“This is a terrible idea,” Zach said, staring out of the car window to the towering building across the street. His normally pale face flushed with apprehension. “What makes us think we can just leisurely walk into the World Bank, grab a bunch of jewelry and make it out of the city? Tom is out of his mind if he thinks we can get away with this. We are driving a gas-powered car. They will know we are Colonials. Bear will literally kill me—kill me!—if anything happens to Ruth! He will put me in a chokehold and squeeze until every ounce of breath has left my body!”
“You have been in the World Bank before,” Ruth said, staring at her brother’s profile from the back seat. She could see sweat trickle down his cheek. “Tom has prayed over it, and we have planned every detail. Jonah will be there too. I feel that everything will be okay. Bear would not kill you—though, he may put you in a chokehold,” she said with a slight smile.
Zach looked back to his sister. “Your new-found wit doesn’t humor me one bit. And you feel it? What happened to my sister who is all logic and no gut? What you feel doesn’t make me feel any better. We should just leave right now before everyone sees you. Tom can find another way to raise the funds for his rebellion.”
“What other way, Zach? Do you think it is a coincidence that I collected millions of dollars of jewels and that I still have my keycard? If it were not for the pearls that God had me put in my pocket a year ago, I would not be alive today. I needed funds to get back home. There are lives at stake. We need money to help people and to accomplish God’s work and the funds for that are sitting in my vault.”
“Look you two,” Li said, as his eyes continually scanned the scene beyond the windows. “You need to make a decision now. Ruth’s card expires tomorrow. The bank must let her in the vault. There is no precedent for this, and they won’t want to make a scene. The last thing the World Bank wants is publicity from a dead, famous woman, especially Eve Pallue. And don’t forget. All of our lives are at stake here. The World Government thinks I’m dead too.”
“You’re right, Li. We are all taking a great risk. I fear for all of us.” Zach furrowed his eyebrows and turned fully to face his sister, gripping the headrest of his seat. “I’ve prayed. I have no clarity.”
“Zach, I think you have no clarity because you are too emotionally involved. I know Jonah will be there, and the longer you wait, the more we compromise our position,” Ruth said.
“I just wish God would give me a sign. I know I shouldn’t have to always ask for one, but I need something. There is too much at stake. At least a single word!”
“Star!” Li blurted out.
Zach looked toward Li. His tan face dripped with sweat and his knuckles were almost white from clutching the wheel too tightly.
Li hesitated. “Star—I don’t know. I just felt that word just now in my mind. Does it mean anything?”
Zach sat stunned for a few seconds. Suddenly, the anxiety on his face transformed to determination. “Ruth, let’s do this. Li, we will be right back with millions worth of jewelry, so don’t go anywhere.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll hold back from going to that café we passed on our way here,” Li said, leaning his forehead on the steering wheel.
Zach opened his door and stepped out. He wore a tailored suit that Ruth had made. He slipped on his sunglasses and ran his hand through his blonde hair, causing his fingers to get stuck. He forgot that Pilar had put some sort of product in his hair to keep his hair from falling into his face. He untangled his fingers and hastily opened the passenger door to let Ruth out.
Ruth wore a black pantsuit that she had also made. Pilar came over early that morning and applied her makeup and curled her long hair into soft waves. She wore black, scuffed heels a size too big and carried a tattered briefcase—all items traded for at the last bazaar. As Zach led the way across the city street, she walked a few steps behind him.
Zach wished he could be accompanying Ruth as a Runner, not as her Bodyguard. He felt like a phony, and he tried to mimic the Bodyguards he had seen briefly in the past. They always carried themselves with confidence and slight cockiness. He prayed that Li’s attempt to change his Runner status to Bodyguard status had worked. He knew Li was smart, but he didn’t feel like betting his life on it just yet.
They arrived too soon at the doors to the World Bank, and Zach floundered at grabbing the handle to open the door for Ruth. Ruth gave him a brief, irritated look. Zach wondered if she was truly annoyed or if she was simply playing the part.
As they entered the expansive lobby, Zach was grateful that the vicinity was relatively empty. Most desks were void of personnel and only a few clerks stood behind the long counter toward the back of the lobby. A man saw them enter from one of the glass-enclosed offices and began to make his way toward the entrance. Zach knew this short, heavyset white man was not Jonah. He stopped feeling his heart pound. He was just about to tell Ruth to forget the entire thing when a deep voice rang over the intercom.
“Simpson, you are needed in the security center immediately.” The words boomed off the immense walls.
The man stopped abruptly. He gestured toward Zach and Ruth and said, “Wait.”
He turned and headed toward the hallway situated between his office and the lobby counter. Suddenly, a large, dark man wearing a suit appeared from the hallway. He stopped for a moment, glancing momentarily where Zach and Ruth stood. He said a few curt words to the man before walking into the lobby. The other man disappeared down the hall.
Zach knew he was seeing Jonah for the first time, but he couldn’t get over how intimidating the man was. When Ruth talked about him, he envisioned a large, sweet teddy bear. This man was a giant with a no-nonsense expression on his face. As he walked closer to where he and Ruth were standing, Zach couldn’t help thinking that he was about to be tackled to the ground.
“How may I help you?” his voice rolled out like an ocean tide. “My name is Matt Coughlin.”
“Uh—yes, I’m here to assist my client in opening her vault,” Zach stammered.
“You nervous, son?” Jonah asked with a twinge of humor in his voice.
“No, sir. Not at all,” Zach said.
“You know,” Jonah said, as he grabbed the print identifier from the attachment on his belt. “There is no need to be nervous at the World Bank. We know and see everything here. We are protected from all danger and every threat.”
Zach didn’t know if Jonah was trying to be threatening or encouraging.
“Place your thumb here,” Jonah said.
Zach instantly brought his thumb to the identifier, like he had done so many times in the past as a Runner. He silently prayed that his profile would come up as a Bodyguard.
Jonah stared at the screen and then back at Zach. “You’re kind of lean to be a Bodyguard, aren’t you?”
Zach smiled awkwardly. “Well, what I lack in mass, I make up in skill.”
“I see that you are not carrying?” Jonah said, nodding to his belt.
“I have a leg holster,” Zach said, patting his trousers.
“Let’s just hope you don’t blow off your foot,” Jonah said.
Then Jonah’s eyes reverted to Ruth, and he paused for a moment. “You look well this morning, Miss. How are you feeling today?”
Ruth said nothing for a long moment and stared at Jonah. “Well,” Ruth said in T-variety. “Business.”
“Yes, I’m sure you have business to attend to. Let me get your thumbprint, so we can get you started.”
Ruth raised her right thumb to the print identifier. The scars on her hand became evident.
“What happened to your hand?” Jonah asked, concern rising in his voice.
“Accident. Infant,” Ruth said, placing her thumb to the identifier.
Zach noticed that Jonah’s countenance instantly changed. He now saw the man that Ruth had described. “She doesn’t like to talk about it,” Zach interjected, trying to repair the façade of generalities that was shattering.
The print identifier made a noise that Zach had never heard.
“It can’t read your print,” Jonah whispered. “You have no identity.”
