Jake still didn't look convinced.
Sam said, "We'll do our best to protect your wife, but she's right about the angels. God has been, and I believe will continue to, send help from heaven. Will you trust Him, Jake?"
Jake lowered his head. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"
Nicole sighed. "Sam, I can't do this if Jake isn't in agreement. One thing I've learned over the years is that he is my spiritual covering, and if I act in defiance or rebellion against him, it is the same as disobeying God."
She turned to Jake. "Up till now, I haven't had the choice to submit to you or not in this matter. But as of this moment, I do. And I choose to surrender to whatever you decide."
Jake bowed his head in silent thought. All eyes were on him as the balance of this mission rested on his decision. After a moment, he lifted his head and in an anguished tone he asked, "Is there any other way?"
"I could go," Megan offered.
Sam looked at her through squinted eyes as he considered the thought for about two seconds. "Thanks, but no thanks. You haven't been deprogrammed or tested yet, and this is too important."
"Brother," he said as he looked Jake in the eye. "I wish I could think of another way. I'm sorry, but I can't."
"Ok. Then I have to trust that God will take care of you when I can't, Nicole," Jake consented.
She wrapped her arms around him and quietly said, "Thank you hon. I know this is what I need to do."
Sam pulled his chair over next to Nicole and motioned for her to sit still so that he could begin the process of planting three undetectable bugs on her.
"Megan," he said as he worked, "I do appreciate your offer and if you're willing, we could use your help."
Megan nodded. "Sure. What can I do?"
"You can help me listen and watch. You may be able to provide important information that will help Nicole along the way."
"I can do that," Megan agreed. "There's probably something I should tell you now though, Nicole. Peter likes women. I sleep with him sometimes."
Sam had opened the box that held the new contact lenses and was just getting ready to put the first one in Nicole's left eye when she pushed his hand away and turned to Megan with a disgusted look on her face. "There is no way I'll sleep with that…that…beast!"
Even Sam turned to look at Megan. "You mean you used to sleep with him…as in past tense."
"Yes, that's what I mean," Megan affirmed.
Jake got up and walked angrily over to the sink and looked out the window. "Can I withdraw my decision to let Nicole go?"
Megan said, "I'm sure you can manage to stay out of his bed, but I thought you should know so that you can be prepared. When we are in public, he treats me very professionally. You just need to make sure that you are never alone with him for long if possible."
Gus had begun the activation process on the laptop and Sam turned Nicole's face back towards him so that he could put in the first contact lens.
Nicole's voice sounded a bit childlike as she said, "You really don't have to worry, Jake. I can take care of that creep. I'm really good at a lot of things. You should have seen me drive! We outran….Ouch!"
"Sit still and shut up, Zera! You can tell him all about it later. For now, just relax."
"Ok! But, sheesh! You didn't have to kick me!" she pouted.
"Zera! Who's Zera?" Jake asked as he turned back toward the table.
"Long story that will have to wait for another time," Sam said as he placed the second lens over her right eye. "Now blink."
Nicole blinked. Gus was watching the computer screen. "We've got eyes and ears."
Jake and Megan both got up and stood beside Gus. They watched the screen and saw what Nicole was seeing.
"I'll go get everybody so they can see how this works," the adult voiced Nicole said. They heard her speak and watched her walk out of the kitchen and into the den. They saw that Gary was asleep on the couch, Casie was reading, and Liz was working on a quilt.
Sam told Jake to push the talk button and say something to Nicole.
He said, "Nicole, go tickle Gary's feet."
She smiled, and walked over and did exactly that. They listened and watched as Gary jumped up from his sleep, discombobulated, and they all laughed.
They heard Nicole ask where Deanne was, and Liz's answer. "She went home to get dinner for Ray." And then they all came traipsing into the kitchen and agreed that it was pretty amazing technology.
But the lighthearted banter ended when Sam said, "It's time Nicole."
Jake asked for prayer before they continued this charade. They huddled together and prayed for protection, wisdom, discernment, knowledge and victory for each of them; and blindness, deafness, confusion and defeat for the enemy. Each one lifted their petition up before their loving Father, and they were all comforted as they remembered that the Holy Spirit was interceding for them.
Casie and Liz hugged Nicole. "All of us intercessors will take turns praying for you so that you'll have round the clock coverage. Remember that when you start to get anxious."
"That means more to me than you can know," Nicole said as she hugged them one last time.
"I also hate to be the bearer of bad news again," Megan said rather seriously. "But you have to kill Jake so that when they ask you if you took care of him, you can assure them that you did."
Everybody looked at her with incredulous looks on their faces except for Nicole. "Oh, thank you for reminding me." She quickly positioned her right hand in the shape of a gun and pointed it at Jake. "Bang, bang!" she said, and then blew the invisible smoke from the barrel of the hand gun as she put it back in its invisible holster.
Jake just looked up toward the sky then back at the sisters. "Oh Lord help us all! You two have the same dry sense of humor."
"You have to fall down!" Nicole and Megan both said at the same time. They looked at each other in serious agreement, then back at Jake who was just still standing there. "If you don't fall down, I won't be able to tell Darth and Raj that I killed you because dead people don't stay standing," Nicole said.
