“I will,” she nodded readily. “I’ll be here.”
He relaxed. “Goodbye, Hannah.” He gave her a brief hug. “God be with you.”
She smiled at him bravely. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Thank you for everything!”
He got back into the car, and after a brief final glance in her direction, he drove away.
She waved and mouthed the words, “I’ll be here,” but it was a lie. She knew she wouldn’t be.
Chapter 9 – Fugitive Thoughts
As Daniel drew up to the gates of the compound just before dark, he could tell something was wrong. People were running to-and-fro across the front lawn. He could hear the meeting bell clanging monotonously in the distance. Several sentries were clustered around the gates talking amongst themselves. One anxiously walked up to his car and motioned for him to roll down the window. “Brother Daniel, have you seen Hannah, the diviner’s wife?”
The scion commanded his face to adopt a concerned expression. “No, why?” Even as he said the words, he marveled at what an accomplished liar he had become.
“No one can find her.”
“You mean to say she’s missing?” He affected a shocked tone of voice.
“No one knows.”
“I must go to my father immediately!” Daniel exclaimed.
“Yes, of course. Drive through,” the sentry instructed him.
The scion parked his car and headed toward his own quarters to set down his computer and delay the distasteful task of calling on his father. While it was easy to hoodwink a distracted sentry, he wondered if he could manage to convince the diviner that he knew nothing about Hannah’s disappearance. On general principal, his father expected everyone to lie to him which made him a much harder subject to fool. Daniel sighed. There was no help for it. He might as well get it over with.
Just as he opened the door to his room, Annabeth practically collided with him in her haste to get inside.
“Have you heard the news?” she asked breathlessly.
“I... I just got back,” he stammered, taken by surprise. “One of the sentries said Hannah is missing.”
“She’s gone, completely gone.” Annabeth giggled and then clapped her hands over her mouth.
Daniel couldn’t help but notice her feverish jubilation.
“Did she say anything to you while you were teaching her?” she asked.
“No, not a word.” He tried to look innocent.
Annabeth was too swept up in her own exultation to notice. “I wonder if that’s why she wanted you to teach her, so she could escape.”
Daniel smiled thinly. “I don’t think she’d get very far in the Fallen Lands with nothing more than a fluent knowledge of Hebrew.” He paused as another thought struck him. “Has my father sent out a search party yet?”
His wife nodded. “Oh, yes. About an hour ago, as soon as he realized she was missing. He summoned everyone to the Worship Hall and told us all to search high and low. Then he sent the sentries to check the grounds outside the compound. But nobody can find her.” She ended her narrative with a smile of wonder. “It’s like she vanished into thin air.”
Daniel made a move to depart. “I have to go, Annabeth. I must speak to my father.”
She bobbed her head in agreement. “Oh, yes. Of course, you must.” Then she laid a restraining hand on his arm. “But you will come to visit me again tonight, won’t you?”
He kissed her on the cheek, feigning enthusiasm. “I promised, didn’t I?”
***
Daniel found his father in his office, shouting orders at a half-dozen men in sentry uniform.
“I want you to comb the perimeter of the compound. Take every available vehicle. She must be on foot, so she can’t have traveled far. Search the roads for ten miles around and then report back to me!”
“Yes, diviner.” They filed out smartly at his command, leaving Daniel behind.
Once they were gone, the old man slumped forward in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He apparently hadn’t noticed the arrival of his son. “What can this mean? What can this mean?” he murmured to himself.
“Father?” Daniel called out tentatively.
“What?” Abraham jerked up his head and glared. Then his gaze softened when he recognized the speaker. “Oh, it’s you, Daniel. Have you heard the news?”
“I just returned from the library in the city, but I was told of your wife’s disappearance by the guards.” Daniel felt like a man balancing himself on a tightrope. He dreaded his father’s penetrating stare because it was so good at stripping away pretense. For Hannah’s sake, the scion hoped his newfound talent for deception wouldn’t desert him.
“This is Satan’s doing,” the old man murmured, burying his head in his hands without a second glance at his son.
“What?” Daniel hadn’t expected his father to draw that conclusion.
“She couldn’t have thought of this on her own. She’s little more than a child.” Abraham sat up straighter. “No, this is the handiwork of the Evil One. Just as the devil persuaded her to lie about the state of your marriage, he beguiled her to wander away. Women are such weak creatures!”
Daniel was startled and secretly pleased that his father had so grossly underestimated Hannah’s capacity for independent thought. Let him continue to think she was putty in the devil’s hands. It meant that Abraham wasn’t holding her responsible for her own actions. If she were ever caught, that might be to her advantage.
His father continued. “This is one more proof that Satan knows of my plan to advance God’s kingdom on earth. Knows of it and is attempting to undermine me at every turn. First, he sowed discontent among your wives and intended that their foul rumors should spread throughout the community. I defeated him by removing Hannah from their sinful company. Behold what tricks he tries now. He attempts to strike at me through my most favored possession—luring her to her own destruction. Not merely her but my unborn son as well.”
“You
