Chapter 10

Somewhere in Ohio

Sally woke in a fog to what sounded like someone knocking on the door to the room. The light in the room was a very dark blue reflecting off a large silver cross and one smaller cross on each side of the large one. The floor was covered in a black deep pile carpet. In the middle of the room were 4 beds in a circle around what looked to be an altar. Sally could lift her body some, but she could not set completely up. In the bed across the altar, was the body of a nude woman. She suddenly realized she was also nude, but she fought the panic that would consume her if she let it. Strain as she might, she could not recognize the woman in the poor light.

The other woman stirred and started to set up. She could also only get up part way, but it was enough for Sally to recognize Heather. "Heather, Heather, are you OK?"

Groan.

"Heather, wake up!"

"Where are we?" shakily asked Heather.

"I don't know, but we're not going anywhere unless you know how to pick locks."

"I can't do that," sighed Heather. "I hurt all over. Sally, are you OK?"

"I have some scratches and a sore shoulder, but I'm not really hurt. How about you?"

"My ass and pussy hurt like hell, and I have blood over the inside of my legs. My breasts hurt, and I think I have dried cum all over my body. I am sure I was raped while I was out. Do you show any signs of abuse?"

"No. Nothing seems to be hurting. I just don't have any clothes on. Heather, what is happening to us? Why are we here?"

"I don't know, baby. I am sure someone is going to explain this to us at some time. Just be strong until then."

"Are you going to be OK?" whispered Sally. "You have been through a lot, and now you think you were raped. I hope you can take this, because I can't do it without you."

"It's OK, Sally. We will get through this. Then maybe your dad and I can make a family for you. Would you like that?"

"Oh yes! That would be wonderful. Daddy needs to have someone in his life. I try, but I know he will not allow me to do some of the things he needs."

"I can help there. What color do you think your maid of honor dress should be?"

"Oh, wow, I could be the bridesmaid at two weddings." Sally suddenly groaned, "Oh God, Teresa was killed on the trail. They killed my best friend." Great sobs were coming from Sally. The spirit she was showing was lost in the memory of Teresa laying lifeless on the trail.

Suddenly the door opened and closed. The lights came on. As the lights came on, the black lights went off, and the pornographic panorama replaced the religious symbols on the walls. The young girl and the young woman blinked at the bright lights. As their eyes adjusted, a tall thin man in a hooded robe stood over Heather and said, "You should know that you could never escape your destiny, you evil slut. God has sent me to reclaim you, purify you, and then to send you to his arms. It is my duty to comply. I am sorry that I could not change your evil ways. There is still hope for the young one, though. Stop crying you stupid cow." The man left Heather and cruelly twisted Sally's nipples.

Heather looked at the man and said, "Leave the kid alone you asshole."

The man moved back to Heather and lowered the hood from around his head.

Heather screamed. "OH GOD! Not you. I thought you were..."

The man muffled her words with a kiss on the lips. "I will never let you get away again."

Outside Akron

"From what we can tell, there's a lot of weird stuff going on at Burton Ministries," Jack explained to the meeting participants. "It seems that beautiful women go into the ministry and don't come back. We do not know what has happened to those women. There are several complaints filed in Portage County by anti-cult groups, but they all seem to be directed to the same judge. A Judge Smith has dismissed each of these cases for lack of evidence. When confronted with questions about his reasons, he comes off spouting separation of church and state. As a rule, Portage County Government is as crooked as a dog's hind leg, but this guy is worse than the rest combined."

"Yeah, drugs in the county prosecutor's office, call girls at board meetings, zoning payoffs, wet land violations, corruption in the sheriff's office, and all you guys do is hassle me," complained TC. "I told you, Jim, there were better things to do with your time."

"Unfortunately," replied Jim, "I can't do anything outside of Akron. The Feds are looking into it though."

Cindy reached over to Paul and squeezed his hand as tight as she could. "Judge Smith handled Heather's divorce. He took her baby from her."

Paul looked at Jack. "The church is in Akron, why is everything done in Portage County?"

"The church has a storefront office next to Kent State University," replied Jack. "The incorporation papers list that office as the organization's headquarters, so all suits go through that county."

