Stung

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  Mr. Stein shook hands. “Good day to you, my brother.”

  “Welcome to Mali,” the man said. “I am Immen. Did you fly from Jerusalem?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Stein said. “How did you know?”

  “Come with me,” Immen said.

  “Why?” Judd said.

  “God has a job for you,” Immen said, “and he has sent me to take you to it.”

  Vicki was cranky the rest of the day. She barked at Charlie for messing up the food pantry. Mark and Conrad weren’t back when it got dark, and she wondered if something was wrong. If they hadn’t found Janie in the surrounding woods, they may have gone toward town. That meant possible contact with the GC.

  She found an e-mail from Judd and shared it with the rest of the group during dinner. He was off with Mr. Stein to some unknown country. Judd wrote that he didn’t know when he and Lionel would be back in the States and asked the kids to pray for Sam, a new friend, and for a “situation” he didn’t go into.

  “What do you think the other thing is?” Shelly said later as she and Vicki did the dishes.

  “Knowing Judd, it’s probably something dangerous,” Vicki said.

  Shelly smiled and looked down at the water.

  “What?” Vicki said.

  “You and Judd,” Shelly said. “I can tell how you feel about him.”

  Vicki rolled her eyes. “Stop.”

  Shelly giggled, then put a hand on Vicki’s shoulder. “Do you realize how long it’s been since any of us has laughed?”

  “Just don’t make fun of me to get your kicks,” Vicki said. “I don’t have a thing for Judd.”

  “Sure,” Shelly said.

  Outside, a motorcycle revved. Vicki dropped the dishcloth and rushed out. She stared as Mark and an unfamiliar lady stepped off. When the motor died, she heard a baby cry.

  Vicki didn’t ask questions. Instead, she told Shelly to fix up a room downstairs. Darrion made dinner for their guest. Vicki told Charlie to come up with a crib.

  “It’s okay,” the woman said, “he can sleep with me.”

  “I’ll try anyway,” Charlie said.

  “Please,” the woman said, “don’t go to any trouble. I’m just glad to have a place to stay tonight.”

  “Do you have family?” Vicki said.

  The woman began to explain but couldn’t continue. She clutched the baby and sobbed.

  “It’s okay,” Vicki said. “We’ll get you something to eat and you can rest.”

  Mark explained what had happened in town. “We’re ahead of Janie and Conrad by a few minutes.”

  Vicki nodded. “We have to figure out what to do with Janie.”

  31

  JUDD and Mr. Stein followed the pilot through a security door and down a flight of stairs. As they walked onto the runway Judd said, “Where are you taking us?”

  Immen stopped. “Are you not the two God has called?”

  “We are,” Mr. Stein said.

  “Good, follow me.”

  The plane was small. Judd and Mr. Stein had very little room. When they were buckled, the pilot quickly went through the preflight procedure and was cleared by the tower.

  The plane shook on takeoff, and Judd held on until his knuckles turned white. As they gained altitude, Immen put the plane on autopilot.

  “I fly with one of the smaller airlines,” Immen said. “I use this to travel home when the roads are impassable.”

  “How did you know we would be at the airport?” Mr. Stein said.

  Immen smiled. “First, you must tell me why it is so urgent that you travel into such a dangerous area.”

  Mr. Stein shrugged. “We don’t know where we’re going, my brother. Or what we’ll do when we get there. But God has called us.” Mr. Stein told Immen about his dream and what he had seen.

  Immen shook his head. “God is amazing. I had a dream as well last night. It was during a long flight. My first officer said I was talking in my sleep, but since he’s not a believer, I didn’t dare tell him what I saw.”

  “What was the dream?” Judd said.

  “I was walking through a remote area, and I came over a sand dune and saw hundreds and thousands of people. I have seen them before from the airplane. They are nomads; they move about the country with their flocks and herds.

  “In the dream, these people tried to speak with me. They looked frightened and excited. I was frustrated because I couldn’t talk with them or understand them.”

