JESUS IS the Bridge Ministries

Chapter Seventeen

We had learned to do nothing without praying first. Charlie went to get Randy, and Betty left to round up the rest of the clan. While we waited for everyone to gather, Carol shared a bit more of her story with us.

“I grew up in the church. I was saved when I was ten years old, just like Miriam was. Papa and Mama were both strong in their faith, and as long as they were alive I remained true to my faith as well. I was active in our church, and even led several people to Christ. I tried to witness to Henry and Clint, without much success, I’m afraid. You and I were close back then, Miriam; you know how things were.

“What you don’t know is that, after Stan and I were married, I deserted my faith. I began to doubt everything I had learned, everything I was taught as a child and a teenager. I stopped attending the church, I stopped praying, and I put away my Bible. For years, I just existed, without any sense of purpose. When Jenny came along, that gave me a reason for living, but the thought of teaching her my faith didn’t even occur to me. I had long since deserted it myself.

“The day George came into our lives, Jenny was playing alone in a park, around the Cranberry School. She ran in front of car, and actually died. George was right there, and brought her back. I got there just after it happened. I told George I never even believed in Jesus since I was a kid; I was a little afraid to tell the whole truth.

“When we went home, Stan was his usual nasty self, though he was concerned about Jenny. When Jenny told him what had happened to her, that softened his heart; he could never be mean to her. The door opened for George to witness to him then, and he helped Stan see what a mess he had made of his life. He led him through the plan of salvation. He received Christ into his life, and he had never even heard about what that meant before. I always thought that just my living a Christian life in front of him would change him, but of course I was the one who was changed.

“His physical healing was a bonus, but a wonderful one. I rededicated my own life. After he left us, George went on to minister to a group of believers that became our church family. He delivered one of them from demonic possession. In the end, he had to leave because the Security Police were looking for him. They didn’t know how he had escaped the first time, but they were determined it wouldn’t happen again.

“Our little fellowship started to shrink after that. The man who had been demon-possessed, Art, was one of the first ones they took. We heard he died bravely, with great dignity and without anger or fear. A girl Art had once raped, Mary Sue Langley, was the one responsible for bringing Clint back into the church; his wife left him when he came back to Christ. She tried to help Clint when they arrested him. One of the goons shot her in the head, but she survived. I saw her on my way out of Beckley; it was the only good thing that came out of that mess. I have no idea how she survived; she showed me were the bullet had entered.

“Stan was ordained for exactly a week when he was arrested. We think there’s someone inside the church passing on information. None of us wants to believe that, but there’s no other way to explain all of the things that have happened.”

We were ready for our family council by the time she finished. There was barely time to greet Jenny, and give her a hug. We all crowded into the living room, our meeting place of choice.

We explained the situation to everyone. Robbie was the one who took the lead.

“This is my area of expertise, Brethren, I’m sorry to say. I’ve visited the Raleigh County Jail many times, and so has Charlie. The guards know our faces. The only thing I don’t know is whether they know we’re wanted men now. Both of us want to help rescue our brothers, but we can’t do it alone.”

A plan had already begun to take shape in my mind. “I’ve been there many times, too, but on the other side of the bars. The guards wouldn’t be at all surprised to see me brought in as a prisoner. If we could get a uniform or two, and some makeup, Charlie and Robbie might be able to pose as guards long enough to get us inside We could take the desk man hostage, and use the controls at the desk to open the cell blocks and the doors.”

Robbie reached his hand around behind his head, and appeared to be deep in thought for a few minutes. “I know the beat cops there well enough to make myself up like one of them. Thing is, we couldn’t be sure one of them wouldn’t come in while we were there. I don’t know if this a Christian thing to do or not, but I think we’d have to knock a couple of them out on the east Beckley beat, and put them on ice. I know where they hang out, and when they’re out on foot.”

I thought Miriam would object to some of this, but instead she said, “I’m going with you.”

I started to protest that having a woman along would complicate things, but she held up her hand. “He’s my brother, too, Henry. Besides, you’ll need a lookout on the street.”

Robbie had Libby apply makeup to him and Charlie, according to his instructions. She had to dye Charlie’s hair blond, and she fashioned a mustache out of Lady’s hair. That had to be dyed as well. Robbie’s look was a bit harder to achieve; despite his protests, Libby shaved his head, and applied makeup to lighten his face and thicken his eyebrows. We had nothing resembling Security Police uniforms; Charlie said we’d just have to improvise when we got there. I suspected I knew what that meant, but was afraid to ask.

We left around midnight. The plan was to reach Beckley before daylight, and lie low during the day. I knew of places there where no one asked questions, and even the police stayed away. The people who lived there were far from friendly, but they wouldn’t bother four heavily armed strangers. Some of them might recognize me, but they wouldn’t dare run to the cops.

We traveled fast and light, carrying nothing but our guns, some rope and cloth, and a small snack. I felt the surge of divine energy that the Lord had given me when I first came from Beckley. The hours of the night passed quickly while we walked at a fair clip; no one talked much. About daybreak, we reached the northern outskirts of the city, past the empty, sprawling parking lots of the Crossroads Mall. The stores were empty now, and not just because it was early. The earthquake had damaged the mall itself, the trucks had stopped deliveries, and most people had no money for shopping anyway.

Since I was most familiar with the town, I took the lead. We kept to the backstreets, using whatever cover we could find. Many houses were deserted, often just piles of rubble or burned-out hulks. Those that were still occupied had bars or boards over the windows. I was certain eyes were watching us, but no one ventured out. Those watching probably assumed we were outlaws, which suited me fine.

