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Several more shots rang out from somewhere near the buildings. The sounds suggested more than one person was shooting at something, and since Paul was beside me, I figured it must be the other guys who were doing the shooting.

Paul picked me up by the scruff of the jacket area near my neck and snatched Jennifer's goggles from the ground at the same time. With the help of Brian, they, more or less, carried me to the part of the forest where Jennifer had been waiting.

I was in shock and not reacting very well. Paul slapped me across the face several times in order to get me to attend to the business at hand.

Over the next hour and a half to two hours, we made our way back to where Kevin was waiting for us. The urgency of the struggle to get away helped take my mind off what had happened.

The situation would have been tragic enough to have had to deal with even if I still were suffering from amnesia. The fact my memory had returned colored the world in eerie, alien hues that went beyond the green tinge with which the night-vision goggles were imbuing everything.

By the time we reached the canoe on the shore, the dawn was in an advanced stage. We had been able to traverse the last part of the journey without need of the goggles.

When we reached the boat, Paul had contacted Kevin with the communications device and told him to start up the engines. By the time we reached the docking area, the plane was ready to go.

Kevin could tell by the looks on our faces that things had gone wrong. He didn't bother to ask about Jennifer, he seemed to know.

We took off in silence, like monks in a monastery observing a vow. We flew back in the same fashion.

I sat next to Brian during the return trip. From time to time, I looked over at him, and, from time to time, he returned my gaze.

There was something about him that was different from what I had remembered based on my meeting with him at the prison. I attributed the differences to what we both had been through since we last met.

Finally, we landed and disembarked. While Kevin was busy securing the plane, Brian turned to Paul and me.

He said: "I have a message for you from Rip. He said you should meet him in Toronto at an address where all three of you have been."

A strange feeling came over me, only part of which was in reaction to the cryptic nature of the message that was being communicated to Paul and myself. With a certainty which seemed entirely misplaced, I stated, in a rather rhetorical fashion: "You're not Brian, are you? You're Warren."

He smiled and replied: "Guilty." Then, he said: "When Brian was taken from prison by the people who run the facility at Eagle Lake, we had come to know of their plan ahead of time and had made our own contingency arrangements.

"They are not the only ones who understand the workings of psychopharmacology. Native peoples know a thing or three about such matters as well, and my travels in South America were very helpful in this regard.

"In any case, we intercepted Brian's kidnappers and put them to sleep while we made a switch. For reasons I'm not at liberty to go into, I took Brian's place, and Brian went about his business elsewhere.

"The guys at Eagle Lake have been trying to extract information from the wrong person for several weeks now. Moreover, whatever information they have acquired will not help them to achieve the purposes behind their kidnaping Brian from prison."

"You were a decoy?!" indicated Paul, both stating and asking at the same time.

"Essentially, yes," answered Warren. "I have further duties in that regard which is why I must take my leave of you gentlemen at this time.

"I'm very sorry about what happened to the young woman," he offered. "I owe her and you all a great deal, and the only way I know of which will permit me to fulfil the obligations entailed by this debt is to continue in my assigned duties."

Paul and I both started to inquire about the nature of his task when he replied: "My understanding is that whatever answers can be provided concerning all of this will be given by Rip when you meet him in Toronto. The time left to us all is relatively short, so I suggest we get moving in our respective directions."

Paul and I shook hands with Warren. We watched him walk away and disappear around a bend in the road.

We thanked Kevin for his help and Paul tried to offer him some money to cover his expenses. Kevin wasn't interested in getting anything for his efforts.

Paul warned Kevin that, at some point, authorities of various descriptions very likely would be prowling about town. Paul suggested Kevin would be well advised to run everything through the fishing charter angle and try to keep to the facts as much as possible without deviating from that story: We came; we flew; we fished; we flew some more; we left.

We got into the car. While Paul was starting up the engine, he told me we ought to head for Saint John, New Brunswick and fly to Toronto from there.

He felt we wouldn't have to produce any kind of identification at the Canadian border. Furthermore, once in Canada, passports would not be required to take a domestic flight from one Canadian city to another.

We could place the car in long-term parking at the airport. In this way, the car wouldn't attract unwanted attention, and he would worry about making arrangements to pick up the car at some later time.

I agreed with his ideas. He put the car in gear, and we headed north.

