“He’s happy to be away from work—not because of the work but because of some of the people. They’re quite aggressive towards him and his beliefs. They can’t understand why an apparently intelligent person could possibly believe in God.”
“You Christians do seem to cop a bit of a beating.”
“Yes. I think Mr Thomas Wiley and his secret club is the peak of it. They want to rid the earth of us. So many pour scorn on religious belief and want it eradicated.”
“Why do you think that? It’s not just your dad’s work environment. There’s a general intolerance and aggression out there toward Christians.” Jack looked at the banana bread that had just been placed on the table. His friendly ibis also had moved in closer.
“I suppose we bring it on ourselves. We’re considered judgmental and hypocritical. Even our attempts at moral integrity fire up people. You know, don’t swear, don’t drink, don’t smoke. In some cases, I shake my head with what some Christians say or do. But Jesus upset a lot of people in his day by telling them what they didn’t want to hear. If that thing in the sky is all about Jesus coming back, then the world is in for a rude shock, a rude awakening.”
He put a small piece of banana bread on a fork, although he wasn’t sure if he was hungry after the donuts. “I don’t know, Cath. I’m weary from it all. Don’t know what to think anymore.”
Cath used a fork to break off a chunk of banana bread. “It’s complex, Jack, and it’s hard to see faith through eyes that aren’t used to looking at the spiritual.” She chewed and contemplated. “It’s a well-thought-out strategy from the enemy. People scoff when Christianity is mentioned, because that’s what we’ve been taught.”
“Taught?”
“Education starts at an early age. We start with a clean slate, and we’re fed information from parents, friends, school, society, culture. That becomes our belief system. We’re products of our environment. What happens if what we’ve been taught is false? What happens, for example, if science decides evolution is false and there is a creator? Evolution is a foundation belief for many people. But is it a foundation built on rock or sand?”
“Who is the enemy, Cath? … man?”
“Yes, but it’s who controls man is the problem. The prince of this world.” Cath’s face tightened up. “It’s best to leave it for now, because it gets harder to explain.”
“Why? Because I’m not spiritually discerning?” Jack hoped Cath sensed his question came from a seeking heart, not from aggression.
“No, Jack. I believe you’re searching. And yes, it is a spiritual thing—it won’t matter what I say. Something needs to happen to your heart for you to understand what I’m talking about.”
“But what happens if what you believe is false, if you’ve been fed false knowledge?”
“That’s it, Jack. It’s all about truth. Jesus told us, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ I believe that. I believe what is written in the Bible. Jesus told me to come to him when I was weary and burdened and he would give me rest. I did, and he gave me rest.”
Jack was silent, torn between two worlds. He was touched spiritually once. What happened? Where did it go?
An ibis wandered under the table with no cares in the world.
“Adventus.” Cath broke another piece of banana bread, and a piece fell to the ground. “Adventus will sort it all out.”
The ibis scooped up the scraps with its long beak. Jack looked up past the tall palm trees. Still overcast. Adventus was hiding between the clouds and the sunlight. He had a sip of his coffee.
“Thomas Wiley obviously strongly believes in something because he wants to kill those who are searching for something. Does that make sense?”
“Yep. I wonder how long he’s been at it for.” The caffeine was settling him down.
“That’s the concern. I think we’ll find something happened to him in his deep past. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was a church or Christian thing.”
“Yep, but what about the others, the secret society? It gets back to the intolerance and aggression. They must hate Christians.” Jack continued to watch the ibis, scouting around without a care in the world. “Regardless, we’re dealing with a person who is killing people and maybe even a group that are killing people.” He shook his head.
“Well, we best get back and get it sorted out.”
“We don’t have the proof yet.”
He bit his lips. She was right. They didn’t have proof that he’d killed anyone.
Yet.
27 - A Noosa holiday
The traffic to the Sunshine Coast was sparse. People were away due to the recent earthquake. The Great Leader hinted to Sarge that a holiday to Noosa could be a good idea. He’d already taken a few days off work, so it was no big deal to agree.
Bruce liked his music and Sarge didn’t mind his taste—most of it—so they listened to a good mixture of tunes on their trip. There were pockets of discussion but Sarge barely contributed. Bruce liked the history that went with the music. He spoke in length about The War of the Worlds when it was first broadcast on radio, listeners panicked because they didn’t realise it was fiction.
Sarge just needed to throw in some nods and hmms here and there to contribute to the conversation. As they neared Noosa, Bruce turned to questions.
“What sort of security systems do you think they’d have in place to stop drones entering stadiums or large crowds?” Bruce flicked the indicator to head towards the Noosa turnoff.
Sarge looked at a sign advertising the Eumundi Markets. He’d been there years ago—a great place for local artists to show off and sell their wares. Wouldn’t be surprised if they sold drones there now—toy ones at least. He’d been working in the Counter-Terrorism Investigation Group for five years now, and drones were a subject that cropped up on numerous occasions. He’d never thought he’d be involved in a plot to use drones to cause harm, but the terrorist group needed to be dealt with. Not everyone in the branch agreed with him, but he believed Christians were a terrorist group.
“Hello, Earth calling Mars?”
“Sorry, mate. Daydreaming.” Sarge straightened up in his seat. “Stadium security can shoot drones down.” He glanced sideways and gave Bruce a wink. “But for a big public event, they normally use something called geofencing. It’s a technology that works with the GPS on the drone. The drone can drop out of the sky if it enters these invisible zones. That’s the theory, but the drones need to have the correct software loaded and we wouldn’t load that software. I think radio jammers are another option.”
“Not sure if the type of special event we’re looking at would go to the trouble of putting ‘drone shoot me down’ strategies in place.”
“I think you’re right. But the problem we have is deciding on the payload that can inflict the damage we have in mind.” Sarge looked over at Bruce and saw the grin on his face.
“Bye, bye, amber people.”
“You really don’t believe that rubbish, do you?”
“Sort of makes sense to me. Your body generates vibrations, so the theory sounds okay. Better than any other theory going around. I suppose we could blow up churches, but that would bring unwanted attention.”
