The Sons of Destiny (The Reluctant Hero Trilogy Book 3) Page 4

  He gulped. Closing his eyes, he could imagine the expressive smile on Magena’s face, just before she left. Then he started to laugh because he realized that she must have touched both the shroud and the treasure, but not necessarily at the same time. His laugh quieted, as he concentrated.

  Leaning against the spot on the wall where he last saw Magena, he felt himself fade out of the cave and the area into darkness. He was gone before any Hive could lay a hand on him.

  He then realized that if Yasmeen touched the shroud, like he did, she may get out, too. But that was up to her. Since she had already touched the shroud and the jewels before, she only needed to press on the wall.

  Daniel realized that there was more than enough treasure at her feet to instigate her own disappearance or stay inside the virtual world.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Magena

  She smiled as she opened her eyes wide. She discovered that she was sitting in the most comfortable bed she had ever been in. That woke her up completely. She called out loudly, “Where am I?”

  Levi ran over to her and clasped her hands. She saw that he also had on black slacks with a black turtleneck, just like Reuben was wearing when he rescued her. Levi looked worried. “It’s about time, Magena. We are waiting for you, because we still have to find Daniel.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been out for almost three days! Now that you are alert, you have to get up and move around!”

  “Are we going to find Daniel?”

  “You’re not well enough yet. But we have been looking for him.” He patted her cheek. “Do you have any clues?”

  She looked around the room with beige walls, loaded with crosses and paintings of Jesus. She could smell some kind of incense. It smelled like burning oak or pine. “May I get some water?” she asked while smacking her dry lips together. “I’m parched. Do you have anything to drink?”

  Reuben appeared out of nowhere and handed her a bottle of water. “I was ready. I knew you’d be thirsty.”

  “Where am I?” Her eyes teared up. “Please tell me where I am.”

  “Better yet, we’ll show you.” Reuben smiled. “If you think you are strong enough, Levi can take you for a walk around the campus. Get you acquainted with it.”

  “What about Daniel?”

  “Magena,” Levi said, with a stern tone. “While you’re walking, I’m going to catch you up to speed about Daniel and his father. It is complicated. Try to follow along as best as you can.”

  She gulped down a long drink from the bottle, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and then looked at Levi.

  “Alright Mr. Sunshine, I’ll go with you.”

  “My name is Levi. I am a descendant of the Biblical patriarch, Levi.” He smiled.

  “Wow! I don’t know if my mind can take in any more. I swear if I find out that this is still part of the virtual world or there was no virtual world at all, then I don’t know what I’ll do.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Do you hear me, God? I need some reality here before I go crazy! Thank you in advance.”

  She knew just by what she heard coming out of her mouth that she was definitely not herself. She didn’t sound like herself at all. That thought frightened her and made her grimace.

  Levi and Reuben laughed.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in,” Levi added. “I can assure you that you were being tested for the virtual world for the past several weeks, but you are in the real world now and safe.”

  Reuben agreed and sat down beside Magena with a smile on his face. He clasped her hand. “We have been fighting evil for longer than I can remember and…”

  Levi placed a hand gently on Reuben’s shoulder and slowly shook his head while biting his lower lip.

  Reuben nodded, lost the smile and stood up. “I’ll tell you more later. You should listen to Levi. He is the religious one and knows how much and what to tell you so you don’t freak out. I know that we shouldn’t overload you with too much information right now. Just remember that you are with the good guys at present. If you need anything, just let Levi know and he will help you. I’ll be back. Gotta go.”

  As Reuben left the small room, Levi made eye contact with him, like sending him a message. After he left the room, Levi said, “There’s plenty of time to learn about Dante. Right now, we will take a lap around our complex. Suffice it to say that we want what you want, and we can help you get it. Are you ready to take the tour?”

  “Yes.” She nodded her head rapidly. He got two jackets out of a closet and helped her into one. Putting the other on himself, he clasped her hand. Walking out of the office, she said, “One question. The first of many. I had an incredible sensitivity to sound when I awakened in the warehouse. When Reuben was rescuing me, I realized I still had the same problem. Is it me?”

  He let out a disappointed sigh. “No. It’s not just you. I’m afraid that is one of the many problems with virtual reality. The program appears so realistic, that whatever happens to you there, leaves an impact on you here.”

  “Will it go away?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “So it is so much bigger than us.”

  “It is connected to the supernatural. We only know by reading the Bible.”

  “How so?”

  “The image that will be worshiped during the tribulation.” He sighed. “It will be like a hologram.”

  Levi led Magena out the back door of the main office building into the walled-in complex. A gold-plated place of worship was in front of them. Magena’s mouth flew open. “That is beautiful.”

  “It is our religious community house; our place of worship,” said Levi. “This is the center for all Messianic Jewish activity.”

  “That is wonderful.” She laughed softly.

  “Other Jewish groups rent it from time to time. The synagogue is the Jewish equivalent of a church building,” he said. “It’s a place of prayer, Bible study and education.”

