Thomas's ankle ached and he shifted it slightly. “Thank you for believing in me, sir. I’m only sorry I went to all that trouble for nothing.”
“That depends on what you know, what you can tell us.” Excitement flared across the man’s eyes. “You spent a month with them. Surely you discovered something that would help us.”
I discovered that they are kind, brave, resourceful and loving people, and that their God protects and feeds them. Thomas shoved aside the thought. “Not much, sir. We were almost at their hideout when Sergeant Cruz and his men chased us down.”
“Yeah. That was a mistake. His men were highly trained in stealth surveillance. They had orders not to make their presence known until you were at the Deviant hideout. How did you discover them?”
Thomas ran a hand through his hair. Calan had sensed they were there, probably from his God, but Thomas couldn’t very well tell Landry that. “We heard them. The Deviants are very sensitive to any unusual noises.”
“Hmm. So you have nothing to tell me? No intel at all?”
“All we did was travel from Florida, through Georgia, and up to that national forest. We did a lot of walking, very little talking, and when we found shelter each night, we crashed.”
“But surely you talked with Tori. She trusted you by then. Were you able to get anything out of her?”
“I tried, but she wouldn’t tell me the location of any underground churches or hideouts. She said most were all shut down anyway. And whenever I asked about UnderHisWings, she refused to answer.”
Landry blew out a sigh, followed by a curse. “I suppose these Deviants have learned to trust no one. What a waste. You could have died, and for what?”
“Well, I’m back now. And I’m sorry I ran off without your permission.”
“Your intentions were good.” Landry finished off his drink and sank back into this chair, studying Thomas for any hint of deception. But Thomas had learned long ago how to hide his emotions behind a veneer of compliance.
Smiling, Landry slapped his desk. “Much has happened in your absence. Have you seen what Aali has been doing?”
Only his creepy giant holograms and forced tattoos. “No, we didn’t have access to news.”
Landry nearly leapt from his seat. Unusual wonder and awe filled his eyes. “He really is god!” He shook his head as if the thought were beyond belief. “You should see the miracles His Excellency Gabriel Wolfe is doing in Lord Aali’s name.”
Lord, eh? “What sort of miracles?
“Raising the dead! Feeding multitudes of hungry people with only a basket of food, healing the sick, causing rain to fall from heaven, stopping violent storms. He’s even cleaning up our environment. It’s amazing!”
Thomas knew his Bible well enough to know that Jesus had done those same things, at least if the Scriptures were true. “Wow,” he exclaimed with less enthusiasm than he intended. Still, he would believe it when he saw it. “Sounds like he’s doing a lot of good.”
Grabbing Thomas's drink, Landry powered it down. “Tons of good. He’s the savior of the world. And now he offers us eternal life.”
“You mean the statue and the quantum dot tattoo he’s making people get?”
“How did you know about that?”
“We saw one in Atlanta.” Memories rose of Sara entering the NWU Medical building and Tori collapsing to the ground in a heap of agony, of the loud voices from heaven warning people not to take the Mark as they called it. Bile rose in his throat.
“Aren’t they magnificent?”
Eerie and disturbing was more like it. “Yeah.”
Shifting his hand over the black screen on the wall, Landry switched it on, then grabbed a remote and began flipping through scene after scene of people being raised from the dead in various morgues throughout the world, the paralyzed leaping from their wheel chairs, patients fleeing an entire wing of a hospital as Aali walked through healing them, the hungry and homeless with full plates of food, and finally crowds of people numbering in the hundreds of thousands cheering Aali and bowing to worship him.
As impressive as the images were, Thomas couldn’t help but compare them to the misery, poverty, filth, and repression he’d witnessed when traveling with Tori. Quite the contrast. A contrast he didn’t wish to think about at the moment. He couldn’t go back. He could only go forward, and to survive, he had to put those memories behind him.
“So, when can I get back to work?”
Shutting off the screen, Landry frowned. “Well, here’s the thing. You see, I believe your story, I do, but His Excellency Gabriel Wolfe and Lord Aali want proof of your loyalty before they trust you again.”
Thomas's gut twisted. “What proof?”
“First, you must interrogate Calan Walker, and if he doesn’t talk, carry out his execution, and secondly, you must bow before Lord Aali himself and receive his mark of allegiance on your right hand or forehead.”
