Patton found the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart. It rang a few times but there was finally an answer.
“Wildcat, this is Patton.”
“Patton?” replied the groggy voice.
“Listen, all hell broke loose after you left. They kidnapped Jennifer. They’re holding her in prison. I got away from town but I have to go back. I have to find her.”
“Slow down, man,” Wildcat said, trying to wake himself.
“Sorry, bro. Look, they took Jennifer. They’ve had her for about two weeks I think. Anyway, I need you here. I need your help.”
Patton’s burly friend sat up in bed, careful not to wake his girlfriend.
“You need me where exactly?”
“Here. Back in Utah. When can you catch a flight?”
Wildcat sighed and looked at the clock on this nightstand. He was a frequent flyer so he knew most of the flights out of LAX by heart. There was a red eye to Salt Lake City, but he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. The earliest morning flight was at six in the morning.
“Patton, I can be on an early flight, but I wouldn’t have everything I need. You got some gear there that I can use?”
Patton did a quick mental inventory of weapons and supplies he had remaining.
“I’ve got some guns, but not the right gear. I can go get that in the morning, though.”
“Alright,” Wildcat said. “I’ll catch a morning flight and rent a car and drive up. I’ll call you when I get there. Is this number good?”
“No,” Patton replied, “and my cell phone was destroyed on the way out of town. I’ll have to get a phone in the morning and call you from it in the morning.”
Wildcat agreed and ended the call. He set his phone down and tried to get back to sleep.
After hanging up, Patton heard the kitchen faucet running and a man coughing. A dim light then turned on. Patton leaned his head into the doorway. Mr. Harris was looking right at him while drinking from a large tumbler of water.
“Hello,” Patton said awkwardly.
“Hello,” Harris replied. “So you’re leaving us already?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
Patton didn’t respond at first. An awkward silence passed between them. Finally he said, “Yes. I need to find my wife.”
Harris nodded solemnly. He’d never been in the man’s shoes, but he could imagine how he felt. The doctors’ orders had been clear—no one was to leave for at least a week. Harris respected doctors, but he was also a good judge of character. He could tell that Patton was more capable than the others. He wasn’t about to try to force him to stay—not that he could do so, anyway.
“I guess I only have two questions. What do you need and when do you want to leave?”
Patton smiled. This Harris guy was definitely after his own heart.
The two men drove towards the interstate and then down to Ogden, Utah. Harris was taking Patton to an outdoors store where he could get the gear he needed. The truck leveled out on a small plateau. An old barn and silo lay nestled against a low hill. Patton soaked in the view, grateful to be riding in the truck and for the beautiful landscape.
“You a church goin’ man?” Mr. Harris asked Patton, out of the blue.
“I used to go with my Mom when I was a kid, but I wouldn’t call myself a real religious person.”
“You know the Bible at all?”
Patton shook his head no.
Harris took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Well, back before even Adam came onto this earth, there was a council. God presented a plan to us—all of us who’ve ever lived or will live on the earth. Do you believe that we lived before we came to earth?”
Patton thought about it for a minute.
“Not specifically, but it seems plausible.”
“Anyways, God presented a plan and Jesus said that He would come down and fulfill the plan. People would come down to earth with no memory of living with God before coming to earth. We would come down and live in this world and at every turn we would have a choice.”
Patton nodded.
“Anyway, inside our choices were our answer to the great question—would we choose God or would we choose the world. Sad to say, most the time we choose the world because I think sometimes we don’t recognize God in the other choice.”
Patton smirked but said nothing.
“Anyways, Jesus said that the plan was good and He said that He would come down and give Himself as a sacrifice for us and our sins and mistakes knowing that God couldn’t take us back with Him if we were imperfect. When He suffered and bled in the Garden of Gethsemane and when He died on the cross, He was paying the price for our sins. That way, if we will follow Christ then He will deem us worthy to live with God again.
“Well, Satan presented another idea. He thought it was foolish that God give us the chance to sin when Satan could make us live the straight and narrow. He would force us to be perfect—to always keep God’s commandments. That way, none of us would be unclean.”
Patton nodded. Not because he agreed, necessarily, but because he was glad to have a conversation. Still, he asked, “What’s your point with all this?”
Harris smiled.
“That little fight you got goin’ on over there is the same fight that’s been goin’ on forever,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Most of God’s children just wanna be free. They wanna pursue their own lives. It’s human nature and it’s not just genetic. It’s spiritual. It’s who we are.”
Patton nodded, agreeing again. He wasn’t completely convinced, though.
“I agree that most people want to live free. But not all.”
It was Harris’ turn to nod.
“Yes,” he replied. “But that follows the pattern. Satan wanted to force us all to be perfect. That’s basically what those people are trying in your little town.”
“Yeah, but where does that leave me?” Patton asked. “I’m living in the real world, not the spiritual or the philosophical or the theoretical.”
Harris gazed off into space for a moment then said, “It puts the whole world into perspective. This whole life makes sense in that context, I’d say.”
Patton agreed, but it did him little good to hear. More importantly, it did nothing to reunite him with Jennifer.
“I need something a little more tangible,” he said, finally. “Anyway, I appreciate you taking me down there.”
Conditions at the prison had improved somewhat for Jennifer. She was still being held in the cold and drafty shed, but the guards were treating her more fairly, and she and Theresa were getting more to eat. Sometimes the guards would take Theresa away for days. They always brought her back, but she was worried sick when her friend was gone. After the third or fourth time this happened, Jennifer realized that it was a sort of psychological torture for her. They must have recognized that the two had developed a bond and decided that if they took her friend away from her she might become more compliant.
Jennifer didn’t know anything. They could beat her or starve her or freeze her as much as they wanted. Nothing they did, though, could make her know anything about her husband’s whereabouts. For all she knew, her husband had been killed during the ongoing manhunt. Rumors were rampant and that was one of them.
One good thing came from the guards taking Theresa away—they took her to the main prison. While there, Theresa could hear the latest gossip—about the town or about her husband’s latest exploits. Of course there was the rumor that Patton had been killed, but Theresa had debunked this. She assured Jennifer that it had been started by Asher himself, knowing that Blue Creek residents would be disheartened if their hero was dead or gone. Besides that, Theresa’s husband had rejoined the Blue Creek Security Services and had gone out on a few missions. He informed her that Patton, and the people he’d rescued from the prison, had escaped and were holed up somewhere around Tremonton.