Chapter 6

The cell phone went off and I picked up. It was my uncle. "Brother David, I understand you are doing well."

"I am, Brother Jerome."

"I forgot to tell you earlier about the switch for the emergency generator. It's in the garage. It's a gray box, a little like a breaker box, except this one has a handle on the outside; currently the handle is in the up position -- meaning the system is on manual. If you pull it down you'll have electricity again.

"Okay," I said, uncertain.

"The state of Texas has sworn out a warrant for your arrest. The sheriff there in Arizona has refused to serve it; his officers interviewed Detective Grace who informed them that you hadn't kidnapped her and that you had, in fact, saved her life. She further stated that while she thought she saw the young women there at the ranch, she was suffering serious ill-effects from carbon monoxide poisoning, exacerbated by the altitude ... in short, she was no longer in a position where she could swear under oath that she'd seen them."

Brother Jerome paused and took an audible breath. "Brother David, your mother was a very special person who never asked anything for herself. I get the strong impression that you are a lot like her."

I couldn't help it. "Then why didn't she live with the people of your congregation?"

"Her duty to the Faith, Brother David, required her to be elsewhere. It was a self-imposed duty, Brother David. You, Brother David, were that duty."

"Me?"

"Yes. It is painful to admit, but there is something wrong with how we teach the young men of the Faith. I understand that many of them can't bear up to the rigors of the discipline, particularly when they're a young man and feeling their oats.

"Still, a good many of them become members of the Faith, who cherish their wives and children. Even so, Brother David, none of them have the extra spark required to become a Father of the Faith. Brothers -- yes, indeed. And very fine brothers and husbands they become. There are only a dozen of us, Brother David, who are Fathers of the Faith and the one thing we all have in common is that we weren't raised in the Faith. We are getting on in years now, and its time for a new generation. You are one of those I have very high hopes for."

"I've come to mostly accept what a Father of the Faith does, but I still have some trouble completely accepting things. I have even more problems accepting the religious philosophy that underlies those duties."

"It is why we teach our children to question everything. It is only through understanding that faith can be nurtured and grown. Our life experiences teach us things; things that mere words never quite manage to convey. Throw a rock up in the air and you have to avoid being under it when it falls ... and make sure no one else is under it either. Sticking a fork in an electrical socket is a shocking experience.

"Most of us just have to try things, see them for ourselves before the lesson is driven home and understood."

"Perhaps you should ask the sisters of the church what you are doing wrong?" I suggested.

"We have, Brother David. The sisters recognize what is required, and whether or not a man has the required divine spark that sets him apart from the others ... but they don't know how to get there from here."

Again he paused. "We can talk about this another time. I was never able to reward your mother in this life for the very many real things she did for me personally and others of the Faith. As you've come to realize, Fathers of the Faith have a great deal on their plates; it isn't the sinecure outsiders might suppose.

"Please think about this proposal. You've seen the ranch; I know it's not much yet; it's still early days, but there are several pads already prepared for building sites. If a man was a hard worker; if he was a leader of men -- and women -- he could work wonders there. I think you are such a man, Brother David."

"Doubts and all?"

My uncle laughed. "Do you think it is an easy thing to contemplate statists coming to drag my brothers and sisters of the Faith away from their homes and families? From their children? Do you think I'm so full of myself that I can put them at such risk without qualms? Without doubts that I've made the right choices? Leaders are the people who consider all of the factors they can discern and then make decisions based on their judgment. Then they convince others that those choices are right, and then the leader watches over his people to make sure everything works. Doubts, Brother David? We all have doubts. It is the same thing with fear, you know? You went out into the storm; you had to have doubts, you had to have known fear. You decided and you acted. That's leadership. Please, think on this.

"Right now, though, you need to go turn the power on, and put your phone on the charger; your signal is rapidly fading."

I ended the call and put the phone on the charging stand and went out into the garage. Finding the box was easy, and it was the work of but a second to pull the handle down. Sure enough, the lights in the garage came on, as did the lights in the laundry room.

I was contemplating a quick trip downstairs to reassure my charges, but from the outside came a sound like that of an air horn blatting.

I hustled into the garage and then raised the door and went to the notch I'd cut.

A man was about fifty yards away, sitting on a snow mobile, with one of those can-shaped air horns. I waved to him and the man waved back. A second later the fellow climbed off the snow machine and grinned. All I could see of the man was his eyes, and they had goggles over them; the rest of him was covered. Considering the weather, it was undoubtedly necessary.

"Come out of the cold," I said.

The man shook his head. "Are you well, Brother David?"

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. One of the Faith!

"Well enough."

"You should put on warmer clothes, Brother David."

"I was in a hurry to see who was outside."

The man cleared his throat. "Please don't panic, but I am Coconino County Deputy Sheriff Cliff Shepherd."

