clouding his mind as he began packing for his drive back through
Waxahachie and north to DFW. Without thinking he packed the Gideon Bible he
had been examining along with his clothes. He checked out of the motel and drove
north through town toward the airport. He had attempted to make a reservation
for a flight home to Chicago. The next flight out had been booked by a large
group of baseball fans on their way to a Rangers – Cubs game. He would have to
stand-by for a later one that afternoon.
5
St. Nicholas’ Staircase
The way of the wicked is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.
- Proverbs 4:19
After his phone conversation
with Forrest, who was obviously in a state of panic, Benton called his other
two local followers, Milford and Barry Smith, to tell them their final campaign
against the forces of evil had begun. “Both of you need to burn anything you
have in your apartment that could be found by Satan or his agents. We must
prevent them from trying to stop our holy mission. Pack your small carry-on
bags with enough clothes and personal items for a week’s stay away from home.
I’ll pick you up at 5:00 tomorrow morning. Don’t tell anyone we are leaving.”
Next Spencer drove to the
church and parked his car on the hard, broken pavement of the remains of Main
Street. Carrying cleaning supplies to the front door, he began the careful
process of removing all traces of their activities there, to include a complete
wipe-down of door handles, tables, and chairs in the church annex where he had
held his meetings for the last five years. Moving to the sanctuary he repeated
the careful wipe down, cleaning the floor, the altar, the door handles, and
finally the church pews. He double checked his careful cleaning and paused at
the front steps as he was returning the cleaning supplies and assorted papers
to his car. He studied the marquee; it had contained the same theme and two
Bible verses for more than a decade, as he had waged his war against those who
had released the beast. Now they would pay for their sins.
Setting the supplies down on
the steps, he returned to the church store room and gathered up an assortment
of letters. Returning to the marquee, he removed the letters, including the two
Bible references. After some thoughtful moments, standing with his hand on his
chin and studying the empty marquee, he inserted a new set of letters.
Once he had secured the
church and stored his cleaning supplies in the trunk of his car, he removed a
drag made of a piece of carpet attached to an old garage push broom and walked
to the rear of the church. There, where the automobiles had been parked, he
swept away all traces of foot prints and tire tracks. When he had finished no
evidence remained of his activities in this ghost town. With a few gusts of
dusty wind and a couple of rain showers, common this time of year, it would
return to its long-abandoned state.
Returning home he removed the
forged passports for himself and the Smith brothers from his safe, realizing the
one for Forrest would not now be needed. Forrest will have to remain in
hiding , and avoid capture. He is now a liability. Spencer disposed
of this last passport and other financial records and notes relating to his
activities of the past four or five years in a burn-barrel behind his house.
Among these records were his
notes concerning Colonel Joshua Cohen’s court martial and the possible
tunneling into Temple Mount. He had spent almost a full year scanning news
articles looking for the ideal partners to bring into his sacred mission,
knowing that each partner must share his concept of the End of Days. This
Haredi soldier was ideal, and might just provide the access he needed to the
Foundation Stone when the time came.
During this year of intense
searching Spencer had also become aware of the fact that ISIS fighters were
inspired and recruited, in large part by prophetic
Maggie Brendan
Barbara O'Connor
Jan Washburn
Terri Blackstock
Norah Simone
Barry Kemp
G.P. Taylor
Alan Cumyn
Linda Barnes
Lisa Jackson