  “What happened then?” Mr. Stein said.

  “I was at the airport. I saw an older man with a beard and a younger man. ‘Find them,’ a voice said to me. I awoke from my dream sweating. It seemed so real.”

  “We are glad you followed instructions,” Mr. Stein said.

  The pilot followed a river through the parched land. Judd wondered how the freezing temperatures had affected the desert. A few hours later they landed on a private airstrip, where a friend of Immen’s waited. The man greeted Judd and Mr. Stein. He spoke in an African language to Immen, then opened the doors to his home.

  “We’ll rest here a few hours until sunset,” Immen said.

  Judd fell into bed and was asleep immediately. When he awoke, Immen’s friend had prepared a meal. When they were finished, the man led them outside to his Land Rover.

  “Take,” the man said.

  Mr. Stein hugged the man, and they were off. As they made their way across the rough roads and places where there were no roads, Immen explained. “Many people died from the effects of the cold. My friend told me where he thinks the tribe is staying.”

  “Do you know their dialect?” Judd said.

  “A few words,” Immen said. “No one knows their language completely. They have kept to themselves. A few years ago I heard that some of them left the tribe. A few even became Christians. But most remain isolated.”

  “How did you become a believer?” Judd said.

  Immen smiled. “By listening to and reading Tsion Ben-Judah.”

  Immen drove the Land Rover into the night. Sometime after midnight, they bounced along a dry creek bed, then rose straight up over a sand dune. Immen stopped and pointed. “Down there.”

  Judd gasped. In the moonlight he saw hundreds of campfires. Tents filled the valley, and thousands of dark-skinned people lay sleeping. Goats and camels were tied up at the edge of the camp.

  Someone blew a horn, and people shouted and rushed out of their tents. They ran to the center of the village, then headed toward the vehicle. Some carried long, pointed sticks and waved them over their heads.

  Judd panicked. “Are we in trouble?”

  Immen gunned the engine and raced toward the people. “Not if this is where God wants you to be.”

  Vicki finally got the woman and baby settled in a room. The baby slept peacefully on a crudely constructed crib Charlie had made from pieces of wood and a few blankets.

  As Vicki went for another blanket, Conrad returned with Janie. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janie said when she walked into the kitchen.

  Vicki pulled her into the pantry and told her to keep quiet. Vicki shook from anger but tried to control herself. “I can’t believe you’d do this to us!”

  “This isn’t about you,” Janie said. “I needed to get away—what’s so bad about that?”

  Vicki shook her head. “You don’t get it, do you?”

  “I know the GC could have picked me up, but I wouldn’t rat you guys out.”

  “You have no idea what they can do to you.”

  Janie stared at Vicki. “Yes I do, but I don’t expect you to care about it.” She opened the pantry door and slammed it behind her. Vicki sighed and walked into the kitchen.

  “I tried to talk with her on the way back. She wouldn’t listen,” Conrad said.

  “I shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, but it’s so frustrating!”

  Vicki took the woman another blanket and a pillow. “My name is Lenore Barker,” the woman said quietly. She looked at the sleeping child. “This
is Tolan.”

  Vicki introduced herself and asked if the woman needed anything else.

  “No, and I told those two boys that I’m willing to work for any food that I eat.”

  Vicki smiled. “You’ll be safe here tonight.”

  “Just tonight?” Lenore said. “My husband is gone now and …” Lenore put a hand to her mouth and wept.

  Vicki patted her shoulder and waited.

  “We ran out of food,” Lenore said. “We’d burned everything in the house we could to keep warm. Finally, Tim had to go out and try to find some food, or we were going to starve.

  “This morning I found him lying in the street a few blocks from our house.” Lenore bowed her head and whispered, “He had a loaf of bread and some meat he had found somewhere. He died trying to save our lives.”

  Vicki shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  “That girl, Janie. She saved my life. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t come along.”

