Rise of the Beast (24 page)

“It might work,” said Serena. “Yes, I like that idea. Maybe we should rain on his parade. The least we could do would be to become a real pain in his side. He’s in our backyard now.”

“These healings that are spoken of, they look real,” noted Chris. “So many people attest to them. Why and how could Satan heal someone?”

Serena laughed openly. “It’s not that hard to figure out. Do you know what a gambit is in chess?”

“Sure,” replied Chris. “It’s when you give up a piece in an attempt to gain a real positional advantage in the game. You give up a piece and win the game. But it’s risky.”

“Right,” said Serena. “Satan has lost the War in Heaven. He has even lost his kingdom in Hell. He is in the endgame. This is his last chance. Satan has resorted to casting out Satan. People who have been physically afflicted by demons, some for years, are being released at his bidding so as to give him a PR advantage here on Earth. He gives up a few so as to gain even more. Don’t you see? It’s a game.”

Chris nodded. “That makes sense. Then at any of his revivals there will be demons in great numbers, manipulating all that happens.”

“I’m not afraid of demons, not anymore,” noted Serena. “And if demons are the problem, maybe we could do a little spiritual healing of our own, show old slewfoot for what he is—a charlatan—and do it in front of tens of thousands of people.”

“I’m liking this better and better all the time,” said Chris. “It says here that there are still tickets available for the event. Are you up to it?”

“I’m up to it,” confirmed Serena. “Let’s rock his socks off.”

For the next three hours they made their plans. They looked at the layout of the stadium that the Changing the World crusade would be held in. They considered the best place to sit, the best way to proceed to the stage. They even viewed a video of the first crusade in Philadelphia two weeks ago. By the time they turned in for the night, they had a rough plan as to how to proceed. Maybe they could head off Lusan’s worldwide crusade before it hardly got started.

Serena awakened to cool dampness. She opened her eyes to find herself in a cool, misty forest filled with the illumination of thousands of fireflies. She rose to her feet. She could only see about 30 or 40 feet through the fog. It all had the appearance of twilight, not total night. Some of the mists around her even seemed to be glowing a pale blue. It was so very strange. It had to be a dream, but it seemed so very real. She closed her eyes once more, tried to will her body to awaken, but she had the sense that she was already awake.

She looked upon herself. She wasn’t wearing her nightgown, but the knee-length print dress she had laid out for today’s book signing. Had she gotten dressed and headed out the door without realizing it? Had she been sleepwalking?

“Serena, where are you?” came a voice from out of the fog. She recognized that voice, and she was relieved to hear it. It was Chris.

“Chris, I’m over here,” she replied.

“Just keep talking. I’ll follow your voice,” came the reply.

“This is so weird,” replied Serena. “Are you a part of my dream, or are we having this dream together?”

“I could ask you the same question,” replied Chris. His voice seemed much closer.

Serena turned in the direction of the voice. She saw movement in the fog. She was relieved to see that it was Chris. He had found her. He too was dressed for the book signing. Had they both been sleepwalking? They embraced.

“Nice morning for a walk in the fog,” observed Chris, looking about. “I take
it you don’t know how we got here either.”

“I don’t have a clue,” confirmed Serena.

“Chris, Serena, where are you?” came another voice out of the fog. It was the voice of a woman. It had a kind, concerned tone about it.

It took Serena only a second to make a decision as to what to do. “We’re over here,” she replied.

A few seconds later, another figure appeared out of the fog. It was a thin and pretty woman of African descent, who appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She was dressed in a long, white robe and held a simple walking stick in her hand. Her smile was absolutely radiant when she saw the couple standing there in the mists.

“Oh, I hope you haven’t been waiting out here long,” she said, her tone almost apologetic.

“Oh no, not at all,” replied Chris.

“Oh good,” said the woman. “I was afraid that I might be running late. My name is Claire, Claire James.”

“I knew that,” said Serena. “Though I’m not quite sure why.” She looked over at her husband, who was grinning from ear to ear.

