Minutes later, the cars turned out of sight on the country road at the end of the long lane leading to their house. The small window in the top of the barn where Juan lived showed the reflection of a lamp. A long moo came from the direction of the barn.
“Come along, girls,” his mother said as they turned back into the house.
His father beckoned Andrew into the living room. Behind them came the sounds of his younger sisters scrambling upstairs, laughing at something one of them said.
His father went to the bookcase and removed several books from the lower shelf. He pulled out a metal box. Andrew recognized the box as one of those inexpensive fireproof boxes designed to protect valuable papers.
Only, when his father opened it, where papers should have been was a pistol. “This is your brother’s first gun.” He lifted it from the box and set the box on the seat of his chair. Ezekiel took the gun in his right hand, deliberately keeping his finger off the trigger. “This gun he learned to shoot with. He shot his first squirrel with this gun, Andrew, and your mother—bless her heart—cooked it — fried in batter. I was so proud of him.” Andrew remembered the dinner. The display made over his brother. Until his brother was killed two months ago aboard this thing called Sea Base, Andrew had been a shadow to him. With the death of Joshua, that had changed. His father had lifted Andrew from the shadows, treating him as Andrew saw him treat his brother while growing up. Andrew had always been the one in the background. The quiet one. The morose one, as his sister Charlemagne whispered to him one night.
He handed the gun to Andrew. “This is yours now. When you arrive at your destination, you will find those responsible for your brother’s death.”
Andrew held the gun in his palm, looking at the small .32-caliber pistol. The six chambers held five rounds. “Five rounds,” he said aloud.
“We never fully load a gun, son. God must have a way in which he may show us His will.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“There is more, Andrew. When you find these men…” Ezekiel pulled a photograph from the box. “This is one of them. You will kill him and you will kill anyone else you find to be involved in his death. You will shoot him with your brother’s gun and you will make sure he knows why he is being killed and by whom. You will whisper my name so when he reaches hell, he can tell the devil who sent him.” Andrew nodded. He lifted the photograph and looked at it. Against the background of the ship, Joshua stood with other sailors. Beside them stood a tall, thin man wearing a khaki uniform. The man’s hair was cropped close, and Andrew couldn’t tell if it was red or brown.
“That is one of the men,” his father said, pointing to the one wearing khakis. He handed Andrew a three-by-five card. “Here is the man’s name. His wife’s name. They have no children. His address is there along with his duty station. We have people in every military service. Even as you and I talk, in Millington, Tennessee, where the Navy has its military personnel command, a member of God’s Army is writing orders— I think that is what he said they call them—to send you to Hawaii.”
Hawaii. This I would like to see.
“When you arrive, you will become part of his division. This killer is part of the Navy experiment called Sea Base.
“There is another man who must die first, for he was the one who tossed your brother into the sea. His name is Jacobs. He is something called a master chief. Steve Bucket says he is something called a boatswain mate, which is what you will be when you arrive. Kill him first.” Ezekiel raised the photograph. “Then, kill this man. It must be in that order, do you understand?”
“I do, Father.”
“I know you will do it, Andrew. God expects it of you.”
Andrew nodded. “I will, Father. Is this Sea Base part of God’s will?”
“Everything is part of God’s will. This Sea Base is another domino to hasten Armageddon. It is becoming more and more a part of it.” His father leaned back in the chair and clasped his hands together. “When your brother was sent out to Sea Base, we saw it as just one of many dominoes for hastening God’s return. Your brother was to destroy it and if it was God’s will, he would have returned. The result was to be one more evil destroyed as we started executing the vision. He failed. Through our prayers, we know the failure was a bigger part of God’s vision. The failure put this Sea Base against the God-haters of North Korea.” He father stood suddenly and walked to the fireplace, putting both hands on the mantel and leaning against it. “Something happened out there. Something we don’t know. Something this Sea Base did created the situation we hear about now with another country that knows not the love of God. China. Already, this Sea Base is moving toward Taiwan according to the papers, and for you to accomplish your mission of avenging your brother’s death, you will have to journey into the same mouth of the beast as Joshua did. You will have to kill the men responsible for his death. You will have to do it so they know who killed them in the manner I described.”
He turned and faced Andrew. “I want you to return to me, my son. You are the only one I have left to follow in my footsteps even as I hope that God will allow me to see His vision fulfilled. You must fulfill the vision I have seen for you and then return to me.”
Andrew crossed the room and kneeled and bowed at his father’s feet. “I will do as you ask, Father.”
Ezekiel nodded. “I know you will, my son.” He touched Andrew on the shoulder. “Stand,” he said. “Son, it will be God’s will if you come back to me. I will pray for your return. If it is God’s will you go to His arms, then it will be with great sadness we accept that fate, knowing we will see each other in heaven, in glory.”
“God’s will.”
“Yes, God’s will.”
“Am I to destroy Sea Base also as Joshua was instructed?” His father’s face twisted as if in deep thought. Then he shook his head. “Only if an opportunity presents itself. I think if the Lord had wanted Sea Base destroyed, He would have allowed Joshua to succeed.”
Andrew nodded, relieved, as he had no idea how to destroy something as large as Sea Base.
“But if God wishes the destruction of Sea Base, He will tell you. If you do not see it as part of His design, you are only to try to sink it if you believe you can escape.” His father moved toward the doorway. “While at sea, you will hear of explosions and carnage as we stir the world toward a global war. If you can sink this abomination so that those in Washington think a foreign power did it, then it will help our vision. Even if you are partially successful, whatever happens to this Sea Base will be seen as an attack by China. A war between China and America would catapult the world into Armageddon.” “How will I know what God’s Army is doing elsewhere, Father?”
“You will know, Andrew,” Ezekiel replied, smiling. “We will work here to stir up America over a Chinese attack. We will convince enough people that it is only days from attack. You will hear of the preparations and God will guide your hand. For the prophecy to be fulfilled, we may even have to allow our country to be attacked. If Sea Base should sink during this time, it would be seen as evidence of an impending attack. Then, there will be such a powerful reaction by our own mighty weapons, we will rejoice in how God’s Army catapulted this world into Armageddon.”
“Yes, Father,” Andrew said, wrapping his palm around the pistol.
His father leaned close to him, his eyes wet, a tear escaping from the old man’s right eye. “I want you to kill these men who took my oldest.” He took the photograph and stared at it. “They both must die by your hand before you try anything against this Sea Base. I want these seeds of Satan shot with your brother’s gun.” Bracing his hand against the door facing, his father tugged Andrew down. “Let’s pray for guidance.” Thirty minutes later, the two arose. His father slapped him on the shoulder. “Go to bed, my son.”