“You will comply,” Dr. Williams said. “If this testing does not occur, and results are not submitted to my office under the guidelines included in that paperwork, I will authorize legal action to force compliance. I will also pull state funding from the school. All of it, not just grant moneys for the Bible as Literature program.”
“Now look here,” Mr. Sheldon shouted, standing also, “we have rights. There are procedures to be followed. You can’t just walk in here and tell us what to do.”
“I can place this entire board under arrest, and every school official, teacher, and employee who refuses to comply will suffer the same fate. Don’t try me,” Dr. Williams said.
“Then you might as well arrest me right now,” Joshua Bradley said, standing up and holding out his hands. “I’ve been an educator for thirty years. My father was one before me. I will not submit to this testing, and don’t think I’m going to resign in protest. I also have twenty of your tablets locked in the safe at school, and have destroyed at least that many more. They are not going back into the hands of innocent children so you can continue your mind-control experiments. Here I take my stand. I can do nothing else.”
“Dad,” Keith whispered. Joshua Bradley just shook his head. Talia stared up at her father-in-law, gripping Keith’s arm.
Dr. Williams took out a cell phone. “Send in the officers,” she said. Everyone in the room started whispering and fidgeting. They could hear a commotion outside. Half a dozen people in riot gear entered.
“Take that man into custody,” Dr. Williams ordered, pointing at Joshua Bradley. “Anyone else want to join him?”
“You can’t just arrest people!” Mr. Holden shouted. Keith hadn’t even noticed he was at the meeting. His wife sat beside him, trying to pull him back.
“I have a court order to administer these tests and enforce compliance with the mandated conditions for receiving state funding and grants. The school principal refuses to comply and even withholds required educational materials. Therefore he is in defiance of a legal order, and will be arrested.” Dr. Williams said. “Are you a parent of children in this school?”
“Yes,” Mr. Holden answered.
“Be thankful someone cares enough to save your children,” she said. “Anyone else feeling defiant?”
Keith started to rise. His father shook his head again. One of the officers handcuffed him and the group escorted him out, followed by Dr. Williams.
“What do we do now?” someone on the board asked.
“Continue the meeting,” the chairman answered.
“How can you? They just arrested the principal! What did he mean, they’re using those tablets as mind control?” Mr. Holden spluttered a string of oaths. “Will someone please explain what’s going on?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Bradley, the reason for your attendance at this meeting is no longer an issue,” the chairman said, as if Mr. Holden had not even spoken. “We are striking that item from the meeting agenda. You are free to go. Mr. Holden, we are not responsible for reckless statements made by Mr. Joshua Bradley and can give you no information on what he meant by that outburst.”
Talia pulled at Keith’s arm and practically dragged him from the town hall where the meeting was being held. “We need to call Brad Shannon and let him know what’s happened,” she said.
“Yeah.” Keith got on the phone and spoke briefly with Brad. He promised to get busy right away preparing Joshua Bradley’s defense.
“This is not going to be easy,” he warned. “I’m hearing about fallout from ‘Tablet-glitch-gate’ all over the country. This was nothing less than a power grab. At least a hundred principals and other administrators are in jail. I’ll be in touch. Can you arrange for bail if they grant it?”
“Our house is paid for. We can use that as collateral. Thanks for agreeing to help,” Keith said.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Brad replied, and hung up.
Chapter Seventy-six –Clark Johnson Takes a Stand
“Mr. and Mrs. Bradley.” Keith turned around as Mr. Holden came out of the town hall. His wife dragged behind him, trying to hold him back, just as she had in the meeting. “Please tell me what’s going on. I want to understand.”
“Does your wife want to understand?” Talia asked pointedly.
“How dare you?” Mrs. Holden said. “I am trying to keep my husband from being the next person thrown in jail. I said from the beginning that you people were just bringing a lot of trouble on this school. It was time for a change. Time to join the twenty-first century.”
“If you don’t want to know the truth about what’s going on, go home,” Mr. Holden snapped at his wife. “I’ll get a cab or something.”
“There are no cabs in this pathetic little town!” Mrs. Holden raged. “If it hadn’t been for Carol I never would have agreed to move here.”
“What does Carol Sheldon have to do with anything?” Mr. Holden demanded. “You told me you had a job transfer. You said you had no choice.”
Mrs. Holden turned scarlet. “We can discuss this later, privately,” she said, and walked off to their car. The vehicle burned rubber out of the parking lot a moment later.
Mr. Holden turned back to Keith and Talia. “Did the Sheldons move here just to make trouble?” he asked. “Did my wife manipulate me into bringing our children into the middle of this war against you people – to help the Sheldons?”
“Only your wife can answer that, Mr. Holden,” Keith replied. “But I can try to answer your question about the tablets and why my father was arrested.”
“Tim. Please call me Tim. You told me there was some signature connected with the tablets and the crumbling Bibles,” Mr. Holden said. “I thought you were crazy. But I’m not so sure now. Tell me about the latest developments.”
Keith started to relate what had happened the day Gail Sheldon had her meltdown. “Stop right there,” Tim Holden said, as soon as Keith mentioned her name. “Gail Sheldon? Why am not surprised that we’re back to the Sheldons again? Sorry. Please continue.”
