As we come to the end of this story, you can already tell some things are gonna go down. The Judge of all the Earth has clearly found these sons of Ellis and their associates guilty. What’s He gonna do?

Hans opened his eyes and stared at the sunlight streaming through the glass windows into his room, smiling at the prospect of what was to come: this was the day of the signing. He turned from his side to his back and stared at the ceiling, picturing how this was going to go. It would be a regular, boring closing day, but this one had more meaning.

Beside him, Christie stirred and woke up, and Hans met her lips with a kiss. “Good morning, honey. I hope you had your beauty rest.”

Christie stretched while lying down and answered, “Yup. All that gymnastics before bed set me up for an excellent one. Did you?”

Hans brought her closer in and she put her head on his chest. “I’ll have a full sleep once today’s done.”

Christie looked up at him. “You know, there are other ways. Time is more in your favor than his. There’s no need to rush with him.”

“Time is never on anyone’s side, my dear. I am certain he’s already made his move, so I’m making mine.”

Christie shrugged and looked away, and Hans turned her face right back to him as he stared intensely at her. “Unless you plan to back out now? Betray me? Is that what’s up your sleeve for today?”

Christie touched his nose and rubbed like like he was a five year old. “Oh child, calm yourself down. I know the stakes involved, I know how deep in I am. I’m only making sure your resolution is absolute.”

“It is. By the end of today, I will be the chairman CEO of Temple of Believers Incorporated, and Finn will be my co-CEO. We will send Bishop Calvin Ellis into the retirement he so richly deserves. And you, Reverend Christine Simmons, will be the CFO. Of course, your prior compensation will be given to you in addition to one we will negotiate, and you will have a major say in the choosing of board members.”

“Negotiate. I like the sound of that. When does this negotiation happen, chairman Hans?”

Hans shifted her full body onto himself and replied, “You have an hour to convince me of your worth.”

*****

Marcus came out of the police station and entered into Bishop’s car, and they drove away. They both sat in silence in the backseat while Bishop’s driver wove them out of traffic and back to church.

“Marcus, are you certain that you did nothing to that girl? Because for someone to just die like that in front of your house as you’re indoors? You have to admit, this is very concerning.”

“Bishop, bible rules preclude me from swearing but if I could, I would swear my innocence. I spent all night praying in my room, never even heard the door. My doorbell has been broken for about a year now, so that wouldn’t even have worked. I never saw her, never even had the chance to touch her in any way.”

“So how did this girl end up dead with blood all over your front steps?”

Marcus pulled out his phone and as he looked through it, he said, “Bishop, my neighbor is who even found her there. I haven’t used my front door for weeks because she once came there to try to seduce me, and I managed to shut her out. I ran out through the backdoor and have been using that ever since. Why would I commit murder and leave the body there, bishop? Thankfully, I followed yours and mum’s advice and got a front door camera whose footage can be rewinded. This is what it captured last night.”

He showed Bishop the footage from all that had transpired, and Bishop sat in shock. “She clearly wanted to sleep with you, and somehow your door handle shocked her.”

“Here’s the thing, bishop: my door handle is covered with a plastic bar. Look.”

Marcus zoomed in and showed Bishop, who sighed in obvious relief. Marcus continued, “I believe that’s my vindication right there, on record, even before I need it.”

“This was definitely the work of Finn, and look how it’s turned out. I’m not waiting anymore, Marcus, I’m convening a board meeting immediately after the merger. Those boys are out of my church. It’s time to turn it back over to the hands of God where it truly should have been from the start.”

“That’s the thing, Bishop, I don’t know if there’s much time left. I had another vision last night, and-“

Bishop started heaving and clutching his chest, and in short order, he was seizing.

Marcus grabbed his phone and made a call as he directed the driver, “GET US TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!”

*****

Hans gave Christie a deep, long kiss as they arrived at her house. “Make sure whatever you change into is both ravishing and easy to remove; we have a lot of unfinished business afterwards.”

“Anything for you, my CEO. Make sure you have enough stamina; I don’t plan on making it easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t want you to, my CFO. Finn’s already at the church. I’ll see you there.”

And with that, Christie got out of the car and waved him goodbye as he left. She stood there for a minute and savored all the sweetness, thinking of what was to come after the merger was done and Bishop Ellis was removed.

She looked to the sky and said, “Not bad, Jimmy. You were too soft to see it, but I’m not. If only you hadn’t made me do it to you. Not that I regret it; I’m millions richer and about to be CFO.”

