The Sons of Destiny (The Reluctant Hero Trilogy Book 3) (5 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Daniel

Daniel had no sooner opened his eyes, when he realized that a black cloth bag had been placed over his head. All he saw was darkness. The last he remembered was clasping the tube containing the shroud, after touching the jewels. He didn’t remember what happened next.

Now he felt something sticking in various sections of his head. It hurt. But it got worse when someone pulled the electrode sensors out of his scalp a few minutes later. They were in a rush to remove them for some reason for sure. He let out a loud yell to show his discomfort.

Everything was happening so fast, he didn’t have time to figure out what was going on. He strained his brain, trying to figure it out. He needed to know, not only where he was, but what was happening to him.

Fear overwhelmed him, as he assumed it was the Hive of Baal that had kidnapped him. He wondered if this treatment was what Magena had gone through as well. He worried about her even more as he felt himself being put over someone’s shoulder. Someone huge. He didn’t know the Hive members grew that big.

He decided to go limp to make his captors think that he was unconscious and more helpless than he was. That was actually as far from the truth as possible. Daniel was quite alert.

He felt revitalized and had energy to burn. It was to his advantage to make
them
think otherwise, though. It also gave him time to try to formulate a plan of escape.

The members of the Hive believed him when he pretended to be Ahab. Now that he was out of the virtual valley, he wondered if they would fall for it again. Daniel assumed that he was far enough away from the spirit of Jezebel, that he could try just about anything on the Hive members and it would probably work. That is, if they were the ones who captured him.

He strained to hear what was being said. There was a big commotion and he heard muffled voices, but none of the talking was near him.

He kept playing possum while he was handled like a bag of potatoes. They didn’t care if they roughed him up, but someone sure wanted him away from wherever he was, and they were in a hurry.

The person carrying him stopped briefly. Daniel tried to control his breathing to continue the illusion of his being sluggish. He just wished that he could understand. He thought he could hear someone talking. He strained his ears. Almost as if on cue, he heard his traveling companion speak.

“What am I supposed to do with him?” the man said. Daniel was shocked when the man’s voice had no discernible accent.
American?
Not a Hive of Baal for sure.

“There is a van waiting for you at the loading dock. Andrew will take the boy from there. I have a few things to take care of. I’ll be at the dock in 10 minutes. Tell Andrew to wait for me. I shouldn’t be a moment longer, but he needs to wait for me no matter what.”

There was nothing but silence from the first man, and the second voice sounded a little muffled, like he was moving away. The man must have been at least ten to 20 feet away from the man carrying him. Still, the voice sounded familiar. Very familiar.

He heard irritated mumbling, as the first man headed off again with Daniel.

Daniel was getting impatient, because he needed to find a way to escape. If everyone around him was preoccupied with evacuating wherever they were, then he might be able to use that to his advantage.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Daniel had a feeling that he had arrived at the loading dock. His transport stopped, while the sound of car doors opening and closing captured Daniel’s attention.

He then felt himself being propelled through the air. He hit something hard and cold as he rolled a few feet before coming to a complete stop. He couldn’t help but let out a small groan.

There were a few more conversations going on around him, but he couldn’t understand anything midst the chaos of the trucks being loaded. Whatever those people were doing seemed important. They appeared to be in a hurry and were ready to go again.

“Let’s go,” the man shouted.

Daniel heard the car doors slam shut and decided that was the perfect time to make his move. Whoever had him obviously wanted him alive or they would have killed him already.

He felt a smirk in his heart, as he thought about his father calling him useless all the time. It appeared someone had a good use for him after all. Someone that may have been on the wrong side of the law. Someone, none-the-less.

His arms and legs hadn’t been bound, so all he had to do was lift off his new headgear and jump at whoever was in front of him.

He breathed deeply and then let it out slowly, as he reached for the black cloth bag. Just as his fingers touched the rough fabric, someone beat him to the punch.

He heard a car engine start, as the vehicle screeched forward. He immediately ruled out the Hive of Baal as his captors. He was thrown to the back by the force and did so without his bag. He hit his head fairly hard, so his vision was somewhat blurry.

As his eyes adjusted, he could see that he was in the back of a faded panel van. The back was empty except for two figures who were in the back with him.

He rubbed his eyes and saw a man dressed in fatigues carrying some sort of automatic weapon. His eyes narrowed, as he glared at the other man. Someone he was very familiar with. He would be silent no longer.

“Father! I guess I should have figured it was you,” he said with contempt in his tone.

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m your son,” he said with disgust. “You have some explaining to do…
Dad
.”

The older DiBenedetto started to cough uncontrollably as he grabbed a tissue from his pocket and hurriedly placed it over his mouth. The coughing fit took its toll on him, as he looked fatigued and had trouble breathing. When he put his handkerchief down, it was covered in blood.