Jamie took charge of the conversation. "The only thing we can think of is that someone in the Burton Ministry has abducted Heather because she ran out on them. Sort of like the Mafia. Once you are a member, you are a member until death. They will try to turn her back. We have a very short window."

Michele asked, "Why don't we just get a court order from Summit County and have a police raid?"

"I don't think we have enough evidence to convince a judge to give us a warrant against someone as powerful as Bill Burton," said Jim. "Even if we did, I am afraid we do not have enough time to mount a rescue. What we need is subterfuge. We need to get a good looking woman into that place and let her nose around and find out what is going on. We can wire her and keep track of what she is doing. If she finds Heather, we don't need a warrant, we can go in and rescue her."

Cindy asked, "What's keeping us from doing that?"

"We don't have anyone we can trust to do this," said Teresa. "If we go to vice, there is a good chance that this will get back to the FBI. If the local FBI ass-hole gets involved, the Beacon Journal will have it all over the front page before we can do anything to stop them. Remember what the Plain Dealer did to Sam Shepherd back in the 50's? Those guys do anything for a story." {Author's note: Sam Shepherd was a doctor whose wife was brutally beaten, raped and killed in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 50's. Due to half assed police work and an orchestrated media blitz led by the local newspaper, The Plain Dealer, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In a heroic effort that took over fifty years, Sam Shepherd's son put to gather the evidence to prove that his father was innocent and that the actual killer was the gardener. This defines a son's love for his father. Mr. Shepherd has my total respect, and we should never forget that Sam Shepherd's story could happen to any of us. Trials are for the courtrooms, not the newspapers and TV.}

TC put his arm around Teresa and asked, "What do you have in mind, baby? You can't do it, if they are the same guys who shot you, you will be recognized. Besides, unless you are as white as the new born snow, they don't want anything to do with you."

"That's right, TC," explained Jamie. "If not for that, I would do it."

"God damn it, I can sure as hell do it!" exclaimed Jen. I'll go in there and kick some holy ass. I owe those shit heads anyway."

"No, Jen," said Jim. "You're too close to the problem. I think you may get too involved to be objective. We need someone who is not related to the problem." He looked at Shawn.

"Now wait a minute," interrupted TC. "You just can't shame someone into helping with something this dangerous. What if they find the wire?"

"There is no wire," said Paul. "I just invented a pair of earrings. One has a transmitter in it. The other has a receiver. It is so new that we haven't even applied for the patent for it yet. It has a range of 3 miles, and can't be detected by standard sensing devices. The CIA paid me a ton of money for it. For that much money, they deserve a field test."

"I could be responsible for this," said Shawn. "Do you trust me?"

"With my sister's life," replied Cindy.

"OK, I'm in. What do you want me to do, Jamie?"

Akron

The beautiful redhead walked into the ministry office and turned every head in the place. She had on 5 inch spiked heels that made her look 5'11". Her very short skirt barely covered her 36-inch hips and the cleavage of the obviously expensive jacket did little to hide anything other than the nipples of her 36-inch bust. The makeup she used highlighted the features of her face so that her emerald eyes sparkled.

"I truly need to talk to Brother Bill Burton," she breathed in a strong South Carolina accent as huge diamond studs shown from her ears. The matching bracelet and choker added to the look of unearned money. She raised a hand and pointed her long diamond covered finger at the receptionist. "Please, Sugar, I must see Brother Bill. It is a matter of life and death."

Vivian came out of her office as the receptionist was trying to figure a way to get rid of this nut. "Martha, I'll help..." and she looked at the woman. "I'm Vivian Smith. I did not catch your name."

"Oh, that's just like me. I am so excited to be here, I forgot my manners. I am Shawn Bodine, and I just have to see Brother Bill."

"I am one of Brother Bill's staff. Let's go into my office."

"I don't want to talk about it here. Could we go someplace away from the servants?" Shawn looked at the receptionist with a look of a superior to a slave.

Vivian was interested in the expensive clothes and jewelry. "Why don't we put your things in my office, and then we can go into my husband's office and talk to him? It is private and Paul makes the decisions as to who sees Brother Bill."