“I know,” said Chris, “because this is Heaven.” He looked about at the mixture of tall pines and poplars. “I’d say offhand that it was the second or third plane.”

Clair seemed impressed. “It’s the third, actually. Very good, Chris.”

A thought suddenly crossed Serena’s mind. “Claire, we’re not dead, are we?”

Claire laughed at that comment. “No, of course not, dear. You and your husband are quite alive. As for me, well, that’s another matter. Still, Mark Twain was right when he said that the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Death isn’t such a big deal, really. To be honest, I like it.” Claire paused for but a moment. “The two of you probably wouldn’t remember me, but we met once back on Earth, about four years ago when you had a book signing at the Book Nook bookstore in Brooklyn. The next day you gave your testimony at our church. I spoke to you for several minutes. I looked quite a bit older then.”

“I remember now,” said Serena, shaking Claire’s hand. “I remember the conversation too. We talked about the inevitable fate of the dead in Hell. You brought up quite a number of good points, Claire. They’ve stayed with me.”

“Thank you,” said Claire, who then turned to Chris. “Oh, lest I forget, dear, your mother said to send you her love and that she is looking forward to your reunion. Jennifer has quite a few tales to tell you. She has had several adventures since you last saw her; you can be very sure of that.”

Chris laughed, though he was crying too. How much he longed to be with her again. “Tell her I love her and am looking forward to that day.”

“Yes, of course,” said Claire. “But, maybe I should get down to the point. I don’t have all that much time. I can’t keep you so far from your earthly bodies for too long. You’ll have to excuse me, dear. I am still all quite new at this. I know that you’re planning to go to Lusan’s crusade in Atlanta. You want to confront him, but I tell you that you must not. It’s not the time, not yet. Your plans, though well intentioned, will only make a mess of things. You’ll just end up giving him ammunition, the chance to rail against the Christian community. Don’t give him that opportunity. There are certain things that are destined to happen, I fear. Not every battle can be won. Believe me, it’s been a difficult thing for me to accept too. You see, my grandson, Leland James, is under Lusan’s power. He can’t or won’t recognize who he truly is. I wanted to expose him myself for who he truly was, but the Holy Spirit stopped me. I guess the Father had different plans for me. I’ve been kept quite busy since I arrived here.”

Claire looked up for a moment; so did Serena. Yes, it was becoming noticeably brighter.

“The sun will be up soon,” said Claire. “Time is so short. You need to try to stay out of Lusan’s way if you can. Keep doing what you’ve been doing, spread the Gospel and tell others about your experiences. That is, after all, what you’re on Earth for. Still, I fear Lusan—no, let’s call him who he is, Satan—will eventually come after the two of you. There is great anger in his heart against both of you. You’ll know when he’s coming, and you’ll know what to do.” Again there was a pause. “There’s something else. I really don’t like to have to do this, but it is the best way, believe me.”

A few seconds later, another form emerged from the fog; it was Will Reinhart. He wore casual clothes, the sort of things one might wear if he were going shopping.

“Will,” said Chris, walking up to him and shaking his hand.

“Good to see you again, Chris,” said Will, who then turned to Serena. He walked up to her and gave her a big hug. “And it’s good to see you too, Serena. I guess you’ve read my email.”

“Yes, I did,” confirmed Serena. “We both did.”

“What a way for us all to get together again,” chuckled Chris. “So you were called out to this meeting, too.”

Will hesitated. “Not exactly. You see, there was an accident. I went to breakfast with a friend of mine just a few hours ago, just like we usually do. We went to a little café not far from the drilling site, in a town called Ibil. We go there for breakfast once or twice a week. They tend to cater to the Westerners in the area. It’s a great place to go, or at least it was. This morning, that café was the target of a suicide bomber. He was one of those Islamic extremists. I don’t know how many innocent people he killed; the place was full. I mean, it’s not the kind of place where you expect trouble. Kurdistan is not really known for its ethnic violence. I assure you, I never felt a thing. The bomb went off right beside our table. I suspect that I might have been the target.” Will paused. “Chris, the trip here was just like you said it was in the book. The trip to Heaven, that is.”