I instantly went wary. I went to the hooks where the cold gear was and donned the parka, heavier pants and gloves. I pulled the hood up and went back outside. The sheriff's deputy had stayed where he was, about fifty yards away.

The deputy nodded. "Now, I'm shifting gears from the Faith to my secular duties. Mr. Strom, my boss is Sheriff Rick Cunningham, the elected sheriff of Coconino County.

"Earlier today I was instructed to investigate a number of claims made by the district attorney of Sequin County, Texas, in justification for a warrant for your arrest on various and sundry charges.

"In the course of said investigation, I interviewed Detective Ellen Grace of Sequin County. She said that none of the charges that Texas had filed against you had any basis of proof or merit. She reported that though she was sure you'd brought more than a dozen young women out here to this isolated spot, that instead you reported dropping them off with church members in Camp Verde. I know some of those people and called them, both to see how they were doing and to talk to some of the young women.

"Camp Verde escaped the worst of the storm -- not that the three feet of snow they got has been anything other than a calamity -- it wasn't the calamity it's been up here on the Plateau. I talked to two young women who said you'd brought them here from Texas, intending to take them to their families near Colorado City so they could spend the Christmas holidays together with their families.

"They said you did nothing more than drive the bus, and that you did your best to insure their safety; that when you saw this storm brewing, you halted in Camp Verde and made arrangements for them.

"Mr. Strom, if you'd brought them up on the Plateau into this storm, you'd have been an idiot. Detective Grace doesn't think you're an idiot; she says you saved her life. That you are alive and comfortable puts you in a very special class of people, Mr. Strom ... and far from being an idiot.

"Sheriff Cunningham refused to serve any warrants, and warned the Texas authorities that they had no jurisdiction here. The words seemed to have no effect on those knuckleheads; they are due here in the next ten or fifteen minutes."

He laughed and waved around them. "They'd never find you in this, even with the GPS coordinates. I had no idea where the building was..." he looked me right in the eye, "and I was one of those who helped build it -- not until you opened the door.

"So, we will wait for them here. I have a little surprise for them."

"Thank you, sir."

The deputy laughed again. "You have to understand, that the moment they look like they intend to alight from that helicopter, I'll be on the radio to my boss. By the time they get up to us, he'll be talking with the Governor, who will then pick up another phone and say some very rude things to the Governor of Texas about wasting time and resources in the time of a national tragedy, conducting a private vendetta for a two-bit DA there in Texas."

He stopped, and seemed to be listening. David lowered his hood and could hear it too -- an approaching helicopter.

It approached from due east, circled round them, and then started to descend.

The deputy muttered something David couldn't make it, but then he had a radio in his hand. "Rick, Cliff. I think the moron is trying to land. You did tell him not to land, right?"

There was a crackle of static. "Roger that ... but they never responded."

The deputy stepped forward and waved the helicopter off. It kept descending.

"Good grief! That pilot should lose his license! And he will, if I have any say in it!"

He got on the radio, twisted a knob and spoke. "Listen to me, Mr. Pilot. This is Coconino County Deputy Sheriff Cliff Shepherd. Maybe you think this is funny; maybe you're just the idiot you seem to be. Don't try to land. That white stuff on the ground is snow. Clearly you don't read the papers, right? There is about thirty feet of the white stuff underneath you. It is soft powder. If you land that chopper on it, you'll promptly sink out of sight.

"Somewhere in there as you are sinking, the rotor blades will impact the snow. They will break up, sending bits and pieces in all directions ... those pieces could easily end up sharing cockpit space with you; others could find their way to the fuel tank. I am speaking with my boss, Sheriff Richard Cunningham, and he's speaking to the Governor of the great state of Arizona. I've been told that if you crash there will be no effort at a rescue and there will be no recovery until spring.

"You have violated every existing air traffic advisory that you've received or the FAA has announced in regards to the current emergency. You will fly that vehicle to Camp Verde, Arizona and land. There, Mr. Pilot, you will be placed under arrest by FBI agents already there for just that purpose."

The helicopter had stopped descending and was hovering. David could see someone standing in the door, looking like he was getting ready to winch someone down.

"Mr. Pilot, you have a number of class one felony charges facing you. You have repeatedly failed to cooperate. This is your last warning. Land forthwith in Camp Verde."

They could see them hooking someone up to the cable.

The deputy sighed. "Sorry, Brother David, they just won't quit. This is out of our hands, now. They are in the hands of a moron; he'd better hope that this is one of God's good days."

He lifted the radio to his lips, twisting the dial again. "They're been warned and are still preparing to lower someone," he said into it.

"Roger that," a voice responded.

The deputy turned the dial back. "Okay, Mr. Pilot, here's our last word."

There was a sudden burst of sound from one of the nearby hills, and another helicopter appeared like magic. It was black, wicked looking and downright scary.

