CHAPTER 5
“Hello?” Ryan furrowed his eyebrows as he listened, inserting the fingers of his left hand into his left jeans pocket. “Oh, Antonio! Hello. Is everything all right?…I see. Yes, sir. Kristen and I will both be there, then.”
Slipping his phone back into his jeans pocket, Ryan shook his head. “Our honeymoon’s over, Kristen. As of tomorrow. Antonio wants us to fly him back to Rome first thing in the morning.”
Kristen sighed. “What time does he want us?”
“Six o’ clock.” Ryan looked at his watch. “We’ve only got this one night to find Rachel, so we’d better hurry.”
“Yes, if when we do, I’m going to bash Daniel’s teeth in. If anything’s happened to her, I’ll--I’ll kill him!” Richard clenched his fists into tight balls. “How dare he--he--!”
“Richard, Richard.” Andrew appeared next to him. “The Father understands your rage, but that is not going to help Rachel. We will find her, and don’t worry. God has His eye on her even as we speak.”
Christina bit her lower lip. All she could do was remind herself that Andrew was right. “Andrew, has--has God told you where she is?” She dug the toe of her right shoe into the soft carpet tufts as she spoke.
Andrew shook his head. “No, but He has sent me to help you. God will lead us to her, don’t worry.” He paused, inserting his hands into his pants pockets. “I have an idea. Tess told me that, during your tour, Daniel talked about a building he’s rented for a project he’s got going during his visit here.”
The four adults exchanged glances. “Maybe that’s where he’s got Rachel,” Ryan commented. “Come on! We’d better hurry!” They rushed outside, piled into Richard’s rental car and into the red Cadillac that had miraculously appeared next to the curb, and drove off. Christina sat next to the open window; the wind blew into the car and ruffled her brown hair.
Half an hour later, they arrived in the same deserted neighborhood where Daniel had taken Rachel. Since there were few lights set up on that street, the individual buildings were hard to make out, Christina noticed. They drove slowly up the darkened street, passing building after building, till Andrew said, “Stop!”
They paused in the middle of the lane; Richard’s sedan stopping behind the convertible. Andrew gazed at the decrepit warehouse. “That’s the place, everyone. The Father has just told me.” He pulled up to the curb and turned off the ignition. “Come on. Now that we have found the place, it only remains to find Rachel and Daniel.” He climbed out of the driver’s seat, and the passengers followed suit.
Christina looked at the moon overhead, and shook her head. “Good thing the moon’s out. It would have be much harder to find this warehouse if we’d had to search in the total dark.” The others nodded agreement. Andrew led the way into the building.
Meanwhile, in another of the abandoned office rooms, Daniel perched on a hardback chair, leaned against the wall, and sighed. Only minutes before, he had returned from delivering the bomb to the spot where he intended to set it up. All he had to do, now, was to return and set the timer, and he would do that before dawn. “Then I’ll see about taking Rachel with me to America,” he muttered, shifting position on the chair’s unyielding cedar seat.
“You will do nothing of the kind!”
A startled Daniel leaped to his feet, his shoes clomping on the floor as he landed. A heavy-set African-American woman stood in front of him, hands on hips, a stern expression etched on her face.
“Who--who are you?” Daniel gaped at her. “And how did you get in here? I didn’t here you come in!”
“I’m Tess, and I’m here to see that you return Rachel Daly to her family.” Tess crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Daniel. “Rachel is not your child, Daniel Rosen, and you are not going to keep her. Jehovah has not given you permission to have her. Her parents are looking for her right now, and you’re going to release her to them!”
Silently, Tess prayed that God would prevail upon Daniel to listen. If she failed, the Dalys would have no choice but to notify the police and press charges against Daniel. She was determined to persuade Daniel to release Rachel of his own free will.
With a heavy sigh, Daniel slumped his shoulders. The wood floor creaked under his shoes as he shifted his balance. “I’d still like to know how you found me, and how you got in here without my hearing you.”
