The Pact (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 17) (40 page)

What amazed me was that no one saw Hell or anything resembling Hell. Even suicides were saved.

I read Raymond’s other book,
Reflections on Life After Life,
and continued my thirst for knowledge with Betty Eadie’s book,
Embraced by the Light.
In Betty’s book, she had gone for a routine surgery, began hemorrhaging and died on the table—she was dead for over four hours before waking up without brain damage or any other side effects. In fact, she’s still alive today.

The longest recorded NDE is just over three days when a man was hit by a car and died. Three days later, on the autopsy table, as the blade made the first incision, his eyes popped open and he asked why he was being cut in such a fashion. Medical texts confirm this case.

Having said all that, I didn’t feel it was much of a stretch to have Sarah dead for just over an hour—not to mention the bits of oxygen Vivian helped Sarah’s body take on while she was dead.

In some North American hospitals, such as British Columbia, Canada, people who die are often left in their beds for up to an hour to allow the spirit time to leave the corpse. Once transferred to the funeral home, the body is left to rest for three more days to confirm that the person is in fact, deceased.

I’ll close on this topic with these parting thoughts. I don’t write this Afterword to change your beliefs. I’m merely expressing mine. I accept and have no issue whether people believe in a higher power or not. It doesn’t really matter in the end, because we all go home. There has been too much study in this field to be wholly debunked. I’ve spent years researching this material, as evidenced in my novels like The Redeemed, Sarah Roberts Book Eleven.

Remember, a belief is simply an opinion—one you’re not willing to negotiate. An atheist can become a believer. A believer can lose faith. But in that moment, the one where they are fervently devout, try—just try—to change their minds. My point is, don’t try to change anyone’s mind. Believe what you want. Embrace it for yourself, and then live and let live. And don’t hurt anybody because of your beliefs. Or blow people up. That’s not a religious belief. That’s an ideology. Or a sickness.

Moving on …

Sarah’s debacle at the airport in Billund was close to home for me. Going through security checkpoints, being pulled aside to have documents checked, have been something I’ve gone through several times in the past as I travel a lot.

In Amsterdam, I was pulled by customs and held for a half an hour once. During that trip, while I was in Greece, my passport had expired. In March of that year, I’d renewed it at the Canadian embassy in Athens. My passport was up to date and I was ready to travel again. But I didn’t keep my old passport. The one that had the entry stamps and visas in it. So when I got to the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport almost seven months later on my way to North America—which means I was leaving the Schengen Area—I was detained as my new passport had no entry stamps.

You’re only allowed ninety days without a visa in the Schengen Area as a Canadian. Since my passport had no entry stamps, they couldn’t tell when I entered the Schengen Area. The issue date on my passport was March when it was renewed, meaning I had to have been in Europe in February as I would have had to submit my documents to have my passport renewed in the first place. That put me in the area for over six months, well past the ninety days.

I had nothing on me to back up my claim that I was allowed to stay. No visas. No entry stamps. Nothing. They were highly suspicious of me and told me I would be written up, fined, and have a possible entry ban that could be as long as one year.

Sure, it was completely my fault and that would suck as my family were in our house in Greece waiting for my return in the coming weeks.

So what did I do?

I talked to them. Attempted to smooth things out. Explained that I was allowed to stay. Showed them old plane tickets that I had stored in my phone for when I had entered the Schengen Area and when I’d left. Yes, I had overstayed, but I’d only stayed three months (90 days) in Greece, then flew to Denmark during the summer. This was all true and I had the plane tickets to prove it.

I had once talked to a Danish immigration officer in Aarhus and he told me that ninety days was the rule for the entire Schengen Area, but if you spent ninety days in one country and want to spend ninety more days in Denmark, they wouldn’t mind. It’s not official, but they wouldn’t mind. When I was in Italy and overstayed my ninety days by three months back in 2013, I talked to immigration in a city called Citta De Castello, and they also said a few months wouldn’t be a problem.

In the end, for whatever reason, the two customs officers I was dealing with in Amsterdam called their supervisor and a decision was made.

I would receive a stern verbal warning and would not be written up. There would be no fine and no entry ban as I moved around and stayed in several different countries. This isn’t an official law, but it has been allowed from time to time. So don’t think I was getting preferential treatment. Others who were pulled with me were also given warnings. Although one unfortunate soul had overstayed a year and was getting in a lot more trouble.

So when Sarah’s standing at the security area and having to deal with customs, my stomach churns for her because it’s happened to me.

That’s just one story of many that I’ve got after having to deal with authorities in various situations. I’ll add more in upcoming Afterwords as they apply to situations in the books I write.

Ben Wilson’s love of acronyms is actually my love. I often live by them. S.I.S.T., Students Invested Stocks Traded, was the one I came up with in high school when a few of my friends joined me on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We bought shares in Sun Ice, a company that was the official sponsor of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Being new at the game, we lost money, but dealing with brokers and buying and selling shares in grade eleven was a fantastic experience.

Several readers’ names were used with permission. Below I’ve added the names and want to thank each and every one of them for their involvement. I have so much fun adding names and can’t wait to add more in the next batch of books coming.

A special thanks goes out to Lisa Brown, Glenn Miller, Karen Miller (no relation to Glenn), Pam Prall, Paul Shelp, Liane Carmen, and Crystal Lewis.

I think that about sums up The Pact. Hope you enjoyed this adventure in Sarah’s life. I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you leave comments on my Facebook wall and on Amazon when you leave reviews.

By October, The Terror, Book 18, should be available. Sarah heads to Kelowna to root out a homegrown terrorist who seems to kill at random. Then in late fall, The Chase, Book 19, will come out. What a crazy ride that one will be as the Toronto Mafia hunt Sarah. They’ve got a bone to pick with a friend of hers named Darwin Kostas.

If you haven’t already, check out The Snake, the Jake Wood Series Book One. (Insert shameless plug here). Book Two, The Target, will be out in the fall as well. I’d recommend reading The Snake first, though.

Lastly, I’ve been given written permission by Nicole Arbour Management to add this link to her video,
Dear Vegans
. I thought it was funny (she is a comedian after all), and I hope you do, too. In the end, her message is simple and is in line with mine: don’t make it a religion. Do what’s best for you. Live and let live. A special thank you goes out to Nicole Arbour and team. Keep up the great comedy coming out of Toronto!

And finally, don’t blame the editor or the beta readers. All mistakes are mine.

Signing off for now. Warmest regards to you and your family and stay safe out there. Take care of yourself and each other.

And keep reading.

Sending my love …

Jonas Saul