Apocalypse Dawn

by Mel Odom

“So what?” Donaldson challenged.

  “Seems hard to believe that a weapon could be unleashed that would strike around the globe all at the same time. We don’t have anything like that. I don’t believe that any foreign power has such a weapon either.”

  Donaldson breathed heavily, obviously on the edge of losing control. He turned back to Delroy. “How are you going to prove what you’re saying?”

  “Prove that this was the Rapture?” Delroy spread his arms. “Look around you. The proof is right here. If you want confirmation, read your Bible. Read 1 Corinthians. God states there that He will come for His church.” He flipped open his father’s Bible to 1 Corinthians 15:51 and began reading in a clear, strong voice. “‘Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.’” The chaplain looked up from the book. “That’s how fast it happens, Colonel. In the twinkling of an eye. Just the way those personnel disappeared from Wasp.”

  “You’re insane,” Donaldson said, shaking his head. “That book was written back when high technology was getting your household fire stoked by slave labor. The people who wrote it could never have foreseen what’s going on today. Crazy talk. That’s what this is. Just crazy talk.”

  “Did you know that Chief Petty Officer Mellencamp’s body disappeared in front of me?” Delroy asked. “I was watching when it happened. Have you heard that? Even the dead believers have left this ship. Do you have a better answer for what happened here? What kind of unknown weapon of mass destruction that we agree we don’t know about would cause the disappearance of a dead man from inside a body bag without opening the closures or leaving a mark on that bag or on his clothing?”

  Donaldson cursed. “I don’t need to hear this.”

  “You do,” Delroy said. “You just won’t admit to it yet.” He opened the Bible again and began reading once more. “‘For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.’”

  “Captain,” Donaldson said, “are you listening to this load of bull?”

  “I am,” Falkirk answered quietly. “To every word.”

  “Then make him stop.”

  “It’s not the Rapture you need to fear, Colonel,” Delroy said, drawing the Marine officer’s attention immediately.

  “I’m not afraid,” Donaldson said.

  “You’re afraid.” Delroy felt the strength of conviction flowing through him. Reading God’s words, remembering how his father had pounded the pulpit in his pursuit of the salvation of souls, washed away the fatigue and confusion that had filled his heart and his head for so long. He knew those feelings would attempt to return and that he would have to find the strength to stand against them, but he trusted God that he would find the means to do so.

  Without warning, Donaldson launched a strong right fist at Delroy’s head.

  Quickly, faster than he’d ever been before, faster than he’d thought humanly possible, Delroy reached up with his free hand and caught Donaldson’s fist with a loud, meaty smack. The blow halted only inches from the chaplain’s cheek.

  Donaldson’s eyes widened in astonishment.

  “You’re afraid, Colonel,” Delroy said. “But that’s all right because your fear may cause you to seek comfort in God. You should be afraid, because your immortal soul is going to be the cost of your disbelief.”

  Donaldson tried to yank his fist back.

  Delroy held on to Donaldson with a fierce strength he’d never known. “After the Rapture, God will leave this earth in place for seven years. That time will be called the Tribulation. All those who have not come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior before the Rapture will be given one last chance to make their peace with him and their acceptance of his dominion over their lives. But those seven years won’t be easy. The Antichrist will rise up and weave a tapestry of the sweetest lies a man has ever known, and the world as we know it will be changed in ways we never expected.”

  Donaldson yanked his fist back, and this time Delroy let it go.

  “You can’t prove a single thing you’re saying,” Donaldson said.

  “You’re right, Colonel,” Delroy said. “I can’t prove it. I’m not supposed to prove it. God isn’t empirical. You can’t weigh and measure His works against any kind of criteria human beings have ever evolved.” He paused, feeling the swell of emotions breaking within him. “That’s why they call it faith. God is love and trust and acceptance and belief.”

  Donaldson stepped back, and for a moment Delroy thought the man might reach for his sidearm again. Evidently Falkirk thought so, too, because the captain stood in a quick, fluid motion.

