CHAPTER 14
Ben raised his head; to his shock, a man with sandy-brown hair stood before him. He wore a gray suit and kept his hands in his pockets; compassion and caring radiated in his eyes. Dropping the revolver on the bed, Ben leaped to his feet.
“Where did you come from?” He swiveled his head from door to window, both closed. “I didn’t even hear you come in!” He stared at the visitor. “Who are you?!”
“My name is Andrew.” Beams of unearthly light began to pour off Andrew as Ben, still gaping at him, sank down on the bed, hands shaking. “And God has sent me here to tell you that He doesn’t want you to kill yourself. I’m an angel.”
Ben lowered his head. “Puccini murdered my wife. Where was God—or His angels—when he killed her?” He clenched his fists as he spoke.
“I know he killed her. To get even, you tried to kill Puccini.” Ben nodded. Andrew took a step forward. “God sees the pain in your heart, Benjamin, and the deep shame. And the bitterness.” The angel of death paused. The beams of unearthly light formed a circle surrounding his feet. “He wants to offer you His forgiveness, Ben. His mercy. His comfort. God loves you, and He doesn’t want you to destroy yourself. He offers you life abundant and eternal.”
He touched Benjamin’s shoulder. For a long moment, he gazed into the man’s eyes. “Your Esther is in the Father’s arms, Benjamin. She will never suffer again. And if you’ll accept God’s gift of forgiveness, you’ll be with her once more, soon.”
A knock on the door startled Ben. Andrew dropped his hand to his side. Before Ben could respond, the door swung open. Ryan framed the entrance.
“Hello, Ben—” Ryan gaped at Andrew in shock, then pleasure. “Andrew! It’s you.” He stepped into the room, David behind him, shoes softly thudding on the carpet. David had draped his woolen prayer shawl over his shoulders, Ben noticed. It hung askew, as if he’d thrown it on in a hurry.
Ben gaped at them. “You—you know this—this angel?!” He sank down onto the bed, shoulders slumped, as he looked from Ryan to Andrew in shock.
Ryan nodded. “God has sent him to my family and me more than once, Ben. And David, here, has met him too.” He glanced at the angel of death. “And whatever Andrew’s telling you to do, I strongly urge you to do as he says, because his words come from God.”
Ben rose to his feet. His voice choked. “How—how do I do that, Andrew?”
“Receive God’s Son as your Messiah.” Andrew touched his shoulder again. “Ask Him into your heart. Ask Him to forgive you and to make you new.”
Bowing his head, Ben silently prayed to Jesus. When he looked into Andrew’s eyes, a sense of peace he had never felt before flooded his heart. “Thank you, Andrew. And you, Ryan—David.”
Andrew beamed. “We’re all rejoicing with you, Ben. And so is God.” His face turned serious. “And already, He has something he wants you to do. A young girl is trapped somewhere in Jerusalem, and your skills are going to be needed to help save her. She’s been missing since the earthquake there, a few days ago.”
Ryan nodded, biting his lower lip. “That young girl is my niece, Ben. My adopted niece. And your cousin Deborah is missing, too.”
David nodded, deep pain in his eyes. “And it’s my fault that she is—I threw her out when she wouldn’t renounce Yeshua. There’s no telling where she is! Or if she's even alive.” His voice choked.
Ben nodded. “Don’t worry, David, I’ll help you.” He paused, looking from David to Ryan to Andrew. “How are we going to get back to Jerusalem?”
Thrusting his hands into his pockets, Andrew smiled. “I’ll take you. Another angel will be waiting downstairs with a cab. But before you do--” He paused to glance at the dresser to his left. "--I think Ben, here, should disguise himself."
Ryan and David exchanged glances. "Another angel?" Ryan asked. Andrew nodded. “Sam?” Andrew nodded again.
He disappeared; when Ben whirled around, he saw a wig and a pair of sunglasses lying side-by-side on the dresser. "Put on the wig and the sunglasses," David ordered. "I'll loan you a hat to wear as well. You'll have to keep wearing them until we know it's safe to take them off." Sighing, Ben acquiesced. While he donned the disguise, David unbuttoned his shirt and stuck a patch on his chest.
"Trying to quit smoking?" Ben asked.
David nodded. "It's time." He took a long look at his cousin. "We'd better go as soon as we can. Our ride should be waiting for us any time now."
Sure enough, when they exited the hotel lobby half an hour later, they found Sam leaning against a cab by the curb. He drove them to the airport, where Andrew, in turn, flew them to Tel Aviv. Sam met them at Ben-Gurion Airport and drove them back to Jerusalem. So far, no one had given Ben a second glance in his disguise.
