Righteous02 - Mighty and Strong (16 page)

“You can’t leave.”

“Then you’ll have to forcibly restrain me. What’s it going to be?”

Brother Timothy was quiet for a moment, then stopped and looked at him. “Thou sayest. Go, relieve Sister Grace Ellen’s suffering.”

“Thank you.”

Grace Ellen’s congestive heart failure was only stage two. For a woman of eighty-two or eighty-three (she’d been born in the Mexican colonies, and wasn’t sure), that wasn’t bad. Yes, she could use medication, and especially a better bed. Heart failure made it hard to get comfortable lying down. She already had to prop herself with three pillows at night to breath. But she wasn’t at particular risk for sudden death, no more than any other person her age.

It made him guilty to think he was planning to leave the compound and not return. There really were people who needed his help. He’d have to send back something for Sister Grace Ellen. At least some Lasix. With all the tomatoes, carrots, and other fresh produce at the compound, he thought she had enough potassium to compensate.

They were almost back to the walls and Jacob could hear voices, smell roasting meat and fresh bread. His stomach rumbled. The two men quickened their pace.

Brother Timothy laid his hand on Jacob’s shoulder as they reached the entrance to the first courtyard. “One other thing, Brother. When can I meet your family?”

“My family?”

“Yes, you’re married, you have children. When are they coming?”

Jacob thought about the men training for battle on the hillside, about the walled compound, surrounded by chain link. Sister Miriam, who couldn’t manage to extract herself from the cult or get a message to her fellow FBI agents. Maybe Brother Timothy was the One Mighty and Strong, but Jacob had no intention of experimenting with his family.

“I don’t know,” Jacob said. “Soon. I needed to make sure you weren’t some lunatic first. I hope to have an answer on that question by the end of the day.”

Brother Timothy laughed. “I like you, Jacob. You tell me what you think, not what you think I want to hear. Well, you’ve convinced me to let you leave Zarahemla, and against my better judgment. The time has come to prove you’re sincere. Bring your family.”

“I’ll call home as soon as I get into town. They should be here within a day or two.”

“Good. I’ve got another wife picked out for you. We’ll perform the marriage as soon as your senior wife arrives.”

“What? Already?”

“The leaders of the church need to practice the Principle.”

“Well, sure, I guess.”

Another wife? All the more reason Jacob was glad Fernie was safely in Salt Lake.

Chapter Seventeen:

“We’re a church, not a political action committee.”

“I’m not asking for money,” Senator Jim McKay said, “just moral support.”

Elder Peterson looked up as a waiter slid plates in front of the three men. “What you call moral support the IRS calls contributions in kind.”

Together with McKay’s brother, the Attorney General, they were eating lunch on the mezzanine level of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The president of the LDS church had stopped in while they ate hors d’oeuvres of oysters on the half-shell and fried brie wrapped in bacon. He’d clapped the McKay brothers on the shoulder, told an anecdote about when he’d gone camping with their father when the two men were Boy Scouts.

Now that the LDS president was gone, Elder Peterson cut an edge off his steak, dabbed it in a reduction sauce and popped it in his mouth. “Let me explain what I mean about in-kind contributions. For example, let’s say that the church donates its media center to produce a video on traditional marriage—”

“I’m a politician, remember. I’ve had a long, unpleasant education in campaign finance law.” Jim took a lobster tail and cracked it open.

“Go ahead, let him explain,” Parley said. Jim’s brother held a flute of sparkling grape juice, which he swirled around and smelled like it was some fine wine.

No wine at this table. The building had once been the famous Hotel Utah, but the church had purchased it and done a major remodeling. This room had a fantastic view looking down on the temple and the Temple Square grounds. It would be a great place for a fundraiser for the Salt Lake elites. Make the faithful drool, give them a warm, spiritual glow. That view would substitute for the usual lubricant at such things: alcohol. Church-owned building would never see a drop, nor coffee or tea, for that matter. And you had to have something to get the cream flowing from all those bloated udders.