She headed towards the house, still thinking about what was about to happen, and completely missed the fact that her front door was closed but not locked.

That mistake meant that she was genuinely shocked when she walked inside and immediately felt two powerful hands grab her from behind and choke her.

She writhed and wriggled and kicked all she could, but then she slowly felt the life drain out of her and in a short while, it all faded to black.

Her assailant, a man wearing a mask without any holes, dropped a note on her dead body and quickly left.

The note read, “For Jordan Stevens.”

*****

Hans had just arrived in the parking area of the church when Finn came running and jumped into the car, startling Hans in the process.

When Hans lifted his hands in wonder, Finn responded with a quizzical look. “You haven’t heard? Dad is in the hospital. He suffered what sounds like a heart attack.”

“Goddammit! Today? This day his heart chooses to give up? No, we have come too far! Is it Trinity Medical?”

Finn nodded and Hans sped off. As Hans drove, Finn tried to reach Salma but couldn’t reach her. “I sent Salma on an assignment last night, and I have yet to hear from her.”

Hans tried to overtake a car whilst in the oncoming lane with a car two seconds from hitting him, and somehow managed to get back into his lane with all the cars around him honking in anger.

“Finn, tell me this mission has nothing to do with Marcus.”

Finn said nothing.

“Finn! Tell me you didn’t send this girl to Marcus a second time!”

“Yes, Hans, I did! You have your methods of resolving issues, and I have my-”

Whatever Finn’s next words were, they got immediately deleted by the pain his jaw was now in on account of the massive hit from Hans’ closed fist. “If anything goes wrong today, it’ll be your fault, and I will KILL YOU!”

Hans continued driving in pure anger without looking at his brother, unaware of the rage that was welling up inside of him, just about to reach its peak.

“Bro, never ever hit me in your life again. I will let that go, but never try me like that again.”

“Or what, you fool? Over there making stupid moves and sabotaging a deal that has taken months to set up! What is wrong with you? I told you in no uncertain terms to leave that boy alone! You stupid, stupid-”

Hans’ anger translated into more hits on Finn’s face, which sent him over the edge. He pushed Hans and began to fully fight him, ignoring the fact that Hans was moving at high speed and accidentally rolling the steering wheel in the process.

Hans tried to right the car, but between having to fend off Finn and trying to concentrate, he reacted too late and overcompensated, swerving the car perfectly into a T as an oncoming car sent them flying into a tree.

When everything calmed down, there was blood all over the windscreen and side window, and the lifeless bodies of the Ellis boys.

*****

“His pressure was through the roof when he came in. It’s a miracle he didn’t die on the way here. He suffered a heart attack and a stroke at the same time. We’ve managed to stabilize his pressure, but we’ll have to continue monitoring his vitals overnight.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“Have you alerted his boys?”

“I’ve tried to call them but to no avail. I’ll let them know what’s going on once I get through to them.”

“Alright, I’ll be back with updates on his condition if anything changes.”

Marcus sat in the waiting room, a mix of sadness and pain. He knew that the boys were not going to survive today; the vision he had last night was of them in a car at high speed, and then in a fatal accident.

When he tried to call them and never reached them, his heart sank in acceptance of what he’d hoped was not true. He had yet to hear it officially, but he knew that the boys were dead.

As he sat in limbo, wondering whether to grieve based on his vision or just wait until he got word of the whereabouts of the boys, he turned to the TV to try to distract himself. What he saw did the complete opposite.

The news had coverage of massive smoke coming out of a large campus, and the caption read “FIRE AT TEMPLE OF BELIEVERS CATHEDRAL.”

He watched as fire trucks gathered at the campus, but none of them could do anything else but watch, and with good reason. The fire seemed to be spreading faster than anyone could expect, and soon it got too big and the news coverage shifted to something else.

As Marcus tried his best to move past the shock and insanity that had been this day, he tried to figure out what he would tell the bishop if he woke up. But then the doctor came back out with a sombre look on his face.

Marcus looked at him and knew, and without him having to say a word, the doctor told him what he needed to know.

“Five minutes ago.”

THE END

Goodness! Was that insane an ending, or that was insane! Everybody but Marcus was taken out swiftly. Well, considering how much disrepute they placed on the work and house of God, can you be shocked? Elohim dealt with them, because He won’t be mocked. By the way, these sons of Ellis bear a pretty striking similarity to certain sons of a prophet in the Bible. I’m sure you know who they are…

Thanks for reading as always, and continue to enjoy yourself in the State!