We sought out a flophouse, one of my old haunts. We had enough cold cash to rent the use of a filthy room with no questions asked. None of us wanted to sleep on the filthy mattress; we cleared off space on the floor. Two of us slept, while the other two kept watch. The room was miserably hot, and stank of puke and rotten food, but we were tired.

The day passed much more slowly than the night. When darkness fell, we could hardly wait to get out of the place. Miriam did a final check on the men’s makeup. As an added touch, I got hold of a bottle of rotgut, which wasn’t hard, and doused myself with it. That would make it easier for me to play my part.

We staked out an area where the beat cops commonly patrolled on foot, and waited. It was nine o’clock before we finally got some action. The two policemen appeared on cue, staggering down the street. They were talking and laughing loudly, and apparently had just left a bar.

Charlie and Robbie each picked a target. They waited until the two were just past our hiding place, and stepped out quickly to knock each over the head. The two officers dropped like sacks of feed.

As soon as we saw their faces, Robbie groaned. Both officers were Black, which was not what we expected to see.

“Well, so much for that plan. I could do it, but I doubt Charlie would pass. What do we do now?” He was crushed.

“Don’t give up too soon,” I told him. “There may be another way. I know the cops here, and I know how to pull their chains. Go ahead and remove their shirts, and truss them up. I’ll tell you what we need to do.”

Robbie and Charlie each took one of the limp bodies, and dragged them into the alley where we had been hiding. They were already wearing beige pants, but the patrolmen’s shirts had the police patches. Their military-style caps had the World Security Police logo, and would serve to hide Charlie’s hair. Miriam had a small knife, which she used to cut off most of his carefully crafted mustache.

We tied and gagged the two men, but not so tightly that they couldn’t work themselves free later. I explained my plan to the others as we walked toward the jail. It was simple; I figured that the less complicated it was, the less could go wrong.

The old county jail now had a pretentious “World Security Police Prison” over the door, but it was still the same building. There was a glass door in front, kept locked at night, and the front desk was visible inside. The night duty officer was at the desk, looking bored. While the others waited up the street, I laid down a piece of concrete I had collected on the way. I then staggered up to the front door and began pounding on the glass.

“Open up!” I shouted, with my best drunken slur. “I want a bed!”

The officer spoke to me through the speaker. “Go away, you old fool. Find your own bed.”

I continued shouting, with drunken insistency, and the man outside responded by cursing me. He made no move to come outside, which I had expected. I retrieved the piece of concrete and heaved it at the glass door. The glass was shatter-resistant, but the rock made quite a loud sound as it hit. That had the intended result. Bolting from his chair, the officer strode to the door, and unlocked it. When he opened it, I collapsed to the ground.

As he drew his foot back to kick me, cursing, Robbie spoke. He and Charlie were casually walking down the street. “Got a problem, Pete?”

The man looked up, and saw what he assumed were two of the beat officers walking down the street. “Just some stinking drunk! I’m going to teach him a lesson. You two help me-- Hey, you’re not—“

That was as much as he got out. Robbie clubbed him over the head with his borrowed pistol, and Charlie caught him as he fell.

Miriam positioned herself in the shadows, and we went inside with the duty officer. Charlie tied him up in a corner, out of sight of the street. According to the plan, he stayed at the desk while Robbie and I opened all of the doors in the cellblock, and went back to look for our brethren.

Both of them were in bad shape. They had been beaten repeatedly. I could think of nothing to do but pray for them, which we did. The Lord revived them enough to respond to us. I was with Clint when he roused himself.

“Clint? It’s me, Henry, your brother. We’ve come to rescue you. Can you walk, if I help you?”

He tried to smile, which didn’t quite work with his bloodied mouth. “Good to see you, Henry, but you stink,” he croaked. “Just help me up, and I’ll go with you anywhere. They just brought in Mary Jane; see if she’s able to walk first.”

She was in a cell toward the back of the block, bruised but still conscious. I figured it had to be her, though I’d never seen her before.

“Mary Jane? I’m Clint’s brother, Henry. Would you like to get out of here?”

“You bet!” she responded, with more enthusiasm than I expected from someone who had just been beaten up.

She helped me with Clint, and Robbie half-carried Stan to the front. Charlie joined us there, and we went outside. We were surprised to see Miriam holding two cops at bay, the very ones we had tried to imitate. Charlie took them inside, and locked them in two of their own cells. We left the area as quickly as we could considering Clint’s and Stan’s condition.

By the time dawn broke we were well out of Beckley, but still a long way from home. We stopped to rest for the sake of our wounded, and cleaned them up as best we could. They were recovering quickly, which had to be the Lord’s doing. Before we headed out again, all three of them were able to eat a little food.

It was well after dark when we arrived back at the home place. Randy met us, and told us how concerned everyone was about us. We hadn’t given them any kind of schedule, because we really didn’t know how long it would all take.

The homecoming was glorious. Carol and Jenny both came running to meet us as soon as we were in sight of the house. In spite of his injuries, Stan freed himself from Robbie’s grasp, and staggered to meet them. Watching them hugging and kissing and crying all over each other brought tears to my own eyes. I saw Betty coming toward us through my tears.

Charlie said gently, “Go meet her, Henry. I’ve got Clint.”

I left my brother in my friend’s strong hands, and ran to meet my love.

The firs thing she whispered in my ear was, “I understand Brother Stan is a preacher.”

Chapter 18