A Catch in Time Page 21

  He’s a child—John Thomas’s brother.

  He’s not a child. He’s an amoral sociopath.

  He is Life. We have to find a way to help him.

  She followed the jeep onto the hospital’s emergency entrance driveway, fervently hoping they were there in time to save Josiah, wondering if Lucas would betray them all. She barely heard Kate ordering Lucas out of the car with them.

  For all her trepidation about Sister Donna, Laura was thankful for her presence during the admission procedure. Without her, the red tape might have been insurmountable. The registration counter was long and curved, manned by four gowned and capped personnel. The large lobby teemed with people standing in lines or sitting in plastic chairs lining the walls or clustered in muttering groups. Everywhere she looked, the Brotherhood logo was displayed on posters, clothing, paperwork, caps, and scrub uniforms of admissions clerks, nurses, and doctors. Even the gurney that came for Josiah had the logo on its sheets.

  It had been a long time since Laura had been with so many people, so much noise and bustle. The surrealism was heightened by the exaggerated piety of nearly every sentence being spoken. “Jesus walks” was a greeting, a benediction, a farewell, a pause in conversation.

  The laborious paperwork done, Josiah was wheeled away with suddenness, time only for a brief farewell touch. Then they were outside and Laura tried to regain control of her breathing, lose the feeling of suffocation, still her inner quivering.

  She grabbed Kate in a fierce hug, pressing her face into her curls, and Kate whispered assurances about Josiah, as much to reassure herself as Laura.

  “Maybe I should take the boy with me the rest of the way,” suggested Sister Donna, impatient, eager.

  “No,” Kate said. She put her arm around Lucas and pulled him close. “He’s a comfort to us, Sister. Let us pray together while we follow you.”

  Sister Donna nodded curtly and hurried to her jeep. “Come on, then.”

  Once again they were on the freeway, headed back in the direction from which they had come.

  “I wonder how long till we hear something,” Laura said. When she’d expressed concern about leaving the hospital so soon, the clerk had sternly assured her that the Lord guided the hands of the surgeon, and Laura’s duty was to pray, not to question.

  “It’s in His hands, our lord whatshisname, hollowed-out be his face. Christ! I’ll never say that name again, I swear to God. If He took a step for every time one of those freaks said ‘He walks,’ He’d be in China already. They don’t hafta crucify Him this time. They’re walking His ass to death.”

  Laura laughed reluctantly.

  “That damn militant logo everywhere. And with all this walking shit, they probably got rid of all the crosses and tacked up an old pair of Nikes.”

  “Nikes!” Lucas laughed.

  Kate and Laura stiffened at his voice. Before leaving the hospital, they’d reestablished the backseat and Lucas was belted in behind Kate.

  “Nikes,” Lucas repeated.

  Laura looked at him in the rearview mirror. He looked like a normal child, on an outing with adults. The extent of his pretense astounded her. Did he really think to just brazen his way back into their good graces?

  Kate rummaged through the glove box and pulled out a compact CD player and headphones. They’d gotten it for Catherine on their first journey. She’d said music calmed her, and it had. Kate plugged an adapter into the lighter receptacle, pushed Play and turned up the volume until even Laura could hear music from the headset.

  “Vivaldi. So that’s where that CD was,” Laura said.

  Kate unbuckled her seat belt and turned backward in her seat. Just before clamping the headset over Lucas’s ears, she demanded, “Keep this on ‘til I say different.” She resettled herself with the player on her lap where she could monitor the volume.

  Hoping they were free of Lucas’s eavesdropping, Laura and Kate spoke in whispers, following Sister Donna at sixty miles per hour over surprisingly well-maintained roads.

  “What do you think she wants?” asked Laura.

  “I don’t know. She looks at Lucas like she wants to gobble him up. Maybe she never got over losing her baby. She’d shit bricks if she knew how whacko Lucas is.”

  Laura checked the mirror and saw Lucas gazing out the side window, hands in his lap.

  “It’d be a hell of a lot easier if he was Shaitan,” Kate continued. “We could just snuff his ass.”

  Laura couldn’t bring herself to utter agreement.

  “He’s been a weird little shit from the start,” Kate muttered, “but now, he just points due spooky. What’s with this angel-face shit?”