"That, Mr. Pilot, is an Arizona National Guard Apache attack chopper. If you check it out, you'll see that the missiles have white tips -- that is, they are armed. You will cease and desist operations in this area, and precede them to Camp Verde. If you continue to attempt to land, or allow someone to descend from your machine, they will destroy you. You are diverting valuable rescue resources from actually doing good. If they shoot you down, no one will come looking for your bodies until spring."

"Don't shoot!" a new voice said. "Look, they told me I had immunity!"

"Not from a half dozen three and a half inch rockets and a live Gatling gun," the deputy said. "I can't place you under arrest, the Feds at Camp Verde are already drooling about how good the bust will look on their records. You will turn south southeast, and proceed to Camp Verde."

Another voice broke in. "Unidentified helicopter! This is ANG Apache twenty-seven Golf Lima. You will turn on your radar transponder at once. You will orient south-southeast and ascend to ten thousand feet. You will fly straight and level, making only those course corrections I command. When we reach Camp Verde you will contact the tower and land where you are told.

"Listen up, maggot! The reason I'm up here is my sister and her kids are missing outside of Flagstaff. I want to be looking for them, not moron lookie-loos. Deviate at all from my instructions and there will be no further warnings: I will shoot you down -- and go look for my sister and her two kids."

"Understood, Army," the first chopper pilot said. "They told me I had immunity."

"Get that transponder working or you're going to find out just how little that immunity counts for."

The two helicopters starting rising, with the civilian machine turning south southeast and the black army helicopter falling in behind it.

"Thanks," I told the deputy with considerable feeling.

"They were idiots; I have no idea what's going to happen to them. The Feds don't like being ignored. The governor is pissed that we had to divert assets for this."

"Come inside; I can fix up some hot chocolate."

The deputy shook his head. "Brother David, I am a badged and sworn peace officer. If I saw something that looked suspicious, I'd be duty bound to investigate."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean my little snow buggy will see me home; in less than an hour I'm going to be sitting in front of the fire, with my wives on my lap, and the kids gathered around listening to me tell the tale of the idiot Texicans."

"Oh. Lets not forget it's getting dark." He laughed jovially and waved at me.

"And I need to get going. Brother David, bless you."

"Bless you, Brother."

He waved the radio. "I told them the power is back on here; they think that's a miracle, but I said, 'underground utilities' and that seems to have solved that. If you need anything, just holler."

"I'm fine, thanks."

The deputy's expression was stifled laughter. "Do be careful; I'd like to keep at least one wife or the other on my lap until the snow melts."

I waved as the man headed off, back the way he'd come. The other was intent on his navigation and didn't look back.

I went back in the garage and closed the door, then took off the cold gear before going back inside. There, the young women who'd been downstairs for so long were in the upstairs living room. The deputy would have seen them; that's what he'd meant.

I regarded them, and then smiled. "You're well, sisters?"

Susan spoke up. "We are very well, Brother David."

"Brother Jerome seems to have friends in odd places," I explained to them.

"He is a provident man, Brother David," Rebecca told me.

She went on. "Brother David, please ... would you return with us to the Lower Temple? Let us share another meal together and give our thanks that we are all safe."

I nodded and then found myself leading them down the steps. Without a word I went and got the kitchen stove working, having learned a lot about laying fires. Then I went in the living room and sat down wearily on the couch. Rebecca promptly sat down next to me and cuddled close.

"You understand Brother David, I won't deal with the excuse 'I'm too tired' once more?" she told me gently, but firmly.

"I am tired," I admitted. "But I saved up a little energy."

She reached around my waist and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Brother!"

"Thank me later," I told her.

She hugged me again. "I will, Brother David, I'm sure I will."

It was a pleasant meal and no one seemed at all surprised when I said I needed to go to bed early. Nor did anyone seem surprised that Rebecca came with me.

I slowly undressed Rebecca, before drawing her to me. I kissed her forehead, and then lifted her chin so our lips could meet.

"You are such a beautiful young woman, Little One."

"Brother, when you call me that I wiggle with pleasure and sparks kindle throughout my body. I have been Sister Rebecca for a long time. It's good to know that there are other names for me."

I hushed her talk with another kiss.

One thing led to another, and at the end there was the final burst of passion and I was filled with warmth and light. Call it hysteria; call it self-aggrandizement or wish fulfillment. I'd had sex before, but it hadn't begun to compare with what I shared with Rebecca.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was standing on a hilltop, with fields of golden grain stretching off in all directions. Here and there, mostly atop other hills and in some folds of the ground, were dark green patches of woods.

I sighed. I hadn't wanted to fall asleep; once ... once with an angel wasn't enough. Inside of me, I wanted nothing more than to spend eternity with Rebecca.