Dante smiled weakly at his son, who couldn’t stop staring at the blood-soaked fabric. “When were you going to tell me about this?” Daniel asked, angrily. “Just another thing that I had to find out for myself?”

“Daniel,” his father replied, with a now hoarse voice. He tried to clear his throat several times, then continued, “I always wanted you to be strong enough to make your own way in life. Unfortunately, you are as weak now, as you have ever been.”

Daniel did everything in his power to restrain himself from showing his anger to his father. Especially with the armed minions staring him down. “I appreciate the usual vote of confidence, Dad,” he said sarcastically, without taking his eyes off of the nearby automatic weapon. “So you’re behind all of this? I was in some kind of video game. Wasn’t I?”

Dante smiled. “A woman had to lead you, so don’t act so surprised at my comment. All of your questions will be answered in time. Right now, we have a plane to catch.”

CHAPTER NINE

Magena

“What does the Bible say?”

“First, we are in the last of the last days. It is a sign of the times, because the final world leader will perfect the program by making a hologram of himself to be worshiped.”

“What part do you guys play?”

“At the end of this age, when the tribulation begins, four angels will stand on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent the wind from blowing on it.” He looked at her intensely. “God told the winds not to harm the land or the sea or the trees until He put a seal on the foreheads of all the servants of God. We are the first twelve of 144,000.”

“I assume that you guys will operate in the spirit.”

“Yes. God has already sealed 144,000 Israelis that are all being set aside right now. They are to serve Him in the tribulation—which is soon.”

“Did you say 144,000?” She rolled her eyes. “Who are they? Do they live around here?” She pointed down.

“They are not all here now, but they are alive,” he said. “Here is an example. There will be from the tribe of Judah 12,000 to be sealed. The same goes for the tribe of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali and so forth.”

“You are saying that there will be 12,000 from each Israeli tribe.”

“Yes.”

“You have twelve tribes. Right?”

“Yes, the tribes are Manasseh, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin.”

“That’s not twelve.”

“Hold on,” he said. “God will take 12,000 from each of the tribes of Joseph, so from my tribe, the Levites, He’ll choose 12,000. After the war is over, we are all chosen to stand before the throne of God and serve him throughout eternity.”

“Is it scary?”

“No. It will be wonderful. Never again will there be hunger or thirst. The sun will not beat down with scorching heat on us.
The Lamb of God will be at the center of the throne in heaven. He will be our Shepherd.”

“How do you know that?”

“It is in the Bible,” he said. “Jesus is called the Lamb of God in the Bible. He will lead His children to springs of living water. No one will be sad, because God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

She stood dumbfounded in the silence that followed.

Finally, she held up one finger. “One more really important question that’s also been bugging me, please explain. How did I get out of that building where I was held prisoner?”

“The truth is that we did it. That is all you need to know.”

“What is truth? Or do you even know?”

He held back a smile. “That’s more disconcerting for others than it would be for you, I’m afraid. Anyone in your vicinity has no choice but to tell the truth. They may assume that it is their choice to speak only the truth, but it’s not. They just can’t help it.”

“What causes it?”

“A truth serum that was connected to the shroud that you touched. It has been in the air all around you ever since.”

Magena showed her concern in a sigh. “That explains why Daniel’s father couldn’t stop talking about the virtual reality world. I thought that was strange.”

His eyes narrowed. “Let me ask you something. What were you doing immediately before you noticed that the truth set you free? So to speak.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. She then searched her memories to find his answer. “Let’s see. I was in the underground cavern and…” She felt her face turn pale as she remembered exactly when the event started. “I… touched the Shroud of Turin. That’s all I remember.”

Levi looked startled. “Without any kind of special glove or protection between your skin and the priceless artifact?”

She was extremely hesitant to answer after she saw his reaction. She was compelled to answer honestly. “Yes. I think so. I’m not sure. I guess I must have. My mind is swimming with everything that happened up to that point. I’m not sure what happened afterward, but whatever it was, put a curse on me.”

He gave a snort. “Truth is never a curse. Nowadays, people prefer to hear their version of the truth and are appalled when they hear the actual truth. No one can accept what actually lies before them in this technological world. It’s a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.”

“I’m a photographer. I… wasn’t trying to do anything wrong, Levi. I really wasn’t. This is all frying my brain.”

“I know,” he said, with a comforting tone. “If I felt you tried to sabotage this mission, then my demeanor toward you would have changed drastically. The Sons of Destiny are not violent either. We will only use force if all else fails. A last resort, if you will. The same goes for guns.”

“Okay now, wait a darn minute there!” she exclaimed, while pointing her finger accusingly. “I saw Reuben carrying a weapon! It was a big one, too!”

Levi laughed and shook his head. “Right! He was
carrying
a weapon. Did you see him use it?”

