonight?”

  “I think that would be great.”

  “Then we’ll do that. Amy, why don’t you and your parents stand in front of the altar that way the rest of the church can congratulate you.” then Pastor David informed the congregation of Amy’s declaration and dismissed the service.

  The whole congregation shook hands with Amy and her parents after the service, and then, later that day, Amy was baptized after the Sunday night service.

  ******