Sanders walked pretty quickly for a man that had been shot in the leg. It wasn’t the first or even the fifteenth time that he had suffered this sort of injury, but one never seemed to acclimate to it, no matter how often it happened. Never the less he kept moving. He needed transportation and quickly. The SUV was wonderful, but now it was a liability. Fortunately it didn’t contain any incriminating evidence. His fingerprints weren’t on record anywhere and the vehicle registration would lead to a dead end if traced. He also needed to know the man’s name that he was tracking. He had known too much and Sanders had little doubt that he was responsible for killing Owen. Sanders stopped and in that moment knew exactly where he could kill two birds with one stone.
Chris Taylor had been serving in one church or another for as long as he could remember. Whether it was singing in the choir, cleaning the kitchen after a fellowship dinner, or leading Vacation Bible School, it seemed like he had been more in the church then out of it. It was a natural enough thing then for him to go to seminary and become a pastor. He loved his job. It was far from easy though to do it for a living. He had assumed on some level that God would just give him all of the strength he needed to do the day in and day out work. When that strength didn’t materialize he blamed God. He often found himself asking God why had he even been called to do this work. It had become a chore to do that which he knew he should, everything from reading the Bible to prayer. People constantly wanted to know how he did it. They asked him what his magic formula was.
Finally God started to answer these prayers in the church he headed up now. Westridge definitely had some problems, to be sure, but its strength was in its honesty. The people here didn’t expect him to be perfect or have all of the answers. He was expected to lead, but he wasn’t alone. Three other people made up the permanent staff and they had a few volunteers to take care of some of the things that Chris himself had never been good at, mostly things that involved the running of any office. The last three years had been a real blessing. He’d actually had time to do some serious continuing education and that plus the spiritual education he’d received through his flock and the renewing from the Holy Spirit had increased his faith dramatically. He knew that he was still wishy-washy when it came to certain things, but the ground under his feet was firming up nicely.
That made all of what he felt was about to happen that much more sad. He knew that he was about to undergo a radical change. He had told Matt that he should give himself up because it would be better for his friend’s safety. He told the Detective that Matt was giving himself up because he feared for his safety. Neither of those things was true. Chris had begun to have these dreams recently. The details were always more than a little fuzzy, but over the course of the last few weeks he knew that there were some people in his church whose lives were about to undergo radical change. He knew that Matt and Robin were two. He had hoped to marry those two one day. He may yet, though Chris knew that he was the other person impacted by these dreams and that made it unlikely. He wasn’t sure that the change would be permanent, but the best changes usually were.
He had been praying solidly since he heard Lee and Matt leave. He had not followed then out, so he knew nothing about the confrontation that had occurred. Over an hour had passed in reflection, praise, and communication with his Master. That hour had flown. The silence of the sanctuary and what went on inside was interrupted for the second time by the presence of a stranger.
“It’s almost a shame to interrupt such a lovely tableau.” Sanders stood, feet shoulder width apart. One pant leg was smeared with blood, his blond hair was mussed, and the smile that crawled onto his face painted a picture discordant with his smooth voice.
Chris stood and turned. “How can I help you?”
“There was a man that left here with a police detective just a short time ago. You could help me by telling me his name.” Sanders took a few steps forward.
“It seems to me that you’d be benefited more by a trip to the doctor to look after that leg of yours than to make inquiries about people taking sanctuary here.” Chris took a step back and sat down gently on the steps that rose like a dais. “You’re welcome to use the phone to call for an ambulance.”
“Sanctuary? But didn’t you give him up to the law. There was a time when sanctuary meant something. If you were really a man of the cloth then you would have let him stay.”
Chris met the large man’s stare. “He gave himself up willingly. He felt the need to atone for what he had done and to seek mercy from the courts.”
“Mercy.” Sanders practically spat the word out. “The courts know nothing about mercy. For that matter neither does this god you and the boy worship. After all look at what he did to his own son. That is far from merciful. Now tell me his name and I will show you the meaning of the word.” He came halfway down the aisle and stopped.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. What I can do is talk to you about God’s mercy and his love for you. If you’re not seeking sanctuary here and don’t want that mercy then I’d ask you to leave. You have no business here.” Chris, looking deeply into Sanders’ eyes saw something that told him that the man definitely had no business here. He stood up, realizing that even three steps up the stranger was still taller than him.
“Oh I have business here, make no mistake. When I leave here I will know his name and you will know mine.” He closed the distance with the preacher.
Chris saw him coming and understood what was about to happen. He also began to understand Jesus’ prayer in the garden. He hoped he would have half the resolve.
Sanders walked out of the church, gripping a set of keys in one hand. The man of god had been strong. Strong enough that he hadn’t given up the information that Sanders said he had needed. In truth he hadn’t really need to interview the pastor at all. There were copies of the church’s directory in its office. Each one had pictures, names, addresses, and phone numbers. He was now looking for one Matt York. At least the pastor had given him something useful. He located Chris’s car in the lot and got in. It was a little smaller than he was used to and smelled of mint, but it would get the job done. He slowly rolled out of the lot and headed to Matt’s apartment. Perhaps something there would give him a clue as to the man’s next step.