“The point is,” Elder Peterson said, “if we turn over church resources to your campaign, we’re going to have to answer a lot of critics. For example…”

The words turned into a drone. Jim nodded, looked attentive. He eased the lobster meat from its shell and dipped it in the dish of melted butter. Wow, that was good. Of course, his napkin would be tasty, too, sauteed in so much garlic and butter. Shame that Parley was such a picky—you could almost say ascetic—eater. This was good eats. Instead, Parley ordered some boring chicken thing, and was surreptitiously scraping the butter, herbs and anything else that made the food worthwhile from his potatoes.

“…so-called separation of church and state,” Elder Peterson was saying. “It’s not lip-service to some of these people, they really believe it.”

“Oh, so do I,” Jim said. “At least on the record. But liberals are trying to do more than that. They won’t be happy until they can throw you in jail for mentioning God outside your own living room.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Elder Peterson said. “I’m still on board with what you’re doing, that hasn’t changed. But some of the brethren are cautious.”

“We don’t want to go against the brethren,” Parley said.

Jim shook his head. “Of course not. I’m trying to explain my needs and hope the prophet and the Quorum of the Twelve see things the same way.”

“They do, believe me. But after the Prop 8 mess in California, when the gays picketed our temples, and then the gay lobby took it to court, what a fiasco. What we should have done…”

Peterson’s words returned to a drone. Jim grew annoyed. He was a believing Mormon, that wasn’t window dressing for the devout. He’d given a lot to the church, so was it wrong to expect something in return after all these years?

He paid a full ten percent tithing on his gross income. He read his scriptures, fasted the first Sunday of every month and paid a generous fast offering for the poor and the afflicted. He even did his home teaching.

And when he needed to squeeze money from some rich LDS businessman, he simply rolled up his pant leg and showed the white, hairless scars and told his favorite mission story. He’d put in his papers after his freshman year at BYU and they’d sent him to Bolivia. His first thought upon opening the envelope:
Bolivia? Where’s that? Africa?

Turned out it was a poor, oxygen-deprived country in South America. Who knew? He went, learned Spanish, baptized a zillion people who showed up once and were never heard from again. Picked up a parasite or three. And was robbed and beaten while biking through the slums of La Paz.

Jim’s companion had been a huge Samoan who played linebacker at BYU before his mission, and Jim was no wimp either, having wrestled in high school. The skinny dudes with chains and kitchen knives must have been desperate. Or maybe they’d known the two Americans had just arrived in La Paz from the lowlands and at 12,000 feet, it felt like sucking air through a straw. Elder Ma’falo laid out two guys, and Jim took out a third, but by then the oxygen was gone and the skinny guys beat the crap out of them, robbed about eight bucks worth of bolivianos.

Not so fun at the time, but Jim McKay had milked that story for about a million dollars in political donations over the last fifteen years.

And now, with Elder Peterson blathering on about how California had investigated the church after it got involved in the gay marriage fiasco, he affected a grimace and held up his hand.

“…so we’ve got to be doubly careful about staying out of politics…” Elder Peterson frowned. “Are you okay?”

Jim bent and rubbed at his leg. “Sorry, old war wound.”

Parley rolled his eyes and Jim shot him a “shut up” look that only two brothers would understand.

“I didn’t know you were a vet,” Elder Peterson said. “Gulf War?”

“No, I was never in the service.” A grin. “But I’m a vet of the missionary wars.” He rolled up his pant leg. “Check this out. Thank goodness the Lord was with me that day, or I’d have been done for. My companion could have been a future NFL first rounder, but never played another down in his life.”

Elder Peterson leaned forward. “What happened?”

“There were fifteen of them. La Paz, Bolivia. They lived at the edge of the dump and were like starving rats, didn’t care if they lived or died. Or it could be that Satan sent them, because of what one of them said when he was kicking me in the ribs.”

By the time he finished, Elder Peterson was on the edge of his chair. Parley rolled his eyes so many times that Jim half expected them to pop out of their sockets and bounce around the room like a pair of super balls.

Okay, so he embellished a bit, but that was just style. Go find Harvey Ma’falo—now a high school football coach on the North Shore of Oahu—and you’d get more or less the same story. Besides, he couldn’t get too carried away. Soon as Jim declared his candidacy, the media would be all over the story. Any time he was tempted to make his own role more heroic, he remembered that.

Elder Peterson was quiet for a long moment when he finished. “What exactly did you have in mind for Temple Square?”

