A ping sounded on the dashboard. He looked up to find the LoJack receiver had activated but there was nothing on the road. There was a stolen car in the area, heading north by the looks of it. He grabbed his radio to call the dispatcher then paused. He pulled his glove off with his teeth and fumbled in his pocket for the prayer book the reverend had given him to keep close by, a weapon in the coming war, and flipped to the back. There was an alphanumeric code next to a cell phone number. He compared it to the one on the display and felt his mouth go dry.
They were the same.
He took out his own personal phone and dialed the number written in the prayer book.
Demons in human form—he thought, just as the line connected.
54
“Okay, we’re off the air.”
The Reverend Fulton Cooper held his final gesture of prayer for a few beats then opened his eyes, dropped his hands to his sides and smiled. “Good show, everyone,” he said, casting smiles around the room. The bright studio lights cut out and across the room he saw the pale moon face of Miss Boerman framed by her severe haircut and suit. She was standing by the door, looking straight at him. She nodded when she saw she had caught his attention then turned and slipped back outside.
“Take a break, but don’t go far,” he announced to the room as he moved toward the exit. “The Lord has much work for us yet to do. We’re live again in an hour.”
He passed through the door and felt the relative cool of the outside air on his skin.
“They’re in the chapel,” Miss Boerman said, the thin scar on her cheek puckering when she spoke. The mark of his hand from earlier was no longer visible. She handed him a small plain envelope. He opened it and studied the contents.
“This up to date?” he asked, slipping the note back in the envelope and tucking it into his jacket.
“As of five minutes ago.”
“Everything else set up?”
“Gassed and ready to go.”
“Anyone needs me, tell them I’m at private prayer and not to be disturbed.” He moved past her and headed down the stairs, the leather of his Italian shoes clacking first against the wooden steps, then against flagstones as he arrived in the basement and passed through a solid wooden door in the shape of an arch.
The chapel had been built in the old cellars, making good use of the existing vaulted brickwork and stone floors. It was small, with three rows of wooden pews on either side of a narrow aisle leading to a lectern that stood before a large stained-glass window artificially lit from behind so God’s light could permanently shine through it. Cooper occasionally recorded segments of his shows down here, but he also used it for meetings because it was quiet and out of the way and there was another door hidden behind the altar, a requirement of the fire department regulations that also allowed people to enter the chapel without anyone in the main part of the building knowing they were there.
Eli and Carrie were kneeling at the altar, their backs to him, their heads bowed. Eli jumped as the door banged shut — still fighting his demons. Carrie reached out to him with a gentle, calming hand that had killed eighteen people to Cooper’s sure knowledge. He caught her profile as she turned; the slightly upturned nose that made her seem younger than she actually was and inclined people to underestimate her, just as they did with him, only with her it was often the last mistake they ever made.
“Praise God for watching over you and delivering you safely,” Cooper said, smiling down at them as they turned around. He beckoned them over to the tech desk set up at the back of the room, which they used when they recorded down here. He turned on the monitor and heard the scuff of Eli’s steps approaching, but he didn’t hear Carrie’s. She was the only person he knew who could walk up the two-hundred-year-old main wooden staircase inside the house without making a single sound.
They were showing a rerun of the morning show. After a few minutes the picture cut to a recorded section and Cooper pointed at the two men in suits sitting on the sofa opposite him. “Are these the people you saw in Dr. Kinderman’s house?”
“Yes,” Carrie confirmed.
“They came here asking about all kinds of things but left with nothing. I trust you were careful in your observations of the good doctor’s house?”
“No one saw us,” Eli said, his voice flat and empty as always. “I guarantee it.”
“Good. That’s very good.”
Carrie and Eli exchanged a look. “We seen it on the news,” she said, “about the telescopes. We was thinking, now that the mission you set for us is over, now that those telescopes are no longer—”
“We want to get married,” Eli said. “We want you to marry us. Right now.”
Cooper turned and smiled at them. “And so I shall,” he said. “So I shall.” He moved past them, walking back up the aisle toward the fake sunshine streaming in through the window. He stopped in front of the lectern and stared up at the cross. “We’ve come a long way, the three of us, from that hell in the desert — a long, long way. And our journey is nearly over. But it is not over yet.”
“But the towers have fallen,” Carrie said, her voice small and unsure. “The telescopes…”
Cooper turned to face them. “They may have been destroyed but the wrath of the Lord is still evident for all to see, is it not? He is still greatly angered by the audacity and insult of those who built them. Destroying them was only part of His plan. The architects of the heresy must also be made examples of. For if I destroy the temple of mine enemy yet suffer the priest to live, will not he go forth and build a temple anew?
“The sacred mission I gave to you both will not end until those who fashioned this great sin are made to atone for their actions. Only by making an example of them can we warn others of the dangers of sin.
“Now I know you two love each other with a passion that is strong and pure, and I would not seek to stand between something as beautiful as that. But God sent you to me for a purpose, just as surely as He spoke and told me in that still small voice the service He would have you do in His name.
“Remember how I found you in the desert, broken by the sins you had been made to perform? Now I want you to remember what I said to you back in that field hospital in Iraq, I want you to recall for me the piece of Scripture I gave you to speak of your higher purpose and remind you of who you are.”
Carrie answered in her tiny voice. “ ‘Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.’ ”
Cooper nodded. “Ephesians, chapter six, verse thirteen. And you see now how the evil day that was prophesied is upon us, and that now is the time to stand firm. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He prevailed by keeping His mind on His calling, on His mission on earth, and saying, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.’ ”
He reached out and took their hands and held them in his. “ ‘Him alone shalt thou serve.’ Believe me I would like nothing better, nothing better in this world than to unite you two warriors of God in the blessed union of marriage.” He let go of their hands and took a step back. “But His work is not yet done. And only when it is completed will we be free to pursue our own desires.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the envelope Miss Boerman had given him. “But never forget that you are not alone in your service of the Lord. You will see from this information that there are many others engaged in the good fight, many others who are part of the same brother- and sisterhood who would also see His will be done. Our reach is long, for He sees all.”