  “You’re crazy, preacher. Bedbug nuts, if you ask me,” Donaldson said.

  “If you want a fight, Colonel, it’s coming,” Delroy said. His voice deepened, and he knew instinctively that he spoke in the measured cadence of Josiah Harte bringing home a fiery invitation. “These next seven years are going to be fraught with peril and dangers beyond man’s wildest imaginings. Brother shall be turned against brother, and father against son. And no person will emerge through the Tribulation untouched.” He paused. “You won’t have a choice about that fight, but you will have to decide which side you’re going to be on.”

  Donaldson trembled in anger, barely restraining himself. From a safe distance away, he leveled a finger at Delroy. “Captain, with all due respect, I request that you issue orders that that man should not be on this ship at this time.”

  “You’re right,” Falkirk said. Then he met Delroy’s gaze. “Chaplain Harte, go pack your bags. You’re leaving in ten minutes.”

  “Captain—” Delroy protested. He knew there was so much he could do here now that he knew and understood. And there were so many things that he had to work on, to prepare, to research.

  Falkirk cut him off. “That’s an order, mister, and you’re dismissed.”

  Stiffly, Delroy saluted. “Aye, Captain.” He turned a sharp aboutface and left the room. Confusion shook him. God, I thought I understood You. Why are You allowing this? He couldn’t help feeling that maybe he didn’t understand at all.

  26

  United States of America

  Fort Benning, Georgia

  Local Time 2:56 A.M.

  “Would you say that you’ve had an adversarial relationship with Private Boyd Fletcher?”

  Megan looked in disbelief at the young lieutenant who had been appointed her legal counsel. The silence after his question hung in the stark emptiness of the provost marshal’s interview room like an echo of her thoughts. Her mind still hadn’t gotten around the fact that the lieutenant believed she was going to be arraigned on charges of kidnapping Gerry Fletcher.

  “You’ve read my files, Lieutenant Benbow,” Megan said. “What would you say about my contact with Boyd Fletcher?”

  “Actually,” the lieutenant said, “I’ve only looked the files over a little. I didn’t want to invade the Fletchers’ privacy—or yours—unless it became necessary.”

  “I see.” Megan remained calm with effort. She wanted out of the room and to be back home with Joey and Chris. She wanted to know her boys were all right—all of her boys. She wanted to know that Goose was all right despite everything that was going on in Turkey. That isn’t too much to ask, is it, God? Especially not after the night I’ve been through. “Even from a cursory view of those files, I’d think that you’d get a sense that Boyd Fletcher didn’t care much for my meddling in his family.”

  Benbow looked at her, his pen poised over the yellow legal tablet. “Is that how you view what you were doing with the Fletchers? Meddling?”

  The frustration inside Megan continued to build. “Lieutenant Benbow, how long have you been assigned to your present AOC?” She used military terminology for the area of concentration, basically a job description, to impress on him that she was familiar with army protocol.

&n
bsp; “I finished law school last summer, Mrs. Gander,” Benbow said, “but I don’t see what that has to do with my question.”

  “Not with your question,” Megan pointed out. “The question is all mine. Maybe you finished law school, Lieutenant, but you appear a little naïve.”

  Benbow colored bright red on his cheeks and ears. He blinked rapidly.

  “Let me sum it up for you,” Megan said. “Yes, I had an adversarial relationship with Private Fletcher regarding his abuse of his son.”

  “Alleged abuse,” Benbow said.

  “You’re talking like we’re in a court of law,” Megan said. “Private Fletcher was abusing his son. I knew it. He knew it. Gerry knew it. Helen Cordell at the base hospital knew it. And Dr. Carson was going to file a report with the provost marshal’s office tonight—this morning. It’s possible that Dr. Carson already did, given Boyd Fletcher’s arrest at the hospital. Maybe you should check with the MPs and get a copy of the report.”

