Before he could stop himself, Delroy’s voice thundered, “God is not a parlor trick, Colonel Donaldson!”
“Are you listening to this, Captain?” Donaldson demanded. He looked at Delroy for just a moment as if to make sure the chaplain was staying in place, then turned back to Falkirk.
“I am listening to this, Colonel,” Falkirk said.
“You shouldn’t be,” Donaldson objected. “Do you know the kind of effect the chaplain’s ravings are going to have on the crew once this gets out?”
Falkirk remained unflappable. “It appears to have already gotten out, Colonel. Due to you pressuring Chaplain Delroy to speak his mind in front of the crew instead of having a private meeting with him as he requested.”
Donaldson swore. “He shouldn’t have interrupted my meeting.”
“Your meeting,” Falkirk said, “wasn’t interrupted until you came to the door and entered into a verbal confrontation with Chaplain Delroy.”
“If I hadn’t gone to the door, he would have come in after me. He threatened to walk through the sergeant I had posted there.”
Falkirk flicked his gaze to Delroy. “Chaplain?”
“Aye, sir,” Delroy agreed. “I did that.”
“Would you have gone through his sergeant?”
Delroy hesitated only a moment. Stay with the truth, Son, Josiah Harte had said so many times while Delroy had been growing up. Always stay with the truth. You’ll be judged in God’s eyes anyway, and He will know what was in your heart. Hiding the truth from others serves no purpose and sometimes conflicts the works God is trying to do through you.
“Aye, sir,” Delroy answered. “I would have tried. I don’t know if I could have. The sergeant is a big man.”
Falkirk nodded. “And he’s half your age. I would think you’d know better than that.”
“Aye, sir.” Delroy took a short breath. “But it was imperative that I speak to you and the colonel, Captain. I know the idea of the Rapture is hard to accept, but it’s all in here.” He held up his father’s Bible.
“Oh, spare me,” Donaldson growled. “Captain, we’re wasting time here.”
“Colonel, is there anything else you can be doing right now?” Falkirk’s voice was crisp and clear. “Anything for those men over there along the border, or to get the troops here more ready?”
Donaldson folded his arms over his chest. His fists knotted. “No. You know that, Captain.”
“I do know that.” Falkirk rested his elbows on the neat desk and pressed his fingertips and palms together.
Like a man praying, Delroy couldn’t help but observe. The signs are always there. His father had always told him that. A man who learns to walk with God will always find his course charted for him. He just has to pay attention. The chaplain was paying attention now.
“In addition to putting together relief and help for those Marines stranded along the Turkish-Syrian border, in addition to arranging for medevac ships to get the more critically wounded here when Captain Remington pulls his troops out of the area, I’m trying very hard to understand what happened to a third of my crew and a corresponding number of your Marines,” Falkirk said. “Maybe I’m not an imaginative man. I’ve exhausted everything I can think of, and I can tell you that the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon haven’t come up with an answer either.”
“We don’t need this God poppycock running rampant through our men,” Donaldson stressed.
Delroy took a deep breath, about to reply to that, but he maintained his silence when Falkirk waved him off.
“Do you know what will happen to the morale aboard Wasp if the crew starts speculating like this?” Donaldson continued.
“The morale of this crew has already been damaged,” Falkirk stated. “It was damaged when our birds went down in flames over there, and it was damaged when so many of their shipmates vanished without explanation.”
“Then it’s our job to take that morale and build it back up,” Donaldson said.
Anger flickered though Falkirk’s eyes for just an instant, then the emotion was gone. “Do you think that you pulling your sidearm and shoving it into Chaplain Harte’s face is going to shore up the morale aboard this vessel, Colonel Donaldson?”
“The man simply wouldn’t shut up,” Donaldson roared.
“And if he had?”
“I wouldn’t have drawn my sidearm and threatened him.”
“So coming to me and requesting the three of us meet to discuss this would have made you happier?”
Donaldson blinked in confusion.
Delroy was also aware that Falkirk had framed the option as a mild rebuke of his actions—that was typical of the way he handled things. Point taken, Captain. He breathed out and made himself calm down.
“Because I would have called that meeting at Chaplain Harte’s insistence,” Falkirk continued. “Chaplain Harte is one of my most valued and trusted officers. I would afford him the same respect I show you.”
“You can’t believe what the man is saying,” Donaldson objected.
“You’re right,” Falkirk agreed. “If I had been a true believer, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here in command of this ship right now. I’d be gone with the others.”
Donaldson stepped back as though in disbelief.
For the first time, Delroy noticed the Bible lying on the corner of the captain’s desk. The cloth bookmark was near the end of the Bible, probably somewhere in Revelation. Just look for the signs, Son. God will always put them there to guide you.
“The chaplain is crazy,” Donaldson said. “Even if he’s not certifiable, he’s not in his right mind. He’s been up all night. One of his best friends died in medical last night. Sleep deprivation. Emotional turmoil. All the confusion of what has taken place over in Turkey these past few hours. Those things have obviously taken their toll on him. He’s lost it.”
“The disappearances haven’t just been in Turkey or aboard this ship,” Delroy said as patiently as he could.