Tess dropped her arms to her sides. “I will tell you the truth about all that when the time is right, but right now, be forewarned that your role in Rachel’s disappearance has been discovered. If you do not let her go, not only will you be putting an innocent young girl and her family through a lot of fear and worry, you will soon be wanted by the police in both America and Israel for kidnapping. Now, which will it be, Daniel?”
Daniel glared back at her, then sighed out his surrender. “I’ll let her go, Tess.”
“Good.” The door creaked as Tess swung it open. “Her parents are here in the building now. I’ll tell them you’re turning her over to them, and believe me, I’ll know if you try to sneak her out!” She wagged her finger, then turned and left the room. The thuds of her shoes grew softer as she walked away.
_______________________________________
In the cellar, Rachel and Monica, still seated on the bench, played a game of 20 Questions. “Is it big or small?” Monica asked.
“It’s big.”
“Is it soft or hard?” Monica clasped her hands on her lap.
“Hard.”
“Is it made of metal, rock, or some other substance?”
Rachel scratched her left ear. “It’s made of rock. Lots of rocks!”
Monica put a finger to her chin, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Let me guess--it’s a car.”
Rachel giggled. “No, silly--cars aren’t made of rocks. It’s the Wailing Wall!”
Monica laughed and hugged her. “You are a smart girl, Rachel!”
At the top of the stairs, the door creaked open, slamming against the wall; Rachel huddled against Monica’s bosom. “Please don’t let him take me away,” she whispered, as fear welled up, forming a heavy stone in her gut, as the sound of clomping wafted to her ears from the cellar steps.
Monica put her arms around Rachel’s shoulders. “Don’t worry; God is watching over you.”
Daniel descended the stairs, and gazed at Rachel. Trembling, Rachel rose to her feet and stared at him, swallowing hard. Was he about to take her away?
A sad expression welled up in his eyes. “Well, Rachel, it seems my taking you was a bad idea.” Sighing, he smiled sheepishly. “It wasn’t going to work; I guess I knew that from the beginning. But I wanted to try.” He approached her, stopping at the end of the bench. “You’re free to go. Your parents are here.”
Squealing with joy, Rachel pressed her hands together. She whirled around, only to see that Monica had vanished. The young girl raced up the stairs, two at a time, and darted through the closet into the main storage room. To her joy, she found her parents, the Whittakers, and the four angels, including Monica, waiting for her near the front entrance.
“Mom! Daddy!” She raced toward them, where Christina and Richard took turns hugging her.
“Are you all right, sweetie?’ Christina clasped her against her bosom as she spoke; the scent of perfume reached Rachel’s nose. Christina’s voice sounded choked.
“I am, now.” Rachel looked at Monica. “Monica stayed with me until you found me. She told me stories and everything.”
Straightening her back, Christina turned sidewalks to smile gratefully at Monica. “Thank you.”
Monica smiled back. “My pleasure.”
Rachel turned around, only to find that Daniel had not followed her into the storage room. Turning back to her mother, she asked, “Is Mr. Rosen in trouble?” She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Is he gonna go to jail?”
Biting her lower lip, Christina turned toward Richard. “What do you think?”
Richard smiled grimly. He folded his arms across his chest and gazed at Rachel. “Well, by all rights, he ought to be; if he hadn’t let you go, honey, he would be.” He ruffled her hair. “But since he did decide to let you go, I guess your mother and I will let him off. Hopefully, he won’t be pulling any more stunts like this one!”
Rachel smiled. What a relief! Although the ordeal had been very scary, still she didn’t want to see Mr. Rosen rot in prison.
Tess cleared her throat; everyone turned to look at her. “It’s not over yet, folks.” She looked from one to another in the enormous darkened room with a fixed look of determination on her face. Pursing her lip, she repeated, “It’s not over.” She clasped her hands in front of her waist as she spoke.
END OF CHAPTER 5