The Sons of Destiny (The Reluctant Hero Trilogy Book 3) (7 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Daniel

Daniel was having a hard time distinguishing where he was at that moment, compared to the place he had been in. Being inside the virtual world had been horrifying and messed with his brain.

He looked for possible differences but found none. He was standing in the same valley that he and Magena walked through, right before they reached the pit which led to the secret door. The only difference was two different worlds. One real and one virtual that somehow had been within his mind.

Right before Daniel and his father arrived, the older DiBenedetto was kind enough to reveal everything about the virtual program to his son. “Basically, I revealed the same thing to Magena,” he said, chuckling. “It scared the pee out of her.”

Daniel did everything in his power not to show his contempt, but couldn’t help feeling it. More reasons to despise who his father was and maybe even the man himself.

They all got off the plane and spread out under some trees. Daniel knew something was going to go down, but he did not know what. Strangely, the plane took off, leaving them all alone in the barren field.

He kept glaring at Alan Cranston, who now stood beside him. He remembered when he heard that Cranston had died, and how sad he and Magena were. Yet, here he was, as alive as ever. Daniel guessed Alan had died in the virtual world and that was why he was notified. Daniel wondered if Cranston did actually go into the fake world and not even know it. If so, he might have been revitalized to play another day.

Daniel was tempted to ask about Magena, since she was conveniently left out of his father’s explanation. He knew better than to ask, because he would then be playing into his father’s hands. It would give the elder DiBenedetto power over Daniel, to either withhold the answer, or to give only so much information as to make the younger man squirm.

So Daniel held his tongue. Growing up, he had learned a lot from his father, just not what Dante wanted him to learn. Dante saw people as a means to an end and an opportunity to make a profit by some means.

Daniel was just hoping he had someone to talk to about his dad. He once thought he could trust Cranston, but he turned out to be another person who was bought and sold under Dante’s thumb. He tried not to show how much Cranston’s betrayal hurt. That solidified Daniel’s belief that God was the only one he could trust. God and possibly Magena.

He hadn’t known her for very long, but they bonded because of the fact that they were thrown into the same events together. They had no choice but to trust one another.

It was different with Magena, though. It was fairly easy to put his trust in her. His mind lately was on whether she was alright or not. He really didn’t want to think about it if she wasn’t. He had learned to care for her a lot while traveling with her. Sleeping beside her without being intimate had been an interesting experience.

As Daniel waited with his father, Cranston, and what appeared to be an army of his father’s henchmen, he wondered why he was still needed, or why he was needed at all.

His father got what he wanted. He found out where the coin was found by Dante’s friend and a younger Daniel. How the coin got into this reality was anybody’s guess. If Jezebel’s treasure just simply did not exist in that timeline, there shouldn’t have been any trace of it now.

As Daniel had found out recently, stranger things had happened. He felt that stranger things were yet to come.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than he felt a stiff breeze come out of nowhere. A cold chill went down his spine, as he felt the hairs on his arms start to rise. There was something in the air. Something electric.

Something literally electric! The sky started to cloud over in a manner of moments and bright flashes of lightning appeared within the clouds.

Staring at the clouds, Dante looked excited, yet apprehensive.

“Did you know this was going to happen, Dad?” Daniel asked, with some authority in his tone.

Without looking up to the sky, Dante answered. “We knew
something
would happen, just not what. Think about what’s happening here, Daniel. Objects and people that were created inside a glorified video game are about to be recreated in flesh and physical objects. Of course, gold should appear right before our eyes any minute now! It’s like drawing a picture and watching it come to life in front of your eyes! What a wonder all of it is! Treasure of the queen that was never found and believed to have not existed in this quantity is about to be created right here! God holds nothing on us! We are…
gods
!”

Dante had a crazed look in his eyes. Daniel surmised it would have been the same look if Dr. Frankenstein was real and created his monster. Frankenstein wasn’t real. Neither was his monster. Other monsters were created though: Greed! Wicked power!

Daniel knew that any time mankind placed themselves on an even keel with God, things always went wrong for the humans. Always!

Sometimes, the monsters don’t need special powers or toys. Sometimes, all they needed was a lack of compassion for their fellow man and an extensive bank account.

Dante’s eyes were glued on the sky. Daniel knew that his father felt that he was in charge of whatever was to happen next. He hoped that his father was wrong.

They had no reason to believe they could control something that had never been accomplished before. Dante didn’t even know if it would work. If it did, the repercussions would have to be enormous and… uncontrollable.

Daniel’s curiosity was piquing. His thoughts turned to how he could stop what he believed couldn’t be controlled. He had experienced a small piece of a phony Jezebel and the Hive of Baal in the virtual world. It was horrible. He really had no desire to experience them in the real world.