Keith and Talia exchanged glances, but Keith went on to tell Mr. Holden the rest of the events on that day.
“You confiscated their tablets?” Tim Holden asked.
“No, sir, only Gail’s, because she had that game up during class,” Talia answered. “The other students gave their tablets to us. One boy took his back, but all the tablets locked in the safe at school were either taken for the same legitimate disciplinary reason, with a promise of return, or else students gave them to us. They’re afraid – kids and parents, of what those tablets might do.”
“You think this was an orchestrated event? That these children had some kind of trigger sent through the tablets that set them off?” Tim Holden pulled his tie and collar loose. “This is hard to wrap my head around. Did Lynette surrender her tablet voluntarily?”
“Yes,” Talia replied.
“What about Ruan?”
“Ruan isn’t in the Bible as Literature class,” Keith replied. “I’d have to check the list of people whose tablets are in the safe in my dad’s office. I … wasn’t aware that Ruan participated in the scanning of materials … that he had any Bible study materials to turn in.”
“Yes, Lynette got him interested in it when she started taking your class last year,” Tim Holden said. “They were working on her lessons together, so he turned his in for scanning with hers, and got a tablet. I didn’t mention their tablets when I came to you about my brother’s Bible study class, because I still wasn’t buying your signature theory. But those two … they’ve changed … they were very excited about these teachings of yours at first, and got into arguments with my wife. This year, though, they have gotten more and more irritable, argumentative – about everything. We were at our wits’ end. My wife kept blaming it on the school, or that class … Did either of them … did they respond to that trigger?”
“Again, I don’t know for sure about Ruan,” Keith replied. “Most of the kids in the Bible as Literature class kind of got a
rude awakening when Gail had her episode and Rikki told us what happened to her tablet. Some of the others had theirs put away, but when they took them out, they saw the game up at that same point. I think they were scared.”
“This testing that woman – Dr. Williams – talked about – what do you think the purpose is?”
“To figure out why people were able to resist the tablets, or had the wrong reaction to them – whatever the right reaction was supposed to be,” Talia replied. “To tweak the tablets based on those results and get more compliance.”
“Compliance with what?” Tim Holden demanded.
“The agenda they have for the Repository Project,” Keith replied. “Only they can tell you for sure what that is.”
“Their goals and outcomes are not stated in the grant paperwork?” Tim Holden asked.
“Their stated goals are to provide a complete resource of all religious materials produced by all people of faith,” Talia said. “Also they say they intend to facilitate access to those resources.”
“Then they’ve failed to keep their end of the bargain,” Tim Holden said. “I already told you my observations about the repository. It is unavailable, glitchy, or impossible to work with most of the time. Did I hear you talking to Brad Shannon? Is he going to be your father’s attorney?”
“We hope so,” Keith replied. “He’s going to try to help, if anybody can.”
“I want to testify,” Tim Holden said, “on your father’s behalf. I’ve been … pursuing this on my own, since I talked to you about my brother’s Bible study materials. I think I can help, but I don’t know how to contact Brad anymore. He kind of dropped off the radar when he left the CRDA. He’s working for the good guys now?”
“Funny you should put it that way,” Talia said with a smile. “He’s with the Constitutional Protection Legal Foundation now. You can contact him through them.”
“But you have a private line to him?” Tim Holden said. “Okay, I get it. You people clearly need legal protection. I’m just not sure anyone can protect you from things like what I saw at that meeting tonight. I mean to do what I can to be a voice on your side, though, even if I don’t believe the way you do. What happened to my brother’s Bible study materials, and my children’s –”
“Something happened to Ruan and Lynette’s things?” Talia asked.
“I found them all in the garbage one day, crumbling,” Tim Holden said. “I asked my wife about it and she blew up in rage and told me to shut up about it. This was after I showed your husband what happened to the things my brother had. The kids wouldn’t tell me when or how it happened either. They said they had the tablets and didn’t care.”
“Mr. Holden – Tim,” Keith said, “we have to go. I have to find out where they took my dad, and see what I can do to help him. It sounds like you have some work of your own to do.”
“Yes, of course.” Tim Holden shook hands with Keith and Talia. “I need to get to the bottom of this business about the Sheldons too. Please keep me informed about your father. And I’ll let you know if there really is a conspiracy between my wife and those other two women.”
“Thank you, Mr. Holden,” Talia said. “It mean a lot to have somebody say they care about what’s happening.”
“We need to give you a ride home, though,” Keith said. “Like your wife said, this town doesn’t have a taxi service.”
“No, I think a long walk might help me prepare for the conversation with my wife,” Tim Holden said. “Good night to you both.” He turned and walked off.
“He lives pretty far away,” Keith said. “Shouldn’t we …”
“We need to find out where your dad is,” Talia insisted. “Mr. Holden will be okay. I’m not so sure your dad will be. Those were not local police officers, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I’m trying not to think about that,” Keith said. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“We’ll start at the police station,” Talia said. “Someone has to have a copy of that court order, if they came in prepared to make arrests and brought outside law enforcement in.”