  “I know—it’s as if he thinks if he pretends everything’s normal, he can make us believe it, too.”

  Kate shook her head, bewildered.

  Sister Donna’s turn signal began to blink. “Looks like we’re finally getting off the freeway,” Laura said.

  “We can’t ditch her ‘til the hospital calls us,” said Kate. “If we sign the pledge, maybe she’ll leave us alone. But we’ll have to find a place to stay.”

  “The pledge process might be more complicated than we expect,” Laura worried.

  “I’ll handle it,” Kate assured her.

  Laura remembered Kate’s ease at the border. “You sounded like a real believer.” She followed the jeep along an avenue carved into rolling, dry grasslands. Behind them, to the southwest, the freeway climbed into the mountains. The road ahead curved toward the foothills and the Truckee River, and Laura saw a scattering of houses amid a sparse, well-established pine forest.

  “I told you I was raised in the stuff.”

  “Right, until you were fifteen. I never realized how much it influenced you, the way you usually talk.”

  “Ha. Yeah. Well, my parents were progressive Southern Baptist. A lot of Baptists are against having women ministers. My folks wanted me to be the preacher son they never had.”

  They made a sharp turn into a driveway and, after a short, steep climb, the driveway ended in a flat parking area in front of a garage, near a neatly kept ranch house. Laura set the brake. “A preacher?” she said, turning to Kate.

  Kate grinned. “Hold that thought. We’re back on the wing.” She pushed Stop on the CD player and got out of the car.

  Donna emerged from her jeep.

  Kate held Lucas firmly by the arm as they followed Donna through a side entrance into the house, stepping into the kitchen. Without removing her overcoat, Donna gestured for them to sit at a breakfast table. She set a kettle of water on the stove, turned on a gas flame, and, with practiced moves, began to fix tea and sandwiches.

  Unrecognizable sounds came from elsewhere in the house. The thought that it might be Donna’s husband, Gary, gave Laura some hope. Gary had been a stable influence when they’d confronted Donna long ago.

  One of the intermittent sounds became louder, muffled by closed doors. Laura thought it sounded like a wail, and exchanged glances with Kate. Donna, whose back was to them, had her head cocked toward the door.

  “We’ll eat in a minute,” said Donna. She walked toward the inner door. “I’ll go fetch the papers. Phone rings, answer it, might be the hospital, though I doubt they’ll be calling soon.” She shut the door loudly behind her.

  Kate whispered, “Did you hear that?”

  “I heard it,” Laura whispered back. “What did it sound like to you?”

  “Like an animal or something.”

  Kate leaned closer. “If there are any question-and-answer parts in the pledge, let me do the talking. You just repeat what I say. Stay like this,” she demonstrated a bowed prayerful attitude, “and act like you’re tired and worried and not really thinking straight because of Josiah.”

  “That won’t be hard,” Laura said. “Those might not even be real doctors at that hospital.”

  “Of course they’re doctors,” Kate said. “What do you think they—oh, Jesus,” the color drained from her face. “You mean faith healers?�
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  “I saw knives and things,” Lucas interjected helpfully. Kate and Laura looked at him and he nodded.

  Scalpels, Laura thought. She almost smiled at Lucas but jerked her attention away.

  When Sister Donna came back, she carried a sheaf of papers in one hand. She set tea and buttered bread on the table, then joined them.

  “Let us pray,” she demanded.

  After the meager lunch, the pledge process seemed interminable. Following lengthy prayers, Sister Donna began the question and response Kate had anticipated. Laura, head bowed, voice tired and whispery, repeated every one of Kate’s careful responses. Laura was amazed at Kate, who quoted Bible passages, citing chapter and verse, often engaging Sister Donna in tangential religious dialogue. As the numbing process wore on, Laura’s mind wandered to Josiah.

  It had been almost three hours since they’d left him at the hospital. She wished the phone would ring yet dreaded what she might learn. One part of her bargained with God and another part mocked her simplistic petitions.

  Laura had only been peripherally exposed to the concept of God. As a child, she’d asked the usual questions: Who was God? Where was He? Did He really make everything and know what everyone did? The idea of such an authority was at once comforting and threatening. Her parents had no answers. They’d simply told her they didn’t know; when she grew up, she could decide for herself what to believe.

