Chapter 14 The Game's Afoot

(Author's note: FanFiction's editor filters out Email addresses. Just assume that the first two Emails were addressed properly, and that Luke's was addressed improperly)

The next Friday, October 14, Grace came for one of her usual sleepovers, as cover for a meeting with Joan and Luke. She was more somber than usual.

"Yesterday was Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement. The day on which Jews cut themselves out from the world, even abstain from eating, to meditate on sins committed during the year. It's the first one since my Bat Mitzvah, the first I really took seriously. I don't want to divulge everything, but my parents admitted that they had years of poor parenting to atone for, and I forgave them. By the end of the day I felt more at peace than I ever had in my life. And now, less than twenty-four hours later, I'm tempted to break into somebody's Email."

"It's for a good cause," said Joan, "keeping Hunter from hurting more people. We thought everything had subsided for a while, then he pulled that attack on the mosque. He could make another sneak attack at any moment."

"But are we fighting him the right way?"

"I know what you mean," mused Luke. "It's been amazingly long since God put in one of his appearances. Since September, right? I wish He'd pop up and tell us if we're on the right track."

"Maybe he wants to see how we can work on our own for a long period," mused Joan. "Like 'The Silence'. I really screwed up that time."

"Not your fault," reassured Luke. "You came down with Lyme Disease at the same time."

"Don't remind me. Let's focus on the task at hand. I vote that we decrypt those files. We agreed on a two-out-of-three vote. Are both of you going to side against me?"

"No," Grace conceded reluctantly. "I don't suppose I'll really be at peace until Hunter is out of our lives. I vote to decrypt."

"I'll go along," said Luke. "On condition that, if we really are invading innocent people's privacy, we erase the files and never discuss them again." The girls nodded. "OK, here goes."

He started the decryption program. Of the three of them only he knew how complex this procedure was, trying one strategy after another at lightning speed until one worked. And one did.

The first Email came out like this:

11/10/2004

From: aurorag-----

To: harryr----

Enough is enough! I thought that when I gave myself to you that you were willing to do the same for me. But there's still a part of your life you hide from me. I don't know what it is. Another woman? Some piece of business? Whatever it is, it's obvious that you'll trust your cousin Tom with it and not me.

I need time to think. I'm going on a trip to Mt. Nashman, to hike and think. Don't try to follow me there. If you need space, respect mine.

Rory

The second Email:

11/11/2004

From: tomr-----

To: harryr----

It looks like you two have reached a crisis. If you want to hold on to Rory, you're going to have stop stalling and tell her about Y.V. Or at least lay the groundwork. It took some time for me to believe it, and time is running out for you. Do something!

Tom

"Y.V.?" repeated Joan in puzzlement.

"Yahveh," guessed Grace. "God's personal name revealed to Moses, according to the Torah. When he appeared to you as a little girl, Joan, he probably said 'My name is Yahveh.' You shortened it to YaYa."

"So Harry and his cousin discuss God in code, as we do," concluded Luke. "I think this proves that Harry Reynolds is Ryan Hunter. He told his cousin about his relationship with God, but not his girlfriend."

Joan gave a cry. "She said that she was going to Mt. Nashman. But she had her fatal accident there. This angry Email was the last that he heard from her. How horrible!"

"And even if he decided to take his cousin's advice, he never got a chance," speculated Luke.

"Now that we know all this, what do we do?" asked Grace.

There was a long silence, finally broken by Joan.

"Let's appeal to that cousin, Tom Reynolds. He and Harry were obviously close. Tell him that Harry isn't dead; we know where he is. He may be grateful enough to give us more information."

"Yeah, or he may be furious that we've been reading his mail," pointed out Luke.

"Can you make the message untraceable?" asked Grace. "Like those irritating Internet ads that you can reply to but not identify?"

Luke sighed. "Yeah. One more breach of computer etiquette that I thought I'd never commit. Let's plan the message."

It took them nearly an hour to work out the message, which took the final form of:

Mr. Reynolds: I know that you lost your cousin last year, and that your cousin had had a special calling, which I share. I have reason to believe that your cousin is still alive. If you want to know more, reply to the return address in this Email.

"Calling" was Grace's idea. It could mean just occupation, but it had a religious meaning as well, and Tom Reynolds might interpret it as a reference to his cousin's missions for God. The "I", instead of "we", was a deliberate piece of indirection, making it sound like a formidable single personality instead of a trio of teenagers.

