by Mark Vance
About the Author
Mark A. Vance is a veteran airline captain for a major U.S. airline with over 27,000 flying hours. He also has C-Suite experience as the President/CEO of a successful capital management firm. His academic credits include an A.S. and B.S. Degree in Air Commerce/Transportation Technology from Florida Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. Degree in Accounting from Indiana Wesleyan University, an M.S. Degree in Strategic Management from Indiana University, a Graduate Certificate in Treasury Management from Duke University and Graduate Certificates in Aviation Management and Advanced Project Management from Stanford University. He has the academic distinction of Beta Gamma Sigma membership, a scholarly entity reserved for the top ten percent of global business school graduates from AACSB accredited institutions. As a child, he lived as a guest of the Blackfeet Nation on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana. He and his wife, of Cherokee Choctaw ancestry, reside in North Carolina. They are committed to the study of God’s Word, researching and applying Biblical truth, living in God’s will for their lives, and sharing their spiritual insights and experiences. They are also dedicated to honoring the Jack B. Ketchum Bomber Crew of World War II, and the author’s late Uncle S/Sgt. Raymond E. Davis.
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A cocky, wisecracking, commercial airline pilot has a surreptitious, lifelong relationship with the apparition of a dead relative, killed decades earlier in a military plane crash. When the apparition urges the pilot to solve the mystery of that crash, government censorship and stonewalling ensues, eventually surmounted by confidential information provided by entities disguised as the pilot’s dead relative and murdered comrades.
Also by Mark A. Vance
Nonfiction
Flight of the Forgotten - A True Story of Heroism and Betrayal
A Living Memorial to the Jack B. Ketchum Bomber Crew
Available Worldwide
Angels of Light
Copyright 2018 Mark A. Vance
All Rights Reserved
Published by Mark A. Vance 2018
Charlotte, North Carolina
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.
ISBN
E-Book 978-1-7328679-0-1
Softcover 978- 1-7328679-1-8
Book Cover Art
SelfPubBookCovers.com/Viergacht
ANGELS OF LIGHT
Beyond the Veil
By
Mark A. Vance
This story is dedicated to the source of all truth and light.
FORWARD
Inspired by actual events, this story is a progressive spiritual revelation. It repeatedly pierces the spiritual veil surrounding our physical world and provides graphic, supernatural insight into the powerful, omnipresent world beyond. The underlying narrative serves as a point-blank spiritual antidote, delivered through the sharing of authentic supernatural experiences that are predicated on the author’s original work, Flight of the Forgotten.
This adaptation of that original work comprises a lifetime of ghostly interactions and other-worldly experiences, that at its zenith yields highly classified official information and lays bare a top-secret government file. The accuracy of the original work’s spiritually derived information was used to solve a fifty year old aviation mystery.
Whether that privileged information was derived angelically or satanically is the basis for this spiritual adaptation. The hazard awaiting innocent excursions beyond the veil is a matter every individual must acknowledge and correctly assess. My hope is that Angels of Light will serve as a benchmark of spiritual discernment in all manners and modes of supernatural interaction, while also fostering a strong desire to learn more about fundamental spiritual truth.
