UNWITTING VESSELS (sequel To Vessels Unknown)

SIX

                                                                       PASTOR ADRIAN

I watched the area boys close to my church manifest their madness. They went round my vehicle multiple times chanting, as though they were expecting the car to crumble like the wall of Jericho.

I knew their likes and how they preyed on the weak and disadvantaged.
My driver glanced at me from the rearview mirror in horror. I paid him no mind as I sat there unperturbed by their actions. It was already 8:03 pm and service was still going on.

        Clangs of machete against each other forced me to steal another murderous glance at them. I felt the rage coming, I took another ten breaths to calm whatever was rising within me.

There was no way I would react wildly here, on the streets where people knew me as a Pastor. And the church wasn't even far away.

Their actions forced me to question why they were behaving this way. Because I had plied this road for a very long time and I'd never had issues with anyone.

          "What to do? What to do?" I muttered to myself while smoothing the crease that had formed on my face.

The Crimson flashed across my wrist again, I covered it with my suit. I wish I'd come with my guards, but I waved that thought off. Secrecy lies in fewer numbers.
I was still flustering with my thoughts when I felt the car move from side to side.

       'Bang! Bang! Bang!'

A loud clanging sound filled the car from my side of the window screen.
Emass was almost screeching off with the car when I stopped him.

        "Let's hear what the problem is." He hurriedly shook his head. I ignored him and proceeded to do what was on my mind.

Slowly, I wined down my window to see the face of their obvious leader. He had tattoos all over him. From his face to his neck and even his hands. Every visible part of his body was laced with paintings.

       "How may I help you?" I asked, relaxing deeply in my soft leather chair.

He grinned. "See question? Your life is about ending and you are still sitting there unperturbed."

I returned his smile with a murderous laughter that shoveled him away from me. "What do you want?" My eyes laced him with fear as I probed deeply into his mind.

He gestured to his guys to stop yelling. Silence fell into our moment of understanding.

     "Erm,...I... I...." He stuttered.

          My head moved involuntarily as though it was not part of my body. Keeping my eyes on him, I grabbed his wrist and shut my eyes.

Like a flash of lightning, I accessed his mind immediately. I kept searching for recent videos taken through his eye lenses. There was nothing of interest, except something he was trying so hard for me not to see.

My eyes flashed open and took his form. He shivered at the intensity of my gaze. "Who sent you?"
He whimpered, hauling over to his knees. He tried to pull his weight to rest on the floor.
But I held him tight. His boys saw what was going, on and ran. I held him with one hand, before forcing him to get up.

         "For the weapons of my warfare are not carnal, but mighty." I stopped there. I couldn't bring my mouth to finish quoting the Scripture, because I wasn't sure of what weapons I was using right now.

          When my eyes met the young man's face again, sweat was ravaging his body while he whimpered endlessly.

I forced my eyes into his again, taking his head into my palms. Right there, I took over his thoughts.  Quickly, I communicated his sentence to him in his mind. "You will die in exactly three days from today. For disrespecting me, you will pay the price with your blood."