Michael was sitting at the desk in building K as his boss came in the door. He told Michael that there were W.E.B. officers at the headquarters building that needed to talk to him. Then Michael’s boss relieved him so that he could go and find out what was up.
As he walked past the Air Force guard shack, some of his old fears came back about the night Michael had first seen the saucer. He soon decided that this couldn’t be what they were here to see him about. After all, the saucer wasn’t a secret any more. Nobody would listen if he said he had seen it eight months before the saucer was supposed to have arrived anyway.
Coming into the building, Michael was told that the officers were waiting for him in the back office. He walked into the room and introduced himself. There were two men in the room. The larger one sat off to one side and observed Michael while the other one did the talking.
“I’m officer Bellman,” he said. “And this is officer Hawkins. We’re from the W.E.B. When was the last time you saw your father?”
This caught Michael completely off guard as he fumbled for something to say. “Do you mean my step dad, or my real father?”
“Jim Handford,” answered officer Bellman. “Isn’t he your real father.”
“Yes, ah yes he is,” said Michael. “Let’s see, they came up when Jimmy was born, and then again a few weeks later. I guess it’s been about three months.”
“How about his wife, Sara?” asked Bellman. “Have you talked to her in the last couple of weeks?”
“No, I don’t think so,” answered Michael. “Jamie, my wife might have talked to her, they’re pretty good friends, but she hasn’t mentioned it. What’s going on any way, has something happened.?”
“We’ll get to that, “ said Bellman. “Do you know anything about a cabin, maybe something they were thinking about buying?”
“No, I don’t,” answered Michael. “Dad’s mentioned getting a bigger boat. One that you can sleep on. But I don’t remember them saying anything about a cabin.”
“How about up at Big Bear?” asked Bellman. “Is there any place particular they stay up there, a friend’s cabin, anything like that?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about Big bear,” answered Michael.
This type of questioning went on for some time. Michael told them about Jim’s 24 foot Bayliner that he kept in Mission Bay. He also answered a lot of questions about Jim’s friends and what kind of things Jim liked to do. Officer Bellman then brought up God and Jim’s religious beliefs. Michael agreed that Jim had some pretty different ideas about that kind of stuff, but that Michael didn’t go along with most of that kind of thing.
Finally Bellman said, “Your dad attacked a school official a couple of weeks ago. He was arrested and taken into custody by the Sheriff’s department down in San Diego.”
“Why would he do something like that?” asked Michael. “That doesn’t sound like Jim to me.”
“From what we can tell,” answered Bellman. “It was some kind of extremist, right-wing thing. He threatened the principal several times about what they were teaching before he finally went off of the deep end and attacked the principal.”
“How serious is it?” asked Michael. “Just how much trouble is he in?”
“He violated national directives,” answered Bellman. “Federal officers came and were in the process of transferring him to a Federal facility, when he and two other prisoners attacked the officers. They killed one officer and seriously injured the other one. They tried to take them back into custody, but there was a shootout. Mr. Hanford was shot and killed.”
There was a long silence as Michael absorbed what he had just heard. He could hardly believe what officer Bellman was saying. Why would he attack a principal, and even then, why would he try to escape?
After the pause Michael asked, “How is Sara? She must be devastated.”
“That’s what we hoped to find out from you,” answered Bellman. “She, and the girl disappeared right after this all started. There was some indication that she might have gone up to Big Bear. She hasn’t been home since your father attacked the principal.”
Michael was very shaken as he left the headquarters building. They let him take the rest of the day off. He went home and broke the news to Jamie. She insisted that there was no way that Jim would do what they had accused him of unless they had threatened Samantha somehow. After they had talked about it for a while Jamie talked Michael into praying with her and asking God to show them how to deal with this. At first Michael had resisted this, saying that it hadn’t done Jim any good, but he finally gave in and prayed with her.
Over the next two weeks, the W.E.B. officers came back and talked to Michael several times. They had no new information to give him, but continued to ask questions about where Sara and Sam may have gone.
It seemed very odd to Michael that it was W.E.B. officers that were doing all of this. He and Jamie talked about it, but Michael was afraid to ask the officers what brought this into the World jurisdiction, instead of being handled by the State or Federal authorities. The last time they came to see him they brought a silver colored urn with Jim’s ashes in it.
The following Sunday, Michael, Jamie, and Jimmie drove down to San Diego. They stopped by Jim’s house to get the keys for the boat. There was an unmarked car across the street from the house. Two men sat in the car. It appeared that they were taking notes as Michael went into the house.
Michael looked around a little bit while he was in the house. Everything looked normal except for some dirty dishes on the kitchen table that looked like they had been there for a while. Sara was very tidy, so the dishes looked out of place. It did look like someone had gone through papers in Jim’s study, but Michael couldn’t tell for sure.
From there they drove down to Mission Bay. Michael was pretty sure he spotted a car in the parking lot that looked like another surveillance unit. They went out on the docks and Michael got the Bayliner ready to go. Michael drove about three miles out into the bay and then shut off the engine.
Michael read from the Bible the part about those who are dead will be raised first, and then those who are left shall be caught up in the air to be with the Lord. After he finished reading, Jamie prayed. She thanked God for watching over them, and even though they didn’t understand what was going on, that they knew that the Lord was using this situation. She claimed the promise that the Lord would use this for the best, for Michael and Jamie and even for Sara, Samantha, and for Jim. Jamie asked God to use this, to make Himself more real in their lives, and for them to grow closer to the Lord.
When she had finished, Michael opened the urn and dumped the ashes out onto the water. They knew that his physical body didn’t matter any more. That Jim would have a new body when they were all caught up into the air. Michael then threw the urn as far as he could and they watched it sink into the bay.
As they drove the boat back to the docks, there were two men with binoculars standing out on the end of the breakwater watching. Michael tied up the boat and they walked back to the car. They walked right by the men who had been watching. There was no exchange of communication. After that, they drove back home.
Michael felt very torn by what was going on around him in the “real world” and what God was doing. He knew that the Lord was asking for something deeper in him. He was afraid of what this would mean. How could he take the stand that he felt God wanted him to make and still work where he did? The Navy had been prepping him to move down inside the underground complex and he would probably get another promotion. Michael hoped and prayed that God would not give up on him for not following the Lord in every aspect of his life.