Characters
● Steve Lacey (Age 3) - Toddler - Nephew of Ray Wilkins, deceased member of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Steve Lacey (Age 8) - Child - Nephew of Ray Wilkins, deceased member of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Steve Lacey (Age 15) - Fledgling Aviator - Nephew of Ray Wilkins, deceased member of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Steve Lacey (Age 20) - Fledgling Aviator - Nephew of Ray Wilkins, deceased member of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Steve Lacey (Age 42) - Airline Captain - Nephew of Ray Wilkins, deceased member of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Ray Wilkins (Apparition) - Uncle of Steve Lacey and Ball-Turret Gunner of the James Tyree World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● James Tyree (Apparition) - B-24 Command Pilot - World War II Bomber Crew (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Robbie Akin - Flight Instructor - Cessna Aircraft
● Michael Carpenter - Resident Psychic - Illinois Society of Spiritualists and Naturalists (Camp Ellis)
● Joyce Lacey - Mother of Steve Lacey
● Elizabeth Wilkins - Mother of Ray Wilkins and Great-Grandmother of Steve Lacey
● William Wilkins - Father of Ray Wilkins and Great-Grandfather of Steve Lacey
● Kay Lacey - Wife of Steve Lacey
● Gladys Spencer - Sister of Ray Wilkins and Grandmother of Steve Lacey
● Eldon Wilson (Apparition) - Flight Engineer of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Ed Reddick (Apparition) - Waist-Gunner of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Cole Johnson (Apparition) - Co-Pilot of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Stephen Coronado (Apparition) - Navigator of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Brandon Powers (Apparition) - Nose-Gunner of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Jacob Stewart (Apparition) - Radio-Operator of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Dennis Weathers (Apparition) - Waist-Gunner of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber)
● Eric Irving (Apparition) - Tail-Gunner of the James Tyree World War II (Black Hameldon Bomber Crew)
● Ian McShane - Local Resident/Hiker - Black Hameldon, Moors area, Lancashire, England
● Satan/Lucifer - Feral Head of Demonic Forces, Prince of Darkness, Fallen Angel
● Wohali Rogers - Pastor/Tribal Council Member - Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Husband of Awinita Rogers & Uncle of Kay Lacey
● Awinita Rogers - Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Wife of Wohali Rogers &Aunt of Kay Lacey
● Senator Ashton Bancroft - Senior U.S. Senator - State of Georgia; Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
● Dr. Lenny Williams - Senior Pastor - Local Church, Atlanta, Georgia
● A. J. Williams - B-17 Command Pilot- World War II Bomber Crew
● Dr. David Monroe - Senior Theologian - University Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia
● Edward Hickey - U.
S. Government - Office of Strategic Services - European Theater of Operations
● Tom Sturnman - U.S. Government - Office of Strategic Services - European Theater of Operations
● Phil Osterhouse - U.S. Government -Office of Strategic Services - European Theater of Operations
● Nate Watson - U.S. Government -Office of Strategic Services - European Theater of Operations
● Curtis Lemond - U.S. Government - Office of Strategic Services - European Theater of Operations
Table of Contents
Part I Guardian Angel
Chapter One Masquerade 15
Chapter Two Sins of the Fathers 31
Chapter Three Quagmire 44
Part II Tunnel Vision
Chapter Four Search and Discovery 61
Chapter Five Myopia 73
Chapter Six Reconstituted 86
Part III Spiritual Legacy
Chapter Seven Encore 105
Chapter Eight Boomerang 127
Chapter Nine Common Ground 140
Part IV Epilogue
Chapter Ten Full Circle 171
PART I
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Chapter One
Masquerade
“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an Angel of Light.” 2nd Corinthians 11:14
It’s the Summer of 1969, and three year old Steve Lacey is decades away from attaining anything resembling spiritual discernment. At present, he is immersed in pushing a toy, wooden airplane across the floor of his grandparent’s living room in Shelby, North Carolina. Young Lacey stares in fascination at the U. S. Air Force markings and watches the pilot’s head spin around and around, as he forces the wheels to turn faster and faster. Nearby, several adults are talking about a deceased relative named Ray, and the mysterious airplane crash that took his life years ago. Their discourse is disjointed and at times rambling, but it eventually turns to Ray’s Service Bible, and how a man living in England near the crash site, found Ray’s Bible and returned it to the Wilkins family. None of the adults are able to offer a reasonable conjecture that might explain how such a small, fragile item survived unscathed in the flaming wreckage of Ray’s World War II bomber.
Young Lacey is unburdened by such weighty concerns as he recklessly pushes the toy airplane at breakneck speed across the soft carpet. In the room with him, but not heard by the adults, a disembodied, beguiling voice begins to cautiously engage him. The spectral voice is male, calm, deliberate, and intensely alluring. It counsels him about the need for caution around all airplanes, asserting that, “anomalies in an airplane sometimes foster sad consequences.” The ghostly, disembodied voice behind the peculiar declaration identifies itself as Ray, and continues nurturing the child’s attention for the next several minutes. Ultimately, it summarizes its other-worldly mission by boldly proclaiming to three year old Steve Lacey that it will be with him all of his life, especially whenever he is flying a real airplane. The youngster is unmoved by the other-worldly proclamation and continues interacting exclusively with the toy, although slightly less aggressively in response to the ethereal warning. It will be decades before Steve Lacey hears the idiom, “anomalies in an airplane” again. When it recurs, the source of the message will be a three dimensional apparition identifying itself as James Tyree, command pilot of the Black Hameldon Bomber, Uncle Ray’s airplane.
