The Didymus Contingency (21 page)

The door, still ten feet away, was only three inches from closing, and it was moving swiftly. Sally bolted forward and dove to the slick linoleum floor. She hit hard and the air was thrust from her lungs, but she slid quickly. She reached out as the last shard of light from inside the office began to shrink away. The door bounced gently, without a sound and began to reopen. Sally rolled onto her back and caught her breath; she caught the door with her index finger only a centimeter before it closed.

Sally returned to her feet and entered the room silently, stun gun armed and ready for a fight. But the office was empty! Jake was nowhere to be seen. The room was pristine and nearly barren. A large desk sat in the center of the room, one chair behind it and two chairs in front. That was it. Sally didn’t know where Jake had gone, but she didn’t have time to figure it out. She launched into the desk drawers. Empty. Empty. Empty! Where the hell did George keep his secrets? He’d want them within sight of his place behind the desk. He’d want them hidden, but easily accessible. Sally pulled out the plush leather desk chair, which seemed heavier and sturdier than most, and sat down. There was nothing to look at! Just three bare walls and a door!

She was about to give up when she instinctively reached down and pulled a lever, which allowed the black leather office chair to recline. Sally stared at the chrome light fixture on the ceiling. It was very plain, but it was something else about the ceiling that caught her attention. The light in the room was changing. It was getting brighter. Sally leaned forward and snapped her head to the right. The wall had opened up without a noise!

Sally stood and gawked at the newly discovered chamber. She felt a moment of envy:
I don’t have a secret room!
But this wasn’t any ordinary room—far from it. Sally stepped into the alcove and after absorbing its contents, came to the startling conclusion:
George has a secret lab!
The laboratory was forty feet long and lined with robotic equipment, carefully labeled vials of liquid and even more carefully stored computer components. Jake was at the rear of the room with his back to Sally. He hadn’t heard a thing. Sally tiptoed toward him, stun gun in hand.

She walked to within four feet of Jake’s back. She didn’t want to miss. She felt her face turning purple as she held her breath, frightened to make even the slightest sound. If he moved, she might miss. Even if only one of the electrodes that would launch from the stun gun missed its mark, she would be done. Sally thumbed the stun gun’s trigger and pushed it down.
Click
. Nothing happened!
Click, click, click.
Nothing!
Damn!

Jake whirled around and gasped. Apparently, not only was Sally’s outfit stealthy, but also quite frightening. “Who—who are you?” Jake asked.

Sally didn’t say a word, in part, because she didn’t want her voice recognized, but she also didn’t know what to say. “What do you want?” Jake asked, his voice shaking.

Sally could see his nervous eyes wandering. He was sizing her up. Looking for anything to make sense of this dark figure that had frightened him. He found it in her eyes. The steely gaze. The penetrating eyes. “Sally?”

Sally froze. He had seen through her disguise. She knew Jake didn’t think fondly of her. She knew he was stronger than she was. And she knew she had to strike first before Jake came to the full realization of what was happening. Sally was going rogue and Jake was the only one in her way.
Whack!
Sally acted on instinct, punching Jake in the throat. She had taken a self-defense class five years ago and was amazed at how quickly it came back and how well the techniques taught for defense worked just as well for assault.

Jake’s legs crumpled below him and he fell to the floor as his hands clenched his throat. He forcefully sucked air into and out of his lungs as blood rushed to his head. Sally was horrified at what she had done but quickly returned her attention to the task at hand. She turned and looked at the countertop where Jake had been working. She saw two cases and opened them both. The first contained four syringes of what she assumed was the antidote to the robot’s poison. She opened the second case: empty. Though from the impressions made in the protective foam, this is where they had kept the insect robots, four of them. The fact that they were gone meant that Sally was too late. She would have to alter her plans.

After snagging two syringes, Sally put them in her pocket and stepped over Jake, who was still writhing on the floor. Sally smiled. She was going to make it. Getting out should be no problem without the guards at the door.

“GUARDS!” Jake’s throat had opened up momentarily and his lungs managed to take in enough air to get out one loud scream.

