The Hand of God (19 page)

“Who are you?” He asked.

“I’m the Angel of Death,” I said and squeezed his forehead.  His partner hit me, which hurt, but I was able to do my thing as the first goon began screaming and wailing.  He fell on the floor and rolled around in the blood, kicking and screaming.  Goon #2 took a swipe at me with a knife, slicing through my suit and part of my arm.  A sharp sting went up my arm and shoulder as I jumped back.  He came at me again, but this time I was able to grab his knife hand, spin him around, and thrust my fingers through his head.  In my anger, I pushed a little too hard.  I felt his skull crumble in my fingers as he fell over.  I was left standing there holding part of his brains.  I threw them on top of his partner, and walked over to Katie.

“Come on, we gotta go,” I said, putting my hand out to her.  She cowered into the corner, shaking her head at me and staring at my bloody hand. I wiped it on my pants and held it out again.  “I’m serious.  You know I won’t hurt you.  Please?” 

She grabbed my hand and I pulled her up.  We stepped over the bodies and ran down the stairs, out to my Tahoe.  Once we climbed in, Katie was breathing so hard, I thought she would hyperventilate.

“Oh my God! My God,  I don’t believe this.  This isn’t happening!” she said.

“Katie, please, try to calm down.  What did they want?”`

“They wanted to know what I told you.  I told them I said nothing, which I really didn’t.  They wouldn’t believe me, so they started to cut my mom until she died.”  She stopped to wipe tears from her eyes.  “Then you came in and did whatever that was.  And you’re supposed to be a preacher?”

“Yeah, I’m like, a special preacher.” 

She looked at me without speaking.  I began to drive. I knew exactly where to go.  The first goon I killed had the location of a large mansion in his mind.  It was in the north part of the city, and in that mansion, was the Bishop.  I let my instincts take over and I just drove.  This would be my chance to get to him, finally.  I had to make sure Katie was safe, though.  She had already been through enough. 

After being on the road for fifteen minutes, I saw red flashing lights in my rearview mirror.  This was not good.  I was covered with blood from the goon’s head, and Katie looked like hell.  I didn’t want to do my thing to a cop, but if I had no choice, I would do what I had to.  Then, I saw the officer approaching my Tahoe.  It was Stanton.

“Pastor Charlie, you’ve been up to no good.”

“Look, detective, I can explain, okay?  Please, we need to take care of something important.”

“Oh, I’m sure.  I was just at this young lady’s house.  We found the bodies. You left quite a mess.”

“I know.  Those guys came to kill her and her mom.  They work for Bishop Hoover.  There’s a lot going on you don’t know about.”

“Well, then, why don’t you enlighten me?”

“I can’t.  I tell you what.  If you let me deal with this, and take Katie somewhere safe, I’ll turn myself in later and tell you everything.”

Stanton looked over at Katie.

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

“Yes, sir.  Those men tried to hurt me.  Charlie stopped them.  The Bishop really is dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?

I didn’t have time for the questions.  I decided to prove to Stanton what was going on without hurting him.  I grabbed his forehead and let my fingers sink in, took in some of his thoughts for a second and then let go.  He stumbled back, shaking his head.

“What the hell was that?  What did you do to me?”

“Long story.  It’s something I can do.  What the Bishop can do is much worse.  Now do you believe me?”

He looked to Katie, who just nodded. Rubbing his forehead and looking confused, he finally spoke. 

“Okay, I’ll call for a uniform to take her to a safe place.  Then I will go with you to find this Bishop.”

When the squad car arrived, Katie left with the officer while Stanton got in with me.  I felt like convincing Stanton had been rather easy, but after what I’d just done to him, he might have been curious as to how this goes.

“Just so you know,” he said.  “If you try anything weird, like that head thing again, I will shoot you.”

“Understood.”

“Is that what you did to the guy who was screaming his head off?  Or the guy whose head you bashed in?”

“I didn’t bash his head.  Hard to explain.  The screaming guy is the usual end result, depending on how long I do it.”

“Beautiful.  So what are you?  Some kind of witch doctor?  I thought you were a preacher.”

“You’ll understand more once we find the Bishop.  After a run in with him, you’ll wish you didn’t know.”

Chapter 34

The Bishop’s mansion was at the end of a long, gated driveway.  I knew there was no way they would just let us in.  He had some goons up front working security.  They stood in front of a large wall with plants growing along the top.  The large metal gate was probably opened by remote from the inside.  I pulled the Tahoe around the corner where we sat and waited.

“So what are we doing?” Stanton asked.

“I’m thinking.  We can’t just go in, the Bishop won’t allow it.”

“I’m a cop.  I bet they’ll let me in.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“Come on.  I’ll show you.”    He jumped out of the Tahoe, and I had no choice but to follow him.  We walked along the wall until we reached the front gate where one of the goons was standing.  I noticed there was a camera at the top of the wall pointed at the entrance.  Stanton approached the one of the men, also with his head shaved and wearing a suit.

“Can I help you sir?” The man asked.

