WE’VE GOT TO GO!” JEREMY WAS POUNDING ON TAYLOR’S bedroom door. She hurried to open it.
His face was white. “They’ve found us. We have to leave now.”
“They’re here?”
“Yes. They came in a helicopter. We shot it down, but they must have radioed him. More of his men will be coming.”
He grabbed her hand and she followed, running, down the long corridor.
“Where are we going?” Taylor panted.
“Maryland.”
“Why? Isn’t that the least safe area for us right now?”
He just shook his head and pulled her into the elevator, then grabbed her hand when it opened as they ran down another corridor, then through a large garage and into an open field. There was a small prop plane waiting for them.
“Come on. Get in.”
Taylor got in first, and within minutes they were both strapped in their seats, doors locked, the plane beginning its taxi down the runway. Once they were in the air, Jeremy let out a big breath and turned to Taylor.
“I’ve texted Jack and he’s arranged for your father to meet us when we land. Damon won’t suspect that we’d go back to where you live, and your father can help us get somewhere safe. I can’t risk contacting anyone outside of my facility, I don’t know who’s been compromised. Your father is the only one we can trust.”
“Jeremy, something I don’t understand. Why would Damon orchestrate your mother’s kidnapping and impregnating my mother, all for some coins? It just seems too unbelievable to me.”
“They give whoever has them the power to accomplish their greatest desire—if the person is on the side of evil, that is. I’ve told you. He wants to pervert society. To eradicate morality—to win souls for Satan.”
“I understand that he was brought up to believe in all this occult nonsense, but he’s a grown man now. He still thinks it’s real?”
Jeremy looked Taylor in the eyes. “It is real.”
“Come on. The devil made him do it? A little clichéd, don’t you think?”
Jeremy shook his head, and a sadness filled his eyes. “Taylor, do you believe in God?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Then how can you discount the existence of the devil? The Bible is not fantasy. Adam, Eve—they were real. The fall was real. And ever since, there has been a battle for souls. Ephesians 6:12 says, ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ Some believe the thirty pieces of silver contain the power to call forth more of these demons to earth. Damon has ten. Whoever possesses all of them will command the power. Look how far he has gotten. If he ever gets all thirty, there will be no stopping him.”
“Why not destroy the coins back then?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t think they can be destroyed, only neutralized, but that’s not easy and we have to take them back to Greece to do it. Just as the hands that channeled evil gave them a dark power, hands that have turned away from evil and toward God, hands of someone who has been redeemed, may be able to deactivate them.”
“Do you mean someone like you?”
He nodded. “Once we bring Damon down, I’ll explain it all. For now, if we find them, we’ll have to focus first on hiding them again. If we can find a holy place to do it, the destructive power is said to be made inactive while there. That’s why they were hidden in Saint John’s cave, and in the Virgin Mary’s house in Ephesus.”
“Did you say a holy place?” All of a sudden, Taylor had a flash of memory.
He nodded.
“I think I might know where they are.”