It is within Chapter Eleven of The Prodigal Band, the third novel of The Prodigal Band Trilogy, where the most important key to the purpose of writing this trilogy is found. It is where the prodigal band named Sound Unltd decides to 'return to the Father,' that is, God, as the Luke 15 Parable of the Prodigal Son states. It is where they collectively decide to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and Redeemer.
It has been over three weeks since I posted my last post which related to The Murder Rule, the post being inspired by the near-assassination of Slovakia leader Fico and the assassination of a military leader of Iran, Raisi…on top of other important assassinations and near assassinations that have been done recently—and throughout history. But last night as I was reading this section of The Prodigal Band, inspiration came into my head to write here that this section 'sealed the deal' so-to-speak—the band would accept and carry out their 'missions of God' given to them by God's angels, the Tooters, at their hometown festival, during the final note of a song the Tooters gave them years before.
This section is long and somewhat complicated as each band member sparks his personality into the conversations they carry out within a 'void,' a timeless, soundless, unknown dimension they think just might be 'heaven.' It is a void they were 'caught up' into having been taken out of a jet that was about to burn due to a bomb going off, a bomb placed by a minion of evil to force them to 'toe the line' or be murdered. They were headed to a 'Directorate meeting' where the agenda was to force them to finalize their 'sell their souls to the devil' pact, on paper, to finalize their 'oaths' to the satanic spirit figure, Corion. The section begins with them getting onto their 747 jet from Philadelphia to London and ends with their collective decision to accept Christ. The section will be divided into a few parts, and, unlike the snippet posts which tended to be longer, each sub-section will be explained as to the personalities within the conversations and various events that happen to them in the void, including those with Biblical implications…being "caught up," but not quite in the clouds…
Before I post the segment that begins this series of posts, let me review for the reader's sake the names of the band members 'caught up' into this 'heavenly' void—from Chapter One of Battle of the Band, with the names of the band members inserted in parentheses:
A lead singer (Erik) with dark brown mid-back length hair accentuated by sensuous bangs on a baby-face was slender, thin-lipped and of medium height. Voice a Godly gift. Yet, some said, the devil's tool.
The tall dirty-haired guitarist (Jack) possessed an angular face and had hair growing on once side-shaved sides of his head. Now without the screaming instrument he fired into immortality.
The dark, strapping bass player (Keith) with bushy black curls and coal-dark eyes walked without his trademark gold chains.
The tall, lanky, beak-nosed, ringlet-haired master of many guitars (Mick) worried over his past perversions.
The pot-bellied, biker-esque synthesizer player (Bryan) famed for red hair as wild as the wind, fiery as his brew, bore a downcast of regret.
A short, curly-blond percussionist (Tom) once angered by lost love approached with the others to an unknown destination, glad with a full life behind him.
Below is Part One of this series; the scenes are a prelude to the 'caught up' into a 'heavenly realm,' with the band members at the jet and on it headed to London. But there will be 'note' interruptions to explain what is going on in the segments and the characters involved.
Saturday, July 7, 2001, around 10 P.M.
The journey to the Directorate meeting at Novordo Club headquarters began with Erik, Jack, and Keith taking a jet from a small private airport near LA. They then picked up Bry in Dallas, since he had come in his own twin-engine from an airport north of his ranch house. From there, the four proceeded in the band's 747 on to Philadelphia for refueling across the Atlantic and to pick up Mick and Tom. Neither of them had gone back home after the meeting with Bobby.
Instead, Mick had gone to visit DeliverUs Records to check out their deal with Bobby, with Tom as his sidekick. That meeting provided nothing conclusive.
The 'meeting with Bobby,' who composed a song they would record for their next album, called 'He is the Way,' ('He' being Jesus Christ) occurred a week earlier as Bobby tried to convince them that if they were going to record a song about Christ, they had to become believers on Christ. DeliverUs Records was a 'Christian rock' record label.
While several maintenance crew persons fueled the jet, and while others, including a man wearing a trench coat sporting cleaning supplies, toilet paper and such items in a large black plastic bag, went in and out of the jet, the six gathered together outside the entrance ramp. The sun was nearly down.
"Look," Mick said, "if Bobby's sending us the song, we needn't worry about what DeliverUs wants to do, and what they want to do, I think, is take us for a ride on the sale price. They may be the biggest Christian rock record company in their own minds, but I've seen more professional—"
"And more ethical, I might add," Tom cut in.
"—operations in the Caribbean."
"Africa even," Tom added.
