The Leader (6 page)

Alex stared at him for a moment,
trying to gauge whether or not the man told the truth.

“
Alex, are you
alright?”

His eyes met Dr. Reyes’ and he
shrugged. Dr. Reyes didn’t appear as if he was toying with him.
Finally deciding he’d imagined the voice, Alex shrugged. “It’s
nothing. I’m fine.” Then he turned and left the
building.

Chapter Eight

Autumn parked her car in front of the
zoo entrance and noted the Christmas displays that lined the path
further down where people drove their cars and took pictures. She
hesitated to turn off her car where it was nice and toasty, but a
knock on her window took her attention off that matter. She saw
Devon at the passenger window.

She almost didn’t roll the window
down, but the angel appeared next to her in the seat. “It’s safe.
Let him in.” Then he vanished.

With a slight grimace, she unlocked
the car door so Devon could get in.

Devon shut the door and rubbed his
hands together. “It’s really beginning to feel like the holidays,
huh?”

She was sure the look she gave him
expressed her desire to be anywhere than here with him.

He seemed to catch on for he got
serious and pulled something out of his pocket before he set it on
the dashboard. She wondered what it was but decided she didn’t
care. She had nothing to hide. She wasn’t the one who was going
around putting implants into people’s bodies at Area 51 or bombing
places to get people’s attention off the aliens.

“
Do you have a cell phone
on you?” he asked.

“
Sure. Who doesn’t this day
in age?”

“
Can I see it?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”
Was he planning to hurt her? Did she know too much and it was his
job to do the assassination?

“
I’ll explain in a
moment.”

She quickly debated whether or not
this was a good idea. The angel was insistent she talk to Devon.
Didn’t that mean she could trust Devon not to harm her? With a
sigh, she took her cell phone out of her purse and handed it to
him. “It’s off.”

“
That doesn’t matter.” He
took something thin and black out of his coat pocket and scanned
the phone with it. “Now they can’t hear what we have to
say.”

“
What is that?” she asked,
motioning to the strange device.

“
I have a flight to catch
at ten. I don’t have time to explain everything.”

She frowned. “Then why did you ask to
meet me?”

“
Because I have a feeling
that what you know is something that can’t wait.” He glanced out
the front window before he asked, “Is the black shadow with me
right now?” His eyes met hers and he waited for her
response.

She scanned the area around him and
shook her head. “No.” She turned her attention to outside the car
where the angel seemed to be holding something back. In the dark,
it was hard to make out the shadowy figure, but it became clear
soon enough why Devon didn’t have the demon lurking by him. “The
angel has the demon away from you at the moment.”

She waited for him to laugh and tell
her she was nuts, but he didn’t. Instead, he asked, “How do I get
rid of it?”

“
You believe
me?”

With a shrug, he answered, “There was
something in that hospital when I saw you, and it spoke to me.
Well, it tried to speak to me. It said I don’t have to be a pawn.
Do you know what it meant?”

“
Before I answer your
questions, I need you to answer mine.” There was no way she was
going to tell him everything she knew and risk him running off.
Right now, the angel was her only bargaining chip, and she had to
use it. “What’s going on with the aliens? Who are they and what do
they really want?”

“
Fair enough. The aliens
are here to take back the planet. They were here before we were,
and they want us removed, with the exception of the humans who’ll
do what they want. Those people will be the slave race. The people
who agree to do what the aliens want will be allowed to live, and
those who resist will be sent to the internment camps.”

“
Interment
camps?”

“
In this country, they’re
Fema camps.”

She thought she’d heard the term Fema
before but couldn’t place it.

As if he could read her mind, he
explained, “Fema handles disasters. They’re a part of the
government that aids clean up and aid after hurricanes and
earthquakes and other acts of God, or what’s supposed to be acts of
God.”

“
What does that have to do
with interment camps?”

“
Let’s say you have a
disaster. Your house is flooded out and you have nowhere to go. The
people from Fema come along and offer a place for you to stay while
you get back on your feet. Will you go?”

She shrugged. “I don’t get what’s so
bad about that, but obviously there is if you’re bringing it
up.”

“
When you get to these
camps, you’ll find people will be separated out. Those who are
deemed productive and are compliant with the alien’s wishes will be
put into temporary trailers and work until they can return to the
outside where they will be tracked to make sure they remain
compliant. Those who are too feeble and weak will be quietly
disposed of. Those who are resistant or question what’s going on
will either be brainwashed or disposed of. Do you understand what
I’m telling you?”

She glanced out the window where two
angels now stood. One angel was aggressively holding the demon back
while her angel nodded at her. Turning back to Devon, she uneasily
said, “The angel indicated that you’re telling me the truth. So
those who oppose the aliens will die?”

“
Yes. That’s why we’re
using the sound waves to keep people in a false sense of security.
The more people who remain calm, the more will have a better chance
of surviving.”

“
A better chance? What do
you mean by that?”

“
A certain percentage of
the population has to die off. You see, right now the Earth is too
populated. There are way too many people for them to control. Since
the last century, the governments have been working under the radar
to help kill off segments of the population, and they’ve taken
measures to do this so that when the time came for the aliens to
arrive, the task would be less daunting.”

“
They do this through
internment camps?”