  “What about social activities? Do you use it as a social center for charitable work?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yes, we have those as well. But they meet in the building in the back. We have a gymnasium for basketball games. Our team rates pretty high in the league.”

  Tall apartment buildings lined both sides of the street. They walked along a street among the dwellings. Each apartment building had a sign above the door of one of the Sons of Destiny. “What are these?” she asked.

  “The descendants of Jacob occupy them. We all have to take DNA testing to prove what tribe we belong to.”

  “You mean like the Jews?”

  “They are more than just Jews. They are Israelis that have returned to Israel from all over the world.” He chuckled. “To be technical, Jews are really from Judah.”

  “The names above the doors are all the names of the tribes of Israel. Are all twelve represented here?”

  “Yes. But the Sons of Destiny that live in these apartments are different. They are followers of the Messiah, Jesus. We must remain sexually pure.”

  “So you don’t have children.”

  “Never will. You have great observation skills.”

  “Can you explain that for me?”

  “Twelve of us arrived here on the same military plane. It did not take long for us to see that we were all named after our own ancestors. Like Reuben comes from the tribe of Reuben.”

  “And you are a Levite. Right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does that mean you are a religious leader? Priests in the Old Testament were all Levites. Right?”

  “Yes. In a sense.” He paused and studied her face like he was surprised that she knew that much about the history of the Israelis. “I’m not from a line of priests though.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “For me personally, it is good. My job isn’t as hard as being a priest. Although there are priests that belong to our order. They minister to all the Israelis that come here from around the world.”

  “So, how did yo
u get started?”

  “Once we saw that twelve of us bore the names of our tribal leaders in Genesis, we knew that God was up to something. So, we had to organize.”

  “So it was a miracle?”

  “I believe so.”

  The two walked to the corner and turned left. There was another turn down a few blocks to turn left again. “This is the same layout as the tabernacle in the desert, isn’t it?”

  “It sure is. There are three tribes on each side of the temple. Of course, Judah is front-middle.”

  “Why is that?”

  “We think the Messiah will come from his tribe.”

  One more turn took them back to the front of the complex where the synagogue stood glowing. “How strange,” said Magena. “Does that trail mean something?”

  Levi laughed. “You saw that this is the same layout that the Tabernacle had in the wilderness. There is no other explanation. It is one way we keep each other safe.”

  “So each tribe has their own leader by the name of the tribe, and each tribe has their own section of housing.”

  “Correct.” He clasped her arm. “Do you now think you can feel safe here among us?”

  “Oh yes.” She showed excitement in her voice. “Very much so.”

  “We need to start walking toward the office now. Reuben should be returning soon.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Daniel

  Daniel had no sooner opened his eyes, when he realized that a black cloth bag had been placed over his head. All he saw was darkness. The last he remembered was clasping the tube containing the shroud, after touching the jewels. He didn’t remember what happened next.

  Now he felt something sticking in various sections of his head. It hurt. But it got worse when someone pulled the electrode sensors out of his scalp a few minutes later. They were in a rush to remove them for some reason for sure. He let out a loud yell to show his discomfort.

  Everything was happening so fast, he didn’t have time to figure out what was going on. He strained his brain, trying to figure it out. He needed to know, not only where he was, but what was happening to him.

  Fear overwhelmed him, as he assumed it was the Hive of Baal that had kidnapped him. He wondered if this treatment was what Magena had gone through as well. He worried about her even more as he felt himself being put over someone’s shoulder. Someone huge. He didn’t know the Hive members grew that big.

  He decided to go limp to make his captors think that he was unconscious and more helpless than he was. That was actually as far from the truth as possible. Daniel was quite alert.

  He felt revitalized and had energy to burn. It was to his advantage to make them think otherwise, though. It also gave him time to try to formulate a plan of escape.

  The members of the Hive believed him when he pretended to be Ahab. Now that he was out of the virtual valley, he wondered if they would fall for it again. Daniel assumed that he was far enough away from the spirit of Jezebel, that he could try just about anything on the Hive members and it would probably work. That is, if they were the ones who captured him.

  He strained to hear what was being said. There was a big commotion and he heard muffled voices, but none of the talking was near him.

  He kept playing possum while he was handled like a bag of potatoes. They didn’t care if they roughed him up, but someone sure wanted him away from wherever he was, and they were in a hurry.

  The person carrying him stopped briefly. Daniel tried to control his breathing to continue the illusion of his being sluggish. He just wished that he could understand. He thought he could hear someone talking. He strained his ears. Almost as if on cue, he heard his traveling companion speak.

  “What am I supposed to do with him?” the man said. Daniel was shocked when the man’s voice had no discernible accent. American? Not a Hive of Baal for sure.

  “There is a van waiting for you at the loading dock. Andrew will take the boy from there. I have a few things to take care of. I’ll be at the dock in 10 minutes. Tell Andrew to wait for me. I shouldn’t be a moment longer, but he needs to wait for me no matter what.”

