27

            He read the Caller ID display.  “The number’s blocked.”

            “Don’t answer it,” Lisa said.

            “If it’s them, maybe I can find out something that’ll help us,” Anthony said.

            “Go for it, dude,” Mike said.  Reluctantly, Lisa nodded.   

            Anthony answered the call.  “Hello?”

            “Mr. Thorne.”  It was a man with a gentle voice.  “As this may be my only opportunity to speak to you before I eliminate you, I first wanted to gain insight into the root of the evil that’s corrupted your soul.”

            “Who is this?” Anthony asked, though he suspected it was the pale, stout man who had fired on them.

            “I was especially intrigued by the books I discovered in your home library.  You appear to be a successful author, in a secular sense.”

            These people had gotten into their home?  He put his hand to his sweat-filmed forehead, trying to remember if they had activated the alarm system when they’d left.  Probably not.  They had been in a helluva hurry.

            Besides, he wondered if a locked door, or an engaged security system, would have held these people at bay.

            “Why the hell were you in our house?” Anthony asked.

They were in our house? Lisa lip-synced, outrage twisting her face.

            Anthony pressed the button on the cell to activate the speakerphone feature.  When the fanatic spoke again, his disconcerting choir-boy voice carried throughout the kitchen.

            “You have a beautiful home, clean and tastefully designed, yet your work reeks of hatred,” he said.  “Tell me, Thorne: why have you chosen to sow discord and wickedness through your books?”

            “You called our house earlier, didn’t you?” Anthony asked.  “How do you know all this stuff about us?” 

            “At the end of the age of man, that which is hidden shall be made clear.”

            Mike and Lisa frowned.

            “What the hell does that mean?” Anthony asked.

            “God delivers the wicked into the snares of the righteous.  He’s a mighty god, indeed, worthy to be praised.”

            The three of them looked at one another, and Anthony knew they were all thinking the same thing.  Was this guy for real?  It was like having a conversation with someone from another planet.

            “Listen, who are you working for?” Anthony asked.          

            “The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent from your wickedness.”

            “Start talking, sense, dammit!  Who the hell are you working for?”

            “Manners, manners.”  The man clucked his tongue.  “Please refrain from using foul language.  It offends me deeply.”

            “You were shooting at me like a damn sniper, so don’t give me your holier-than-thou bullshit.”

            “Mr. Thorne,” the man said tightly, “in spite of your apparent intelligence and material success, you have misread the signs of your age.  The kingdom is fast approaching, and sinners such as you will be cast into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

            “Who let you out of the nuthouse, man?  Jesus.”

            “Don’t you dare take the Lord’s name in vain, you brimstone-drinking heretic.”

            “Sure.”  A laugh escaped Anthony.  “I’m standing here trying to believe that people like you actually exist.  Please tell me you haven’t fathered any children.”

            “Why did you decide to do the devil’s work, Thorne?  How long have you been in league with the adversary?”

            Anthony only shook his head. 

            “How long have you and the Judas been scheming to destroy us?” the man asked.    

            “Who the hell is the Judas?” Anthony asked, and as soon as he posed the question, realized the answer: Bob.

            “I should have known that an immoral man such as you could never admit to the depths of his sin.  You likely think yourself a noble man.  But the devil is the great deceiver, Thorne.” 

            “Sounds like I’m not the only one who’s been deceived.  Why are you working with these people?  How long have you been murdering for them in God’s name?”

            “It’s pointless to run from us, really,” he said, in a bored tone.  “Let’s meet at a mutually agreeable location, and conclude our business in person.  What do you say?”

            “I say, kiss my black ass.”

            The man sighed.  “You’re determined to make this harder on yourself and your wife, aren’t you?  How is Lisa doing?  How are her parents, Earl and Robin?”

            “Leave my parents out of this, you bastard!” Lisa shouted, veins standing out on her neck.

            He chuckled.  “It seems I have an audience.  Perhaps you, Mrs. Thorne, can convince your bull-headed husband of the futility of prolonging this tedious exercise.”

            “Yeah, he’s bull-headed, and so am I,” she said.  “Far as we’re both concerned, you can go to hell.”

            “Sadly, it appears you are equally yoked in sin.”

            “Who in your organization killed my father?” Anthony asked.

            The caller quieted. 

            Anthony clutched the phone in a steel vise grip, and both Mike and Lisa appeared to be holding their breath.

            But in a flat voice, like a robot programmed to recite a slogan, the man said, “We represent the truth.  We shine a light in the darkness.  We are subduing the earth to prepare it for the King’s arrival.  Dominion will be ours.”

            “Goddammit, tell me who killed my father!”

            “God has led me to you, Thorne.  It’s your destiny to perish by my sword.  Repent for your sinful ways now, and perhaps God will forgive you before I strike you down.”

            “You crazy—“

            But the man hung up.  Chest heaving, Anthony stared at the phone as if it had stung him.

            “What a freakin’ nut job,” Mike said.

            “That’s an understatement,” Lisa said.      

            “We’ve gotta get out of here,” Anthony said. “We know the guy’s elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top, but he sounded way too confident.  My gut tells me they know where we are, and they’re on their way.”