Junior laughed. Zeff could see the narrow shoulders shake silhouetted in the light of the windows. "You"ll come get me!" Junior whispered before darting across the street toward the opposite side of the house from where the motorbikes were parked.
Zeff still crouched behind the barrels nodded at Junior"s reply while wondering how he could rescue the boy. Zeff began to pray. "G.o.d, we know you"re everywhere even in the shower..."
Behind the house, Junior ducked under a half dozen windows when he came up short under the back corner window. He had seen nothing yet but now he heard children crying. A curtain fluttered. The window was open and Junior peeked over the exterior sill. The room was filled with bulky dark shapes. A bedroom, he decided. There were at least three children crying. Junior was about to turn the flashlight on when he heard the consoling voice of a girl.
"Hush, hush, hush!" said the voice, followed by Greek words Junior didn"t understand. Crying turned to whimpering. There was jostling and finally when he couldn"t stand it anymore, Junior turned on the flashlight.
Hoping not to alarm the young inhabitants of the room, Junior lit his face first before slowly moving the beam to the room"s occupants. His plan fell short. The beam elongated his face; he looked like a ghoul. A pillow, hard like a stuffed placemat bounced from his head. Another hit him in the face before he could drop below the window frame. An older girl came to the window, "Elias! Is that you?" she called softly.
"I heard the crying." Not sure what was said, Junior answered as if his response was explanation enough for his presence at her window. He stuck his head up and flashed the penlight into his face again.
After a gasp and a brief pause, she asked, "Are you a Brit? You are speaking very good English." Two other children, little boys about 3 or 4 years old in Junior"s estimation stood at either side of the dark haired girl. The boys wore camouflage colored thermal underwear. She was wrapped in a turquoise blue terry cloth robe. Junior was self-conscious as she was a pretty pet.i.te teen.
"Uh? No I don"t think so. Actually, I... we my big friend and I are looking for someone. Her name is Tina Something or other. She lives in this town. Do you know her?" Junior couldn"t take his eyes from the girl. He licked his lips and pushed his hair about with his free hand hoping to help his appearance.
"Tina? Tina Evangelos? Is that the name? You are American!" she whispered loudly. "It is good you and your big friend have come. It is chaotic here and the New Dawn agents are tormenting us. They came at midnight while we were sleeping."
Junior thought for a minute. "Listen, how many are in your family? My friend will need to know. Also, how many new dons are there?" he questioned.
"There are just three New Dawn agents but as for us... We are 18. This house is an orphanage," she reported but then her eyes went wide and before he could duck and run, a strong hand covered his mouth.
The man said something in Greek. The girl, who had stepped away from the window, hissed a reply.
"You"re American?" asked Dale as he restrained Junior"s wild struggling. Junior quit his snake like wiggle to nod vigorously. Dale held him firmly by his thin shoulder but released Junior"s face.
"I"m Dale Merriweather. I"m married to Tina"s cousin," Dale said quietly waiting for the boy"s response.
"Merriweather? You"re Merry"s brother, Dale? We"re looking for you!" spouted Junior none too quietly.
"Merry? Merry, my kid sister? So the guy from D"Almata sent you knocking? Tina was right! We"ll talk later. Right now I need to get Tina and these babes away from the New Dawn terrorists... That"s what they are!" Dale whispered fiercely.
Junior told Dale about Zeff. Dale told the girl to get dressed and if possible to escape to the neighbors" through the window with the children.
Junior said, "I"ll come back and help you." Then he turned and led Dale back to Zeff.
Twice, Zeff had seen people inside crossing in front of the windows. From his position he was sure there was some sort of argument or domestic dispute unfolding in the house. He thought to move closer to have a better view but his common sense told him to await Junior"s return. Shadowy movement caught Zeff"s eye. When the figures were silhouetted in front of the house widows, he saw that it was Junior and another man. A moment later and they were with him behind the wooden barrels.
