It was a busy night at Thames Bar and Restaurant. It was Friday night, which meant brass band, dancing and a lot of drinking. It was the last place anyone would have thought to look for Bishop Ellis, who had just walked in. He went straight to the barman, who immediately recognized him. But rather than wonder why a man of God was in his bar, he walked him straight into the backroom with a sign on the door that said, “Bridge Cathedral.”

Marcus was already in there waiting for them to arrive. The barman briefly stepped out and came back with two bottles of malt, and then left them to it. They sipped on their drinks quietly for a while, and then Bishop Ellis broke the ice.

“Marcus, you may not believe this, but this place once belonged to me. Before I got saved, I used to work here for a man named Thomas Bridge. I was fourteen years old. He was a foreigner who took a liking to me because I wanted to be independent at a very young age. Six months later, he needed to go back to his country because there were riots and foreigners were major targets. So he left this place to me and planned to come back when things calmed down.

“I never heard from him again until six years later, when a friend told me that he’d been caught trying to leave the country two weeks after I saw him. They’d lined him up along with some others, and gunned them all dead. I later sold this place to a friend once I decided to honor the calling of God on my life, and we made an arrangement to keep this back room here for me as a reminder of where I was when God called me. This used to be where I did the bookkeeping and inventory every night before I left. You’re the first one I’ve told this in my entire life.”

While Marcus processed the fact that the bishop used to be a purveyor of alcohol in his teenage years, Bishop Ellis continued. “I used the money I got from selling this place to buy an old, beaten down warehouse in the middle of nowhere and started preaching the Bible. I called it Upfront Church, the idea being that we would only preach the honest, unfiltered gospel, the upfront truth of the Word. At the time, the soldiers hated God because they felt He was a tool of oppression, but they were too busy terrorizing the city to bother with the abandoned areas. So we took advantage and we managed to grow, small small. In time, one of the members became my assistant pastor, a young man by the name of Joseph Simmons. He and I pastored this church and labored there day and night, building a stage, making drums out of buckets and wood, doing everything to make this work.”

“About a year in, the country went back to civilian rule and we were able to get more members. We took care of that place for eight years, and then riots broke out again and a coup followed. By this time, our church was fairly well-known; word of mouth did for us what tv is doing for your generation. So I knew there would be trouble. Thankfully, Joseph knew a few high-ranking men in the army, so he went and spoke with them to leave our church alone. They agreed to let us be, but on one condition: Joseph had to be the head of the church. They didn’t want me anywhere near that church because word had spread of my involvement with the foreigner from years ago, and the anti-foreign sentiment was much stronger this time. So Joseph and I made an agreement that I would leave town and he would head the church, but then as soon as the coast was clear, I would come back and resume my duties as head and he would become a senior advisor.”

“So I left for about four years, and within that time, Joseph grew the church into a huge ministry and renamed it Upward Ministries. All the big men started coming to this church in the middle of nowhere, and business started to grow around it. By the time I came back, Joseph was too big and too well-known to step down. I tried to at least get a small role, but Joseph feared that I would somehow supplant him, and he refused to let me back in. So I went and started Temple of Believers Church, which made Joseph feel threatened for some reason.

“In the early times, police would randomly come in and say they heard people were hiding drugs here, or that we were harboring a fugitive, or some other nonsense excuse to search the place. They would take things and harass our people, it was bad. Then one day, one of the guys who did the inspection confided in me that Joseph had orchestrated all of this to try to run us out of town. The man promised not to allow the searches anymore, and we were left alone in peace.

“About ten years later, Joseph died of a heart attack, and his youngest son was chosen to continue the work. That son was the late Reverend Jim Simmons. Around that time, I’d decided to expand the Temple of Believers umbrella to make us the largest network of churches in the country. So we were absorbing churches that needed help left and right, and in truth, my ambition got the better of me. I pushed too much and went too far sometimes, and unfortunately, my sons have done even worse but I digress. Now, a few weeks before he died, Jim and I had a conversation. He’d found some old documents that his father had kept from the Upfront Church days, and had wanted to know about them. So I told him the story, and he felt ashamed. Frankly, as painful and disappointing as Joseph’s actions were, I never held a grudge. I chose to let it be and focus on my assignment as a man of God. But Jim felt that I had been cheated, and he wanted to try to make it right. So he made me a promise that he would speak to the board and initiate a merger with us. He would still pastor the church and their organization will be the same, but it would be a Temple of Believers church. And whenever he died, the church would be mine to administer as I wanted, just like our other churches.”