“There they are.” Sam pointed at a small group assembled on a street corner. “They haven’t given up hope, but they are getting exhausted.” He smiled. "Again, there is no charge. You just keep doing what God calls you to do--that's all the payment I ask of you."
Ryan nodded acquiescence. “Pray that God gives us success, Sam. And that Ben's disguise continues to work. You, too, Andrew.” Ryan pushed the back door open, then jumped out. “Brownie!” He cupped his hands.
His sister turned in his direction; a broad smile spread across her face. “Ryan!” Christina rushed into his arms as he joined the others, accompanied by Andrew. The cab sped off.
After the two hugged, Christina turned to the others. Her hair looked mussed, Ryan noticed, and her face looked smudged. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead; she reached up to wipe them off with the back of her hand. After Ryan and Kristen exchanged a long embrace, Christina turned to the other two. “David! Andrew! You’re back!”
Andrew hugged her, chuckling. His pilot uniform had been miraculously replaced with a pair of blue jeans and a dark-brown T-shirt. After wiping his sweaty face, Richard greeted them, then turned to Ben. “Who’s this?”
“This is my cousin Ben.” David patted Ben’s arm. “Ben, these are the friends Ryan and I told you about.” He turned to the others, then lowered his voice. "Ben is wearing a wig for protection. If he's recognized on the streets, his life will be forfeit."
Ben nodded. "I'll be glad when I can take this wig off--it's hot and scratchy in this weather. Hard to believe it would be this hot this early in the year." David nodded, a wry expression etched on his face. Raising his voice, Ben added, “I understand you’ve got a young relative missing.” He scratched his cheek as he spoke.
“Yes. Our daughter, Rachel. Along with your cousin Deborah.” Richard shook his head, then glanced at his watch. “Is there anything you can do to help us?”
“I think I can.” Benjamin nodded. “I work in the construction field, so I should be able to help you once we’ve found out where she’s trapped.”
Christina choked back a sob. “We—we’ve had no success there. We’ve looked and looked!”
“Perhaps I can help you.”
Christina whirled to find Gloria standing behind her. Tess stood to the other angel’s left, her brooch glistening in the sunlight. “Gloria’s decided to volunteer her services in helping you locate Rachel,” Tess said.
Ben furrowed his eyebrows, a puzzled, disbelieving look in his eyes. “This woman can—?”
“Not a woman, Benjamin. An angel.” Tess looked at him sternly, folding her arms across her chest. “Sent by God.”
“Gloria and Tess are both angels,” Ryan told Ben. “As are Andrew and Sam. God has surrounded us with angels when we’ve needed them.”
“That’s right, and He will do so again, when the need arises. And furthermore, Gloria has an efficient mind. It works just like a computer.” Tess nodded toward her colleague. “If anyone can figure out where Rachel and Deborah are trapped, she can!”
Christina smiled wanly. “Yes. She can.” She smiled at Gloria, then glanced down at her dirt-encrusted sneakers.
Gloria turned toward her. “Christina, what route did you and the others take to go to the Wailing Wall?” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
After Christina described it for her, Gloria folded her arms across her chest. Beads of sweat rolled down her own cheek as she furrowed her eyebrows to think. “So, somewhere in route to the Wailing Wall, Rachel got separated from you.” She bowed her head for a long moment, then raised her eyes to the sky, beaming. “She must have stopped along the way to window-shop. And when she saw that you had gone on without her, she must have decided to enter that store and then catch up with you later.”
Christina nodded. “We’ve tried to retrace our route, but the rubble has made that impossible. We can’t even find any street signs that are intact.”
Nodding Gloria picked her way down one sidewalk and then another, the others following her. All carefully stepped over piles of broken concrete shards and edges of shards sticking upwards from the sidewalk’s surface. “When and where did you last see her?” Gloria looked back at the others as she spoke.
Richard furrowed his eyebrows, then rubbed his hair, front to back. “Well, when we were 10 blocks from the Wailing Wall, she asked me how long I thought it would be before the two witnesses came back to life. I told her it would happen before that day was out, surely.”
Nodding, Gloria continued to mince down the sidewalk. “So, somewhere within 10 blocks of the Wailing Wall, she got separated. And knowing Rachel, she probably stopped at a gift shop to look. There are two kinds of stores I know she’d be tempted to stop at—a bookstore and a gift store. And there are no bookstores along this route.” Tilting her head, she paused to scan the demolished buildings up and down both sides of the street, then walked further.
END OF CHAPTER 14