"Here is my friend Zeff," Junior said to Dale by way of introduction as they squatted. "Zeff, this is Merry"s brother, Dale! G.o.d answered your prayers!" Junior said excitedly.
Zeff"s face could not be seen as the morning was still more than an hour away. He was astonished. He coughed and then said, "Yes, G.o.d is all about answering prayers." He stuck out his hand in the dark and grasped Dale"s. "I"m Zeff Zeferano. You"re Dale Merriweather," he said. Dale shook his hand.
Dale said, "Everyone seems to know all about me. But Zeff, you"re Tina"s friend. She told my wife Anna all about you." And then he added, "She has been moping around every since she lost internet connection from you." Astonishment hit Zeff again. He rubbed the back of his neck wondering about Tina the gordita "trapped within a very athletic body."
Zeff whistled to release the building mental confusion of what Merry"s description of Tina could possibly mean. He said, "Ok. Now what? Mac has a boat waiting for us in less than 24 hours. You have a wife and baby, some grandparents? Can we organize ourselves to be at the beach by then?"
Dale said, "There has been some shifting about in our plans but yes, I think we can get to the beach by midnight. The snag is the New Dawn bullies." The door opened and closed across the street. A muscular man in black walked in front of the windows towards the motorcycles. His dim figure blended with the pervading gloom but then he lit a cigarette.
"The sc.u.m! That"s Karlo. He is s.a.d.i.s.tic!" whispered Dale.
The door opened again and a woman stood for a moment in the light. Closing the door, she crossed to Karlo.
"Look. I"ve changed my mind. Tell your boys to leave the children alone and I will go with you," her shrill voice carried across to the hiding men. They could hear his sn.i.g.g.e.ring in response but not his words.
Junior shot out from the barrels before the older men could stop him. He disappeared behind the side of the house. Karlo didn"t see him.
Zeff and Dale watched him go but then the woman was speaking again, "Tell them to quit... Go in and tell them!"
Dale said tensely, "That"s Tina my wife"s cousin."
Zeff started up but Dale grabbed at his arm. "Wait! Let"s get a plan. These guys are all over the island and there are three more with Karlo up the road in Avliotes."
"What then? What will we do?" Zeff didn"t take his eyes from Karlo and Tina. Dale had been putting a plan together with Tina and his grandfather and also, Sam when the motorcycles arrived some hours earlier. So their planning changed. They had left Tina but Dale watching the orphanage saw Junior"s arrival. The modified plan had Sam and Bernie toying with the cafe bikes. Dale wondered if their task was finished.
Again the front door swung open and two men came out dragging Junior with them.
"c.r.a.p!" Dale spit out but Zeff cursed in Spanish.
There was laughter and the agents returned inside pushing Junior before them. Tina followed slowly behind. When she turned to shut the door, Dale stood up and waved.
Seeing her hesitate, Zeff said, "She saw you."
The eastern sky was beginning to lighten. The morning star looked like an eyepiece to heaven, beckoning the observer forward to take a look.
"I"m going to find my cohorts," Dale said. "You position yourself under the front window there. Give me about ten minutes, or fifteen. You"ve arrived just in time! We"ve worked out a little scenario that will fix Karlo and get the rest of his men off our backs for a while."
Zeff agreed and headed across the street in the gloom to fold himself under the flowering window boxes. Junior"s squeals of pain and Tina"s protests were enough to drive his head up. Zeff peered between the geraniums. Only six or seven inches from the window, Karlo stood with his back to Zeff.
Dropping down, Zeff calculated and prayed and then poked his head above the flowers once again. He tapped on the window. The others busy with the terrified Junior missed Karlo"s look of confusion. Hearing the tap again he turned to see the top of Zeff"s head disappearing below the red and fuchsia colored flowers.
Zeff waited to hear the door open before slowly pulling his foot around the corner where the bikes were parked.
I bait him... Zeff smirked and waited.
