Read Online The Chosen by Joyce Swann, Alexandra Swann - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Joyce Swann, Alexandra Swann
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men squinted while they waited for their eyes to adjust.
Sid led Michael and Jeff through a maze of rose bushes, religious statues, and fountains to the back of the garden where the three of them could talk without fear of being overheard. Michael had to be very careful. He trusted Sid, but he could not divulge any information that might endanger Keith and the others. He had already made up his mind that he would not tell Sid that he knew anything other than what Sid had told him in their brief phone conversation the previous evening.
“Tell me everything you know,” Michael said as soon as they were seated on the long wooden bench under a group of trees.
“I was helping the father prepare for Sunday mass when they came in,” Sid replied.
“Who were they?” Michael inquired.
“Four men who said that they were special agents from the Religious Unity Agency. They asked to speak to Nathan O’Brien. When the father told them that he was Nathan O’Brien, they showed him their badges and said that he was under arrest. When he asked what the charges were, they wouldn’t tell him anything else. They grabbed him very roughly and handcuffed his hands behind his back. ”
“Did they say where they were taking him?”
“No. They just said that they were taking him for an arraignment hearing before a federal judge.”
Sid put his face in his hands to hide his tears. He was an old man—probably late seventies. He was of medium height but very frail with a thick head full of silver white hair. As Michael watched him sitting on that bench fighting back the tears he was reminded of the martyred saints in the Bible. “It’s a sin to harm a priest,” Sid whispered. “God sees everything, and He will give Father O’Brien justice. Those men will pay for what they d id .”
Sid’s hands still hid his face. Michael rose from the bench and stood beside him . Putting his arm around the old man’s shoulder, he said, “Father O’Brien has been my close friend for more than twenty years. He is like a brother to me. I will do everything I can to help him. But I want you to know that Father O’Brien is ready to meet his Lord if that becomes necessary. I want you to go home now and stay there. Don’t talk to anyone, and in a few days this danger will pass.”
The old man nodded in agreement. “God bless you.”
While the three men had been talking in the garden, Arthur Danville had been watching them from the window of the rectory. B efore Michael and Jeff had left through the garden gate at the rear of the property, Arthur had already call ed the RUA. “May I speak to Agent Carter? Tell him it’s about Father Nathan O’Brien.” In less than fifteen seconds Agent Carter was on the line. “You told me to call you if anyone came asking about the priest ,” Danville spoke the words with a lilt in his voice and a smile on his lips.
At 11:23 P.M. Agent Carter and his partner knocked on the door of Sid Portman’s small apartment. A neighbor heard the knock through the thin wall that connected her apartment to his. She had never known Sid to have visitors so late at night. She peeked through a slit in the blinds just in time to see Sid being shoved into a black van with government license plates.
Fifteen hours later the battered and bloodied body of Sid Portman was transported from the RUA interrogation room to the special government morgue for transport to a mass grave.
Chapter 11
A t 6:00 A.M. Michael, Jeff, and Keith sat on the floor of the watch tower as Keith logged onto his laptop and contacted Kyle. He filled Kyle in on everything that Michael had managed to learn about Nate’s disappearance and waited for a reply.
As they sat watching the first rays of sunlight appear over the horizon, Keith commented, “I ’ m almost certain that they took him to the Federal Courthouse. I mean, if he were going to appear before a federal j udge, I ca n’t really see them taking him anywhere
Sid led Michael and Jeff through a maze of rose bushes, religious statues, and fountains to the back of the garden where the three of them could talk without fear of being overheard. Michael had to be very careful. He trusted Sid, but he could not divulge any information that might endanger Keith and the others. He had already made up his mind that he would not tell Sid that he knew anything other than what Sid had told him in their brief phone conversation the previous evening.
“Tell me everything you know,” Michael said as soon as they were seated on the long wooden bench under a group of trees.
“I was helping the father prepare for Sunday mass when they came in,” Sid replied.
“Who were they?” Michael inquired.
“Four men who said that they were special agents from the Religious Unity Agency. They asked to speak to Nathan O’Brien. When the father told them that he was Nathan O’Brien, they showed him their badges and said that he was under arrest. When he asked what the charges were, they wouldn’t tell him anything else. They grabbed him very roughly and handcuffed his hands behind his back. ”
“Did they say where they were taking him?”
“No. They just said that they were taking him for an arraignment hearing before a federal judge.”
Sid put his face in his hands to hide his tears. He was an old man—probably late seventies. He was of medium height but very frail with a thick head full of silver white hair. As Michael watched him sitting on that bench fighting back the tears he was reminded of the martyred saints in the Bible. “It’s a sin to harm a priest,” Sid whispered. “God sees everything, and He will give Father O’Brien justice. Those men will pay for what they d id .”
Sid’s hands still hid his face. Michael rose from the bench and stood beside him . Putting his arm around the old man’s shoulder, he said, “Father O’Brien has been my close friend for more than twenty years. He is like a brother to me. I will do everything I can to help him. But I want you to know that Father O’Brien is ready to meet his Lord if that becomes necessary. I want you to go home now and stay there. Don’t talk to anyone, and in a few days this danger will pass.”
The old man nodded in agreement. “God bless you.”
While the three men had been talking in the garden, Arthur Danville had been watching them from the window of the rectory. B efore Michael and Jeff had left through the garden gate at the rear of the property, Arthur had already call ed the RUA. “May I speak to Agent Carter? Tell him it’s about Father Nathan O’Brien.” In less than fifteen seconds Agent Carter was on the line. “You told me to call you if anyone came asking about the priest ,” Danville spoke the words with a lilt in his voice and a smile on his lips.
At 11:23 P.M. Agent Carter and his partner knocked on the door of Sid Portman’s small apartment. A neighbor heard the knock through the thin wall that connected her apartment to his. She had never known Sid to have visitors so late at night. She peeked through a slit in the blinds just in time to see Sid being shoved into a black van with government license plates.
Fifteen hours later the battered and bloodied body of Sid Portman was transported from the RUA interrogation room to the special government morgue for transport to a mass grave.
Chapter 11
A t 6:00 A.M. Michael, Jeff, and Keith sat on the floor of the watch tower as Keith logged onto his laptop and contacted Kyle. He filled Kyle in on everything that Michael had managed to learn about Nate’s disappearance and waited for a reply.
As they sat watching the first rays of sunlight appear over the horizon, Keith commented, “I ’ m almost certain that they took him to the Federal Courthouse. I mean, if he were going to appear before a federal j udge, I ca n’t really see them taking him anywhere
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