Queen Jezebel died the way she did for a reason. She had her time and was now extinct. Like the dinosaurs. How could someone so evil be given a second chance? She couldn’t.

She wasn’t even a major player in Biblical times, or so Daniel thought. Then he realized that just because she wasn’t mentioned as much as others, didn’t mean she didn’t hold a key role. The fact that she was mentioned at all meant something.

He didn’t want to find out what, but he was going to. If he was lucky, maybe the virtual world would just explode before anyone had a chance to escape. Maybe, Jezebel would come into reality, but leave her evil self and intelligence in the other world. Maybe not. Yasmeen needed to go first.

The temperature dropped considerably as the clouds above started to swirl. Daniel’s first thought was a tornado, but then his imagination became more creative. He thought of a giant appearing within the tornado and with one huge foot, he would crush everyone—including his father’s helicopters. That part wouldn’t be so bad. He managed a smile, as he thought about it.

Most of Dante’s hired guns nervously pointed their automatic weapons skyward. It appeared that their imaginations were going to the same place that Daniel’s did.

His heart raced as dark clouds covered the entire sky, forming into evil characters. Lightning flashed from various clouds with more consistency. The bolts were getting closer to the ground as the wind picked up, swirling the clouds.

Dante only moved to zip up his military jacket and put on his gloves. With a broad grin, his eyes stayed on the clouds.

Daniel decided to focus on the area in front of him instead because he noticed that the entire area was shimmering. It looked just like the evil lady did when he escaped from her virtual world. He knew what that meant.

Whatever and whoever was coming from Dante’s pretend world was going to make an appearance soon, whether Daniel liked it or not. Dante now looked at the ground with glee.

Random bolts of lightning struck the ground in the open area in front of Daniel and his father, causing small divots to explode upward. Thunder boomed loudly overhead as a heavy rain materialized without warning.

Dante didn’t let the elements deter him from staring with excitement at the empty ground. He must have known what was coming and he welcomed it.

Daniel looked back at his father’s men and realized that they did not share in Dante’s enthusiasm or excitement. Some showed pure fear.

Daniel could be patient and quiet no more. He rushed to his father and grabbed him by the shirt. “What’s wrong with you? Isn’t there an ounce of compassion in you anymore? Don’t you realize that you have no idea how this will turn out? I can speak from experience when I say that Jezebel is not someone you want to try to make a deal with! You tried to turn Yasmeen into Jezebel, but it did not work. She is satanic. Don’t do this!”

The lightning and rain increased in their intensity, so Daniel sat back down under the tree and waited to see what his dad had in mind now.

Dante forced a strange facial gesture, as he coughed up a small amount of blood. “You understand nothing, son! I have waited all of my life for this moment! You will never understand because your vision has always been limited! You don’t have the sight that I do! That’s why you will never inherit my business! You’re weak, Daniel! Weak!”

“You’re a monster!” Daniel finally yelled out. He had waited years to be able to tell his father what he thought of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see several humanoid shapes starting to blur into focus where the lightning was hitting.

He turned back toward his father while relinquishing his grasp. “You’re going to be destroyed by the very thing you invent! You had to go back thousands of years to finally find someone, who is a bigger monster than you!”

Dante’s eyes turned black as coal. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m dying! I finally found my legacy!”

“Fool!” Daniel bellowed. “I was your legacy! Only God can help you now. You need to ask for mercy.”

As soon as Daniel spoke his thoughts, the rain stopped. The lightning ceased as well, leaving only the darkened sky.

It was dead quiet for several minutes, until a crackling sound broke the silence. It was a physical phenomenon; unlike anything Daniel had ever heard before. Suddenly, before his eyes, Daniel saw a hundred dazed and confused Hive of Baal members. There may have been even more than that. They were dressed in the exact same uniforms as they wore in the virtual world, but their skin was less pale. A wave of negative energy washed over the area, knocking everyone down to the ground, but leaving a couple vehicles and weapons unharmed.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Magena

Reuben returned with a load of information. “Levi, you have to go with me right now.”

“Can I go too?” Magena pleaded.

Levi said, “No, I’m sorry.”

Reuben had a look of pity in his eyes. “You can ride along, but you have to stay in the van. You can’t be involved in any decision making.”

They drove down the highway and Magena sat quietly in a back corner. They arrived by a fenced-in yard and stopped by the gate. Signs all along the fence said, “Private property. Keep out.”

Magena waited as the men climbed the fence and ran across the field. They disappeared behind a small hill and she was totally alone. The time passed slower than she cared for. A couple of hours passed. She got out of the van and waited outside.