Sally glared at Jake and he crawled backward, away from her rage, away from those eyes. His face was two shades of crimson as he struggled to suck in another breath. The door to the office was kicked open as Sean and Chuck burst in, weapons drawn. Sally was caught.

“Freeze!” Sean yelled.

“Move and you’re dead!” Chuck shouted, as his sweaty index finger twitched nervously on the trigger of his gun.

Sally’s mind raced for a solution. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before she would be killed.

*   *   *   *   *

Jesus had led the disciples clear out of the region called Judea, where he believed their lives to be at risk. He made it clear that it was not his time to die and the entire group, including Tom and David, retreated to the region of Samaria, just north of Judea. Rather than stay in a city, the group had set up shop under the stars and had been camping for a week.

Tom and Judas lay in the grass, far enough away from the campfire to see the bright stars above. The conversation around the fire that night hadn’t been as jovial as Tom would have liked. In fact, everything since leaving Judea had seemed more somber, more serious. Tom and Judas had tired of the seriousness and left the group to talk about the future.

David joined them soon after, waiting just long enough, Tom suspected, so that it wouldn’t seem obvious that he was keeping tabs on him and Judas. Tom knew the name Judas held negative connotations in the future, something to do with betrayal, but that was about as believable as Jesus being the Son of God. David sat on the grass next to Tom and looked up at the sky.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they? Like sparkling gems floating in the sky,” Judas said with a smile.

Tom chuckled. He couldn’t help himself.

“What’s so funny?” Judas asked. “What do you think they are?”

David cleared his throat and gave Tom a look that said: Don’t you dare.

“I think,” Tom started with a semi-sarcastic tone. “I think they are a gift from God, to light our path at night.”

“The truest words to exit your mouth yet,” Jesus said, as he approached from the campfire. “Are you not cold over here, away from the fire?”

“We’re fine,” David said.

Judas sat up and perched himself on his elbows. “It was getting too hot by the fire.”

“And the conversation was dull,” Tom said with a smirk.

Jesus smiled. “I fear it will be the last dull moment for some time to come.”

“Are we leaving?” Tom asked.

“Not yet,” Jesus answered.

“Jesus!” yelled a voice from the dark.

A single torch light cut through the darkness as an out of breath man ran toward the group. “I’m looking for the one called Jesus. Have any of you seen him?”

Jesus walked to the man. “I am Jesus.”

“Master, I have been sent to you from Bethany, from the home of your friend Lazarus,” the man said.

Jesus’s face sank. “He has fallen ill?”

The man looked surprised, “Yes, his sisters sent me to you so that you might come to Bethany and heal him.”

“Go then,” Jesus said. “Tell them I am coming.”

“Yes, Master,” said the man, who then returned to the darkness from which he came.

Tom had heard the whole conversation and walked to Jesus. He saw the look on Jesus’s face and realized something wasn’t quite right. “We’re not going to Bethany, are we?”

“Not yet.”

“But you just told him—”

“Mary is a strong woman. Do not worry about her.”

“I didn’t say—”

“Your eyes say enough.”

“We can’t just let them wait,” Tom said, trying not to appear overly irritated.

“Thomas, his sickness will not end in death. The glory will be to God when His son is glorified through it,” said Jesus.

David approached Tom as Jesus returned to the fire. “What a load of crap!” Tom said in hushed English.

David pulled Tom further away from the fire and listening ears.

“Can you believe this?” Tom asked, returning to Aramaic.

“I can believe lots of things.”

“You’re not worried about Lazarus?”

“No.”

Tom scrutinized David’s face, looking for answers. Then his jaw dropped open as he came to a realization. “You know what’s going to happen. You know everything that’s going to happen. But you’re not just guessing, you actually know. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“How?” Tom wasn’t asking. He was demanding.

“It’s all in the Bible.”

“Tonight was in the Bible?”

“Yes.”

“And whatever it is that happens with Lazarus, you know the outcome?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Next you’re going to tell me there was a disciple named Tom in the Bible.”

“Actually...”

“Not funny.”

“And I’m not joking, Thomas,” David said.

“Thomas?”

“That’s what you’re called in the Bible.”