  At age six, Laura decided she’d inform God of her interest right away, just in case. The God she’d imagined was more like an invisible friend and she developed her own way of chatting with Him, though her prayers were hardly more than negotiations bolstered by evolving diplomatic skills.

  God, she prayed now, like a child, let it be just a foot, please. More would be unfair.

  “Amen,” she heard Lucas say. With trepidation, she realized Donna had turned her attention to Lucas.

  “The Lord walks among us,” Sister Donna said to Lucas, her eyes alight.

  “Hallelujah,” Lucas responded.

  “As once He rose, now hath He descended.” Sister Donna nodded encouragingly at him.

  “Hallelujah. Blessed be that ground,” Lucas crowed.

  Sister Donna laughed in delight and stroked his hair then gently pinched his cheek. “Very good, darlin’,” she praised. “Now, how about a cookie?”

  Kate glanced at Laura, face hard, eyebrows raised. Sister Donna gave Lucas a handful of cookies and told him to go play on the backyard swing while the grownups talked.

  Laura glanced out the window. They were atop a slight hill with several houses below, widely separated, each with its own small plot of land. All appeared to be deserted, shabby, showing years of neglect and weather damage. There were no signs of any people.

  Donna distributed the papers she’d brought in earlier and explained how each copy would go to a different department at the central office. She pointed with a stubby, nail-bitten finger at places requiring signatures. As they began to sign, she fumbled in her khaki pants pockets to retrieve several entangled necklaces that she placed on the table. Each thin silver chain bore a small fist clutching a lightning bolt.

  From a large envelope, she pulled several folded Brotherhood logo decals and laid them on the table.

  The strange intensity filled Donna’s eyes. “There’s evil in this world.” They nodded, and Donna stared intently at them, back and forth, the silence lengthening. Laura’s unease grew. Now what?

  “Listen close,” Sister Donna whispered harshly. “The Brotherhood, it’s not the true way.”

  Laura and Kate sat stunned. What was this new twist in an already bizarre maze of superstition? Was this a test of some kind?

  Donna’s jaw clenched; her hands trembled.

  “What do you mean, Sister Donna? He walks among us,” said Kate, hoping to choose the right lines in this new drama.

  “Four, five years ago,” said Donna in a hushed, secretive voice, “the Brotherhood was a real church with a real preacher. That was Reverend Perry, that was. Reverend Perry, he’s still head of the church, but things have changed, ever since Brother Em joined him. He’s the leader now, and he is a snake; a daemon is what he is.” Her hands shot out and gripped each of theirs. She spoke rapidly, spitting her words out like a lariat to snare them.

  “Reverend Perry used to preach about the goodness of God and the evil of Satan and about us needing to fight together for the Lord. Reverend Perry, he didn’t quarrel with the other churches, he just tended his own flock. Then Brother Snake shows up and things became real different.” Faster and faster her words came.

  “Everything changed. Brother Em, he started fighting with other churches. I mean real blood battles. There were killings, lots and lots of killings. My Gary died fighting. I couldn’t go out, I was pregnant. But my Gary went out one day and never came back.”

  Her face twisted and Laura felt her stomach tighten. Why was Donna telling them all this? Betraying her true thoughts of the Brotherhood, in which she was enmeshed, to two complete strangers? She felt her fingers growing numb in Donna’s tight grip.

  “The Brotherhood preys on Shaitan. Brother Em brings that evil right into church, makes a blood spectacle of it.”

  “Lord have mercy,” Kate said.

  Donna nodded emphatically. “That’s not all. They use Shaitan evil in their rituals. In God’s own house!” A feverish light burned in her eyes. “Anyone not pledged to the Brotherhood is Shaitan, according to Brother Em.”

  Laura swallowed hard, understanding the trap they had walked into. It had just, near audibly, snapped shut.

  “That’s not the worst of it,” said Donna. Shoulders hunched, she whispered, “What they do to Shaitan children in church is an abomination.”

  Kate frowned. “Where are they finding Shaitan children?”

  “They breed ‘em.” Donna hissed.