She stood with a scowl on her face, and her arms crossed in front of her. She positioned herself in front of the black van and continued to wait for the Sons of Destiny to return from their reconnaissance. She had insisted on going with them, but was told to stay by the van as a lookout. Now she was sorry. She was
bored!

Magena decided to look for her new protectors. She walked along the fence until she came upon some abandoned buildings, about a mile away. Wanting to go inside caused her trepidation. She knew that they thought she would be a pest, so she had chosen to hold back. But now she needed some kind of action. Finding an open gate, Magena was about to rush into what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse when Reuben came rushing out.

He was in a state of panic, which was unusual for him. “Magena! Stay back!” he yelled, while uncharacteristically waving his hands in the air.

When he reached her, he bent over and placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Whew!”

“What? What is it, Reuben?”

“There may be a bomb in there. So stay away.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I heard a ticking sound.”

“Did you find Daniel? Is he…?” Her heart sank, as she thought about all of the negative possibilities.

“No.” Reuben shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to him. We couldn’t find him here. They cleared out in a hurry and apparently took Daniel with them. We have proof that Daniel was here, though, because we found the same set up in the place like the one where we found you. Unless they had captured someone else to test for their virtual world, Daniel had to have been here. The good news is that Levi found evidence of where they might be headed.”

“Where?” she asked, with excitement. She then paused, as she recalled where she and Daniel saw the fake world. “Never mind. I know where they’re going. They’ll need a plane.”

Magena looked up as Levi and Simeon came running toward them. “Then we need to get to our contacts at the airport,” Reuben replied.

“DiBenedetto took Daniel,” Levi said. “I don’t think they left in a hurry because of us. There’s no way they could have known we were coming.”

“Then why did they leave so quickly?” Magena queried.

Levi looked at the warehouse in deep thought. “I was wrong before when I thought that Daniel’s father was going straight to the underground cavern. He picked his son up first. Now he’s going to try to retrieve Jezebel’s treasure.”

Magena shook her head. “This is getting more confusing as it goes along. The more I know, the less I like where this is going. I know you said that Daniel’s father might have played a trick on us, and there was a bigger outcome on the horizon. One in which Jezebel’s treasure becomes part of our world. Mr. DiBenedetto is in such a rush to be there when the treasure appears. I wonder about him.”

She locked eyes with Levi, as he asked, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m sure he’s got access to a private jet since he’s a billionaire. How the heck are we supposed to get there before him?”

Levi raised a brow and sighed. “Someone will have to go back to the valley where you met up with the woman in the virtual world.”

Magena said, “Her name is Yasmeen.”

“She is the only connection to Jezebel and her jewels. You need to follow her out when she leaves the valley.”

“Wait just a darn minute here!” Magena chose not to hide her anger. “Every question I have sparks new questions when I get the answers! Now you’re telling me that
someone
has to contact the virtual world where sudden death is almost a given?” She gasped. “And that someone is me?”

Levi paused to give her a moment before he responded. He obviously did not want to fuel her anger. “Reuben will go with you,” he finally replied. “We can’t afford to send too many people in, since we don’t know what that would do to them or the virtual world. You know the world already. You were there for a while. If you don’t want to go, I understand. No one will hold it against you, but this is a lot bigger than just you and Daniel now. Many could lose their lives.”

She rolled her eyes but had nothing to say in response to that. She knew he was right, she just couldn’t accept having to go back and confront the virtual world. That experience would leave her shaken for the rest of her life.

Levi handed her a bottle of cold water. “Sit down awhile. We’ll think of something else.”

Her anger faded as she sipped the water. It was replaced by reluctance. “No. I’m fine. I’m sorry. I know you’re right. It’s just that this has been a non-stop train ride of lies and adventure that I never asked for. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“It was your destiny, just like finding you was our destiny.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “It could have been anyone in my place. Anyone.”

Levi placed one hand gently on her shoulder. “It
was
you, though. It was you for a reason. Maybe God knew that you were the perfect complement to Daniel’s journey. Maybe you were exactly what was needed to lead and diffuse any volatile situation. Maybe this was supposed to be as much a learning experience for you as it was for Daniel.”

“I don’t understand.”

He smiled, as a light shined from his eyes. “There are many times when we, as humans, pray with everything we have to know God’s will, and yet expect God to guide us the way we want to be guided. A lot of times, people have preconceived notions about God allowing them to have the dreams
they
want. They say things like, ‘Please grant me this dream,’ and they think it will go along the path that they can see. The Bible says,
Lean not unto thine own understanding.
I love that scripture, because it tells me that God will guide us down the best path for us, even if we don’t see it at first. Maybe He will guide us on the long path, taking detours, to get where we need to be. And even want to be. His way is always the right way.”