Tears appeared in Serena’s eyes. “Oh, sweet Jesus, no. Oh Will, I’m so sorry.”

Will placed his arms around her. “Oh please, don’t cry, Serena. It’s OK, really. I’m more concerned about my family. I’ll be fine. I’ve met my Lord face to face; I’ve met Jesus. He assured me that everything was going to turn out all right.” Will chuckled. “Actually, I got the royal treatment. Since Satan’s fall to Earth, most of those who have passed from life have been allowed to sleep. They will be called forth at the return of our Lord or on the Day of Judgment. But I was brought straight to Heaven. I’m considered one of the new martyrs—imagine that! I’ve only been here a few hours, but I love what I’ve seen so far.”

“Yes, I know what you mean,” confirmed Chris. His voice was quivering. “Still, it isn’t fair. Satan has really overstepped his bounds this time.”

“Yes,” confirmed Will. “That’s what Jesus told me. And it’s going to cost the Devil big time. I’m not sure how it’s going to work or what’s going to happen, but you can be sure of it.”

Chris nodded. He looked at Serena. She was beside herself with grief. “Did you learn anything more, anything we should know?”

“Yes,” replied Will. “All of that hellish oil has been removed from the site. Any new oil we encounter is to be contained in a specially designed underground tank and shipped immediately under refrigeration. I’m not sure to whom. But I have a bad feeling about it, Chris. There’s way too much secrecy behind all of this. Our company is usually pretty open about things. But that just isn’t true anymore. There are even rumors that our stock is slowly being acquired by a third party, but I don’t know who. I was trying to find out when, well, you know. I wish I had more information for you.”

“I’m sorry, but they have to leave now,” said Claire. “Our time is up.”

“Yeah,” said Will, “I know. We’ll be seeing each other again.” He gave Serena a final hug and a kiss on the forehead. Then he turned to shake Chris’s hand. “You can do this thing,” he said. “My prayers will be with you, both of you.”

Will and Claire walked away into the mists. Then the whole scene faded into darkness.

Serena awoke in her bed, Chris at her side. He was still asleep. She looked over at the clock; it was just before 2:00
A.M
. Had it all been a wild dream? She got out of bed and went for her cell phone. She called Will Reinhart’s number. After a minute she got an automated message that the phone was off or the user was out of the calling area. It wasn’t an encouraging message.

A few minutes later, she was back in bed. Her mind was full of confusion.

“I just had the weirdest dream,” said Chris in a sleepy voice.

“About Will Reinhart?” asked Serena.

That comment made Chris sit up. “Yes. And a woman named Claire.”

“Then we really were there,” said Serena. “Oh sweet Lord. Will is dead.”

“Yes, he said that in the dream,” replied Chris. “He is a good man, a good brother in Christ. I’m going to miss him.” Chris paused for a moment. “I wonder just how much of this suicide bombing Satan has been behind over the years. As much as anything else, it has destabilized the Middle East, turned it into the powder keg it is today.”

“And we’re partially to blame,” deduced Serena, tears streaming down her
face. “We put it in Will’s head to guard that well. We made him a target. Now we’ve gotten him killed.”

“No, Satan got him killed,” said Chris, taking his wife in his arms. “And he’s going to pay, but not now. Claire warned us about all of that, remember? We can’t go after him yet, but the time is coming, I know it. He’s going to slip up, and when he does, we’re going to nail him.”

Chris and Serena discussed their plans for nearly an hour before going back to sleep. It was difficult not to go ahead with their plan to expose Lusan. Still, they had been warned. If they proceeded, they’d be doing it on their own. They couldn’t afford to do that. So they’d wait for a time and place of the Spirit’s choosing. If Will’s sacrifice was to mean anything, they’d have to.