The sky was still black, the stars were still out, and dawn was nothing more than a thin, red ribbon along the horizon when the sirens went off, wailing rudely across the vast army camp. As one man, the army of black warriors awoke—there were no dawdlers, no one who dared to slumber beyond reveille. The desert rattled with the slap and clatter of a thousand hands grabbing a thousand rifles. The soldiers leaped to their feet and burst from their tents, dashing across the sand, lining up in long, even rows on the flat desert. They stood at attention, rifles ready, eyes straight ahead, primed for battle.
Field Marshal Idi Nkromo was already awake and strutting about at the front of the camp, watching his army come to life. He was a heavy-set, marbleeyed man with medals and ribbons adorning his chest—most were of his own design, and most he had awarded himself. He scowled; he glared; he growled orders to his lieutenants, his hand always on the gleaming saber that hung at his side.
He nodded approvingly to himself. Yes, this would be the moment, the final engagement, the ultimate display of his power. After this day, his rule over the tiny African nation of Togwana would be complete and absolute. After this campaign across the desert, no one would dare to . . . he became distracted by a muttering, a buzzing among the troops. Nkromo was displeased. Why were they not all standing rigid and silent? Hadn’t enough soldiers been beaten or shot to enforce discipline? The light of dawn was just now revealing their faces, and they were staring anxiously toward the desert, exchanging worried glances with each other and whispering through the ranks.
Nkromo drew his saber and bellowed, “Order!”
The soldiers stiffened at attention, but there was still a stirring, and their faces held wide-eyed fear.
“Mobutu!”
“Sir!” Mobutu, a younger, thinner man in a khaki uniform, came on the run.
Nkromo pointed his saber at his army. “Find out who’s causing this disturbance and drag them out to be shot!”
Mobutu didn’t respond.
Nkromo shot a deadly glare his way, but Mobutu wasn’t looking at him. The thin lieutenant and chief secretary was looking toward the desert—the same direction the army was looking. He appeared stunned, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide with horror.
“Mobutu!”
Mobutu pointed toward the desert. “Sir . . . if you would look . . .”
Nkromo never took advice. “Mobutu, maintain order in the ranks.” Then, as if it were his idea, he added, “I think I’d like to survey the desert.”
Nkromo turned with a deliberate casualness and looked across the barren expanse rimmed on the north and south by towering, rocky crags, just becoming visible in the light of dawn.
The saber fell from his trembling hand and clattered on the stones and sand.
THUNK! Jay Cooper, fourteen, strong, wiry, and sweating in the sun, swung a sledgehammer and drove the last wooden stake into the ground. Then he wound the end of a heavy rope around it and tightened it down with a few more whacks from the hammer. He had driven several stakes to hold the ropes tied around the base of a huge stone pillar etched with ancient relief carvings, hieroglyphics, and, near the top, the faces of Greek gods. The pillar was massive, at least three feet thick and thirty feet tall. It stood in the center of a vast excavation, the unearthing of what used to be an ancient Greek temple on a high bluff over the Mediterranean.
Dangling like an acrobat by a rope and harness, Dr. Jacob Cooper struggled to tighten a loop of cable around the crown of the pillar, being careful not to mar the chiseled face of the Greek god Zeus.
“Okay, Lila,” he called, “more slack.”
Lila Cooper, thirteen, was perched on the ancient temple wall, her eyes alert and her long blond hair tied back for safety. She was operating a sizable gas-powered winch and feeding more cable to her father. This precarious perch was making her a bit nervous. The excavated floor of the old temple wasn’t that far down, only twelve feet or so, but just outside the wall she sat on was a steep cliff dropping several hundred feet to the sea. She could see the barge from the museum floating close to the shore, ready for loading; it was almost eighty feet long, but from up here it was the size of a postage stamp. She tried not to look that direction and pushed the lever to release more cable.
Dr. Cooper edged his way around the face of Zeus like a skilled rock climber, his muscular arms groping for any handhold he could find. When he finally got the cable secure just above Zeus’s head, he exhaled a sigh of relief. “Okay, tighten her up.”
Lila pulled the lever and the big drum of the winch turned, winding in the cable until it was tight.