"Sugar, that would just be dandy."

Vivian put Shawn's purse in her office and walked Shawn down a long hall. She knocked and opened the door to Paul's office. "Paul, Honey, do you have a minute for me?"

"Yes dear, anytime."

The two women walked into the office as Paul swallowed his tongue.

"Oh, you are THE Paul Smith. I just love your voice. My poor departed husband, Billy Bodine, would set up and listen to your singing on TV as that terrible cancer ate his body. I know in his 82 years that he had a good life, but I only was able to spend a single year with him. You brought him such joy."

Vivian gave Paul a look of amusement and then straightened out her face as she said. "Ms. Bodine would like to talk to Brother Bill about something serious."

Paul looked at Shawn and asked, "Please sit down, Ms. Bodine. What is it you would like to talk to Brother Bill about? You can tell us, we are Bill's closest advisors."

"Please call me Shawn. I had a vision. Billy came to me in a dream and told me that I should give Brother Bill 10 percent of all my inheritance from me and another 10 percent from him. He said that if I did not do that, he and I would end up in hell. He also said that I had not been able to give him my body as his wife, so I should offer myself to Brother Bill to take the place of that evil wife he had."

Vivian looked a little shocked. "And, just what do you know about Heather Burton?"

Shawn thought she heard a note of fear in the woman's voice, so she would have to tread carefully. "Just what my Billy told me in my dream."

Paul was oblivious to any danger, and saw a way to cut the time from his escape date. "I am sure we can get Brother Bill to hear you and pray with you. You must be in great pain at your loss."

It was time for tears, and Shawn was a world champion crier. The tears started down her cheeks as she said. "Are you sure you are not from the South? You are so sensitive. I try not to burden others with my sorrow, but sometimes I can't help it."

"God's family is always here for a good woman like you," soothed Vivian. "Just so we know, the money you talked about would be about how much? Not that that matters, but we just have a lot of bills."

"My husband did not have all his money and holdings in one place. He did not trust the government. He also spent his life avoiding charity and others in need. It was a difficult accounting, but Billy's accountant and I went through his many books, and it looks like his net worth was around $185,000,000. I would give it all away for another year with Billy, though."

"I understand. I don't know what I would do without my Paul."

"I am so glad to hear you say that. Because I was only 24 years old when I married him, those nasty folks down in Columbia thought I married my Billy for his money, but they did not know how I loved him. Billy knew. That is why he feels I should dedicate my life to God's work."

"Ms. Bodine. I mean Shawn," said Paul. "I can tell you are a remarkable woman, and I am sure Brother Bill will want to see you. How far are you willing to become involved in our ministry? Is it just money you want to give, or do you want to join our family and become a worker for God?"

"It was Billy's instructions to come here and offer my body and all that I am. I cannot give you my soul. That belongs to God, but everything else is yours."

"Let my husband and me talk to Brother Bill," asked Vivian. "Would you mind terribly waiting here for about an hour? Brother Bill is tied up in a very serious meeting about lost souls around the world. We will set up an appointment for you as soon as that meeting is over."

"Can I get you some coffee or pop while you wait?" offered Paul.

"No, I will be fine. Could I have some water, though?"

"Yes, of course," said Paul as he walked to his wet bar and removed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He reached to the top of the shelf for a large glass. "Would you like ice?"

"Yes, please."

"I am sorry to leave you alone at a time like this, but it is really important that Vivian and I attend the meeting with Brother Bill. We will be back as soon as we can. Feel free to look around. There is a bible on the coffee table, and some of Brother Bill's books on the bookshelves. Help yourself."

Paul and Vivian went to Vivian's private office and locked the door. Vivian turned on the local soft jazz station and grabbed her husband. "This is too good to be true! What's the catch?"

Paul removed a small plastic box from his pocket and looked at the green LED's. "Well, she isn't bugged, but I agree. This timing is too good. We got rid of Heather, we found a replacement for her, and now we not only get a second woman for our ceremony, but enough money that we could end our scam within a month. We have to be careful."