Karlo took the bait and seeing a leg withdraw behind the corner of the house he went forward aggressively to investigate.
"You like to torment women and children?" Zeff asked in Spanish as his fist flew into Karlo"s face. "Si? Me, I like to torment you, little girl!" Karlo was taken by complete surprise and fell in a heap; knocked out cold.
Trying to get a reaction, Zeff pushed Karlo with his shoe as Dale came running up. The pre-dawn gloom showed no response from Zeff"s victim.
Dale looking at Karlo"s bloodied lip said, "I thought you were going to wait? Anyway, get lost. The other two will be coming out in a minute... No, here they come!" Dale grabbed Zeff who wrenched away to spit on Karlo but then turning followed slowly after Dale who jumped a stone wall that enclosed the garden. The men rounded the corner and would have seen Zeff had they been attentive as he ducked with slow deliberation.
"Get up! Get up!" Karlo"s companions were saying. They pulled him up not seeming to understand he had been accosted. Yammering about something, the men secured their helmets and then got on their racers leaving with dust and dirt and noise in their wake.
Watching as Karlo shook clear his head to follow the other two through the village, Dale said, "They got an important message that the American had been seen leaving Avliotes this morning and so there they go!"
"The American?" asked Zeff as they hopped the wall.
"I"m the American. You and my sister, Merry were not the only ones looking for me!" Dale informed him.
Hurrying inside, the front room was filling with the others, including Bernie, Anna and Nerah, the young dark beauty that Junior had spoke with earlier. Sam and Tina came through the hallway together as Zeff and Dale raced through the front door. Zeff eyed Sam jealously but went to Tina.
"Are you all right?" he asked in Spanish and then due to her confused look, he asked again in English.
"Zeff? You cannot be Zeff!" she said incredulously.
"He is Zeff and he just knocked the lights out of Karlo," announced Dale and then he eyed Zeff. "If I hadn"t showed up you would have ruined our efforts for duping these thugs," he told him.
Chapter 30 Wedding Feast.
Mac and Merry wiled away their day exploring a small island north of Kerkyra. Merry had been taken aback when two men approached them and drew Mac a side, to confer. The meeting had not been planned but Mac explained later that the men were from D"Almata. When they returned to the sloop, a message awaited. Merry was weary from climbing about the near deserted rock called, Diaplo. Responding lethargically to Tino"s news, she tossed her cap aside and followed Mac to read the note.
Mac had received news from his nation over the last few months by the old method of talking with other travelers, the usual sea ports and twice messages had antic.i.p.ated him when he checked in at the places he typically visited on past travels. For his part, Mac had sent messages ahead of their journey by way of seafarers traveling to D"Almata or beyond. It was an old fashion and many times unreliable process of communication but it was the default method used by sailors for millennium.
The missive arrived via text at the sloop monitoring station. Dale"s mother... Merry"s mother, Toni was the writer. In almost six months this note was only the second communique coming directly from Toni Merriweather. Apparently, Mac"s approximate time-of-arrival notes had made it to D"Almata. Toni wrote: Hurry home! Wedding feast begins Sat.u.r.day!
"Well, that is informative," Mac had said after Tino showed them the text. Merry looked at him with a questioning crease upon her forehead.
"I like your mother!" he said enthusiastically. "She is a woman of simple words. You know she was the first to attempt breaking through my spiritual fortress when she took time to tell me about the Bible and G.o.d"s salvation." Mac lifted Merry and set her in the swivel chair at the helm. He said, "I always knew that D"Almatans were superior in every way including religion. Our G.o.ds all twelve of them were exceptional and so, I rejected Toni"s opinion before she even began speaking but speak she did!" Tino stood on the other side of Merry, trying not to listen and yet, he sensed he was much like Mac had been before conversion. Mac was chuckling as he remembered Toni"s gentle efforts to share her own testimony.
