***
A tiny remote controlled aircraft flew high above them. Pam was the first to see it. She’d always had sharp vision. Hadn’t her Jeff sometimes referred to her as ‘Hawk Eye?’
It could mean only one thing – somebody was watching them, and that somebody might be close by. Was that good or bad? Only one thing was clear – the chief acolyte was coming unraveled and there was no telling what he might do next. Pam made a snap decision.
“You stay back here,” she told Susie. “I need to speak with our friend.”
“No, please ...”
Susie gripped her arm feebly, but Pam yanked it free. This was no time for weakness. She moved up to alongside the chief acolyte, matching his pace.
“Excuse me, Chief Acolyte,” she said.
He spun towards her, his eyes blazing. “What is it, child?”
“Uh, I’m sorry to disturb you,” Pam said, “but I am confused about something and I was hoping you could clear it up for me.”
His eyes bored into hers. Pam didn’t know if he intended to speak or pull out his skinning knife and gut her like a fish. At least he wasn’t looking skyward.
“It concerns a matter of faith, Chief Acolyte,” she said.
He stopped walking, and his eyes narrowed with malignant interest. Pam knew she had his full attention, at least for a while. There was nothing like a ‘matter of faith’ to get him going.
“Yes, what is it upon which you require illumination?” he said.
“Well ... I was just wondering about the relationship of the Messiah to the Heavenly Father,” Pam said. “I mean, I’ve heard of the ‘holy trinity’ in the old religion, and – ”
“There is no holy trinity!” The chief acolyte roared. “Only the Heavenly Father and his Son on earth!”
Pam recoiled, but stood her ground. She thought she could detect movement down the street, but dared not shift her eyes that direction.
“Of course, Chief Acolyte,” she said, bowing her head. “I did not mean any disrespect. However, since the glorious Messiah is no longer among us ... who is the Heavenly Father’s extension upon this earth?”
The chief acolyte stroked his stubbly chin.
“This is a question that has troubled me as well,” he said. “I have sought insight during my purification rituals but have yet to obtain an answer.”
Pam nodded and attempted to keep a glowing, reverent smile on her face. From the corner of her eye, she observed two armed men, dressed in military type jumpsuits, creeping toward them. She turned full attention back to the chief acolyte, tried to hold his burning eyes.
“I am confident that a vision will be granted to me,” he said. “Before my mission here is complete, I will know who the Heavenly Father’s representative on earth is – who will be the new incarnation of the Messiah.”
Liggett and Pantani were almost upon them. Pantani rushed the last couple of meters and snatched the chief acolyte’s assault rifle.
The chief acolyte spun around. “Infidels!”
He tried to retrieve his rifle, but Pantani held it away, like somebody keeping a toy from a child.
“We’ve got a real live wire,” Pantani said.
“How dare you interfere with my mission!” the chief acolyte howled.
He lunged for his rifle. Pantani shoved him down, using minimum necessary force.
“Right, we’ve all got missions, pal,” he said.
The chief acolyte glowered up at his assailants, then at the woman called Pam. The bitch had betrayed him!
“I’m sorry, C. A.,” Pam said, a note of regret in her voice. “I’m just going for a better offer.”
Liggett yanked the chief acolyte back to his feet.
“That’s a nasty scratch you’ve got there, friend,” he said. “Better let the doc have a look at it.”
Susie had advanced toward them now, wide-eyed and fearful. She gestured toward her groin area.
“Yeah!” Pantani said, “I could go for some of that.”
“No, not that,” Pam said. “She’s telling you to search him. He’s got a gun hidden in his pants.”
May the Heavenly Father strike you down! the chief acolyte raved in his mind.
Under cover of Liggett’s assault rifle, Pantani conducted a thorough frisk, relieving the chief acolyte of his pistol and his skinning knife. He held the tiny gun aloft.
“Take a look at this,” he said. “A real nut buster, eh?”
“And I thought that blue robo-man was strange,” Liggett said.
Liggett and Pantani laughed. The chief acolyte became suddenly aware, subdued, crafty.
“Would there be a female type robot with this ... blue robo-man?” he asked.
Liggett made a mock bow and gestured toward the vehicle parked some distance away.
“If you’ll honor us with your presence, sir, we will convey you to them posthaste,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s one big happy family,” Pantani said.
They all headed for the vehicle. Pantani and Liggett manhandled the chief acolyte between them.
“No need for that,” the chief acolyte said meekly, “I’ll offer no resistance.”
“Yeah, go easy on him, okay?” Pam said. “He helped us a lot before he started going off the deep end.”
“Looks to me that he’s always been off the deep end,” Pantani said.
49. Crunch Time
The instant the kitchen doors flapped closed behind him, Colonel Reyes’ smile vanished.
“This was a great idea, Lisa,” he said. “Just get everybody together and things will click. Right!”
“Give it more time,” Poole said. “It hasn’t had a fair trial yet.”
“More time?” Reyes said. “We need to get tough. I’ve said that from the beginning.”
Poole shook her head emphatically.
“That won’t work and you know it,” she said.
“We’ll see about that!”
“Did it ever occur to you that Rackenfauz might be on to something?” Poole said. “Maybe it is too dangerous to build security force robots.”
“Flapdoodle!” Reyes said. “He just doesn’t want to cooperate. He’s an old curmudgeon, and he’s got that younger one in his pocket.”
The colonel paced the big kitchen in extreme agitation, like a penned bull. He turned back toward Poole.
“And I feel like a damn fool talking to that blue machine as if it was a real person,” he said.
“You don’t have any trouble talking to the other ‘machine.’” Poole shot back.
Reyes let the comment slide.
“Why don’t you just release them?” Poole said. “Maybe they’ll come around if you stop pressuring.”
“That’ll be a cold day in hell!”