“
They’ve done it through
camps in Germany and China. Russia’s used their Gestapo to kill off
a lot of their people. But there are other ways they’re doing it.
The food and drinks are made of high fructose corn syrup which
increases diabetes, damages the liver and pancreas, and increases
heart problems. They’re putting fluoride in the water which leads
to more health problems like kidney damage and thyroid problems,
and fluoride’s been known to lower IQs. The real purpose of
vaccines is to sterilize people. Why do you think they target
pregnant women and children? The point is, it is all about
population control. The larger the population, the harder it is to
control. And if they can’t control you by dumbing you down, they’ll
try to introduce something that could sterilize you or give you
health problems.”

“
So what does that have to
do with bombing places?”

He sighed. “People will give up their
freedom in exchange for security. If people feel that their lives
are at risk, they’ll accept surveillances. Congress doesn’t need
your permission to listen in on your conversations. Even when your
cell phone is turned off, they can hear what you’re saying. Cameras
are on just about every streetlight and in all the parking lots to
keep track of where you’re going. Everything you do online is kept
in a database. The move to paperless money is to track your
expenses. Soon everything will have an electronic component to it.
Before long, they’ll make everyone wear ID tags in order to buy or
sell anything. It’s all under the guise of keeping you safe from
terrorists, but the reality is that you’re in a police state and
you don’t even know it. They tell you that it’s all in place to
keep you safe. What so few realize is that being safe means they’re
going to be slaves.”

She didn’t know how to respond. What
could she possibly say? She took another look at the angel who
didn’t deny what Devon was telling her, and if she saw right, two
more angels had appeared to ward off another demon who had come.
She groaned. Just what she wanted to see: a spiritual gathering
taking place right by her car.

She turned to Devon who had a somber
expression on his face. “Do you see what’s going on over there?”
She pointed to the assembly.

He squinted and waited for a minute
before he answered her. “There’s something different in the air.
It’s like a ripple with a flash weaving in and out of it.” He
glanced at her. “What am I supposed to see?”

“
Two demons and three
angels. That demon isn’t going to let you go without a
fight.”

He shivered. “This whole notion of
angels and demons is...almost ludicrous.”

“
Yeah...well...welcome to
my world. Ever since those people vanished, I’ve become aware of
the spiritual world around us.”

“
So how do I get rid of it?
I don’t want that thing hovering over me for the rest of my
life.”

She gave her angel an expectant
look.

The angel motioned for her to roll
down her window.

Surprised, she obeyed.

He walked over to the car, his white
wings seeming to grow out of his back as he came closer.

Devon sharply inhaled.

“
Do you see all of him?”
she asked Devon.

Devon’s gaze flickered to her before
he stared at the angel again. “Blond hair, white clothes, and white
wings? He almost seems to glow?”

“
Yes. That’s how he
looks.”

The angel stopped by her door, so she
rolled down her window. With the demons nearby, she didn’t want to
leave the safety of her car, even if that safety wouldn’t prevent
them from getting in if they really wanted to get to
her.

Devon leaned toward her, his eyebrows
furrowed as he watched the angel.

“
You want to know how to
make the demon go away?” the angel asked Devon.

Devon’s gaze shifted to her, and she
caught the surprise in his eyes.

“
He could hear us talk,”
she explained to Devon. “You should talk to him.”

“
What I have to say is for
you as well,” the angel said. “The time is quickly approaching when
you both will have to make a decision. The war that was once in
Heaven has now come to Earth, and Satan is wasting no time in
gathering his allies.”

Devon laughed. “Satan? As in the
devil?”

“
Is there another Satan?”
The angel looked Devon straight in the eye, and Devon stopped
laughing. “You want the demon to leave you alone? Then choose God.
Otherwise, the demon will stay with you.”

Uncertainty crossed Devon’s
face.

The angel turned his gaze to her. “You
won’t see Marianne again unless you also make the choice for Him.”
He reached out and touched the cross that hung on Marianne’s
necklace. “Your sister’s been spared from what’s to come, but her
faith can’t save you.”

“
Save me from what? The
demons?”

“
From the great deception,”
he answered.

Before she could ask for
clarification, all the angels and demons disappeared.

“
Is he still there?” Devon
asked.

She sighed. “No. And yes, he often
leaves me wondering what else there is, so don’t be surprised he
left before we could ask what the great deception is.”

“
Cliffhangers are my
life.”

She wanted to ask him what he meant by
that, but he glanced at his watch.

“
I better go. I have a
flight to catch.”

“
Wait!” She grabbed his arm
before he could open the door. “What happened at Area 51 with my
friend?”

“
What friend?”

“
Alex Cameron. You injected
him with something. What was it and what else did you do to
him?”

He hesitated.

“
Don’t I already know too
much to turn back?” she demanded.

“
You can’t tell others
this.”

“
Alex is my friend, and
he’s being tormented by an alien. I owe it to him to help him. I
got the angel’s answer, but I need to know what you did to him at
Area 51.”

“
I’d have to know exactly
who you’re talking about.”

Grumbling, she picked up her purse and
pulled out her wallet. She flipped through the photos until she got
to the one of Alex and Marianne. She practically shoved it in his
face. “That’s Alex,” she said in disgust. It shouldn’t surprise her
that Devon had done this to more than one person. “I saw Alex’s
medical charts in the room he was in, and you’re telling me you
don’t remember his name?”

“
We’re not given the names
of the people who come to us.”