Zero Day, стр. 14
Could Reuel have killed Issachar? Over what?
“My old friend was always too trusting,” Reuel said. “It’s too bad he taught you the same. If you’d been more cunning…”
“I wouldn’t be here today, tied up and sitting on the floor like this.”
Reuel shrugged. “Like I said, we need to talk.”
There was nothing Yona wanted to talk about with him. She would need more proof, but it was becoming clear to her who the traitor was.
All this time she had blamed Kelvin based on the evidence that Reuel had fed her.
Who blew Issachar’s cover? Kelvin.
Who led to his death? Kelvin.
Who deserved the blame? Kelvin.
Who should die for this? Kelvin.
All lies. Lies!
“I thought you’re on our side,” Yona said.
“I’m on my own side.” Reuel smiled.
Yona prayed for God to forgive her for listening to the wrong people.
Thank God for Dario and Leland!
They had stepped in just in time to prevent Yona from making an irreversible mistake.
A cloud of reasonable doubt hovered over Issachar’s death.
Yona would have to start all over again with her investigation. At least now she had more evidence, yet not enough. She needed to find out what was really going on.
“All right. What do you want to talk about?” Yona asked.
“That’s my girl.”
Yona grunted. “No, no. Just because I agree to talk with you doesn’t mean I’m endorsing everything you do. I don’t know what you do or who you work for. And I don’t think we can have a decent conversation if I’m all tied up like this.”
Reuel smiled. Motioned for his assistants to take care of Yona. “Bring her all cleaned up to the car. We’re going for a ride.”
Chapter 11
Kelvin couldn’t see anything with a black hood over his head. His hands were still tied behind his back. Two people—one on each side of him—led him on a walk longer than a gangplank on a pirate’s ship.
He heard many doors open and shut. The way some of them echoed told him that they were huge doors. Was he back at the hangar? Or was this a warehouse of some sort attached to the hangar?
Finally, they pulled the hood off his head. The room was dark, but right in front of him was a shipping container.
They shoved him into the container and slammed the door behind him.
Kelvin dropped to his knees. Never had he felt so disappointed with himself. He could go through the entire spectrum of “should not” and he would hit every single one of them.
“Forgive me, Lord!” He fell over into a fetal position and wept onto the floor.
He tapped the floor. It sounded almost solid. He knew that beneath it was a concrete floor. No escape that way.
Above his head, a small lightbulb hung, caged in an aluminum housing—probably to prevent him from hurting himself.
You think?
Kelvin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry—but in this case, neither. He was doomed to die, but his only regret was he had dragged Yona into the pit with him.
“Lord, please keep Yona safe, wherever they’ve taken her.”
And yet…
Yet, Kelvin wasn’t overly worried about Yona. She seemed to know Reuel and had some history with him.
Kelvin had no idea who Reuel was. Or Issachar, for that matter.
He prayed that Reuel needed them both alive for whatever reason. Maybe long enough for Dario and Dmitri to mount a rescue.
If they would come at all.
Truly, only God could rescue them now.
It was pointless for Kelvin to pray for absolution. He had taken the ten million dollars. He had worked on MedusaNet, even when warning signs were everywhere.
Kelvin sighed.
Everyone wanted something but no one was satisfied.
Reuel wanted something—whatever it was.
Leland, and therefore Binary Systems, wanted their good reputation restored.
Dario would want to take Kelvin home to the United States for trial—if Yona didn’t have first dibs on a trial in Israel for the murder of one Issachar, whom Kelvin didn’t even know.
Aspasia was probably still looking for Ulysses. Was he even alive?
And Kelvin? He wanted a chance with Yona, but it was too late now. If she were to count reputation points, he had zero. Or negative.
At the end of the day, all Kelvin had was God.
God—who knew that Kelvin was a sinner and still loved him anyway.
God—who had not forsaken him in spite of his wayward life.
Am I even saved?
Wasn’t it true that if he were saved, he wouldn’t have sinned so much? So terribly? Causing so much grief with his friends and co-workers?
Kelvin tried to recall a verse he had learned in Sunday School back when he was still attending church. He memorized I John 1:8-9 because everyone else in class did. Little did he know how true it was of his own life.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
“I am sorry, Lord Jesus, for all my sins. I have no excuse.”
Kelvin wept.
With a thick hood over her head, Yona could not tell how far they had traveled or what time of the morning it was. All she could hear was Reuel talking to her at the back of the Rolls Royce.
From the sometimes bumpy road beneath, Yona guessed they were still in the countryside somewhere. Probably still in the Czech Republic.
She listened to Reuel drone on, trying to read between the lines, pick apart his sentences. She’d put the reasons together later. For now, her best bet to staying alive was to let Reuel talk.
Yona filtered out every single reference Reuel quoted from the Bible. She had no confidence in his genuine religiosity, considering what he had done to her and Kelvin. Not only had Reuel broken the law of every nation concerning abduction, he had also sinned against God for lying and misleading Yona into believing that her last job on earth was to assassinate Kelvin.
Now she wanted to live.
And