Dr. Cooper climbed to the very top of the pillar and sat there like a seagull atop a flagpole. He removed his wide-brimmed hat and brushed back his blond hair, now slick with sweat. Looking thirty feet straight down, he could see his son, Jay, had the bottom of the pillar staked and secured with ropes so it wouldn’t kick out when they tipped it over; looking toward the sea he saw his daughter, Lila, on the temple wall, ready to start lowering the pillar with the main winch. On the other side of the temple, Dr. Cooper’s two crewmen, Bill and Jeff, were just getting ready to ease a long, flatbed trailer down a dirt ramp to the base of the pillar.
“So far so good,” Dr. Cooper said to himself.
The plan was to secure a few more cables to the pillar, carefully lower it onto the trailer, and then haul it down an access road to the sea. A crew was already waiting there to load the pillar onto a barge and transport it to the Museum of Antiquities in Athens. Barring any disasters, Jacob Cooper and his crew might finish this project today.
Dr. Cooper waved at Bill and Jeff and called, “All right, bring the trailer down.”
Bill, a big, mustached man with a southern drawl, climbed into the cab of the old diesel truck while Jeff, limber and usually nervous, stood on the dirt ramp below to give hand signals. The starter growled, then the engine rumbled to life, black smoke bursting from the old stacks above the cab.
Jeff waved and called, “Okay, ease her back . . .”
Bill ground the old beast into reverse and slowly let out the clutch. The truck and trailer started inching down the steep dirt ramp toward the base of the pillar.
Dr. Cooper watched their progress from his lofty perch. The dirt ramp seemed to be working okay although it might be a little steep for that old rig. “Hey . . .” he started to say, “slow up, you’re—”
“You’re going too fast!” Jeff hollered.
Bill stomped on the brake pedal. Something snapped and the pedal went clear to the floor. The trailer started rolling down the ramp, picking up speed, pulling the truck backward.
“Slow up!” Jeff yelled. He jumped out of the way, rolling in the dirt, as the trailer rumbled and bounced right past him.
Bill tried to pull on the parking brake. It broke off. He killed the ignition. The ramp was too steep, the trailer too heavy. The truck only slid backward down the incline, its rear tires slipping, growling over the dirt.
The flatbed was heading right for the base of the pillar.
Jay ran to get clear and hollered, “Dad!”
Dr. Cooper could see it coming: a big disaster. Maybe they wouldn’t finish this project today.
CRUNCH! The trailer crashed into the pillar. Dr. Cooper could feel the pillar quiver under him.
Then he could feel it moving. The cable from Lila’s winch went slack.
The pillar was falling right toward Lila!
“Look out!” her father yelled, holding on for dear life.
Lila screamed and dashed along the wall to get clear. Jay scrambled to safety as the base of the pillar began to tear loose. PING! POP! The heavy ropes plucked the stakes from the ground like rotten teeth.
The pillar picked up speed, falling like a big tree. Wind whistled by Dr. Cooper’s head, and his hat went sailing. Then he saw the temple wall pass under him. The top of the pillar was carrying him out over the cliff, over the sheer drop to the sea far below!
THUD! The middle of the pillar hit the temple wall and Dr. Cooper was knocked free by the impact, tumbling headlong toward the ocean.
OOF! The harness he was still wearing came to the end of its rope, and he snapped to an abrupt halt in midair, dangling from the pillar like a puppet on a string.
The base of the pillar began to rise. Bill, Jeff, and Jay grabbed the ropes dangling from it, hoping to hold it down and keep the pillar from flipping over the wall entirely. All three were lifted off their feet, but they hung on anyway, hoping, praying.
Up went their end of the pillar, higher, higher, as Dr. Cooper’s end lowered him toward the sea.
Then, with not a man, not a pound, not a single ounce to spare, the pillar came to rest on the temple wall with each end suspended in air, perfectly but precariously balanced: Dr. Cooper dangling from one end, Bill, Jeff, and Jay dangling from the other.
“Oh man,” Bill drawled, “now what?”
“Hang on,” Lila screamed. “Just hang on!”
There was a low, grating noise. The pillar was beginning to roll along the wall like a big rolling pin, reeling in the ropes from which Jay, Bill, and Jeff were hanging, along with the harness that still held Dr. Cooper.