  “Somebody would have taken you in,” Vicki said.

  Lenore shook her head. “When I saw my husband in the street, I thought about killing myself and my baby. Janie talked me out of it. She said she knew some people who really cared and could help.”

  “Janie said that?”

  “Yeah. She said you were a little weird about reading the Bible but that she was sure you’d give me a place to stay.”

  Vicki looked at the floor. “She was right. You can stay here as long as you’d like.”

  Judd watched people swarm around the Land Rover. They shouted and chanted, some with spears held high. They wore loose clothing and many had a cloth around their faces. Their tents were made of camel skin.

  “What do we do?” Judd said.

  “We will speak to them,” Mr. Stein said.

  Immen grabbed his arm. “I’m telling you, I only know a few words.”

  Mr. Stein nodded. “Can you make out anything they’re saying?”

  Immen listened. “It’s something about God. He brings something … I’m sorry. I can’t make it out.”

  “He has brought us this far,” Mr. Stein said. “He will show us.”

  The people stood back as the three got out; then the crowd rushed them and took them to their tents. Judd almost fell and feared being trampled, but they made it safely to the middle of the camp and into the tent of what Judd thought was the leader of the group.

  Mr. Stein, Immen, and Judd were forced to sit before a small table. The leader stared at them, then whipped a cloth away, revealing several plates of food. Flies were all over the meat. Judd was handed something warm to drink. He took a sip and nearly gagged.

  Immen sat forward and spoke to the leader. The leader replied and Immen asked a question. The leader answered for almost a minute.

  “I told him you come in peace and in the name of God,” Immen said, “and he said something about a movement of their people. For some reason they’ve been brought together.”

  The meal lasted until daybreak. Finally Immen turned to Mr. Stein and said, “They are waiting for some kind of message from the Great Spirit who caused the freeze.”

  Mr. Stein whispered, “Have them come outside and gather round the Land Rover.”

  Mr. Stein led Judd through the sea of people. Some were teenagers. They followed him, touching his clothes and chanting something.

  When they reached the car, Mr. Stein put a hand on Judd’s shoulder. “Please pray as you have never prayed before.”

  “Immen can’t translate,” Judd said.

  “God will have to provide some other way then.”

  A few minutes later the leader of the people approached the vehicle. He blew into an animal horn. The people crowded close. Judd figured there must be at least five thousand people.

  The leader raised his voice and shouted something. Mr. Stein looked at Immen. “He has introduced you as someone who knows God,” Immen said. “I will do my best to translate.”

  Standing on top of the Land Rover, Mr. Stein raised his voice. “Hear the word of the Lord, the maker of the universe, the creator of every living thing.”

  Before Immen could speak, the people fell to the ground. Even the leader of the group was on his knees.

  “Why are you speaking in my language?” Immen said.

  “I’m speaking English,” Mr. Stein said.

  As the people whimpered on the ground, Judd understood. “We’re all hearing in our own language. It’s just like the witnesses, Eli and Moishe. Tell them something else.”

  Mr. Stein seemed overwhelmed at the thought that these people were hearing their language supernaturally. He composed himself and said, “Please, stand.”

  Immediately the entire group stood as one. Judd shook his head. Mr. Stein had been right again. God had worked a miracle to get them here and another after they arrived.

  “There is one God and Creator,” Mr. Stein continued, “and he has sent me to tell you he loves you.”

  As Mr. Stein talked, people looked at each other in amazement. Mr. Stein explained that Jesus, the Son of God, had died as a sacrifice for the bad things people had done. If anyone would come to Jesus and ask forgiveness, God would come into that person’s life.

  Mr. Stein held up his Bible. The people inched forward, trying to get a look at it. Mr. Stein quoted several verses from Romans that showed that everyone had sinned and that the payment for sin was death and separation from God forever. The people gasped.

  “But,” Mr. Stein said, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. You will live forever with God if you ask him to forgive you and become your leader.”