Magena was captivated by his words. It was just as if the light of God came through Levi’s eyes as he spoke. She was speechless but hung on to every word he spoke. In her heart, it felt as if it was Jesus himself talking to her in person.

“
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Divide the land in this way for the twelve tribes of Israel: The descendants of Joseph will be given two shares of land.’”

“I remember one phrase from Sunday School.” Magena’s smile was broad with enthusiasm. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning, he devours the prey, and in the evening, he divides the spoil.”

“I don’t know why the Bible says that,” said Levi. “Benjamin blended in with Judah as the Southern Kingdom.”

“So maybe he won’t devour his prey until the great tribulation.”

“Interesting idea.” Levi laughed.

“So why does the Bible sometimes say Hebrews and sometimes Israelites?”

“T
he Hebrew people became known as Israelites after they went to Egypt.”

“Have the people always spoken Hebrew?”

“No. We were scattered all over the world for centuries. We spoke whatever language of the nation we lived in. The first Jews back in the land around 1900 brought the Hebrew language back into existence.”

“I once heard that just the religious ones are called Hebrews. Is that true?”

“In a sense,” said Levi. “The Hebrew people were always known as the twelve tribes of Israel in the Bible. Being Hebrew is also used to refer to their cultural and religious ties and those who have converted to the religion of Judaism. After the death of Moses, they took possession of the Promised Land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.”

“Can you tell me more about the men here representing their tribes?” She looked at him seriously.

“Okay! We’re named after sons or grandsons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after he wrestled an angel of the Lord.” He paused to search his brain. “Jacob’s first wife, Leah, bore him six sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Each was the father of a tribe. As I told you, Levi’s family cared for the temple functions, Aaron’s family were the priests. Jacob’s second wife, Rachel, bore him Joseph and Benjamin. Other tribes were named Gad, Asher, Dan, and Naphtali. These four were born of maidservants. Since Levites were tabernacle servants, the two sons of Joseph were named tribal leaders. They were Manasseh and Ephraim.”

“When you all returned to Israel, you discovered a connection to the original leaders. That is neat.”

“We looked it up in Genesis and saw a similarity. The quote that I remember was part of what their father, Jacob, said to them when he blessed them. He blessed everyone with an appropriate blessing.”

“Interesting!” She grinned from ear to ear. “So you are living out the prophecy now.”

His smile grew, showing he saw he was getting through to her. “God has put you on this path for a reason, my dear. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you stepped off of it now, and you would never find out exactly what happens? You’re part of this and could be the most important part of all. Daniel needs you. The Sons of Destiny need you. God wants you to complete what has been started. Even though you feel that you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, you were exactly where you needed to be in God’s eyes. Please remember this.”

Halfway through Levi’s speech, Magena started to tear up. Her goosebumps told her that Levi was right, although she kind of felt that way, anyhow. “I won’t let Daniel or God down,” she said through her tears. “Just show me my part.”

“You can trust the Israeli military as well,” Levi said. “From the age of 18, every Israeli male and female are required to serve either two or three years in military service. That is how the modern Orthodox is united with the Sabra.”

“Sabra?”

“The native Israeli.” He continued, “The army performs an important role as an equalizer for immigration. That was how we all got back together when we got here. We all served the country together for three years while we became acquainted. We are as close as brothers.”

“It does appear to be a united country.”

“We protect those God gives us,” he said. “I just want you to feel safe here.”

“I do feel that you care, but...”

“But what?”

“But I need you to tell me more about what your organization does for people like me.”

“We do important work because we were trained in the military. It has been said that pilot to pilot, air-frame to air-frame, the Israeli air force is the best in the world.” He nodded. “After coming here, I served as a senior naval analyst in the Study of War for five years. My research was used to rank the military of the region. Israel was number one. We have one of the region’s most battle-ready armies, a force that has fought in four major engagements since 2006 and has experience in securing some of the most problematic borders on earth.”

She blinked her eyes, stunned. “Really?”

“Israel’s military has never attempted to overthrow the government, unlike others around us. Thanks to Israel’s small size, the military can rapidly mobilize its reserves on relatively short notice.” He looked her in the eye. “We Sons of Destiny pattern our missions after the Israeli army.”

“Oh!” She slowly raised her head up and down.

He walked over and leaned against a wall. “We’re basically informal. But we do have salutes and formal greetings with officers outside our group.”

A smile crossed her lips. “Thank you.”

He reached over and clasped her shoulder. “You can trust us completely. We won’t let you down.”

She grinned. “I don’t know you well, but I believe you. I won’t let the Sons of Destiny down either!” Then she burst out laughing.

Levi and Reuben laughed along with Magena. She knew she was now in it for the long haul. “Will you keep me close to one of you all the time?”