"So, that is our plan." Both Sheshe and Mimi brought it forward to their fellow henchmen for their consideration. That said, some skepticism came about.
"So, by eliminating this one man, we can bring down their church? What about the other churches in the world?" Given her Chinese origin, Lanhua was largely unfamiliar with Christianity. With questions in mind, Sheshe was prepared to assure them.
"Maybe not the whole church, but a significant one for sure. Mimi, please elaborate."
"Our target, Pastor Maxwell Church, is the founder of 'Our HOPE Ministries,' a network of churches that use sermons developed by his team. That's millions he reaches each reach, directly and indirectly. If we capture him, he will no longer be able to influence anyone, which will cause HOPE to collapse. It'll serve as a strong warning to other churches. Only we should be bowed down to!"
"Thank you, Mimi. Yes, and we also know that he has been hanging about a lot with our old enemies, those mermaids. This has the double whammy effect if we capture them as well; a leadership vacuum will be left for us to fill."
"But how exactly will we lure this man to us?" Lady Bat had a point. After all, it's not like they had a tracking device on me. Sheshe then leaned forward towards Lady Bat, sporting a smug smirk as though her plan would still fall perfectly into place.
"All the same places where those mermaids go, he will probably be. We will watch him like a hawk, then strike!" I did not know it at the time, but I already had a target on my back. Meanwhile, I was sitting in my room at the Ige household. A shame that I was sitting inside on such a nice day, so since my work was done, I decided to walk down to the beach. When I got there, I saw a familiar figure sitting by the shore.
"Hey, Pastor Max!"
"Hey Luchia! Nice to see you and…"
"Oh, that's Kaito out there surfing. It's a hobby of his. Great day to be out on the beach after school!"
I smile as I hear this. "Say, where are all your other mermaid friends? I was hoping they would be out here as well."
"Well, Hanon and Rina had schoolwork they needed to do. Don't know about the others."
"I see." Our chat was interrupted when Kaito came to shore.
"Nice to see you, Pastor Max!"
"Hey Kaito! We saw you catch some serious waves out there."
"Just practicing for the fun of it. There was this one technique I saw on the internet that I was trying to perfect. It looked really cool." Kaito then decided to fill me in on his scripture reading. "Say, the verse of the day of my phone is from Acts 3:19." Kaito held his phone up to my face. "'Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.' I was just going to tell you that Luchia and I had read ahead in Acts 3 for this Wednesday."
Luchia added: "We were reading it and noticed just how much it calls for us to be bold."
I was glad they noticed this. "You mean like what happened with the Apostles Peter and John? Even though they were otherwise perceived as uneducated commoners, the authorities weren't sure of what to do with them because they showed evidence of being with Jesus. They were released because they were found to be blameless. Man, if only more of today's Christians could stand up for their beliefs like that."
"We agree, Pastor. We hope that everyone else at our group can be as emboldened as they were."
"Right. Do either of you know what the weather will be like tomorrow? I was hoping to get some more fishing in." Kaito then looks down at his phone.
"It says it'll be 80 degrees with a few clouds late morning. I would try earlier than later when it gets hotter, Pastor."
"Thanks, Kaito. I've been out a few times on the bay and have had some good catches…" We then hear the sound of steps coming from behind us. We turn around and see that Hanon and Rina have come to see us.
"Hey everyone! Sorry we're late." Hanon knew that Luchia and Kaito were here, they would just be a bit late.
"We finally got that history presentation done. Can't wait for you to see it in class." As Rina gave their explanation, the two girls then turned towards me.
"Hey, Pastor Max! We didn't know you would be here." I didn't mean to be a gate-crasher to these guys, but it was nice to see them, nonetheless.
"Hey, girls! What's this history project about?" Hanon then explained their project.
"We're doing a slide show analyzing the Gettysburg Address, and its effects on troop morale." Luchia and Kaito know about this, as they're doing a similar presentation.
"Yeah, the whole class partnered up for a presentation on a topic related to 19th Century history. Kaito and I are doing ours on the California Gold Rush. We already finished ours, so that's why we could come and hang out here."
"That's nice. Say, Luchia and Kaito told me that they already read ahead in Acts 3 for Wednesday. Did you two get a chance to read it at all yet?"
"Rina blushed. No, we didn't. Hanon and I were busy working on our project." Luchia then piped up.
"Don't worry, perhaps we can go back to my place and we can go over it. It's an interesting read about boldness in faith."
At that same time, there were two people sitting about 30-40 feet away. They sure were interested in what we were saying, I'll give you that.
"Mimi, are you getting this all down?" It was Sheshe and Mimi, who were eavesdropping to pick up on important details.
"Let's see, he likes to go fishing, he's going to do it here tomorrow morning. Got that stuff down."
While Mimi was writing this down, Sheshe was looking through a pair of binoculars. "So that's Pastor Max? He's quite a bit taller than I thought he would've been."
"Sheshe, when can I take a look? I got all the notes we need."
"Hold on, just a bit longer…" It was then that Mimi tried to wrestle the binoculars away from Sheshe.
"You've looked long enough! Let me have a turn!"
"They're my binoculars! I can take as long as I want!" As the two were struggling in the water, I look over and see the two women making splashes as they fight.
"Hey, do you all need help over there?!" Sheshe and Mimi picked out my Mississippi-inflected voice easily. As soon as they heard me, they immediately disappeared beneath the surface in a hurry. I thought they were drowning, so I tried to run over to save them. Luchia, Hanon, Rina, and Kaito all held me back.
"Stop, Pastor Max! They're here to harm us!"
"H-harm you?"
The group went on to explain who these women, er, evil servants were. Sheshe and Mimi worked for whoever would help advance their personal goals. Apparently, they were linked to Gaito before he got blown up. They also apparently have a bit of a history with the mermaids, always going against what the mermaids stood for. I figured now that the mermaids had turned away from worldly things and have a personal relationship with Christ, the evil servants (of which there are probably a lot more than just those two) would be on to them even more. Seems like we all need to watch our backs.
"So, they worked with your twin, Gaito?" Kaito nodded. "And they've been attacking you guys?" The girls nodded. "Hmmph, that's concerning. They seem rather relentless in their work." Luchia then looked at me, worried.
"Pastor Max, we're also worried they may go after you! You are our leader after all. I mean, they might target you even before they come after us." I then look Luchia straight in the eye, hardly fazed by what she said.
"Remember, even if they destroy our buildings and the materials we use to teach, they cannot destroy our faith! After all, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword (Romans 8:35)?"
"No, nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ!" As all four said this in unison, it was clear that they were not afraid either. Meanwhile, Sheshe and Mimi were returning to Mikeru's castle.
"Way to go! You almost blew our cover!" Sheshe was still ticked that Mimi made such a fuss over a pair of binoculars.
"Hey, it's not my fault you were hogging them! If only you knew how to share…"
"Yeah, whatever! We have what we need, so let's just get back and get this planned out." Tired of Mimi's complaining, Sheshe cut off Mimi's train of thought. There was an awkward silence that accompanied them back to the castle. There was more at stake than their bickering.