"Mostly they're geared to the online market. Their recording equipment is state-of-the-art for MP3 distribution, but even they send their stuff to others for re-mixing."
Tom cut in again. "They have a mixing console that's probably older than the first one you ever bought, Jack."
"So, they outsource most everything," Jack replied. "So what? Even X's outfit does that."
"The point is," Mick concluded, "we don't have to go through them. After we get done with the song, DeliverUs won't recognize it anyway."
"So, legally—"
"Legally, Jack? Do you really think a two-bit independent is going to go after members of the Directorate?"
"Beautiful, man," Bry droned. "Nothing trumps morality like legality!"
"I totally agree with you," Keith chimed. "We have met the Pharisees, and they are us."
Mick whined, "Would you stop with 'the Pharisees,' Keith?"
Jack slapped Mick on his back. "He's right, man."
The pilot passed them getting onto the jet.
"Let's go, eh?" the guitarist led the others onto the plane.
When Tom, the last of the six to enter the jet, was about to do so, the man with the trench coat carried off a small black carry-on briefcase, not the plastic bag he had before. When he hurried past the drummer, Tom did a double-take. "Who let the Spies on here?"
That thing better do its business when it's supposed to. About a hundred yards from the jet, the man with the trench coat answered his cell phone, still facing the plane. "Yes, it'll probably happen over the Irish Sea."
"Not the Atlantic?" the caller asked.
"No. Unless they die, we want them to be rescued quickly, remember?"
The arguing between Mick and Jack was typical: Jack was the band leader while Mick was their recording producer for the record label they owned. The 'man in the trench coat,' whom I call Trenchcoat, was the man who planted the bomb under a seat on their jet.
On the 747, heading into a London airport, 12:16 p.m., Greenwich Mean Time
Unlike the others, Jack couldn't sleep reclined in what would normally pass for a living room recliner anywhere else. Since he had gotten the letter from Torquay about this sudden Directorate meeting, he hadn't been able to.
All the letter said was this: "It is imperative and mandatory that all Directorate members meet at Novordo Club headquarters in London, Tuesday, 10 July, 2001, at 1 p.m. A matter of the utmost importance to all members has arisen, and failure to appear WILL absolutely be cause for termination from the Directorate. NO EXCEPTIONS!— B. Torquay-Lambourgeau."
His mind wouldn't get out of conspiracy mode. If we skip the meeting, they'll terminate us—literally. They'll boot us out, just because. They'll have some excuse to screw us. Or maybe, they'll promote us to some cutesy-wootsie status so whatever we do is totally inconsequential. Or they'll give us an offer we can't refuse. Come to think of it, that's what they did a couple of years ago when they made us members. It smelled then and it smells now. I can't help but think that song of Bobby's has something to do with it. Or else why would they call this meeting right after we agreed to buy his song? Did DeliverUs notify them? I mean, who told them? Other than us and the women, no one knows about this! Oh, yeh, probably Joe, but I don't remember telling him, and I don't remember anyone else saying they told Joe, but I don't think I ever said don't tell Joe. That's because Joe knows to keep his mouth shut about our business. He's never done otherwise.
And over and over Jack went through this in his mind, until the others began to awaken and the jet started its approach to the airport, and, finally, began to land on the runway.
No one heard the ticking in a storage compartment adjacent to the area under Bry's seat get louder and louder. With a terminal far in the foreground, the jet finally screeched to a halt.
Then Kaboom. The compartment exploded so that incendiary materials dispersed in various directions causing small fires and further tiny explosions that would reach out into the forward areas toward the cockpit. No one having a hand in planting the device had anything but a very controlled set of explosions in mind. Just enough so the pilots would soon take notice, and, hopefully, one of the six would reach the cockpit in time, and emergency services could be contacted.
Right after the initial explosion, a co-pilot smelled smoke. "What the hell was that noise?" He looked to see smoke entering the cockpit from under the door. "Call for help, eh?" he told the other pilot. "Let me find out what's going on."
"I think it's pretty obvious. We're on fire, eh?"
"But why the noise? It was a clean landing."
"Who knows? Maybe one of 'em set fire to one of the chairs trying to make a gigantic bong."
The other laughed as he exited the cockpit. His watch read 12:20 p.m., GMT
Neither of the pilots ever noticed that the six were gone.
The next post will be next week, which begins the journey to their 'missions of God' within the 'heavenly void.'
Use the menu above to read snippet posts of the novels, download the FREE PDF The Prodigal Band as well as the FREE PDF The Murder Rule, and more. Cheers!
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