Diverted by Mac"s reminiscing, Merry said, "Twelve G.o.ds! I didn"t know anyone continued to worship the mythological Greek G.o.ds but the people of D"Almata do?"
Mac looked at her as if she had three nostrils. He replied, "Greek G.o.ds? You shouldn"t believe everything you read in the Greek newspaper! The Greeks came late to that religious game! They didn"t and still don"t have a monopoly on the ancient ones."
"Mac, I never did read a Greek newspaper and we weren"t big on studying mythology," Merry retorted. "Please, admit at the very least, the Greeks made Zeus and his heavenly a.s.sociates popular."
Mac let out a burst of mocking laughter. "Greeks are opportunists I should know!" he said with a hint of admiration. "True, they penned the facts, somewhat poetically So my sweet, I"ll concede. Still, according to your scriptures our scriptures, before Greek civilization arose, the old G.o.ds were already creating mischief and mayhem."
Merry and eavesdropping Tino said simultaneously, "What?"
Mac"s eyebrows and lips went up. He said, "Yes, we discussed it in our Bible study off Madagascar. And then again, when we kept seeing the UFOs north of St Helena. And you two? Where were you...? Tino, I remember you asking questions after our tsunami confrontation!"
Tino drew a blank but Merry said, "Mac. You mean when we talked about the sons of G.o.d coming down and procreating with the daughters of men from Genesis? You can"t be serious? That account is linked to the mythological G.o.ds?"
"Whoa! I remember now. You said the UFO activity is the modern day version of Genesis chapter six. Oh? The fallen angels are portraying themselves as aliens from another solar system. But back in the Bible days, before Noah"s flood, they impersonated G.o.d, Himself and were called Zeus and Apollo and all those mythological guys?" exclaimed Tino while wondering if it were true.
Mac nodded in agreement. He said, "Something like that. The New Testament says those specific fallen angels left their first estate. Meaning, they somehow stepped out of the angelic realm taking on an earthly physical role. The flood not only judged humans but the angels" offspring... the giants and men of renown. As for the fallen angelic beings, they are being held "under darkness" until a final judgment when the rest of the fallen heavenly host will be judged, including Lucifer."
The three were quiet. Thinking, puzzling and looking toward the Kerkyrian coast. Tino had pointed the bow toward the "backdoor" once again.
If all went well, the Serendipity would be plying the waters of the Adriatic by sunrise tomorrow. Sometime after midnight, Mac hoped to pick up Merry"s family so they could make a beeline for D"Almata. It would be a crowded but short trip no more than two days. He was ready to return to the familiar although reluctant too as his original six day jaunt turned six month escapade was coming to a close. He was returning to D"Almata a changed man... a better man but a very different D"Almatan than the one who had left on an insignificant errand last spring.
He said, "Your mother"s note says so much. She knows something about what is happening at the "backdoor."" Mac thrust his chin towards Kerkyra. "She expects us by Friday... It appears she and my uncle have held up the wedding ceremony for our arrival as the feast is always afterward."
"Oh?" Merry"s mind switched gears. Her thoughts were jumbled. She had enjoyed the day on the tiny isle of Diaplo and yet lately, she was tiring easily and light headed. Thinking about the impromptu meeting with the D"Almatans, Merry realized her husband"s energy and foreign ways seemed to have shifted up a notch as they drew near to familiar territory. From her perspective, Merry sensed Mac had become distant. Her perceptions worried and wearied her.
His mind is elsewhere... on D"Almata or his new duties as head of the D"Almatan royal guard. Is the honeymoon over?
For his part, Mac was sure she had eaten something rancid as they hadn"t refreshed the sloop provisions in weeks.
"Your sister, Kate and my friend Roger... The newly weds, Mr and Mrs Roger Cowels are either on D"Almata now or they are soon to arrive for the wedding," Mac surmised.
Yes, that makes sense. Yawning rudely, Merry said, "That"s good to hear... I"m going to take a nap. I"ll make dinner in an hour or so."