Talia drove the Tesla. Keith sat in the passenger seat trying to pray, but having to settle once again for groanings which cannot be uttered. They parked and went inside the old brick building. Clark Johnson sat at the desk.
“Hey, Clark,” Keith said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on desk duty.”
Clark sat up a little straighter and set his left arm on the desk. He wore a cast from his fingertips to just above his elbow. “Not much of a choice, Keith.”
“Whoa. How did that happen?” Keith asked.
Clark glowered at him. “In the line of duty,” he said. “I was making a traffic stop, and caught my heel on the loose rug under my brake pedal. The suspect actually expected me not to ticket him because he called 911 for me. The law is the law, and speeding is speeding.”
“I hope you have a quick recovery,” Talia said. “Get a backscratcher so you can get down inside the cast when it starts to itch. It’s the only thing that works.”
“I’ll take that under advisement. Well, I suppose you’re here about your father’s arrest,” Clark said, fixing his eyes on Keith. “He’s not here. You probably already figured that out.”
“Yeah, but we were hoping you could tell us where they took him,” Keith said.
“I’m not supposed to say,” Clark grumbled. “Highly irregular. I almost questioned the mayor about the legality. He told me to keep my opinions to myself. As if twenty years in law enforcement counts for nothing. That’s why politicians lose the people’s trust. They think they’re better than those of us who worked at a job all our lives.”
“Clark,” Talia said, “ever since I moved here I’ve been impressed by your sense of right and wrong. I can’t imagine your opinion on this being ignored. I certainly wouldn’t ignore what you had to say about it.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bradley,” Clark said. “That means a lot, coming from you. All right. The mayor and that woman stood right here in front of me after they handed me the paperwork authorizing – or rather, that they claimed authorized – the actions they took at the school board meeting. They didn’t want to leave Principal Bradley here in town. In my hearing they speculated on whether you would try a jailbreak. I had already been told to shut my mouth so it wasn’t up to me to tell them how ridiculous that was.
“Then they talked about the county lockup, but they said that was still too close. They didn’t want to tempt you. That was how they put it. So they have taken him to the state facility near the capital. I’m sorry. That’s a pretty long drive. But that’s where he is. Highly irregular.”
“Can we drive there tonight?” Keith asked Talia. “No, we can’t. It’s too late. You need your rest.”
“Have you told the other Mrs. Bradley?” Clark asked. He stood up, awkwardly holding his casted arm. “I cannot get the hang of that sling. Been trying all day.”
“This just happened today?” Talia exclaimed. “Where is your sling?”
Clark dug it out of the desk and Talia helped him arrange it. “Thank you,” he said.
“Clark’s right. We have to tell your grandmother. We’ll go see your father first thing in the morning.”
“It’s a school day,” Keith said.
“We’ll just have to play hookey,” Talia said. “The school board deserves to have to find substitutes for your father and both of us. Those cowards.”
“Let me know if you need a police escort,” Clark said. “I’ll be here all night, but as soon as I’m off duty in the morning, I’m at your service.”
Talia stretched up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for the offer.”
Clark reddened. “You’re welcome, Mrs. Bradley.”
Chapter Seventy-seven –Late Night Visits
Keith drove over to Grandma Bradley’s apartment so Talia could call Naddy and Sophie and tell them what had happened. She set the phone in the hands-free cradle and put it on speaker. Apparent
ly the phone on the other end was on speaker as well, because they could hear Jiggly, Cindee, and David in the background.
“We are so sorry to hear about Joshua,” Naddy said. “Our prayers for him will be constant, Keith.”
“We will pray for you and the school, too,” Sophia added. “This plan of theirs is terrifying. It is hard to feel we do not bear some responsibility, encouraging you to go forward with the Bible as Literature project. God must be the judge of all our hearts, and vindicate our intentions.”
“The GPS says you’re in … Isla Holbox? What are you doing there? I thought you were staying away from Mexico,” Talia said. “You must be filling up the whole island with your crew.”
“We have waited for signs of our mission being compromised and checked out Cara’s insistence that Eva’s contacts were trustworthy. We believe we are as safe as we can be and determined the work must go forward,” Naddy replied.
“If we could only find Eva, we might be of help to her, and she to us.” Sophie sighed.
“Grandma, I’ve got some bad news,” Keith said as Mrs. Bradley let them into her apartment.
“”It must be serious, for you to come this late. Look at this sweet little mother.” She patted Talia’s cheek. “That’s a baby glow, for sure.”
Talia hugged her and they sat down in the living room.
“Dad’s been arrested,” Keith said. “We’ve heard maybe a hundred more school administrators are also in jail.” Talia helped describe the “tablet trigger” day and the board meeting.
“So that’s what those ‘free’ tablets were all about,” Grandma Bradley said. “We need to pray for your father right now. Come on. Get close here. Give me your hands.”
She immediately launched into prayer, and when she fell silent, Keith and Talia each took a turn. Then Grandma Bradley prayed again, including the students affected by the triggering, and the others who were afraid or confused.
The Great Thirst Boxed Set Page 47