Dr. Cooper looked below and saw nothing but ocean waves and a tiny, distant barge; he looked above and saw the face of Zeus coming around, then coming around again, much closer, as the pillar kept rotating and reeling him in.
As Lila stepped hurriedly along the wall, approaching the pillar even as it rumbled and rolled slowly toward her, she looked for a stone, a stick, anything large enough to jam under the pillar to wedge it to a stop.
Dr. Cooper ran out of rope. “AWWW!” He was hauled over the top of the pillar as it turned, held fast by the harness around his body and feeling like a roast pig on a spit. If only he had a knife!
Then Bill’s rope ran out and the rough surface of the pillar broke his grip. With a cry of pain, he fell to the temple floor.
Out of balance! The base of the pillar began to rise, the top began to sink.
Lila hopped onto the pillar, step-step-stepping as it rotated under her feet, inching her way out from the wall and toward the base where Jay and Jeff were getting tangled in the ropes. No good. She wasn’t even half Bill’s weight. The pillar was still rolling and tilting toward the sea.
CHUNK! Somebody jammed a stone under the pillar, and it stopped rolling. A man leaped from the wall to the lower end of the pillar, and it sank under his weight.
Back in balance!
“Lila!” Dr. Cooper hollered. “Bring your knife!”
The stranger, a man with blond hair, nodded to her. “Go ahead. I think we can keep it in balance now.”
She stepped carefully along the pillar, balancing herself, until she reached the wall. She could see her father, one hand clinging to Zeus’s eye and his foot planted in Zeus’s mouth, struggling to free himself from the harness. She looked back. The stranger was helping Jay and Jeff untangle themselves.
She stepped out on the pillar, nothing but a sheer drop to the ocean below her, and inched her way out toward her father, the knife in her trembling hand.
The stranger had his own knife and cut away the ropes that had tangled around Jay and Jeff. With his help, they climbed on top of the pillar and sat on it.
“Just like a teeter-totter,” said Jay.
But Lila was still edging toward the other end, toward her father.
“Uh . . .” Jay asked the stranger, “how much do you weigh?”
“About one-sixty,” the man replied.
Jay looked down at Bill, who was still dusting himself off after his fall. “Bill? How much do you weigh?”
“Two thirty,” Bill replied.
The stranger asked Jay, “How much does your sister weigh?”
“Enough,” was all Jay answered as their end of the pillar began to rise.
Dr. Cooper took the knife from Lila’s hand as he felt the pillar pitch down toward the ocean again. “Lila! Get back! Get off the pillar!”
She spun around and tried to run back. The pillar pitched some more and she slipped. Her fingers dug into hieroglyphics and her foot came to rest on Zeus’s beard as the pillar sagged and rocked and the stones in the wall started crumbling.
Jay, Jeff, and the stranger moved as far back as they could, but the pillar was beginning to slide through the wall and there was no stopping it.
“It’s gonna go!” Jeff hollered.
Dr. Cooper sliced through the harness rope and got free. “Go, Lila, go! ”
She crawled, scrambled, and made it to the wall. Now the pillar was sliding past her, bucking and scraping over the stones.
Dr. Cooper grabbed at Zeus’s beard, then some hieroglyphics, then some relief carvings, climbing up the downsliding pillar and getting nowhere until he ran out of pillar to climb on. A hand reached out to grab his just as the pillar slid free of the wall and plummeted toward the seashore below. In an instant, Jay, Jeff, and the stranger yanked him to safety atop the wall.
The pillar dropped silently, as if in slow motion, growing smaller and smaller, until it dove into the sandy beach like a spear, making the ground quiver—and making Dr. Cooper wince.
It teetered there a moment then tipped like a big tree toward the ocean . . . directly toward the waiting barge as the barge crew dove for the water.
KAWHUMP! The barge bucked, rolled, and almost capsized from the impact. A mighty wave washed up on the shore.
Lila shut her eyes. They all held their breath. They could hear the last mist from the huge splash hiss down upon the surface of the water.
And then . . . it was quiet.
“Well whaddaya know . . .” Bill muttered.