“I don’t want the church too involved,” Jim said. “Bad politics, for one thing. But if we’re going to get this thing rolling, put the first Latter-day Saint in the White House, we need the movers and shakers of the church behind us.”

“What is the church planning for Pioneer Day?” Parley asked.

“The usual thing,” Elder Peterson said. “A satellite broadcast, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, you know. We’ll of course have state officials and politicians at the tabernacle. It’s not just a church holiday, since the arrival of the pioneers on the 24
^th
of July marked the start of state government.”

“I would like to speak at the broadcast,” Jim said.

A frown passed over Peterson’s face. “We usually stick with ecclesiastical leaders.”

“But not always. You had someone from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers last year. Did you know that Parley and I are descendents of Brigham Young?”

“I did. So am I, as a matter of fact, through a different wife. I think we’re third cousins, once removed.”

Jim grinned. “I knew there was something I liked about you. Anyway, as direct descendents of Brigham Young, we feel a special connection to Pioneer Day. Our dad always staged a reenactment at family reunions up Emigration Canyon. He’d put on one of those Brigham Young beards without the mustache, lean out of a jury-rigged wagon, like he was sick and say, “This is the place,” while waving his hand over the Salt Lake Valley. All very hokey, but gave me chills when I was a kid.”

“So you both want to speak?”

“Sure, why not? I’ll do the history stuff, Parley will give a religious talk. He’s the spiritual giant of the family.”

“Giant is probably putting it too strongly,” Parley said.

“Don’t worry,” Jim said. “No politics. I promise.”

“But what do you get out of it? Just exposure?” Elder Peterson asked. He’d only eaten half of his steak, and now pushed away his plate.

“Never hurts to get my mug in front of the camera,” Jim said. “But what I’m thinking is we’ll get all the big names in town for the commemoration by promising a personal tour of the temple and Temple Square with the president of the church afterward.”

“Hmm.”

“Again, no politics, I promise. Just a tour with the prophet. He’d love it, you know he loves to tell stories about the construction of the temple, show off artifacts from the archives.”

“That’s true,” Elder Peterson said. “But I still don’t see how this helps you.”

“That’s why it’s perfect. It’s subtle, no one will accuse you of anything improper. But a tour with the prophet? The big Mormon players will eat it up. And once I’ve got them in town, I’ll stage a dinner, slash, fundraiser right here, in one of your banquet rooms in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Your best, most exclusive room with a view of the temple. Don’t worry, I’ll pay the going rate.

“Point is, everyone will be receptive to my pitch. And think about it. From the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, and then arriving penniless in the desert wilderness. What better way to frame Pioneer Day than help me become the first Mormon president of the United States.”

Elder Peterson was quiet for a long moment. He rubbed his thumb along the edge of his plate, then looked out the window, down at temple square. At last he nodded and turned back to the table. “I’ll talk to the prophet.”

All three men stood, as if Peterson’s words had signaled a close to the lunch meeting. The McKay brothers took turns shaking Elder Peterson’s hand.

Jim felt a self-satisfied glow. “You know, just last week I was pressing the flesh with a bunch of fundies in Denver. I can’t tell you how much more appealing it is to work with my own people.”

“For a bunch of self-proclaimed Christians, they’re pretty judgmental,” Parley added. “They use our votes, but they don’t respect us. Don’t even consider us Christian, when you get right down to it. It’ll be good to get one of our own into power.”

“I’m flying back to Washington for a few days,” Jim said to Elder Peterson, “but I’ll give you a call by the end of the week. Soon as you give me the green light, my people will want to sit down with your security team.”

For a moment, a shadow passed over Elder Peterson’s face, but then he smiled and nodded. “Okay, shouldn’t be a problem. Hope we talk again soon.”

#

Jacob had seen polygamist women and he’d seen FBI agents. Watching Sister Miriam in action, he’d have sworn she was the former and not the later.

He’d driven to Price, Utah, and now lurked at the edge of the farmers market, studying her. The park was a New England-style green, complete with a bandstand and shaded with hundred-year-old cottonwood trees. It was still, cloudless, the kind of day that started pleasantly in the dry air of central Utah, but would turn witheringly hot by afternoon.