  Many wept when they heard what a terrible death Jesus had died. The leader of the people stepped forward, tears streaming down his cheeks. Mr. Stein led the people in a prayer. Judd couldn’t understand anything anyone said except Mr. Stein.

  When Mr. Stein finished, the leader of the group climbed onto the Land Rover and hugged him. The people clucked their tongues and cheered. The leader called for quiet and asked a question.

  Mr. Stein looked at Immen. “I think,” Immen said after a moment, “he said something about their enemy.”

  “What enemy?” Mr. Stein said.

  “There have been many tribal wars throughout the years,” Immen said. “People have been killed over a few missing animals. I believe he wants you to give the message to them.”

  Mr. Stein smiled. “It is proof that they understood my words. We will go wherever God leads us.”

  32

  VICKI called an emergency meeting Wednesday morning. The schoolhouse now housed four unbelievers and an infant.

  “This is getting crazy,” Mark said. “I thought this place was for training.”

  “We’ve asked God to show us what to do, and it seems like he keeps bringing people without the mark,” Vicki said. “Maybe that’s the kind of training we need.”

  “More outsiders, more trouble,” Mark said.

  Shelly sighed. “What about this Carl guy you’re supposed to see? You going to bring him back if he’s not one of us?”

  Mark looked out the window. The sun was coming up and cast an orange glow around the room. “Carl is different. I have to know what happened to John.”

  The kids were quiet. Darrion leafed through her Bible and cleared her throat. “I’ve been reading the book of James. One of the verses says, ‘Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.’ I think all four of our guests qualify.”

  Vicki nodded and the others agreed. They would care for anyone God brought their way.

  While Mark searched the Web, Vicki went to Janie’s room. She knew she hadn’t treated the girl well the night before. Even if Janie had put them in danger by going off alone, she had cared for Lenore and her baby. Vicki rehearsed what she wanted to say, took a deep breath, and knocked on Janie’s door. When there was no answer, she peeked in and found Janie’s bed empty
.

  Not again, Vicki thought.

  She searched the house and was about to tell the others when she heard a noise in Lenore’s room. The door was slightly open, and Vicki saw Janie holding little Tolan. She was trying to get him to laugh. Lenore lay on the bed behind them, half asleep.

  Vicki got Janie’s attention. Janie put Tolan beside his mother and walked into the hall.

  “You going to yell at me for being in there? I was just trying to help.”

  “I’m sorry about last night,” Vicki said. They walked to Janie’s room. “I won’t make any excuses. I was wrong to yell at you.”

  Janie sat on her bed. “And I was wrong to go off like that without talking to you guys.”

  Vicki sat beside her. “I’ve been thinking about some- thing you said last night. I couldn’t get to sleep wondering what you meant.”

  “What?” Janie said.

  “I said that you have no idea what the GC can do to you if they want information. You said you did. What did you mean?”

  Janie put a hand on her elbow and pulled her arm tightly to her chest. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Vicki leaned closer. “Maybe it would help.”

  Tears came to Janie’s eyes. “The first place they sent me was awful. I was thrown in with criminals. I thought the detention center was bad, but this was ten times worse.

  “I got mixed up with the wrong people. They were bringing drugs into the place. The GC nabbed me and wanted to know who was selling. I wouldn’t tell. I knew what would happen as soon as I got back.”

  Janie pulled up her shirt and turned so Vicki could see. “They stuck this electric thing in my back to get me to talk. The mark’s still there.”

  Vicki shook her head.

  “So I know what the GC can do, and I’ll say it again. I wouldn’t rat on you guys.”

  Someone shouted in the study room. Vicki excused herself and found Mark typing an answer to an e-mail.

  “Carl’s going to be dropped off near Kankakee day after tomorrow,” Mark said. “I’m going to meet him there.” Conrad looked over Mark’s shoulder. “It might be a trap. You know the GC are going to be all over the place.”