Lila ventured a peek and saw the barge rocking a little but still afloat. The pillar, with Zeus glaring up at them, was lying in the barge a little crooked and with one end hanging out, but none the worse for wear. The barge crew paddled around in the water, wide-eyed and upset, but safe.
Dr. Cooper started breathing again. His kids, his crewmen, and the stranger could only sit there on the wall, shaken, dusty, thankful to be alive, and totally amazed.
At last Dr. Cooper found his voice and said, “Well . . . we got it on the barge.”
Silence. Somber faces.
And then Bill cracked a smile. Jeff snorted a laugh through his nose. Jay burst right out laughing. Dr. Cooper allowed himself a smile, then a grin, then a laugh, shaking his head in amazement. When Lila saw her father laughing, she figured everything was okay and began to laugh too. They all started hugging and shaking hands, happy to be alive, happy with success.
“I don’t believe it!” said Lila.
“God works in wondrous ways,” said Dr. Cooper.
“Boy, doesn’t He!” replied the stranger, shaking Jacob Cooper’s hand.
Then, looking at the man directly for the first time, Dr. Cooper recognized him. “Brent! Brent Anderson!”
Brent Anderson smiled broadly. “Hi, Jake. Working?”
“Can’t you tell?”
They both laughed and then embraced like old buddies.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Dr. Cooper asked.
“I came to find you.”
“Jay! Lila! Meet an old friend of mine, Brent Anderson! He’s a missionary to Africa.”
“Was,” said Brent, shaking hands with Jay and Lila. “And, hopefully, will be again.”
Dr. Cooper could hear trouble in Brent’s voice.
“What’s happened?”
Brent’s face became grim. “Idi Nkromo and his revolution. He and his military have taken over most of the country of Togwana.”
Dr. Cooper nodded with recollection. “He’s been in the news lately. A rather dangerous character, I understand.”
“Oh, he likes killing anyone who stands in his way, or questions his actions, or doubts his power— and mostly, he hates Christians. He’s ordered the churches closed; he’s killed and imprisoned believers. Sandy and I barely got out of the country alive.”
Bill and Jeff could sense a serious conversation coming. “Uh, Jake, we’ll start stowing the gear,” said Bill.
“Thanks, guys,” Dr. Cooper replied.
The two men made their way back along the wall. Jay and Lila got up and were about to leave them alone, too, but their father said quietly, “Stick around.” They sat back down on the wall beside their father.
Dr. Cooper’s voice was quiet and compassionate. “You got out all right? You and Sandy and the kids?”
“Yes, we’re fine. They’re back in the States now. I’m on staff with the mission board until . . .” Brent smiled wistfully.
Jacob Cooper knew his friend. “You’re thinking of going back to Togwana?”
Brent nodded. “I’m not finished there, Jake. There’s one last tribe of people who live across the desert who have never heard the gospel. Rumor has it they’re a deadly bunch, headhunters and cannibals who would just as soon eat strangers as welcome them. But God wants me to take the gospel to those people, and I believe I will, Idi Nkromo or no Idi Nkromo. It’ll happen, Jake.”
Dr. Cooper admired faith like that. “I’m sure it will.”
Now Brent looked his friend in the eye. “Good, because you just might be a part of it.”
Jacob Cooper raised one eyebrow and then exchanged a glance with his kids. “Is this going to be dangerous?”
Brent nodded. “It might be.”
“Count us in,” said Jay, which brought him a corrective look from Lila.
Dr. Cooper wanted to hear more. “How can we help?”
Brent Anderson looked over his shoulder, and they all followed his glance across the excavation. There, looking almost ghostly in long, wraparound garments and intricate, bone jewelry, stood two Africans, apparently men of high office in their country. They were both tall and powerful, with eyes that could bore holes right through you.
“Strange things are happening in Togwana, Jake, things that no one can explain, and that’s why I’m here. These men were sent by the Chief Secretary of the Republic of Togwana.” Brent gave Dr. Cooper a probing look. “They came to find a spiritual man, a man close to God with wisdom to solve great mysteries. They first came to me in America, but I’ve brought them to you.”
As Jacob Cooper looked into the burning eyes of the two towering visitors, he had a feeling he and his kids would soon be going to Africa.