She thought about it for a brief moment. “Well, no, but I wasn’t with him that long either! For all I know he could have shot a lot of people before he freed me!”

“That’s silly.” He gave her a questioned look. “Think on this then, Magena. One less gun in the enemy’s hands is one less gun that will be shooting at us. He wanted to make sure that no one on the other side would be able to get to you. That’s all.”

She was about to speak but found nothing viable to return with. She shrugged. “I see.”

“I will not judge you, Magena. For you were in a situation that was not only unfamiliar territory but one that hit you with one impossible scenario after another. You are entitled to be a little shaken. I am, in fact, surprised that you aren’t more distraught over what you have gone through than you are.”

“I do know how to pray.”

He stretched and looked toward the door. “The Virtual Reality program is no game. As you have seen, it combines reality with fantasy. It proves to be destructive. That was nothing intentional, I’m sure. It was accidental for the creators of it, but exciting for those who plan to use it for evil. From what I’ve heard, this is the first test of this magnitude. It is flawed. That means that all of the glitches will come to light in time. It was the impatience of Dante DiBenedetto that made this major error.”

“People used to have to use a headset to see virtual reality in theaters. What caused the big change?”

“Dante wanted to find the Jewels of Jezebel so badly, that he was willing to take chances on the outcome.” Levi paused and scratched his head. “The idea of Virtual Reality has been circulating in the technical world for a number of years. The technology to use it on a smartphone was a breakthrough. Dante’s work is about enabling access to wireless systems, demonstrating what a completely-fledged value system is capable of. We now have the power to put virtual life like beings into real situations, and this makes it much more realistic for virtual reality users, like Dante. His wireless connections were the final breakthrough to fool people.”

Magena tightened her lips. “How can man have made something like this, Levi? It’s horrible to think about who else has copies.”

“As far as I know,” he started, “that is the only copy in the world. If it’s a success, I’m sure they’ll make more. Imagine a world where you have no idea if it’s real or imagined. Think of what the more creative individuals will produce. That’s why we have to stop it before something really bad happens. This has disaster written all over it.”

Magena cringed at the thought of the consequences. “Pulling feelings and fears from a non-existent world is horrible.”

“Even worse. We believe that people can actually go into it and lose themselves.” Levi dropped his head.

“So you are rescuing them. Right?”

“Trying to. That’s not the biggest concern of the Sons though, Magena. Our biggest concern is being able to bring more than just their feelings out into the real world. We want to rescue souls.”

“Like me.”

“Yes.”

“You are good people.” She smiled. “Can I ask you another question?” she asked with some trepidation. “Will there be more scientists doing the same as Dante in the near future as well?”

“Of course,” Levi replied. “Although our goal is to stop them.”

“By bombing their factories?” she asked.

“That is not the intention.”

“Who blew up those buildings back there?”

“We did. We do what is necessary for the good of the most people.”

“Most people?” She looked him in the eye. “So I wasn’t the only one you rescued today?”

“That’s right.”

“So you are saying that this is more than business as usual?”

He stopped and flexed his muscles. “Yes, the Bible says that a great tribulation is coming. There will be a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before Jesus, the Lamb of God, during the tribulation. They will cry out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

“I don’t understand.” She frowned.

“No one does.” Seriously, he said, “It is the job of the Sons of Destiny to prepare the world for the Great Tribulation.”

“So are you saying that is a work you do for God?”

“Yes,” he said. “It is our job to make sure that they who come out of the great tribulation have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

“I don’t understand. Just tell me later.” She felt confused and frustrated. “Tell me this much, where are you and I going right now?”

“Back to the main office. These are the apartments that we live in. The twelve on the front row are for commanders and chiefs. Each of the tribes of Israel will stay together. The twelve houses are for the twelve leaders that you will be meeting.” He then squatted and drew lines in the dirt. “The worship is in the center. We’ll have three tribes on the east, three tribes on the north, three tribes on the west, and three tribes on the south. Wait a minute. Would you like to see inside one of the buildings?”

“No, I’m tired. I’ll wait.”

Before Levi could say anything, Reuben suddenly burst on the scene. His eyes were wide and his breathing was erratic.

“Brother Levi!” he exclaimed while still trying to catch his breath. “Simeon’s research is complete! I have some terrible news! It is documented in every account featuring Jezebel that her jewels no longer exist!”

“So it is all virtual reality, isn’t it?” Levi grimaced and it looked like he was going to gag.

Magena looked from one brother and back to the other. “What does that mean?”

Levi composed himself. “It means that if there are no traces of the jewels in this time zone, then DiBenedetto is going to try to pull them out of the virtual world. That is how evil he is. There’s no telling what the effects will be in reality if something of that mass is invented in the virtual world.”

“How so?”

“He could invent bombs. It could be the end of the world as we know it.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“We’re still looking for Daniel.”