Exhausted, both emotionally and physically, I slept all the way to the Canadian border. Once through the immigration/customs check-point, I went back to sleep until we reached Saint John.

Before going back to sleep, I informed Paul that my memory had returned. I kind of wished I still had amnesia since, among other things, I would not be feeling as much pain about Jennifer as was presently the case.

The void of sleep helped anaesthetize me. How little do we tend to be thankful for the many mercies that come to us through this disengagement from waking life.

Storing the car, purchasing tickets, and the flight to Toronto all took place without incident. During the flight, Paul and I discussed the message that had come to us from Rip via Warren.

We both came to the same conclusion. The only address that made any sense was 99 St. Jude.

Three or four hours later we were walking through Pearson Airport in Toronto. Paul said we should take a bus into the city rather than take an airport limousine, since our movements would be more difficult to trace if we did this.

Before purchasing our tickets for the bus, Paul bought a street guide of Toronto. Within a short period of time, we had located St. Jude.

The bus ride into the city took about thirty minutes or so. When we got off the bus, we took a subway to the stop nearest St. Jude.

After a fifteen minute walk, we were in front of 99 St. Jude. We climbed the stairs and rang the bell somewhere around five-thirty in the afternoon.

A minute or so later, Rip opened the door. His greeting was very warm, and he invited us into the interior of the house.

We sat down in the indicated chairs, and Rip asked us what we would like to drink. We gave our requests, and he disappeared briefly before coming back with the refreshments.

I asked Rip: "So, is this another vacant lot we are sitting in, just like in Boston?"

He grinned and answered: "David, compared to Divinity, everything is a vacant lot. The difference between people is that some people are aware of this, and some of us are not."

I provided Rip with an account of everything that had occurred since we last had been together. That time seemed like years ago, and, yet, only about ten days had passed.

Somehow, I felt Rip already knew pretty much everything I was telling him. He listened to it, however, as if he were learning about it for the first time.

He expressed his condolences concerning Jennifer. He spoke about her for a few moments, as if he knew her quite well, and described, quite accurately, many of her marvelous qualities, both spiritual and interpersonal.

We were all silent for a few moments. Finally, Paul said: "Before departing from one another, Warren indicated to David and myself that you might provide us with whatever explanation could be given about what is going on. Is this possible now?"

Nodding his head, Rip answered: "I would say you both have earned an explanation. Nevertheless, I should warn you ahead of time that what I have to say may not answer all your questions."

Paul shrugged and responded: "Whatever we get from you is more than what either David or I have at the present time."

Rip paused slightly and then began to speak. "There is a ceremony which is to be observed in the very near future. This ceremony is to mark the occasion of the beginning of the end of the last stage of human existence on Earth.

"The time, place and participants in this ceremony have been established since human beings first walked on the surface of this planet. Relatively recently, people associated with Futures Unlimited, employing the help of some individuals with psychic abilities, have become aware of some, but not all, of the details of this ceremony.

"For several months, the people at Futures Unlimited desperately have been trying to obtain the missing pieces to their puzzle. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, their psychics are not capable of seeing deeply enough into the matter to supply the people at Futures Unlimited with all the information that the latter individuals would like to have.

"Unknown to the people at Futures Unlimited, the existing Rules of Engagement covering these issues prevents their psychics from seeing any more deeply than they do. In any event, those people have been resorting to other means in order to supplement the information they have.

"Your attempted abduction, David, together with the ones involving Beth and Brian were part of such supplemental activities. In addition, there have been a number of other abductions that have taken place over the last several months involving individuals from different religious communities.

"The people at Futures Unlimited know that Brian Idaho has some sort of key role to play in all of this. When Beth Idaho walked into your office, you got drawn into the whole affair.

"Beth was taken in order to find out what she knew and who you were. Brian was removed from prison because those people knew they were running out of time with respect to the ceremony that they wanted to stop from happening, and they were beginning to panic.

"You were becoming something of an unpredictable irritant in the whole affair, David, so, when you couldn't be distracted by the offer from the Bettinger Foundation, they tried to abduct you. When that plan failed, they, for a variety of reasons, took steps with your friends Ken and Pam, but mostly they did what they did because Ken was making progress with his inquiries on your behalf, and he was getting too close to a few things that had the potential to expose some of their activities for what they were and are.