  Benbow scratched the back of his neck with his pencil. “Ma’am, I’m not the enemy here.”

  “Then act like you’re on my side.”

  After a brief hesitation, Benbow said, “I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.”

  “Yes,” Megan said. “In fact, I think there are two wrong feet involved here.” And neither one is mine.

  Benbow deliberated a moment, then reached over and switched the tape recorder off. “Let’s start over again.” He stood and offered his hand. “I’m Lieutenant Doug Benbow, Mrs. Gander.”

  Too surprised to speak, Megan shook the man’s hand again.

  Taking his hand back, the young lieutenant said, “There’s an awful lot of confusion going on around the base tonight. I’m probably not at my best, and I want to apologize for that. I will get up to speed fairly quickly, but I am new to my AOC and the criminal justice court and to Fort Benning. I hope you don’t hold that against me for long and that I prove to be a competent representative for you in this matter.”

  Megan’s head spun. “Lieutenant Benbow.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Sit down.”

  Lieutenant Benbow paused for a moment, then sat neatly, his knees together and his hands on either side of the legal pad. Megan began to wonder what the mother of this boy was like.

  “You’ll have to excuse me, Lieutenant,” Megan said, offering no apology. “I’m afraid some of my husband’s take-charge tendencies have rubbed off on me.” That wasn’t quite the truth because she had been self-sufficient as a single mom long before Goose came into her life. “Goose is a first sergeant with C Company.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Benbow replied. “I knew that. I was also told you were a very competent woman. That’s why the allegations about you concerning the kidnapping of the Fletcher boy surprised me. Then again, when I thought about it, I wasn’t surprised at all.” He caught himself, realizing what he had said, and hurried on. “I mean, I could see how you would want to protect the Fletcher boy because everyone says you’re that kind of person. A caretaker. A giver. I suppose if you thought hiding Gerry from his father was the only way you could protect him you would do that.”

  “Lieutenant,” Megan said.

  Benbow looked acutely attentive. “Ma’am?”

  “I did not kidnap Gerry Fletcher.”

  Benbow turned his palms up. “Then where is Gerry?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “He was up there on the building with you?”

  “Yes.” Megan settled into the familiar question-and-answer mode she had been in for the last hour. “Surely by now you’ve found witnesses who have corroborated that. There were a dozen or more people there.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I have. And the provost marshal’s office has been very helpful in pointing me to them. I intend to interview them all before this investigation is finished.”

  “But you haven’t found anyone who saw Gerry fall from the building?”

  “No, ma’am. I had a few say they weren’t certain if the boy fell. In fact, several thought they did see the boy on the rooftop and thought he had fallen.”

  “But now they say they didn’t see Gerry fall?”

  Benbow nodded. “That’s right, ma’am. They said they knew the boy hadn’t fallen or jumped when his clothes hit the ground.”

  “How do they think the clothes got there?”

  Benbow licked his lips. “They think you took them off the boy and threw them over the side of the building.”

  “They believe I stripped Gerry Fletcher down to his birthday suit and threw his clothes from the building?” Megan felt confused and disoriented. In some ways, the present confusion she was going through was worse than watching Gerry Fletcher slip from her grip. That had ended in seconds, and with—she believed with all her heart—Gerry safe somewhere. The conspiracy to make her a kidnapper seemed like an endless loop of madness—madness that just wouldn’t stop. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Most of the people involved think you’d do that to protect the boy. The MPs are on your side. They believe that Private Fletcher would have hurt his son if he’d gotten his hands on him.”

  “They’re not on my side if they think I hid Gerry. How do they think I got him down from that building? And without his clothing?”

  “There is some belief that you had an accomplice inside the resident building.”

  “Do you realize what you’re saying?” Megan asked. “You make it sound like I had this whole night planned out.”

