Three: The Northern Force in Trouble
77 months of Tribulation…April
Jericho…………………….
“This is Geo…we are near Jericho and soon we will be in Jerusalem.”
Chris Senior asked, “So how you been keeping yourself busy the last couple months since we heard from you last?”
“Oh, nothing much but maybe ten blind people can see..and hundreds that were lame can now walk and they’ve followed us all the way here from Cana…some of them.”
“Wow, God is moving. No opposition down there?”
“Every day the UW are nearby but for some reason they watch but they don’t touch. God’s protection. I bet you have experienced some of that over the last six years?”
Chris junior inserted, “We sure have, especially lately.”
“Well, We are a lot of time zones away from you all up there in my old home….I’m going to let you guys go..We promise to stay in communication with you guys between now and the Glorious Appearing. Love you all.”
“Bye, Geo…We all love you too.”
Alaska…………………….
Junior and Chris are standing in the opening of the huge cave talking. Junior began, “Dad, I’ve been hearing rumors that our old sheriff, Pearson, is up in the Healy Lake area harassing the Christians that remain up there. He’s trying to get our location out of them, is my take of this.”
“Well, son, what is your take on what we should do?”
“Jose and I have been talking…He’s becoming a home body because of the twins….but we were talking. I know we’ve never on purpose or by accident actually targeting someone for….You know what?”
“That is a tough thing to talk about, but maybe for our own protection we have to ….Let’s take it as it comes. But you and I need to do some undercover…Any way we need to be on the offensive to protect ourselves. Find out where they are; Penelope and her boy friend….. Right now, they are our enemy and they are after us.”
“I agree, Dad. I agree. Tomorrow morning right here at 7…Is that, OK?”
Chris Senior shook his head to affirm, turned, and returned back into the cave. Junior remained to contemplate their mission the next morning.
Alaska…………………….6:45 the next day
Chris and Junior quietly prepared for their trip via two ATV’s. Junior plotted a course for the father and son. They would circle back up to the old highway near Clear Air Station, skirt the highway towards Lake Healy, and climb the bluffs outside the old Ferry railroad stop so they could observe the whole valley and lake area.
This took the pair about two hours to get to the top of the bluff. It was a cloudy spring day so the forest was particularly dark and hid them very well until they climbed the to the top where it was barren.
From the bluff they could see for at least a hundred miles each direction but they knew the men they were looking for were probably south and west of their location. The father and son sat and observed for two hours and hadn’t seen anything accept a momma moose and its calf and a few ptarmigan.
About one PM they were eating the lunch they had prepared for this scouting trip. Chris Senior looked through his binoculars while he munched on a moose meat sandwich. He started to scan from east to west while looking toward the south and he saw movement on the lake.
Whispering Chris Senior said, “Junior, southeast on the lake a small boat with two or three men in it. It looks like they are heading to land the boat up by the trail we used to take up to Moose Creek. They are going to be between us and our trail down to the cave.”
Chris Junior inserted, “OK, are these the guys we are looking out for? Is it the Sheriff and Penelope’s friend?”
“It looks like it…Three men…The Sheriff…..yes. The other two, I’m not sure I know who they are but…..they are with Pearson so we know they are probably trouble.”
“Where are they going right now is the first question?”
Chris Senior stared through the binoculars intently, and then he answered, “We need to find out….Should we live the four-wheelers here?”
Junior nodded to affirm and he said, “Let’s get down there….and see if we can do it without being seen in the process.”
“That’s the plan.”
The father and son crept down the hill hiding in the brush. They watched from their vantage point as Pearson and the others with him, landed their craft and climbed out on dry ground.
Chris Senior whispered, “It looks like they have ATV’s or something hidden in the trees nearby. We can’t follow them if they jump on vehicles.”
Junior answered, “Dad, stay here…I’ll go around and see which direction they might be going. Be right back.” The younger Meyers scooted along the ground until he got into taller brush and then he ran from tree to tree without being seen.
Chris Senior pulled out his revolver and watched as his son attempted to circle around the three gentlemen. From his vantage point he could see them mount their ATV’s but they disappeared in the trees. Christ Senior was hoping Junior got a beat on the direction they were heading.
The older Meyers waited in the brush for Junior to return. It seemed to him that it was taking a very long time so he did his best to start in the same direction that his son went.