After that they saved off the message in a computer file. Luke told them that in the morning he would work out how to send the message without its being traceable back to them.

------------------

Something woke up Luke that night, and he felt a slight need to pee. Nothing urgent, but he reflected that in the morning he would have to compete with three females for the upstairs bathroom, so he decided to take care of the need now.

The bathroom was set in the center of the upstairs rooms, but the door was locked. Luke stepped back and decided to wait patiently.

Eventually the door opened and Grace emerged. "Oh!" she squeaked.

Grace looked oddly vulnerable. She was wearing pajamas rather than the customary bikers' jacket, and still had her pageboy haircut. And for the moment, Luke saw a terrified look on her face. "Something wrong?"

She shrugged. "Nightmare. Two guys were trying to beat me up. I woke up in a sweat and decided to wash my face. Wasn't quite expecting to run into a guy coming out. You?"

"I have to, um -- " He couldn't express the embarrassing process to his girlfriend.

She smirked. "Yeah, one touch of nature makes the whole world kin. Don't let me stop you." She started off toward Kevin's room, then hesitated. "Luke, you turn 17 next month, right?"

"Yeah. November 19, the day of the Homecoming Game. Why?"

"Just wanted to make sure I had your present ready in time. Good night."

"Good night."

---------------------------

Luke sent the message the next day, and the teens waited for a reply. It did not come that day, or the next day. And when they did get a sort of response on Monday, it was in an utterly unexpected form.

Will come home from work a little early, looking as if a burden had been lifted from him. He wouldn't share his news, however, until everyone had gathered for dinner.

"You'll never guess what happened today. Some guy actually walked in and confessed to all three desecration cases."

Joan started "You mean Hunter-- " but her mother asked more forcefully: "Who was it, dear?"

"Fellow by the name of Thomas Reynolds."

Luke and Joan stared at each other, practically reading each other's minds. This is bad, but we've got to keep our mouths shut until we figure this out.

"Why did he do it?" demanded Helen.

"That was hard to follow. Very theological, and I'm perhaps not the right person to understand it. Essentially he said that he had served God all his life, only to lose the two people he loved best within a year. One was his cousin, the other the cousin's fiancee. In his position I would just lose faith in God's existence -- and in fact I did -- but he assumed that God still existed and he needed to get revenge."

"What's going to happen to him?" Helen went on.

"That's a ticklish question. His actions outraged thousands of people, but there's a limit to what the DA can charge him with. Damaging religious works is not a specific crime, it just goes under the heading of destroying property. Starting the fire at the synagogue can be interpreted as arson. The DA may be able to evoke the "hate crimes" statutes. On the other hand, the fact that nobody was physically injured throughout is in his favor, and his lawyer may try an insanity defense. All in all, a lot of people may think that he was not suitably punished. Some may take the law into their own hands."

"Will," his wife replied angrily, "I know there's plenty of propaganda out there about religious extremists, but I've met hundreds of people at the church and synagogue, and they are law-abiding people."

"And I can vouch for the Beghs," added Joan.

"I accept all that. It only requires one vigilante to cause trouble. The local jail may not be secure enough. We may have to transfer him to a more secure facility in the area, perhaps even one of the prisons. Luke, what are you doing?"

Luke had gotten to his feet before end of the meal, violating one of the family's unwritten rules. "Sorry, but I've simply gotta call Grace. It's her synagogue, after all."

"Well -- Ok, these are special circumstances," conceded Will.

"I'd like to talk to Grace at the same time," said Joan."

"OK, you two are excused."

The two teens went up the stairs. Only when they reached the hallway connecting their rooms did they feel safe talking outside of their parents' hearing.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" demanded Luke, not loudly but with extreme emphasis.

"It looks like we screwed up royally," admitted Joan.

"Yeah," agreed Luke. "We thought this Reynolds guy might team up with us in exchange for information about his cousin. Instead he decides to protect Hunter. Either he knows about Hunter already, or he learned the story in a hurry."

"Whatever. We've just lost our main chance against Hunter: charging him with all the religious vandalism. Why did God let us screw up so badly?"

"Free will," said Luke bitterly.

"It looks to me like he would have been better off inventing obedient robots," said Joan. Then she winced, remembering who had first said that to her:

Ryan Hunter.

TBC