Going to the Captain"s cabin, Merry fell right to sleep and didn"t wake-up until an icy cold hand touched her cheek at 3am.
Chapter 31 "All Aboard!".
"May I see that?" Bethania asked in Greek. She was so excited, she completely forgot that these Americans knew very little Greek. Bernie handed the journal over not needing to understand the language to know what she asked.
Bethania hands were trembling uncontrollably. Sam had never seen her like this. He went to her and guided her to the wooden bench at the front door. "Yiayia, please sit. You"re upset," he spoke gently but his strong hand led her to the seat.
"I"ve heard of these places. My family, all the Ionian Jews spoke of Kerkyra and these islands being a depot of sorts for the Jew returning to Israel," she said. Her voice expressed awe and emotion. Kissing the journal, she said, "Ne! I have heard of these places since I was a baby... I"m telling you!"
Dale thought she might jump up and begin her wedding march as she did on the coastal road. He prepared himself by stepping back and leaning against the wall. Bethania would have a lot of other dancers pulled into her reverie before she reached for him.
Looking at Samuel she said, "You"ve heard, Ne? No! You are still new to this place but its well-known these famed secret places... in the ruins, under the hills and up on the housetops. How do you think we got so many people past the Mussolini crowd and then under the very noses of the n.a.z.is? How?" Bethania held up the journal. "We had a plan! Samuel, we must do it again! Don"t you see? There is no place for us now but to go to Messiah and if not Him, we must help our brethren to take refuge in Israel."
Sam remembered her oft repeated story of the 1800 Kerkyrian Jews that died in Auschwitz. Samuel wouldn"t bring it up now... But if the hiding places were so effective what happened to them?
Watching with arms folded, Dale decided if he had been a Jew he would be on board with her... He knew well the prophecy of Jewish persecution for the final days before Jesus" return. Christians described the time as the Great Tribulation but Israel of old and their scriptures called the persecution, Jacob"s Trouble.
Samuel didn"t rely on the Jewish religious writings but he trusted the old Jewess. She was the real deal in an era of counterfeits. Certainly, her new found faith was a thorn in his derriere but his bond with her was not religious. It was ethnic. He was a Jew. She was a Jew. The others coming to the villa regularly were Jews. Divided they fell but together, they would stand.
He contemplated the rumors of influential newcomers; Jews arriving even as others fled the capital, Kerkira. He heard these people had money and had connections... Maybe Bethania"s idea was doable. Sam didn"t know but Bethania"s excitement was infectious.
While the others grew disinterested, Dale and Sam talked with Bethania of a possible underground railroad of sorts. History proved it had been successful in the past. Bethania was positive, by using the journal"s information another escape route - this one to Israel, would work again.
As they sat on the bench planning, conferring and scouring the travel diary, Bernie, Jellybean and Gwyneth went to nap. Junior who had cigarette burns on his stomach had been cared for and given a sedative. Zeff dozed off, snoring on the couch at the far end of the front room. The household children were all put back to bed and even Nerah, the eldest was sleeping quietly. It had been a trying night and most everyone was up before sunrise. Anna and Tina returned to the kitchen to clean up after the light breakfast of toast, jam and drilla that the household had consumed earlier.
Anna tied an ap.r.o.n about her waist. "Dale plans to head to the rendezvous point this evening," she said.
Tina said, "I know. Zeff told me it took him and Junior five hours but it was dark and they weren"t sure of their bearings. I"m glad they showed up when they did!"
"Answered prayer!" said Anna.
"Truth be told, this last week has been one answered prayer after another," Tina confided. "I was at my wits end trying to juggle the feeding, clothing and housing of this expanding household. I even tried praying. You and Merry always were telling me to pray. When I was on top of my game I didn"t think I needed to pray but when I cycled down having lost my game and my guy and my job, I couldn"t pray! Crazy, I know... So I came back here to Kerkyra for a hiatus."