For the previous chapters of Daniel Grant Newton's free time traveling book, Don't Shoot the Messenger, click below:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
At night in the desert,
the temperatures sometimes reached chilling point, and it was too dark to see
very well, so most people stayed in doors. Two figures however were out, stumbling through the village.
Irene struggled to break
out of Jude's grip, but he held her firm and pulled her along.
“You can't kill Yēšûă,”
she screamed, hitting him in the face and chest with the arm he wasn't
holding. “Turn back and abort this
mission. You know it is not right to
kill him.”
“Shut up,” he said
firmly. “If you know what's best
for you, you'll do as I say.”
“You are a robot, dead to
the world,” she screamed. “I had
you wrong. You are nothing more
than a machine.”
She tried punching him in
the face, but he grappled with her and put her in a lock.
“I need you with me so it
doesn’t raise suspicion with Maria,” Jude said in a calm, hushed voice. “There has been a slight spanner in the
works, but hopefully this will all be over very soon and you can get back to
your life in the 21st Century.”
“Let go,” she said, her
voice quivering. “I will not do
this. You'll have to kill me and
drag my bullet ridden corpse to Maria.”
“You do not understand,”
he said, pulling her into him as she tried to push away. “There is more to this than meets the
eye.
“If you cooperate, you
can live a safe, long life with your work, half-finished movies and
long-distance family, and forget any of this happened. But if you don't, let’s just say it
won't be good for you.”
“What's that suppose to
mean?”
“It means if you don't
shut up, you might wind up dead.”
“Are you threatening me?”
she asked, her nostrils flaring.
“I would never threaten
you. I'm warning you,” said Jude,
his jaw twitching. “Until we're in
there with Yēšûă they'll be watching our every step.” He paused and gave a small nod to the rooftops around the
street. “We have been trained to
ensure the mission is a success no matter what we think is right, or at what
cost.”
She spat on his face.
“Now play along, Doctor
Hadar, like the good little Hebrew girl from the 1st Century you are meant to
be,” he said, taking a heavy, silver pistol from underneath his cloak and
placing it against her spine. “I
am doing this for your safety. I
have no desire to hurt you. My
intentions are quite the opposite.
In fact, I am looking forward to struggling through your next periodical
article. I would even get a
subscription to the magazines if I had an actual address.”
“Screw you. The way you cowboys work there won’t be
any history to write about,” she snapped.
Jude opened the wooden
door to the carpenter's workshop and closed it behind him.
The room was empty except
for Maria. She signalled for them
not to speak, before pointing out the windows to indicate people are
listening. She then signalled for
them to follow her.
They followed into a back
room, where she then fell on her knees and guided her hand over the smooth
stone flooring. When she found a
groove in the floor, she pulled at it, and revealed an entry to an underground
tunnel.
Jude and Irene followed
Maria through a series of tight twists and turns in pitch darkness, before
finally coming into a small chamber lit by lanterns.
In the middle of the room
sat Yēšûă on a cushion, surrounded by a few men.
He beamed at them as he
had done that afternoon to the people in the crowd, and signalled for them to
sit by his side.
The light of the lanterns
danced upon his face and beard, giving him an ethereal feel. He spoke to them in Aramaic, using slow
gestures.
“What is he saying?”
asked Jude, scrutinising the dark hallways leading into the chamber.
“Why should I tell you?”
snarled Irene. "I'm going to
tell him why we've come."
Yēšûă cocked his head to
the side and creased his brow. He
tried to soothe the young doctor.
“You're right, I don't
need to know what he is saying. I
just need to do what I came down here to do.” Said Jude, pulling out his pistol into the open. “Ask him which tunnel leads to the
temple?”
“What?” Irene blurted.
“Ask him. We have less than a minute.”
“Before what?”
“Before Spider and the
team come into this tunnel and kill us all.”
“What?”
“If I were Spider, I
wouldn't be confident that I was going to kill Yēšûă, so I'd send the team down
to ensure the job gets done,” said Jude, bowing his head down into an entry and
looking up. “And if we haven't
killed Yēšûă, which I never had the intention of doing, then I'd kill the both
of us too. I'm guessing that he is
thinking like that since he had two of the team shadow us right up until we
came into the tunnels.”
“You don't have any
intention of killing Yēšûă?”
“No.” Jude said simply, peering into Irene's
deep brown eyes. “Ask him the
question, Irene.”
She translated the
question, and explained the situation.
Maria and the other
followers heads turned from one entry to the next, their eyes alert. They pulled daggers from their robes.
Yēšûă pointed to the exit
for Jude, before addressing his followers. He spoke softly and rhythmically.
Slowly the followers put
away their daggers.
“He told them that they
should have no fear for they are children of God,” Irene said. “And that those with faith will find
shelter and protection in their darkest hours.”
Jude aimed his pistol at
the roof of the tunnel heading up to the temple and fired a number of
shots.
Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The followers of Yēšûă
gasped, and one spoke as he looked on with wide eyes.
The dark rocks and mud
collapsed, blocking the entry.
Jude then reloaded his
pistol and repeated this with the tunnel leading back to the carpenter's
workshop.
“Ask Maria if there is
anywhere safe for Yēšûă and his followers to stay for the night. Somewhere with a fair amount of space
around it for me to set booby traps and to monitor approaching soldiers. We will move tomorrow in the daytime,
and use the crowd to mask our movements.”
“If I wasn't scared I'd
catch something nasty, I'd kiss you again right now,” sighed Irene. "You had me going. Don't ever do that again."
“I can't make any
promises, doctor,” the soldier chuckled, peering down the various entry tunnels
and checking for life signals on an electric tablet.
“We need to move,”
ordered Jude. "They're
closing in on us."
“Do we have a chance?”
she asked.
“We have one advantage,”
he responded, giving Irene his pistol and pulling out a submachine gun from
under his cloak.
“What advantage?”
“They've only been here
two days, but you've studied places like this your whole life,” he said.
“I see, so we'll be able
to use my knowledge of the terrain against them.”
“Yeah, you're quickly
becoming a military tactician, Doctor Hadar.”
“I've read Sun Tzu's The Art
of War,” she shrugged. “And
played World of Warcraft many a
lonely night.”
Yēšûă raised a hand and
spoke.
“He said walk in faith
and the path will be lit by God,” translated Irene. “Or something to that effect anyway.”
“Believe me, I'm throwing
a Hail Mary here,” Jude muttered.
Irene translated Jude's
earlier orders for finding a safe-house, and Maria nodded. She began scampering up a tunnel, and
gesturing for everyone to follow her.
Click here to read Chapter 13 of the greatest book since The Last King of Shambhala, now available at any good online book store ...
Hey, by the way, don't know whether you got this message already, but here's what I was hoping you could do for me if you like this book. I am giving away Don't Shoot the Messenger for free because I think it is a great story (bias I know!) that some people out there would love. Thing is, I am not sure who they are - well, there's you, my mum and David Hasselhoff, but that's all I know for sure. So, if you know anyone who would like this book, please send them the trailer or the first chapter. After all, a great story is only great when it is read. Thanks. :-)
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