Jake decided to give them something to laugh about, and he gave a grand dying performance. As he lay on the floor appearing to be dead, Nicole said, "You learned very well from the I Love Lucy School of Dying Methods, hon. I don't think she could have done it any better."
He opened his eyes and said, "Thank you." And then closed them again. Everyone clapped and Jake got up.
Then Sam said, "Nicole, you'll have to take Jake's car and go to the Inn. Gus will follow you and wait until you're picked up, then he'll tail you at a safe distance to the airport. He'll be on your plane because they won't recognize him. Megan and I will head out after you're picked up and we'll take the next flight to Chicago and should be there soon after you. We'll not be able to communicate while we're in the air, but will check in as soon as possible. Gus will be able to communicate with you, but will do so only if necessary. Jake, you should be safe here at least for the night. I am going to have a man pick you up tomorrow and take you to a safe house though, just for good measure."
It was time to say goodbye. Megan hugged Nicole. "You'll be in my prayers too, sis. I know you can do this, and I'll help you all I can."
Nicole smiled at this surprise sister. "Thank you. God be with you too."
She looked at her husband. "Don't cry Jake. I can't even think about saying goodbye to you again. It hurts too much." She ran into his arms and gave him a big hug, and then she turned and ran from the room before her heart failed her and her legs turned to jelly.
CHAPTER 27
SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS
"And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold"…
Matthew 24:12, RSV
Once Nicole was inside the Inn, she turned on Megan's phone and saw that it was back on line. "Here we go," she thought as she dialed the number Megan had given her.
"Code in," the voice on the other end answered. It was a voice she recognized. Daemon'
s voice.
Remember that at this moment you are Megan. No room for personal feelings … she coached herself, then answered as Megan had instructed. "Code in Beta 453 Delta." Beta was the code for a sexual job, and delta for an assassination.
"What's the situation?" he inquired.
He was asking about Megan's technology. "Blackout. All systems down."
"The assignment?"
"Eliminated," she said. "Awaiting orders."
"Come home, your family misses you."
Megan had told her he would say that about family. It meant she was to abort the mission. "Affirmative," she answered.
"Location?" Daemon asked.
Nicole was aware that he already knew where she was through tracking on the phone. "I'm at the Inn."
"Confirming location with the delivery boys."
That was her clue to say their names in the right order. "Darth and Raj."
"Voice recognition confirmed." There was an element of relief in his voice. He had been baiting her, looking for a misstep that would identify a problem. She had obviously passed the test. "Pick up in five minutes."
Nicole heard Megan's voice in her ear direct, "Say, 'Waiting.'"
"Waiting." There was silence.
Megan said, "Hang up, but don't talk. Remember that there may still be listening capabilities even when disconnected."
Nicole went into the bathroom, and as planned, she dropped the phone into the toilet. She made a lot of fuss and noise over it as she pulled it out, rinsed it off, wiped it and put it under the heated blow dryer. Then she carried it into the kitchen and conveniently proceeded to grind it to pieces in the electric meat grinder. "Casie, are you there?" she asked.
"I sure am, sweetie. Good job!"
"Make sure they take this grinder apart and clean it really well."
"I sure will."
Gus said, "The car just pulled in and is going around back.
"Copy that," Sam said.
"Copy," Nicole said. Then her voice shifted. "I love talking code. This is so cool! I feel like a real spy."
"Zera, shut up!" Sam responded.
"OK! Sheesh! You don't have to be so rude. I'm just excited cause I'm going to fight the bad guys just like I always wanted to do," and she did a little dance.
"Breeze!" Sam shouted in frustration.
"Be quiet Harry. I'm going out the back door," the adult voice answered.
Sam pushed the computer away from him and let out an irritated, "Uhhhhggg!" as he grabbed his head in both his hands. "That woman is one of the most irritating, infuriating….." He looked at Jake and said, "Sorry, man. I don't mean to offend you or insult your wife…"
Jake just smiled at Sam's frustration. "I know exactly what you mean!"
Sam pulled the computer close again and leaned toward it, watching carefully.
As Nicole opened the door, a black sedan with dark windows pulled up and she opened the back door and got in.
Sam asked, "Gus, you on them?"
"Affirmative. Good to go," he answered from a car across the street waiting to tail Nicole.
"Copy. Will follow." Then Sam turned to Gary. "It's time for Megan and me to head out to the airport. Would you be able to give us a ride?"
Jake said, "I think I'm going to be sick." He opened the back door and stepped out. Not only was he worried about his wife, but she didn't seem like herself. Who was this person who was answering to weird names and acting cocky like some spy in a movie? He was scared out of his wits for her.
Nicole watched as the lights of Samaria, her home, disappeared from view. She didn't dare turn around to look back at it. She decided to turn her thoughts to the men in the front seat of the car.
Raj was the one driving, the smaller of the two, but still very large. From what she could tell, he appeared to be of Italian or Indian descent, with dark coloring and a large Roman nose. Darth reminded her of Robert on "Everybody Loves Raymond," except that Robert had kind eyes, and a gentle spirit. Nicole hadn't looked into Darth's eyes, but she doubted that she would see any resemblance to a gentle spirit there.