  “They what?” exclaimed Laura.

  Donna nodded vigorously. “It’s the truth, so help me, God.” She turned to Kate. “Jesus led you to me, Sister Kate. I can protect your boy!”

  Kate held Donna’s gaze as she slowly withdrew her hand from Donna’s grasp and, just as slowly, rose from her seat. Obviously, Donna thought Lucas was her son, an honest mistake, given Kate’s proprietary manner with him that hid whispered threats, furtive control. She said nothing, buying time while she considered how to use the error to their advantage.

  Donna, mistaking Kate’s silence for suspicion, pressed Kate back down into her seat. “Listen to me! They’ll take your boy. There aren’t many real children left. It’s the reason Brother Jimmy called me to you at the border. I’ve had to play their game; I had to, with Gary gone, and my own boy to protect.”

  Laura’s head was spinning. Lucas was their bargaining chip? The reason Donna was emboldened to take them into her confidence?

  “You have a boy?” Kate asked. “How old?”

  Sister Donna stared at Kate. “Almost four.”

  Kate and Laura exchanged looks.

  “He’s not Shaitan,” Sister Donna proclaimed. “He’s different, but he’s not Shaitan. I know it.”

  Probably deformed, Laura thought, remembering the thin wail they’d heard earlier.

  “What does the Brotherhood do with Shaitan?” Kate asked.

  “It used to be, they just killed them, but not in the church. Reverend Perry preached about cleansing the evil, but then Brother Em came, and he started a bunch of rituals and ceremonies that brought people into the church. Everyone began pledging to the Brotherhood. Everyone wants to see the Shaitan die! They pack the church for the ritual killings. And big offerings are required to witness the cleansing.”

  Fear shone in her eyes. “They torture the Shaitan until evil almost explodes their awful eyes, then they sacrifice them on the altar. Mind you, I’m all for killing these soulless spawn of Satan, but the Brotherhood’s not stamping out the evil, they’re sending that evil straight to God. Sacrificing ‘em on the altar like that! Shaitan can’t be purified. They go
to heaven as evil as they came into this world. I know that as sure as I know anything.” Sweat beaded on her face and she suddenly slumped in her chair.

  “I’ve hidden little Samuel all these years,” she whispered. “The Brotherhood demands all newborns. Brother Em’s got them all convinced that Shaitan evil is limited, and the faster they can empty it, the better. He personally handles all the baby sacrifices. Even other churches let him have those.”

  She shook her head vehemently. “They’re not getting Samuel,” she said in a hard voice. “He’s not Shaitan. I knew that Kelly was; not at first, but I knew. Kelly was eight months old when the blackout came—and the second blackout. Back then, ‘course, nobody knew evil had spilled into the world, and I lost Kelly a week after—almost lost my mind as well. But after the second blackout … well, I knew. Kelly wasn’t the same, not her eyes.

  “But little Samuel’s no Shaitan.” She glared.

  If Donna’s version of the Brotherhood was true, thought Laura, everything in this place was demented and dangerous. Perhaps Donna was right about little Samuel, too. Maybe Samuel was like Lily, a child with a soul. Maybe there were others, souls that had somehow managed to bridge the disruption in time and space.

  “Why don’t you take Samuel out of here?” Kate asked Donna.

  “It’s not that easy,” answered Donna, pinning Kate with a look. “I need help.”

  Now we come to it, thought Laura.

  “You want our help,” Kate stated.

  Donna nodded eagerly. Spittle flew as she spoke. “Yes. I can’t do it alone. I can’t handle Samuel by myself, not and get us past the border. And not to keep him safe afterward.”

  Kate raked fingers over her head, sweeping back her curls. “What do you want us to do? We’ve got Josiah in the hospital and, from what you’ve said, we’re gonna have a heck of a time getting out of here with Lucas.”

  “That’s just it, you see?” Donna interrupted. “I help you with Lucas, and you help me with Samuel. I got it all worked out, and I’ve been waiting for the right people to help me. I prayed on it every day and my prayers have been answered.” She clasped Kate’s hand and looked at Laura. “You’re the first ones to come with real belief of the old churches and the truth of the Lord. The Lord led you to me.”