Just when Chris Senior thought he was in the clear and looked out to see if he could see his son, Pearson came from behind a tree with his pistol drawn and his two friends were on either side of Chris.
Chris started to run into an opening in the trees when one of Pearson’s goons tackled the older Meyers to the ground. All three of them had guns out ready to shoot if they needed to.
On his way back to meet up with his dad, Junior watched as Pearson cuffed Chris Senior and put him on a four-wheeler in front of him and they headed down the old highway toward Nenana. The other two took off right behind Pearson and came up on either side of him. In a few minutes Junior watched them disappear out of sight.
Junior was very distraught and blamed himself for his Dad’s predicament. He hurried back up to the ATV’s and maneuvered his way back down to the cave entrance and hid the vehicle. He ran inside to find Jose to tell him the bad news.
Chris and Jose discussed their problem for a couple of hours and began formulating a plan. The first two things they knew they had to do were to tell Izzy and to pray.
The second thing was very easy so they prayed together for the safety of their leader and for guidance as they prepared what to do. When they said their Amens, they headed into the back to tell Izzy about Chris Senior, which they figured was their hardest tasks tonight.
Izzy was almost hysterical and Junior had a hard time calming her down. Jose and Chris prayed with her but they were afraid to leave her alone so they could complete their preparation of the rescue team.
Junior did his best to convince Jose to get a team together without him and he would stay with his wife and attempt to keep her calm.
His best friend told him that Janise had been throwing a fit about him leaving her alone with the twins so he was afraid to tell Janise he had to go.
The two friends knew that time was of an essence and they had to act quickly. Junior was frustrated and unhappy with Jose so he stormed out of their meeting and let Izzy know he was going after his dad by himself.
On the road to Nenana……….
Chris Junior was as mad as he had been in a long time. He wasn’t really mad as his friend, Jose, but the confrontation in the cave frustrated him because he was really mad at himself. He was driving down the trail like a man possessed but he felt the pain his dad had to be facing at this very moment.
The closer he got to Nenana he got further away from the old highway and into the brush and trees. When he got to the old airport on the edge of town, he dismounted and walked the rest of the way into town,
By this time it was dark and Junior didn’t really have a plan. His anger had messed his logic and his thinking up enough so that he was confused. He decided to stop and regroup, and ask God to lead him into what he should do.
After his quick but fruitful prayer he got himself a plan.
Distractions always worked with these UW guys, but this is Pearson and who knows who else. Most of the UW officers were gone into Fairbanks. There were very few if any vehicles near the old jail house.
Before he did anything, he wanted to check on his dad. He thought he would sneak up close and use the binoculars to see where they have him held.
He got really close on the western side of the building. The back two windows were barred so they were cells, and it looked like in the upstairs there were two cells as well, but he didn’t think they had that many in the jail for anyone to be up there.
First Chris looked into the front windows with the scope and he could see Pearson and the other two were harassing his dad downstairs in the office. It looked like they were questioning him.
They probably wanted to know where everybody else was. It would be a very big star in his cap if he could arrange capture of the whole Northern Force, all at one time. Chris knew his dad would die before he would give them away. He thought Pearson knew that, as well.
Junior had no idea how he would get his dad out of this mess but he was going to figure it out. He walked to the back side of the jail and then to the opposite side. It seemed to him like there was only one door and if he was to get his dad he had to go through it.
When he got on the other side near the front door he could see that there was another person in the office with Pearson and the two he had with him earlier. It was Penelope and at least two others with guns.
He knew he was outnumbered and outgunned so he decided to rethink this whole rescue. He needed some help from the cave. He went out half-cocked without his team. So what was he to do?
Junior wondered as he moved again to the back of the jail house. Maybe he should head back to the cave and get his team. He made, inadvertently, so much noise traipsing through the brush in the back, that Pearson sent out a couple of guys to see who might be there.
When they saw him move they fired a couple of pistol rounds his direction without even saying a word. He fired two or three rounds himself and one of strangers went down and another round went through the window near where his dad sat.
As he ran quickly into the trees he could see someone was shot in the office but it wasn’t his dad. It looked like a female. Without again, looking back, Junior took a different route back to the cave and he didn’t even hear or see anyone following him. Now he was really worried. What would they do to his dad if one of theirs is wounded?
When he returned his team was waiting for him.