  “There are some who think you’ve had this planned for some time,” Benbow said. “I’ve been told that you were very frustrated with how things were developing with the Fletcher family. Private Fletcher’s wife—”

  “Her name is Tonya,” Megan said automatically. She felt overwhelmed. How could anyone think that she had planned anything that had happened tonight?

  “Tonya,” Benbow acknowledged, “told the provost marshal’s office that you had been acting possessive of Gerry. She states that she started getting the feeling that you would have taken him away from her if you could have.”

  “Tonya ignored what was happening to Gerry,” Megan said. “She knew her husband was abusing her son, and she chose to ignore that.”

  “Can you prove that, ma’am?” Benbow looked at Megan hopefully.

  “She never acted to help the situation or her son,” Megan said. “Check through the files I have on Gerry. You’ll find that every referral I received came from the base hospital or a base teacher. Never from Tonya. You should have reports in there from Helen Cordell. Have you talked with Helen?”

  Benbow regarded Megan silently for a moment. “You don’t know what’s taking place on the base, do you?”

  Megan made herself breathe out. “Lieutenant, Gerry Fletcher fell from that building over an hour and a half ago. He disappeared before he hit the ground. I don’t care how incredible you think that event is, it happened. I saw it. Even if you can’t find anyone else who will admit that they did.” Please, God, I did see that, didn’t I? I haven’t gone crazy! How can I take care of my family if I’m insane? She barely managed to cap the rising panic that filled her. God, please help me. I don’t know what to believe.

  Benbow waited patiently for her to go on.

  “I was taken down from that building and brought here,” Megan said in a hoarse voice. “I didn’t know I was being taken into custody until I wasn’t allowed to leave this room without an escort while I went to the bathroom. I don’t know anything at all that’s happened outside of this room since I was put in it. Nobody’s told me a thing. I’ve got family out there, and I want to know that they’re okay. It’s driving me crazy to be held like this.”

  “Then no one has even talked to you about what has happened on the base?”

  “No. And I’m starting to worry about that, too. I’ve noticed a lot of activity outside whenever the door was open. I thought that maybe the MPs were organizing a widespread search for Gerry, since everyone kept coming to me, wanting t
o know where he was.”

  “Mrs. Gander,” Benbow said in a deliberate voice, “there have been other disappearances on the base. In Columbus as well. In fact, I’ve heard news stories that say the disappearances are worldwide.”

  “What? What disappearances?”

  Benbow leaned forward. “Gerry Fletcher wasn’t the only person to disappear tonight, Mrs. Gander. At about the same time that you’re claiming Gerry disappeared, several personnel and civilians around the base went missing as well.”

  “Who?”

  “Helen Cordell was one of those people.” Benbow hesitated. “There were others. All of the children on the base seem to be missing. Not just Gerry.”

  A cold, hard band of fear encircled Megan’s heart. She forced herself to speak. “All of the children?”

  Benbow nodded, flipping through his notes. “The age range of the missing children appears to be from newborn to the age of twelve. At least, twelve is the oldest reported age I have here on base. Some of the radio and TV networks that are still on air are reporting that about the same age group has gone missing throughout the world.”

  Chris! Sharp pain lanced through Megan’s chest. She felt the heat of her son’s face against her palm, felt the feathery softness of his breath against her cheek, felt his arms so tight around her neck as he’d rebelled against being left.

  The memory of his voice came to her, so innocent and sweet. “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I’m just going to sleep for a little while, Mommy, so you can come and get me soon.”

  “Lieutenant Benbow,” Megan said, her voice thick with emotion, “I have a son—” She meant to say that she had a son in that age range, but she couldn’t get the words out.

  “Yes, ma’am. I know.” The lieutenant referred to the legal pad. “He’s here on base. I’ve cleared him for visitation.”

  Thank You, God. Thank You that Joey’s home safe. Megan tried to speak, but there wasn’t enough air in her lungs. Then her thoughts turned to Chris, and the images of her baby tumbled through her head. So many of them included Goose. He had spent so much time with Chris. Was he among the missing? What would Goose do?