She leaned back and closed her eyes. She might as well try to sleep. It would be a half-hour before they got to the airport, and she suddenly realized that she was exhausted. She didn't think she had to worry about her escorts trying to communicate with her. They hadn’t said one word since she got in the car and Megan had told her not to engage in conversation except to answer their questions as briefly as possible.
Suddenly she had the impression that snakes were crawling out of Darth's head. She saw that they were blindfolded, but their tongues were tasting the air, searching for a scent of their enemy…which would be her! She opened her eyes and saw nothing, but she knew she was seeing a spiritual truth. She closed her eyes again.
"Lord Jesus," she prayed silently. "Please send an angel to cut their tongues off so that they can't identify me!"
Immediately the snakes lurched as if in pain and fled back inside their host's head. "Thank you Jesus!"
The last thought she remembered before the car pulled to a stop in front of the airport was to wish that she had told Sam to tell her if he saw any angels in the car with her. But no matter, after that, she had faith that they were there.
And then she was being shaken awake by a very large man. Nicole quickly brought her thoughts up to date. Oh yes, this giant was Mr. Vader. She was a willing captive with a very important purpose…which was… Oh yes. She was pretending to be Megan who was malfunctioning so that Daemon would take her to the clone center to work on her technology. Once she was there, she would somehow meet Gus who was to put a virus in the computer system which would disable all of the clones from their computer programming.
"Oh Lord help!" her spirit cried out as she climbed out of the car and prepared to board the plane that would lead her into the lion's den…or was it the fiery furnace?
As they stepped off the plane at O Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nicole wondered if Daemon would be there to meet her. She seriously hoped he would not be.
"You gentlemen will have to excuse me a moment," she said as she stepped into a restroom. A moment later, as she stepped back out into the long hallway, she caught a glimpse of Gus exiting the men's room on the opposite side and thought she did a good job of acting like she had never seen him before and that he was of no interest to her. He was now in front of her, and her new body guards were standing on both sides of the door to escort her the rest of the way. And thankfully, there was no sign of Daemon.
It was early morning and the traffic was already buzzing around them as Raj hailed a taxi. If it had been other circumstances, Nicole would have enjoyed the ride. Chicago was such an intriguing city. Forty five minutes after leaving the airport, they pulled up in front of a brick building….Rosie's Bar and Grill.
Nicole saw Darth, who was riding in the front seat, put the phone to his ear. "Yeah boss, we're here." He got out and opened her door.
As she stepped out of the taxi, she knew the Lord was reassuring her as Luke 10:19 came to her mind. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
"Thank you Jesus, I needed that. I do trust You to help me here," she prayed.
And then he was standing just a few feet away from her. She stood looking at him uncertainly for a moment when she heard Megan's blessed voice. "Give a small smile and say, 'Peter.'"
She felt her mouth resist the smile, but thought she managed a very small one, and then she heard her voice say, "Peter."
He looked at her a moment longer, then smiled in return and took the remaining few steps closing the distance between them.
"My dear," he said as he took her arm and gave her a peck on the cheek, then began to lead her into the building that housed Rosie's Bar and Grill.
"I'm sorry that you've had some technical trouble. You'll have to tell us all about it, but I thought you might like to freshen up a bit
first."
Nicole was sure that he could hear her heart pounding. He held the door to the elevator open for her and she was ready to resist that suggestion if he intended to help her "freshen up," but he continued before she had a chance to speak.
"Besides, Dorothy and I have a pressing engagement this morning that we can not get out of, so I hope that you will understand and forgive us for leaving you to yourself for a few hours so soon after your return."
Under Megan's direction, Nicole responded. "I do understand, but I will be waiting. I believe that something is not quite right in my head. I've had a terrible head ache ever since the blackout."
They stepped out of the elevator on the second floor of the building and were standing in front of Rosie's door. He reached up and stroked her hair. "My poor dear. Of course we will have Dorothy take a look at you as soon as possible."
Nicole wanted to gag at his touch.
He inserted his key and she walked into familiar surroundings. It was just as she had seen it when she had looked in from the Banning Building window in Samaria. There was the table Daemon had been sitting at. There was the bar and the neon Rosie's sign, the red checked table cloths, the pool table and the jukebox.
Daemon noticed her looking around and asked, "Are you glad to be home again, my little one?"
Under Megan's direction, she hung her head and said, "I feel as if I've failed you miserably! Not only did Jake refuse my advances, but I had to take him out. And then with the blackout, I wasn't able to complete my mission. I'm afraid that I've caused you trouble."
Peter pulled a chair out from the closest table and motioned for her to sit in it. He stood behind her and silently began to rub her shoulders.
After a moment he said, "By killing him, you obeyed your programming, and if they ever find the body, the evidence will point to Nicole. There's no way they can trace it back to me, or to you for that matter. As for the blackout, yes that was an unfortunate turn of events that cut short your mission concerning the intercessors, but I have no doubt that they will get their due all in good time."
The Soul Redeemer: From Victim to Victory Page 37