"When you continued to be a player by undertaking the trip to Chicago, and especially when your call to Mary Streeter set in motion a further round of unwanted inquiries, they decided to frame you for murder and, hopefully, put an end to the manner in which your stumbling about was proving to be increasingly embarrassing to them. Your friend, Paul, here, fouled up that plan when he provided you with an alibi at the time the undercover agent was murdered.

"There next course of action was simply to terminate you and Mary Streeter. They succeeded in the latter case, but not in the former case.

"In fact, they were not entirely successful in their attempts to stop Mary either since she already had made arrangements to provide David with critical information concerning the facility at Eagle Lake. This led to the rescue and release of Warren Idaho who is busy, as we speak, playing out the rest of his role in the matter at hand."

Paul interrupted at this point and asked: "What is there about this ceremony to which you alluded earlier that is so important to the people at Futures Unlimited that they would be willing to kill and abduct people in order to find out about such an event and that they would be willing to try to prevent various individuals, like Ken Pratt or Mary Streeter, from finding out about what they were doing either with respect to the ceremony or in relation to other kinds of activities?"

"The people at Futures Unlimited believe they are the guardians of civilization. They believe they have the duty of preserving, as well as continuing to add to, the scientific, artistic, medical, literary, religious, philosophical and technological achievements of human beings.

"Their psychic advisors have informed them, quite correctly, that if the ceremony in question takes place, a series of events will ensue that will end, at some point in time, in the termination of the human race. The people at Futures Unlimited feel they are under an obligation to stop this from happening.

"They believe they are the agents of destiny who have been entrusted by God with the responsibility of protecting human achievements- past, present and future. They see the ceremony as the work of evil incarnate in which an eternal darkness will enter into the universe through the door represented by the ceremony.

"What the people at Futures Unlimited do not understand is that the existence of the Universe has never been about humanity. It always has been about Divinity.

"These people want to preserve human accomplishments as if such works have inherent value. They do not, and they never did.

"Those sorts of activity merely represent the seductions of the world. People become preoccupied with pursuing such things and, as a result, have no time for the real purposes underlying human existence.

"The desire to pursue accomplishments, achievements, awards, rewards, and so on, in and of themselves, is an expression of the activities of the ego. The people who become entangled in these activities don't even understand that whatever creations, inventions, discoveries, or insights come into being through them are not really their productions.

"Moreover, what comes, comes both as a gift and as a trial. We are given things by Divinity to see what we will do with them and how we will respond and react to them.

"The opportunities for spiritual realization that are entailed by human existence on Earth are going to be shut down by the very One who has made them possible in the first place. The people at Futures Unlimited take exception with such a decision because they are convinced it denies, as well as interferes with, everything they believe to be important about the potential of human beings in the scheme of things.

"They do not understand that things will not come to an end as a result of the ceremony. The ceremony is nothing more than a sacred observance which has been commanded by Divinity.

"The people involved in the ceremony are not revolutionaries who, subsequent to that event, will go about trying to destroy civilization or humanity. In fact, these people only will attempt to help whomever they can to make the best spiritual use of whatever time remains to us.

"How much time - whether hours, days, weeks, years, decades, or centuries - remains before the end comes, following the observance of the ceremony, is not known - at least not by human beings. Our duty is merely to perform the tasks that have been assigned to us and leave the rest to Divinity.

"The people at Futures Unlimited believe they can alter the course of destiny. They are convinced that free will is all-encompassing when, in reality, it is very limited in character - although, to be sure, in the margin of these limited degrees of freedom, the fate of the individual rests, and, in this respect, we become the masters of our own spiritual destinies.

"There is just one further piece of information to add to what I have said previously. Each of you, if you so wish, can be witness-participants in this ceremony.

"If the answer is yes, I will tell you where and when, as well as make arrangements for your reception at the ceremony. If the answer is no, then you are free to leave and go about your lives.

"Whatever your answer may be, I'm afraid I must have it now, before you leave. Moreover, you need to understand that if either, or both, of your answers should be in the affirmative, there is a possibility you may not come through the ceremony unscathed since the event is surrounded by considerable danger due to the continued efforts of the Futures Unlimited people to disrupt, if not cancel altogether, the gathering in question."

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