“Yes.  Detective Jim Stanton, SAPD,” he said as he held up his badge.  “I need to speak with Bishop Hoover please.”

“Speak to him about what, sir?”

“About a couple of his employees we found dead.”

“If you leave me your card, I can have someone from our legal department contact you, Detective.”

Good Lord, the Bishop had a legal department?  Stanton wasn’t going to give up.

“Look, no one is being accused of anything.  I just wanted to ask him a couple of questions is all.”

“I’m afraid he is busy right now.  As I said, if you leave a card, he or his attorney can contact you.”  The man’s expression never changed through the whole conversation.  It was like talking to a recording.  I got tired of doing it Stanton’s way, so I stepped in.  I elbowed my way past Stanton and placed my hand on the man’s head.  I made sure I looked up at the camera the whole time.  The other man ran to stop me, but Stanton drew his gun and held him off.  Within minutes, the man Stanton had been talking to was on the ground, screaming and crying.  Even Stanton looked horrified at what he’d just seen.

“What did you do?” He asked.

“I’m not sure.  You,” I said, pointing at the other man.  Go tell the Bishop what you just saw.”  He stood there staring at me.  “Go!” I said.  He went over to the gate, and pushed in a number on the keypad so the gate opened part way.  He walked in and the gate closed behind him.  His partner remained in the ground writhing in pain and crying.
             

“What the hell are you?” Stanton asked.  “Did you kill him?”

“Not exactly.  I’ll explain later.”  We waited a few minutes, hoping someone would come back out.  No one returned.  After almost fifteen minutes, the sky began to turn black.  It shouldn’t have been nightfall for a few more hours.  Yet, the sky turned black as night.  Stanton and I watched, thinking it might be some kind of storm.  Something like a shooting star came down and struck the street, causing a small explosion.  Then there was another, and another.  Fire was falling from the sky.  Stanton and I ran for cover.  Balls of fire exploded around us as we hit the street.  I did my best to keep my head down, but as I looked around I could see it was happening all over the city.  It wasn’t rain, but it was fire and brimstone falling from the sky.

We ran a few hundred feet from the gate and across the street.  There was an old gas station there with a large box truck parked outside.  We dove underneath the box truck hoping nothing big enough would hit it.  From what I saw, the brimstone was about the size of baseballs.  We could hear some hitting the top of the truck, but it was thick enough they didn’t burn through.  At least not yet anyway. 

“This truck isn’t going to last forever in this,” Stanton said.

“I know, but neither will we.”

“What is going on?”

Before I could answer, we saw the gate open at the Bishop’s mansion.  The Bishop himself came strolling out followed by a news crew of all things.  He walked out to the middle of the street, looking up at the sky.  The fire and brimstone didn’t come near him or the film crew, as if they had some protective shield around them.  He held his arms out to his sides, looking up the sky and spoke.

“Peace, be still.” He said.  No sooner did he finish speaking that the bombardment stopped.  He looked around, smiled, and went back inside.

“Jesus Christ,” Stanton said.  “Did you see that?”

“Of course I saw it.”

“What the hell is going on with you two?”  We both climbed out from under the truck, looking around. The air smelled like burnt sulfur as people came out of their houses to assess the damage. Sirens blared in the background as well. 

“I guess you need to know at this point.”  I went on to tell him everything.

Chapter 35

Stanton stood there staring at me speechless as I explained everything to him.  Well, almost everything.  I left out the parts about me nailing people to crosses and cutting them to pieces.  If he thought I was crazy before tonight, he was sure of it now. 

“Wow Pastor Charlie, that’s quite a story.” 

“You just saw what I saw, right?”

“That I did,” he nodded.  “And I saw what you did to that guy at the gate.  I’ve always been an atheist.  Now I’m not sure what to think.  I should just arrest you know for whatever that was you did.”

“If you arrest me, you’ll take the one person out who has a chance at stopping him.”

“That is, if he can even be stopped.  He made it rain fire for God’s sake.” Stanton said.  “So what does all this mean?  What does he want?”

“It means he wants to exert some sort of control over the city, maybe more.  He was just on national TV the other day doing one of his tricks.  Who knows?”

“But why?” I couldn’t tell if Stanton was just that skeptical or if he was that slow.

“Why does anyone do anything?  Money?  Power?  Both?  Either way, we have to do something.”

“Well I’m not sure what, if the guy just made fire fall from the sky.  Speaking of which, I need to get back to the station and see what damage has been done.”

We walked back toward my Tahoe.  As we looked around, there were dozens of small craters burned into the street.  Houses were burning, both nearby and in the distance. We reached my Tahoe to see it full of holes and on fire.  Stanton took out his cell phone and called his department for a ride.  After a half hour or so, another detective came to pick us up.

He drove me back to the church, since I needed to see what was going on back there.  On the ride back, I could see the damage through the city.  It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was enough.  The Bishop’s plan for this was probably simple.  He caused the disaster, then came out on TV and stopped it so he looked like the hero.  Once we reached the church, I got out of the car.  Stanton told me to call him once I found out more, or before I did anything else.