  There was nothing but silence from the first man, and the second voice sounded a little muffled, like he was moving away. The man must have been at least ten to 20 feet away from the man carrying him. Still, the voice sounded familiar. Very familiar.

  He heard irritated mumbling, as the first man headed off again with Daniel.

  Daniel was getting impatient, because he needed to find a way to escape. If everyone around him was preoccupied with evacuating wherever they were, then he might be able to use that to his advantage.

  After what seemed to be an eternity, Daniel had a feeling that he had arrived at the loading dock. His transport stopped, while the sound of car doors opening and closing captured Daniel’s attention.

  He then felt himself being propelled through the air. He hit something hard and cold as he rolled a few feet before coming to a complete stop. He couldn’t help but let out a small groan.

  There were a few more conversations going on around him, but he couldn’t understand anything midst the chaos of the trucks being loaded. Whatever those people were doing seemed important. They appeared to be in a hurry and were ready to go again.

  “Let’s go,” the man shouted.

  Daniel heard the car doors slam shut and decided that was the perfect time to make his move. Whoever had him obviously wanted him alive or they would have killed him already.

  He felt a smirk in his heart, as he thought about his father calling him useless all the time. It appeared someone had a good use for him after all. Someone that may have been on the wrong side of the law. Someone, none-the-less.

  His arms and legs hadn’t been bound, so all he had to do was lift off his new headgear and jump at whoever was in front of him.

  He breathed deeply and then let it out slowly, as he reached for the black cloth bag. Just as his fingers touched the rough fabric, someone beat him to the punch.

  He heard a car engine start, as the vehicle screeched forward. He immediately ruled out the Hive of Baal as his captors. He was thrown to the back by the force and did so without his bag. He hit his head fairly hard, so his vision was somewhat blurry.

  As his eyes adjusted, he could see that he was in the back of a faded panel van. The back was empty except for two figures who were in the back with him.

  He rubbed his eyes and saw a man dressed in fatigues carrying some sort of automatic weapon. His eyes narrowed, as he glared at the other man. Someone he was very familiar with. He would be silent no longer.

  “Father! I guess I should have figured it was you,” he said with contempt in his tone.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I’m your son,” he said with disgust. “You have some explaining to do… Dad.”

  The older DiBenedetto started to cough uncontrollably as he grabbed a tissue from his pocket and hurriedly placed it over his mouth. The coughing fit took its toll on him, as he looked fatigued and had trouble breathing. When he put his handkerchief down, it was covered in blood.

  Dante smiled weakly at his son, who couldn’t stop staring at the blood-soaked fabric. “When were you going to tell me about this?” Daniel asked, angrily. “Just another thing that I had to find out for myself?”

  “Daniel,” his father replied, with a now hoarse voice. He tried to clear his throat several times, then continued, “I always wanted you to be strong enough to make your own way in life. Unfortunately, you are as weak now, as you have ever been.”

  Daniel did everything in his power to restrain himself from showing his anger to his father. Especially with the armed minions staring him down. “I appreciate the usual vote of confidence, Dad,” he said sarcastically, without taking his eyes off of the nearby automatic weapon. “So you’re behind all of this? I was in some kind of video game. Wasn’t I?”

  Dante smiled. “A woman had to lead you, so don’t act so surprised at my comment. All of your questions will b
e answered in time. Right now, we have a plane to catch.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Magena

  “What does the Bible say?”

  “First, we are in the last of the last days. It is a sign of the times, because the final world leader will perfect the program by making a hologram of himself to be worshiped.”

  “What part do you guys play?”

  “At the end of this age, when the tribulation begins, four angels will stand on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent the wind from blowing on it.” He looked at her intensely. “God told the winds not to harm the land or the sea or the trees until He put a seal on the foreheads of all the servants of God. We are the first twelve of 144,000.”

  “I assume that you guys will operate in the spirit.”

  “Yes. God has already sealed 144,000 Israelis that are all being set aside right now. They are to serve Him in the tribulation—which is soon.”

  “Did you say 144,000?” She rolled her eyes. “Who are they? Do they live around here?” She pointed down.

  “They are not all here now, but they are alive,” he said. “Here is an example. There will be from the tribe of Judah 12,000 to be sealed. The same goes for the tribe of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali and so forth.”

  “You are saying that there will be 12,000 from each Israeli tribe.”

  “Yes.”

  “You have twelve tribes. Right?”

  “Yes, the tribes are Manasseh, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin.”

  “That’s not twelve.”

  “Hold on,” he said. “God will take 12,000 from each of the tribes of Joseph, so from my tribe, the Levites, He’ll choose 12,000. After the war is over, we are all chosen to stand before the throne of God and serve him throughout eternity.”

  “Is it scary?”

  “No. It will be wonderful. Never again will there be hunger or thirst. The sun will not beat down with scorching heat on us. The Lamb of God will be at the center of the throne in heaven. He will be our Shepherd.”