“What he didn’t know was that I had wanted a new place to be the centre of our activities. The cathedral would remain our headquarters, but we would only do certain events here in order not to make it too common. The new place would be where we do everything else. So I was thrilled with the idea, and then he died. So I thought the plan with him was also dead, and then I heard through the grapevine that Jim’s wife had no interest in continuing his work, so I sent Finn and Hans to try to work on a deal to merge with them. I sincerely wish I hadn’t, because I now fear that their actions have gotten out of hand and I am now stained by those actions. I knew those boys went to extreme lengths sometimes, but I never thought it was as bad as it is. In my frustration, I told Hans that he and his brother will be out of the church after this deal with Reverend Simmons is done. I might as well have placed a target on your back, because knowing Hans, he will start to wonder why I’ve been sending you to meetings in my place, and then he will connect the dots. But I’m telling you all of this because I am certain that you will be the next leader of the Temple of Believers organization.

“While I would love to have started grooming you earlier, this short amount of time will have to do. I need you to increase your level of prayer, fast more, and be sturdy. You will prevail, but you will not have it easy. Now, the closing meeting for the negotiations is in two days. I’ll be there, but I want you there as well as my right hand. Make sure you dress for the occasion; I can’t have you looking wrong on your debut.”

*****

Marcus lay in his bed later that night, pondering the information Bishop Ellis had given him earlier. He’d taken it all pretty well until bishop basically crowned him heir to the throne.

He’d never considered leading this church at all, and he wasn’t even sure he was meant for it. Why him? There were others who were more qualified: senior deacons, junior bishops and reverends, men who could pray circles around him. He was just a young man who had been serving the bishop and his family since his childhood, and he’d barely began understanding how it all worked.

He didn’t need the pressure of grooming; he’d seen its effects on Hans and Finn, two boys who used to have scruples until excessive discipline and too much correction made them rebel and become adept at being bad. This was not something he wanted to do. But, again, to disobey the bishop would be a bad idea on a lot of levels. He’d committed his whole life to serving in this church, and the bishop could open a lot of doors for him when the time came.

As Marcus continued in deep thought, he got another flash of revelation for a split second and whatever he saw made him jump up and scream “Jesus!”

He then frantically looked for his phone and tried to call the bishop, but then no one answered. He tried again six more times, but still no answer.

Then he thought to call Hans but then he immediately felt a restraint. He tried to push against it but it only got stronger, so he caved and put the phone down.

He fell to his knees, close to tears, and repeatedly murmured, “Mercy, Lord. Have mercy, God.”

*****

Meanwhile, that same night, Salma was dressed for success. Between the black, see-through contrast lace nightgown she had on and the white, tie leg heels meant to show off her calves and tease her thick, enticing thighs, she was ready for round two of this assignment.

She had gone to Marcus’ house the first time thinking he was like all the men of God she’d been with: good boys in public, but with a freaky side that was begging to be revealed. She thought all she’d have to do was bare enough to confuse him, then rub up on him a little bit and then she would have him. What she did not prepare for was the door being slammed in her face, and the berating that she would later receive from Finn once she’d reported her failure. This time, she was going to go in guns blazing.

No man had the power to resist her when she looked like this. In fact, this is how she’d gotten both the Ellis brothers. The only reason she’d chosen Finn was that he was gentler and he always wanted her, which made working for him all the more rewarding. She was certain that this look would certainly keep the door open this time, and set her up to dominate the hell out of this man of God.

She picked up her phone and texted Finn that she was about to head to Marcus’, and he texted back with a devil emoji and a promise to reward her both in cash and in kind when she succeeded.

She threw on her coat, picked up her purse and got into her Uber, which got her to Marcus’ place in about an hour.

Before she got to his door, she took out her Tom Ford Black Orchid perfume and dabbed some in all the right places. Then, feeling armed and dangerous, she walked to the door and pressed the bell.

She heard nothing for a while, so she tried again, and again, and again, and each time there was no response. She was starting to get frustrated, which made her start to sweat.

“Ugh! I can’t have this! I can’t be sweaty and sexy at the same time. Open the door, dammit!”

She tried and tried again, resorting to banging the door, but the outcome was the same.

She thought of leaving, but then she remembered that she had handsome rewards waiting for her on completion of this assignment; she could not fail. So she tried the door handle, in hopes that he’d somehow forgotten to lock up before he left.

What happened once her hand touched that handle was something she would never get to process, because she immediately felt a shock, and then a sharp twinge in her chest. She tried to let go of the handle, but it was as though it had become an extension of her hand. The pain grew exponentially until her head started pounding, and then she blacked out and hit her head hard enough against the floor to bleed profusely.

What started out as a mission to seduce had quickly turned fatal.

Oh boy oh boy! Looks like God’s hand of judgment is raised, especially with that restraint on Marcus. Well, we’re almost at the end. What’s He gonna do to these depraved ones?