Tom’s jaw clenched shut for a moment, grinding his teeth. “David, really. This isn’t funny.”

“Actually, I think you might be the only disciple in the Bible who actually had a nickname.”

Tom stared at David, his mind racing with thoughts.

“Do you know how your name translates into Greek?”

Tom didn’t reply. He knew David was going to tell him.

David smiled. “Didymus...remarkable coincidence. Now you see why it is so funny that they call you that. Not only did we look like twins, but your name translates to the Greek word for twin, Didymus.”

Tom sat down. “I’m in the Bible?”

David nodded happily. “And every Christian child has grown up hearing stories about you.”

What David was saying made no sense, but Tom knew he wouldn’t lie about something like this. “That doesn’t make them true,” Tom said.

“But it makes the Bible accurate.”

Tom closed his eyes in thought, “What else do you know about me? About what’s going to happen?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“It might affect the decisions you make.”

“You know what happens in the next week?”

“Yes.”

“A month from now?”

“Yes.”

“How I live? How I die?”

“Tom—”

“You know what happens to Mary?”

David is thrown by the question. “I...no, I don’t.”

Tom looked away, trying to hide any concerned look on his face that might give his feelings away. But it was too late. David noticed.

“Tom, do you?” David asked suspiciously.

Tom shook his head. “Don’t ask me how, but yes.”

David couldn’t help but smile. He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “That’s great.”

“Is it really?” Tom turned around and looked at the stars, trying desperately not to make eye contact with David.

David stood next to Tom and gazed at the glowing night sky. “I promise you. There isn’t any other person alive today or tomorrow that Megan would be happier to see you with.”

Tom smiled and glanced at David. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?” David asked.

“The woman who inexplicably holds your heart is two thousand years in the future.”

David smiled, “A minute won’t pass for Sally. I’ve been gone for years, but to her it will only be a minute.”

“It’s hard to be away from someone you love for that long. I know.”

David nodded. “I miss her smile. Granted, I only saw it a few times in all the years we’ve known her, but when I did...there was nothing better,” David said.

“Well, maybe you’ll get to see her smile soon?”

“Not soon enough,” David said. “Not soon enough.”

*   *   *   *   *

Sally grimaced behind her black scarf. This was not going well.

“Raise your hands,” Sean demanded after Chuck had removed her backpack.

Sally did as she was told. She didn’t want to incite these guys into pulling a trigger. Jake was still struggling to catch his breath as Sean ran to Jake and helped him to his feet. Jake struggled to speak. “What is it, sir?” Sean asked.

Sally knew that if Jake regained the ability to talk he might give the order to shoot. She had to act fast. Sally moved her right hand subtly to her watch and began slowly pushing buttons.

“It’s...It’s...” Jake was beginning to get out a sentence.

Chuck emptied the backpack’s contents while keeping his gun raised at Sally’s head. Sally’s business suit, heels, nylons and I.D. badge fell out of the bag. She had planned to change into her normal clothes as soon as she made her getaway. She could have easily strolled comfortably back to her office. But that was no longer an option.

Jake pointed toward Sally and said, “That’s...”

“Director McField?” Chuck asked. He was holding her I.D. in his hand.

Jake relaxed. They finally understood.

“I think this guy broke into Director McField’s office too,” the guard said.

Jake’s eyes bulged. “NO!” he shouted. “SHE’S... SHE’S...”

Both guards stared at Jake. What was he trying to say? Jake’s eyes widened when he saw Sally lower her arms and reach for the gun. “SHOOT HER!” he screamed.

Sally grabbed Chuck’s gun and quickly kneed him in the groin. Sally’s ears rang with pain as a gunshot ripped through the air. She felt the breeze created by the bullet as it passed her face and shattered several beakers. Sean aimed for a second shot, but Sally had begun moving before the shards of glass from the beakers hit the floor. She ran out the door, through the office and burst into the hallway.

The elevator door directly across the hall opened up with a ding. A stunned guard struggled to draw his weapon as Sally skidded to a stop and ran down the hallway toward the stairwell. Two shots echoed through the hallway as Sean leapt from the office and took aim for a third.