Five years later, eight year old Steve Lacey is visiting his great-grandparent’s (Ray Wilkins parent’s) farm in Shelby, North Carolina for the very first time. Raised in the city, he has no farm experience, and has never been exposed to such a rural environment. It is a real working farm in Western North Carolina, and as a male, he is expected to participate in all the daily chores. With no consideration for his age or city upbringing, his great-grandfather, Grandpa Wilkins rebukes him sharply for failing to properly milk a semi-confused and rather stubborn dairy cow. Wilkins is a man engrossed in the workings of his family farm, with little patience for children or city folk. He is also a man that suffered unimaginable heartache as a result of losing his oldest son, Ray in the war, but none of that was apparent or mattered to his great-grandson this hot Summer afternoon. In the eyes of Grandpa Wilkins, Steve is just a bungling child, incapable of performing even the simplest farm task without continuous and sometimes harsh correction.
Dejected, Steve is committed to leaving the Wilkins farm immediately, as he retreats to the farmhouse, seeking reassurance from his mother. The living room of the small, wood frame farmhouse is filled with adult relatives, but he remains determined as he states openly and unequivocally that he wants to leave. In response, his great-grandmother, Grandma Wilkins (Ray’s mother) intervenes, takes him by the hand and begins showing him around her home. Her efforts to distract him are not immediately successful, but his attention is soon drawn to a picture on the wall of several men in front of a World War II bomber. Grandma Wilkins notices his instant fascination with the picture and states proudly, “that’s Ray and his crew!” as he continues staring wide eyed at the black and white picture. It reminds him of his favorite television show, 12 o’ clock High, and he struggles to separate fantasy from the family reality about to unfold in front of him.
His mother, Joyce Lacey joins the conversation, assuring Grandma Wilkins that her son’s interest in the picture is predicated on the 12 o’clock High television show. She then begins to clarify to him, exactly who his great-grandmother is referring to.
“Ray was your uncle, your grandmother’s brother.” she stated succinctly, as he nodded and without hesitation pointed to his Uncle Ray among the nine men in the picture. He then asks innocently, “where is Ray now? I can hear him, but I almost never see him.”
“What?” his mother exclaimed with a start, taking him by the hand and leading him away from the picture.
“Where is he now?” he repeated, as his mother tried desperately to distract him and ignore the question.
“He’s gone, honey.” Grandma Wilkins replied sadly, the twinkle in her eye fading as she spoke.
“Gone?” he countered, sensing something was radically wrong. “But he can’t be gone! He talks to me all the time!”
“Oh, my!” Grandma Wilkins exclaimed as she recoiled at the pronouncement and stared at him in awe for several moments. Slowly, the twinkle in her misty blue eyes began to return.
“He’s really interested in airplanes! It’s just like his favorite television show 12 o’clock High to him!” Joyce Lacey stammered, trying desperately to put Uncle Ray’s mother at ease.
Smiling knowingly, Grandma Wilkins then leaned forward and patted him on the head, gazing curiously into his eyes.
“He talks to you?” she prompted, as he nodded innocently. “Is … is he all right?” she asked cautiously.
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “He says I’m going to be a jet pilot when I grow up!”
Both of the women are dumbfounded and unnerved by the eerie revelation as they stare at one another in shock, but neither utters a sound. Moments later, Grandma Wilkins is inspired to take him by the hand and lead him to a small bookshelf in the corner of her dining room. His mother follows hesitantly, a few steps behind. Upon reaching the bookshelf, Grandma Wilkins retrieves a small, well-worn Bible and holds it to her heart before declaring,“this is Ray’s Bible. It was with him on all his missions and also when he died. A man in England sent it to our family. He discovered it near Ray’s airplane. Someday, Ray’s Bible will be yours. Ray would want you to have it.”
He reaches out and carefully touches the small, mysterious sounding book. The immediate sensation of something supernatural is undeniable, even at such a tender age. He feels positive energy emanating from its binding and notices that the look of apprehension has completely disappeared from his mother’s face. Moments later, Grandpa Wilkins enters the small wood frame farmhouse, offering his great-grandson a pronounced and unmistakable scowl. Still leery of his great-grandfather, Steve then asks innocently,“is this book’s power strong enough to work on Grandpa Wi
lkins?”
